When Do Mother Cats Leave Their Kittens In The Wild

And when something happens to a mother cat the babies are taken in by another mother cat.

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. They all hunt together and they are all related in one way or another. Mother cats often like to move their kittens around in the first few weeks of their life. Plus the female kitten can be impregnated as young as 4 months old and have several litters a year.

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. 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. 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 goes to seek food and never returns.

Hint for determining the age of nursing kittens. The humane society explains that cats that spend more time with their mothers are usually better socialized. One mother cat that lost her kittens took over mothering of another mother cats kittens. 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.

We have lots of feral cats in our area. It s best to leave them with mom until they re weaned. There a a few reasons for this including. However a kitten is typically ready to leave his mother at about 8 to 12 weeks of age.

If they are nursing and their eyes haven t opened they are under 2 weeks. Once the kittens are fully weaned around 10 to 12 weeks old they are old enough to move away from their mama. The mother cats even share kittens. Most cats are naturally good mothers.

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. This does not mean that this is the time that the kittens can go home though. Kittens begin to nibble at wet food at 4 weeks of age and are fully capable of eating on their own at 6 weeks.