What Age Should Kittens Leave Their Mum

In many cases kittens begin eating strictly solid foods at around 8 weeks and then may be ready to leave their mothers for good.

What age should kittens leave their mum. Twelve to thirteen weeks of age is the time that is almost universally considered to be the optimum earliest time to remove kittens from their queen and by this age the kittens should be ready to go out into the world and begin the next stage of their learning development. Even though kittens are relatively independent by 8 10 weeks and can survive without their mother. However a kitten is typically ready to leave his mother at about 8 to 12 weeks of age. The earliest a kitten can leave its mother while you may want your kitten to stay as long as is needed with the mother the conditions on ground may leave you with no option.

Despite this however you should ensure that the earliest your kitten leaves its mother is 4 weeks old. 8 weeks the organization cats international recommends keeping kittens with their fellow litter mates and mothers until about 8 weeks in age. Why the wait is necessary. This is because they will need to stay with their mother to feed on her nutritious milk as well as stay with their siblings to learn valuable social skills.

Benefits of staying with the mother and siblings. The best time to separate a kitten from their mother and siblings is when they are 12 13 weeks old. By the way don t worry about mommy being upset when her babies leave. If you can convince your friend to hold on two them for an extra weeek or two they are likely to end up more well adjusted than if they leave at 7 weeks.

More specifically there are three main reasons for our 12 14 week recommendation. Kittens rely on their mother s milk for proper growth and development. A kitten should stay with his mother until a minimum of 10 weeks but preferably 12 weeks. At what age can you take kittens away from their mother.

By waiting until the kitten is 12 14 weeks old you will have minimized the risk for health and behavioral issues and maximized the chance for getting a healthy and happy cat. But as you say ideally the kittens shouldn t leave mum until at least 8 weeks. The weaning process usually continues for about another month until the kittens are fully weaned between eight and 10 weeks of age. The next month of life is still full of essentials for a growing kitten even if it isn t consuming its mother s milk all of the time.