When Do Mother Cats Leave Their Kittens In The Wild

First of all there is no set age on when the separation should be done.

When do mother cats leave their kittens in the wild. The time varies from one kitten to another since several factors come to play. One goes to seek food and never returns. 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. It s best to leave them with mom until they re weaned.

Instinctively the kittens will be moved in the first days following the birth so as to throw off any potential predators mommy wants a cleaner nest for her kittens. One mother cat that lost her kittens took over mothering of another mother cats kittens. Mother cats often like to move their kittens around in the first few weeks of their life. Hint for determining the age of nursing kittens.

And when something happens to a mother cat the babies are taken in by another mother cat. There a a few reasons for this including. If they are nursing and their eyes haven t opened they are under 2 weeks. In most cases mom will provide pretty intensive care for her babies during the first three weeks of their lives when they re at their most vulnerable.

If your cat has left her kittens it could be because she s looking for a place to move them to or simply taking a break. They all hunt together and they are all related in one way or another. Feral kittens that are from the same litter may remain together for a time but they face disease cars predators and starvation that may separate them. We have lots of feral cats in our area.

Most experts recommend waiting until at least six weeks while others say that it s better to leave a kitten with its mother for 8 to 10 weeks. The mother cats even share kittens. The humane society explains that cats that spend more time with their mothers are usually better socialized. However a kitten is typically ready to leave his mother at about 8 to 12 weeks of age.

Plus the female kitten can be impregnated as young as 4 months old and have several litters a year. Kittens begin to nibble at wet food at 4 weeks of age and are fully capable of eating on their own at 6 weeks. Once the kittens are fully weaned around 10 to 12 weeks old they are old enough to move away from their mama.