How long should kittens be drinking from the mother?

Answer 1

4 weeks is the absolute MINIMUM you can ween a cat. This is only suggested if mother is sick, her milk has dried up, or if the kitten is being pushed out. Any time before then, a cat will need to be bottle/tube fed. Typically, the best time to ween a cat is about 8 weeks. If you do it too early or too late and the cat could develop a fixation on nursing. This could cause it to nurse on other animals, like dogs, or on blankets or fingers. It's a BAD thing. It's cute, but there's a lot of drool and it gets old very fast.

Answer 2

Kittens can drink from the mother as long as she lets them. As with human babies, mother's milk is best. Mother's milk not only gives kittens 100% nutrition, it also has factors promoting strong immune-system development.

When kittens nurse they knead the mother cat's breasts with claws unsheathed to stimulate milk flow. As the kittens grow their claws grow, too, and get firm. When the kneading become too uncomfortable the mother cat will wean her kittens on her own.

While the kittens are still nursing you can start putting wet cat food in front of them at around 6 weeks of age.

Most kittens are fully weaned by 12 weeks, which is the youngest that cat breeders will release a pure-bred kitten. By 12 weeks the kittens gradually have become accustomed to eating food from a bowl.

By 12 weeks a kittens also has had time to learn how to be a cat from both the mother and from playing with siblings. Kittens roughhousing together is natural, and teaches them that teeth and claws can hurt when they play too rough.

Answer 3

four weeks old, and is usually completed when they reach eight to ten weeks.