At what age should kittens be taken away from their mother?

Question

The kittens have opened their eyes & their waking about, but I dont know how old they are.... Some sites say they should be about 4-6 weeks old, so what should I do??

The kittens have opened their eyes & their waking about, but I dont know how old they are.... Some sites say they should be about 4-6 weeks old, so what should I do?? ...Hey...i loved your answers, but I have a doggie at home, & even though she loves cats & desnt mind me playing with & feeding them, i really think I should get the kitten home early....coz if It learns all instincts, It will get wild. Its a stray cat...it might scratch my dog or absolutely refuse to live near it.....My dalmatian is a pure wonder, though,,,, very loving & friendly..

Answer 1

8 weeks is the earliest but by leaving kits with their mum for an additional couple of weeks, they will learn a whole lot more about how to take care of themselves, cat social behavior, etc. and you will have a much less neurotic cat. Cats learn a lot by example (of mom usually) so even after they are able to eat real cat food at 8 weeks, letting them stay with mum for a few more weeks will allow them to become more socially adept, more self confident and just more well adjusted.

Answer 2

I must say that I am really disappointed by all the people saying 6-8 weeks. A kitten is NOT a puppy. A puppy begins eating puppy food between 3 and 4 weeks old but should still not be seperated from mom until 8 weeks old or later.

Kittens learn very important social behaviors from their mother cat aside from just getting basic nutrition. Mom teaches them to use the litter box appropriately, mom teaches them manners, mom teaches them not to be too rough with others as she will reprimand them if they are too rough with her.

If a kitten is taken from mom too soon it is more likely to have issues with not using the litter box properly, scratching and biting or just playing too rough in general, not being able to cope, seperation anxiety and a whole host of other issues.

Cats are not dogs and should not be weaned and placed like dogs. I have taken in several 6-7 week old kittens who may have been taking a bite or two of food on their own but still depended on nursing for the majority of feedings and I had to rand raise these babies or they would have starved. Please do not give these cats to anyone before they are ready. I would say 12 weeks at the earliest but I keep all my kittens at home until they are 16 weeks old. They may be a bit bigger and to some not as "cute" but they will grow up to be happy, healthy, well adjusted kittens.

Answer 3

The excellent age is 10-12 weeks. Even if she begins feeding the kittens forged meals at 5 - 6 weeks historical, they are going to nonetheless nurse as much as eight weeks and wish very essential social time with mother and siblings to be mentally and bodily equipped to go away. If you get them beneath 12 weeks - they may be able to have plenty of social and behaviour issues for the reason that they left too quickly.

Answer 4

Ok, well kittens are normally taken away from their mothers between 6-8 weeks depending on whether or not the mother has weaned them or if someone is adopting them, if they are not weaned you can help them out by giving them wet food once a day, if they are getting adopted they shoud at least be eating dry food. 12 weeks is actually kind of late if they are going to another home, and depending on if they are spayed/neutered they might NOT get along, I had 2 female kitties that were about 10-12 weeks old and they loved to play toghether and i didnt get them fixed and they ended up fighting with each other, eventually the big one killed the small one....so much sadness for me :(

Answer 5

6 weeks is the youngest you should let them go. If you aren't sure exactly how old they are, just wait until they start eating dry food.
Just have it very available to them, and try to convince them to eat it. My cat has had 2 litters of kittens in the past, and when they saw her eat it, they tried it. They may vomite, or have dirariah at first, but I wouldn't be worried unless it pressists for more than 3 days, then take them to the vet! Hope that helped!

Answer 6

Our local shelter feels so strongly about this, that they will not accept a kitten before it is 12 weeks old. Of course, some people just leave a box on their doorstep when they are closed. The kittens need the time to finish nursing and to have their mother and littermates teach them cat manners. Kittens who remain with their mother and litter for 12 weeks play more gently, are done nursing and tend to not do the milk treading thing in later life, and the mom usually has them completely litter trained by then.

Answer 7

DO NOT take them away from their mother yet. They need to be able to eat on their own, which for some kittens doesn't happen until 5-6 weeks. If you take them away before they are eating on their own, they will literally sit in a bowl of food and starve to death. If you take them to a shelter, they will probably be euthanized. It's best to leave them with the Mom for 8 weeks, and in a lot of places, it's illegal to sell them or give them away any younger. Make sure there is a bowl of food where the Mom and the kittens can get to it, and she will teach them to eat. Good Luck!!

Answer 8

The minimum age is 8 weeks, in order for the kittens to have enough time to learn proper behaviours and to socialize with their litter mates, but most preferably 12 weeks. Haha trust me, I just got a kitten and have been checking this stuff up for weeks :P

Answer 9

Just to be safe you can always watch for when the mother starts to wean them, or when they start going after her food and milk. But remember, always better safe than sorry. You don't want to have them end up sick or undernourished because they were separated too soon. And lots of vets do well-kitten checkups for free or very cheap. And they'd be able to estimate their age. Good luck, and I hope this means we will be getting momma cat spayed.

Answer 10

DO NOT GIVE THEM AWAY YET THEY ARE WAY TOO YOUNG!!
YOU CAN BE SAFE TO GIVE THEM AWAY ONCE THEY WALK WITHOUT FALLING OVER, DONT SUCKLE ON MUM, AND USE KITTY LITTER, EAT SOLIDS AND ARE PLAYFUL AND RUN AROUND HEAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Between 8 & 15 weeks old.

You need to make sure they are weened first.
Because otherwise, they are more likely to be timid and shy..anyways who wants to be taken away from their mother when they're still drinking their mother's milk?

When my cat had kittens, we didn't give most of them away until they were 10 wks old. But it really depends on what you think..they might be well and truly ready when they are 9 wks old..but 6 wks is okay.

P.S. make sure they eat solids (or soggy cat food) before you sell/give them away.