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How soon can a kitten leave its mother

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I'd never have another cat after losing willow it was horrible

 

 

awwwww hun dont let it put you off,

ive lost 3 cats

1- died of cats aids, i blame myself for not getting him done, he was my first

2-got killed by a fox, i found her and it wasnt pretty, i was gutted

3-got run over on my rd, i found her on way to docs, she was completly flat, i sat next to her on rd and just cried

 

but then again i have had my male charlie for 7 years and hes been ran over twice, he both times he survivied but was very close to death, he my baby and i will be inconsolable when i loose him, and i have grace, and elvis too, love em alll and miss my other babaies

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I got Billy at 5 weeks, his mother was a farm feral and had been run over by a tractor. The week before I got him he was living in a cardboard box on somebodies balcony, being fed adult food and no water.

 

I took him on and got him eating properly and he's turned into a beautiful loving cat, with health problems. He has had bladder crystals that nearly killed him when his kidneys started to fail and he is seriously fat, a matter we've tried to control with the assistance of vets to no avail. He's also very prone to infections as his immune system is so weak.

He's nearly 10 now and has cost me the earth in vet bills, all money well spent. His social skill are strange, he's become very humanised as I was his mother and he learned behaviours from me rather than his mum and brothers and sisters.

I wouldn't be without him, and he hates being parted from me to the point that he wont eat.

I've just got a kitten from medusa and the difference in behaviour between him and Billy as a kitten is amazing. Harry is a cat through and through, where as Billy was and is a baby.

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The older a kitten is the better, if you take one too young you run the risk of it not being properly weaned and not tolerating food well.

 

I have just fostered a tiny kitten of 5/6 weeks with the most terrible diarrhoea, she was skin and bone, after a vet visit by her new owner the vet thinks that she must have been passed on at 3/4 weeks of age, she has since been quite ill, but thankfully at around 8 weeks is now better and eating normally.

 

I currently have a kitten who is around 9 weeks now, I have had her here since she was 7 and the same sort of problems.

 

Please don't take a 6 week old kitten no matter how cute, I know that they pull on the heart strings but it really is cruel to them, they still need their Mum, and although they may be eating food the Mum will still be feeding (now and then) and keeping them clean.

 

The kittens also need to be with their Mum and other siblings till much later for social and emotional development, animals taken from their family too soon tend to be the ones less confident and sociable with their own kind, and the ones that bite/scratch too hard in play.

 

Would the owner keep the kitten till 10 weeks if you paid for it's upkeep perhaps?

 

And yes please have the cat spayed at the right age, there are just to many cats and kittens needing homes, please don't add to the problem, people want kittens for the "cute factor" (I don't mean you don't take it personally) then when they pass that stage they kick em out and don't want to know....I would be heart broken if My cat had kittens and that happened to any of mine because of my selfishness at liking kittens!

 

 

I am that new owner and the vet thinks she is 7/8 weeks now and I think Its much better to have a kitten leaving its mum around 10/12 weeks. Tawny our kitten has had some problems due to her poor start in life and i would never want to put another kitty through that. She has just started eating kitten food and has fresh chicken and fish . She has goats milk to drink which has built her up

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Thanks for all the advice - much appreciated. My friend had a kitten from the same mother and I think it was only 5 weeks old (which makes me think that the owner won't want to keep mine too long), but she's eating kitten food, drinking and using the litter tray no problem. I still think I'd like mine to stay with her mum until she's 8 weeks old though.

I've got my own business and work from home, so she (her name's going to be Molly), won't be on her own - I'll probably end up with her on my desk!! I can't wait - I've really missed having a cat around for company cos my man works nights. My last cat died a couple of years ago at 19 years old, so I must have been doing something right!

Josie

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I have been fostering (but she's staying here forever, let's be honest) a semi feral 5-6 week old baby (Aimee), who came to me with cat flu and all manner of bugs. No idea who the mum was, no sign of the siblings either, she was found outside huddled next to a wheelie bin on a freezing cold October morning in an area where a cat-killing dog roam the streets - it doesnt bear thinking about .

 

In normal circumstances, I would not recommend anyone should adopt a kitten so young but we had no choice with this little mite - she needed medical treatment and plenty of TLC - and had obviously been on her own outside for a while - she had a hearty appetite, in spite of her illness.

 

She is still a scrawny little thing and a weakling - it's going to be a long time before she is up to full strength and so far, she's not been well enough to be vaccinated or chipped. She's had a poor start in life and she is very wary of people - she isn't as fussy or loving as (all but one of) our other cats - she's more like our old moggie Minty, who was born to a semi-feral cat as a single kitten - she's always been a scaredy, timid moggie, terrified of her own shadow and reluctant to mingle with our other cats. Fortunately, Aimee is a feisty little girl, so there's some hope she won't be anti-social like Minty, just never much of a lap-cat.

 

She is a sweetheart, but 5 weeks is really way too young for a kitten to leave its mum - up to as old as 12 weeks, kittens learn a tremendous amount from their siblings and mum, and are far less likely to have health issues or personality issues if allowed to stay with mum and co up to that age.

 

The other little nutcase I'm fostering, Elle, is the other extreme - bouncy, big and bold, the last of a litter of three- she needs to learn some table manners, but she's going to make someone very happy when she does get adopted.

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