What Age Do Kittens Leave Their Mother

Expect to separate the kittens from their mother when they are around 12 weeks old.

What age do kittens leave their mother. 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. 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. The earliest a kitten can leave its mother. 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.

However a kitten is typically ready to leave his mother at about 8 to 12 weeks of age. 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. Despite this however you should ensure that the earliest your kitten leaves its mother is 4 weeks old. More specifically there are three main reasons for our 12 14 week recommendation.

Once the kittens are fully weaned around 10 to 12 weeks old they are old enough to move away from their mama. From 8 weeks of age a kitten will have three vaccinations spaced 4 weeks apart 6 8 weeks 10 12 weeks 14 16 weeks. Empty nest when her kittens first leave your cat may be a little upset. While some kittens can go home earlier the closer you wait until 12 or 13 weeks the better off the kitten will be.

Ideally kittens should go to their new home around 12 weeks of age. The time varies from one kitten to another since several factors come to play. At what age can you take kittens away from their mother. 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.

When a kitten is little he or she gets antibodies via their mother s milk which helps to keep the kitten safe from infection. In the wild mother cats usually leave their kittens when they are adults to hunt by themselves but in cities mother cats live with their kittens. Kittens rely on their mother s milk for proper growth and development. The reason for this is that maternal antibodies can affect the effectiveness of a single vaccine.

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