When To Wean Kittens From Mom
Weaning can begin earlier in the case of orphaned or hand fed kittens.
When to wean kittens from mom. Weaning refers to the process by which a kitten goes from mother s milk to solid food. It s not a good idea to let kittens go to a new home before the age of 8 weeks. Your kitten has strong instincts when it comes to self preservation. Expect to separate the kittens from their mother when they are around 12 weeks old.
However it is also common for kittens to finish weaning at around 10 weeks as well. When is the right time. When the kittens reach four weeks old you can place them in a separate area for a few hours at a time to reduce their dependency on mother s milk and her overall presence. But if you re weaning a kitten that has been orphaned you can start a little earlier between three and four weeks.
Put them in their own. At this point the kitten s stomach has developed to the point that it can process solid food. With mom they ll start to try to eat her food and she ll push them away from her says benson. For kittens the process starts as early as 4 weeks of age completed by the time they re 2 to 3 months old.
The reason being just like with all mammals a mother s milk is very crucial in the kittens newborn stage. 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. Do not worry if your kitten has been orphaned. The process generally begins when a kitten is around four weeks old and should be complete by eight to ten weeks.
At around the fourth week feline mothers will naturally begin to wean their kittens. This should be done when the kittens are around four to five weeks of age and ideally no sooner. The weaning process usually continues for about another month until the kittens are fully weaned between eight and 10 weeks of age. Remember all kittens and mother cats are different.
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 just needs to be taught to eat solid food. Weaning simply means a baby no longer nurses from its mother and receives nutrition from a non maternal source. Mother knows best about this natural process leave weaning up to her if possible.
When to wean kittens. Normally the kitten weaning process begins at about four weeks of age. Even at that stage it is still too early to bring home the kitten. From the very beginning up to the end when a mother cat is no longer ever nursing her kittens weaning usually lasts from a month to about six weeks total.
Pet owners should make the transition as easy as possible for kittens. Most people that raise orphaned kittens choose to wean them onto solid food early at around four weeks or so. Weaning is the process of transitioning kittens from feeding on their mother s milk to solid food.