What Age Can Kittens Leave Their Mum

The mother is the sole nutritional source for kittens until they re about 4 weeks of age although weaning often continues until the cuties are between 8 and 10 weeks according to the aspca.

What age can kittens leave their mum. While most kittens are weaned by 8 10 weeks most experts recommend leaving kittens with their littermates until 12 13 weeks so they can be properly socialized. Your cat s chances of being healthy well socialized and properly developed are dramatically increased by allowing it to spend extra time with its mother and littermates. The perfect age seems to be between eight and twelve weeks. However a kitten is typically ready to leave his mother at about 8 to 12 weeks of age.

They get 100 of all nutrition from her milk. Until they are about 4 weeks old the kittens are completely dependant on their mother. While some kittens can go home earlier the closer you wait until 12 or 13 weeks the better off the kitten will be. 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.

However because certain conditions may affect when kittens can leave their moms they must be well cared for when they leave their mother earlier than what is ideal. We have collected all the information you need to know about kittens between the time of their birth to the time when they are considered ready to leave their mother for your perusal. It is very important for kittens to remain with mom until weaning is completed. That clever lady mother nature has designed cat mommies to encourage her kittens to leave the nest so that she can get busy with the next lot.

She will clean them keep them warm and safe and stimulate the bowl movements and bladder to help them urinate and defecate. Ideally kittens should go to their new home around 12 weeks of age. Kittens rely on their mother s milk for proper growth and development. 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.

The best time to separate a kitten from their mother and siblings is when they are 12 13 weeks old. Human care at that early stage may not compare to a feline mother s care but it can go a long way when combined with lots of love and dedication. Even though kittens are relatively independent by 8 10 weeks and can survive without their mother there are health and social benefits to staying with the mother and siblings. By the way don t worry about mommy being upset when her babies leave.

The time varies from one kitten to another since several factors come to play. A kitten should stay with his mother until a minimum of 10 weeks but preferably 12 weeks. This first stage is all about basic survival.