How old do kittens need to be to survive on their own?

Dec 27,2023
4Min

As a qualified poop scraper, do you know at what age can a kitten leave its mother and live alone? Generally, kittens can leave their mother after 3-5 months! When the seller gives you a five-year-old kitten, Don’t believe it if you say that the kittens are healthy when they are 1 week old. Generally, kittens under 3 months old are not capable of eating on their own.

As the editor will talk about below, novice poop collectors will understand why kittens must be 3 months old before they can be adopted, and at what age cats can live independently.

Can kittens leave their mother cats when they are 3 months old?

Under normal circumstances, a kitten can leave its mother when it is 3 months old. It is not recommended to adopt a kitten before 3 months of age because it is too young.

Three changes will occur in a kitten’s early life:

Take care of the kittens, you have to take your time. Usually, the lactation period of kittens usually ends around 8 to 10 weeks. Sometimes, cat owners' tender care takes longer, usually not ending until 12 weeks.

The social cycle is generally 2 to 8 weeks. Kittens learn this from their mother cats and littermates. This is a critical period for the development of social skills in kittens.

Kittens will actively play with their littermates until they are 12 to 14 weeks old, until they fall in love with the toys you buy them.

Nursing is not just about the nutrients in the food a mother cat provides her newborn kittens. It’s a sign of security, communication and learning. ​​​​​​

Typically, a litter of feral kittens will only drink breast milk when they are four to five weeks old. At this time, the female cat will bring the prey home. Let her cubs play with prey and try to train their hunting skills.

This is an important part of the mother cat's weaning kittens. Not just the nutrients she gets from her mother cat's milk, but also the hunting skills they need to survive as feral cats. She will slowly try to wean the newborn kittens. The process of gradually switching from breast milk to cat food. In most cases, nursing should end when the kitten is 8 to 10 weeks old, but sometimes weaning may last several months. It should be noted that around 12 weeks, breast milk no longer contains a lot of nutrients for kittens

The transition from breast milk to cat food is a process. Not all bullies realize this.

From this perspective, 10 weeks of age is the earliest safe age for kittens to leave their mother cats. 10 weeks is the time when kittens stop nursing. If the kitten is still nursing at 12 weeks, it means there is a feeding problem.

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