How long do mother cats stay with their kittens? Is it normal?

Weaning is typically started by the mother cat at 4 weeks of age and will leave them more frequently to hunt and bring them food. It is CRUCIAL that you never move stray kittens unless you know that the mom is completely unable to get to them. If she cannot find them, she will call to them and eventually give up. All that being said, some mothers are just more nurturing than others so maybe she truly is neglecting her responsibility. In that case, discuss with your vet how to properly finish weaning the kittens and care for them. Best of luck!

At this age most kittens begin to stray away from mom and become more independent, which they should be doing in order to build up necessary skills for survival. I would allow the kitty to venture from the mama cat and she will eventually get used to the idea of her going astray. You can also allow mama cat to go with the kitten a few instances, so that she can see that Shunu is safe and free from harm. This is quite unusual for a mama cat to miss her young at this age, but I suppose you have one dedicated mama cat on your hands. : ) Best of luck and take care.

Yes, that is normal. Some kittens are more independent than others and they are old enough to begin exploring the world on their terms. Generally the cats will work this out amongst themselves. I do recommend to have the mother spayed in six weeks. Spaying cats prevents many health and behavioral issues. It also helps to control the problem of pet overpopulation. One female cat can have almost 30 kittens in a year. That is a lot of cats! I hope this helps.

New moms should only leave her kittens for a few minutes at a time for a visit to the litter box or to eat and drink. The older her kittens, the more time she will spend away. During the first week of life, new mom cats should only leave her babies for a few brief times each day. During their first few days of life, not only are the kittens both blind and deaf, but they are dependent on their mom to regulate their body temperatures, for food, and even for stimulation to be able to potty. It is best if you confine her to one small room with the kittens and be sure keep her litter box, food and water near her babies. She should not have free roam of the house. If you find that she is not properly caring for the kittens you may have to remove them from her and bottle feed them yourself. If that is the case she may just not be cut out for being a mom and should then be spayed so this does not happen again. I suggest you get a gram scale and weigh them daily. If they are gaining weight each day then they are probably just fine. If they are not gaining or they are losing weight you will need to take them away from her. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

It's fine that Rocky is growing bigger than his mother and father, this can happen. It isn't normal, however, that he is still nursing on his mother, and at 10 months of age, he should be fully weaned. I would completely separate him from his mother so that he can be weaned and only eat kitten food. During this separation, his mother's milk will dry up as well. It can take at least two weeks for her milk supply to dry up, and I would keep them separated for at least that long. I hope this helps!

As long as the kittens are growing, seem healthy and are not meowing in hunger it is normal for the mother to leave them periodically. If you are concerned about weight gain or health of the kittens you could consider supplementing with kitten milk replacer. I would it advise this unless you are concerned however. Once the weaning process starts you can also provide kitten food for them.

Kittens best stay with their mommy until they are 12 weeks old. Their mother will teach them what is good to eat and what not, how to hunt, and what to hunt safely, how to groom themselves properly, how to use a litter box, what animal is dangerous to them, how to carefully negotiate this world. The kittens will also need their mother still for psychological comfort, even suckling after being weaned is comfort when something was scary. Staying together with their siblings will teach kittens social skills, they get to play-hunt, play-fight, and have fun with other kittens, it keeps them fit, helps them to develop coordination and muscles. So if you can find homes for them before they are 12 weeks old, tell the new owners that they will get well socialised fit kittens that have no problems, rather than kittens who will cry because they miss mommy and the siblings, do have accidents, and show behavior such as cloth sucking, etc.