When Do Wild Kittens Leave Their Mother

Once the kittens are fully weaned around 10 to 12 weeks old they are old enough to move away from their mama.

When do wild kittens leave their mother. In standard conditions a kitten can leave its mother at 12 weeks of age. They don t the mother leaves them when she thinks they are old enough anything between 6 to 12 weeks. It should never leave its mother before it is 8 weeks old. This process could take from a few months up to a year and would be the natural way for a kitten to be separated from its mother.

Kittens in the wild remain with their mother until they reach sexual maturity or until the mother becomes pregnant again. First of all there is no set age on when the separation should be done. 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. This does not mean that this is the time that the kittens can go home though.

As a way to prepare for her new litter she will start to distance herself from the old litter. When the kittens are 5 6 weeks old and eating steadily the mother is spayed and if feral ear tipped and returned to her site. Outdoor or stray moms sometimes scatter their kittens to avoid predation. First of all many people come upon litters of kittens outdoors and assume they ve been abandoned when in fact mom is nearby probably hunting.

Timeline for weaning kittens. Many mothers however do stay with the offspring. It s good that you are feeding them all. If the kittens seem well fed are in a safe place and fall asleep after crying for a short while mom is probably around.

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. The time varies from one kitten to another since several factors come to play. Mother cats will typically start to wean their kittens off their milk at one month of age.