The kittens are just about two months now.

[conuly]

I have no new pictures, sorry.

Many people would be giving them away at this point. Indeed, if you go to google you can find people recommending that YOU (not mama - you!) start the weaning process at one month or six weeks so they're totally off milk and ready to be parceled out at two months.

As I've said before, I don't think is the right thing unless you have a compelling reason to do so, say, if they're unhealthy. I say that the kittens really *need* an additional month with their mother and littermates to be emotionally healthy, and also physically healthy. Weaning is the most dangerous time in the life of a kitten, after all.

The thinking person might ask why humans have to force wean kittens. And the answer is that kittens really don't wean that early. These guys still nurse several times a day. Even in just the few hours between me dropping Eva off at school and then going to pick her up, Mom calls for her kittens (she calls for them! this isn't even bringing up the times they go to her as she's resting and start nursing on their own!) about once an hour or so. Maybe a little less often.

As a kid, I wasn't a very responsible cat owner. I don't like this fact, but it's the truth. However, the one benefit of this is that I had an opportunity to observe a lot of cats, and many many litters of kittens. The truth is that kittens don't, on their own, leave their moms at three months either. I call it an "extra" month, but only because if they get any bigger than that they get increasingly difficult to give away. On their own, they still have occasional nursing sessions another month after that (more if there's a new litter around, as many cats would nurse any kitten who comes by (a helpful bit of information if you happen to find an abandoned newborn, they're much better off if you can get them with another mama cat, even if the kittens aren't the same ages), and I actually had one who managed to keep it up until he was a year old that way!) and don't generally leave home until they're grown or very nearly. Females especially might NEVER leave if their mother and other older cats don't mind their company. Even the males sometimes stay in the whole group, or go and come back.

I'm still giving these kittens away at three months (or at least, I'm starting a real push then. I hope to give them away fast!) In the long term, it's better if they get given away, and that gets hard once they're big.

The point I want to make here, and reiterate until it sticks with all of you :) is that there is simply no good reason to separate a healthy, non-feral kitten from its mother and littermates at two months. Even if it's a feral cat situation and the mother WILL not stay around so you can socialize the kittens without separating them, it's better to keep the littermates together as long as possible. (Feral kittens are a difficult situation, as it's generally best for them to socialize with humans, and their mothers won't like that at all. But if you can convince the mom to stick around for the free food, you may be able to make it work that the kittens aren't separated as soon as they could've been. In truth, I'm inclined to think that the best thing for feral cats is to get them fixed and then let them be. It's easier than trying to acclimate them to people, anyway.)

People do hand out kittens at that age, but it's not developmentally appropriate, and it's not at all good for them. Psychologically it's like tearing a kindergartener away from her family and giving her to a new group of people. They still even have all their baby teeth! And it's not even good for their health. Kittens who are weaned too early are much more prone to disease, and being so little they're less able to fight it.

And six weeks, as you hear sometimes, is absolutely not justifiable at all. Anybody who suggests that to you, ever, you have my permission to smack them hard on the head.

Comments

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

We captured mei mei at two months, at least that's what the vet told us she was. We saw her mother and would have given anything to be able to take her too, but she ran away. Actually we went back a few times to see if we could find her. Mei mei still licks our underarms and kneads on us, and we are certain these are related. We lavish affection on her, and we still think of her mother.

[conuly]

Probably. Abrupt weaning at an early age does tend to lead to these things, and feral cats, if they become attached, often become OVER attached to humans.

But in some cases, there's not much you can do. I restrict my advice to the subject of people with cats in a safe situation.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

I have a four year old female who is STILL WITH HER MOTHER (I have both) who does the kneeding thing on us. In fact, all of my cats do it. I don't particularly think this has to do too much with early weaning as it does with "heheheh i'm marking you and you think its cute. good human."

[conuly]

It depends on what's going on. Kneading is normal. Kneading compulsively not so much. Kneading and chewing holes in your shirts? DEFINITELY not.

[conuly]

Also, obsessively nuzzling into your armpit, or trying to fit into your ear? Not normal. Some shared grooming is normal, but doing it all the time in odd locations of the body? Not so much.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

Eh, Nommers does the ear-thing/snuggle thing. She's well over a year old...and also still with her mother (different mother/daughter set).

[jan-andrea.livejournal.com]

We had a kitten who was sold to us at 6 weeks... she wasn't even litter trained yet. She slept with me so that I could wipe her down when she pooped. Gross. Definitely taken too soon.

[conuly]

Yes, the delightful smell of kittens - milk, cat food, and pee because they just aren't great at cleaning themselves yet! Mom does it for them still.

[conuly]

Incidentally - and this isn't an attack on you! - you bought this kitten. If this kitten is a purebred instead of a mixed-breed cat, you should only buy from reputable breeders. Anybody selling them at six weeks is, by definition, not reputable. Cats in these places are ill-treated, bred far too often for their health, and even if you get them at a good age have often been so badly raised that they have serious psychological problems. (Not to mention potential health problems due to poor feed, close and dirty quarters, or genetic issues that aren't being properly screened for.)

In the future, if you hear of anybody selling kittens at that age, you should report them to the appropriate authorities because the odds are good that there is a lot wrong with their organization.

(Again, it's the use of the word bought that started this. People who just happen to have kittens are usually thrilled if they can give them away!)

[jan-andrea.livejournal.com]

Well, for what it's worth, I was 14 and it was my mother who bought the cat ;) She bought from a private breeder, not a kitten mill, and had seen the premises before buying.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Nature designed all baby mammals to nurse as long as their Mamas will let them. Nature also designed them to grow teeth when they're ready to eat solid food, which is a big inducement for their Mamas to wean them then. Kittens are adoptable when they're comfortably living on cat food and reliably using the litterbox, not before.

Good idea to find homes for them while they're still tiny, and let their 'intended humans' come to visit and bond with them until they're big enough to leave their Mama.

[conuly]

Oh god, if I could do that...!

But it's hard enough to give away kittens in the normal way, unfortunately.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Maybe put out the word, and their pictures, around the school, with the date they'll be ready to go, and an invitation to people who want to pick their kitten out in advance to call for a viewing? I'd say start advertising now - might find better owners that way, than people who adopt 'impulse kittens' they don't necessarily know how to care for properly.

[conuly]

Well, what I've done is asked the cat lovers on the block to ask around. It takes a little longer that way, but I trust everybody they pick because I know they're not inclined to give a kitten away to just anybody.

[velvetchamber.livejournal.com]

Once upon a time a queen decided she would live with us. We advertised to see if someone had her, but her owners never called (feral cats are rare in Iceland) so she became our cat. She obviously wandered away from home when in heat, as she turned out to be pregnant. She was also so hungry when she showed up on our doorstep that she ate boiled carrots. She had a litter of five kittens and we had three euthanised just after birth, so she never missed them. The two females that remained were with us until about four-five months old, then we gave them to a farm where they proved good mousers.

The other cats we have had have all come to us around four-five months old or as adults, and the same goes for most other cat owners I know. A little kitten is not something normal to have unless your queen had one. I had no idea either that anyone would even think of weaning a kitten.

[conuly]

People think that their pet cats (they don't think about hunting!) won't "bond" to them unless they're taken from their mothers at an unnaturally young age.