How old were your kittens when the breeder let them go?

[Andthereshewas77]

Is 14 weeks excessive?

I feel I'll be missing out on the socialising.
This is a kitten that lives with two litters - what do you think?

Ours was 16 weeks but Dh thinks he'd been returned because he'd had two different names by then.

Our latest one we got when he was 8 weeks old. I later found out she was a vet.

We had one about 5 weeks old but he was almost feral and his mother had been killed

Toots was 6 weeks. Most people on the selling sites are selling them from between 6-8 weeks.

So as soon as mum stops feeding and they are fully weaned

16 weeks. Immunised and neutered. Would have been 14weeks but we had a pre booked holiday so left CatBaby 'boarding' with the breeders for 2 weeks to minimise stress on her. She's a Siberian and therefore slow to fully mature. She's 18mths now and still very kittenish.

13/14 weeks is recommended by GCCF. Rescues, moggies etc will probably let them go earlier but if you are buying a pedigree and they will allow to leave before their 2nd vaccination earlier than 13/14 weeks that should be an alarm bell as a decent breeder shouldn't be letting them go.

13 weeks for the pedigree, should have been 14 really but DP (who was the one wanting a cat) had mixed up the dates and booked the wrong week off work.

I think the breeder was so happy he's booked a week off work to settle in the kitten that she just went with it TBH, lol.

My wee moggy was 6 weeks, I'd have left her longer, but I was taking her from a neighbour's accidental litter, that was when she was giving them out and no money was changing hands, and as she was coming to live with another cat I figured she'd get any socialising she was missing that way.

He was ready to go at 13 weeks but we went skiing so we picked him up a week late. He settled in straight away, with impeccable manners and was totally bomb proof as his lovely breeder's house had cats, dogs and kids running about! 6-8 weeks sounds terribly young to me.

It is young to me - but, sometimes, Needs Must.

It is really young, I'd not take one that young through choice, mine spent the first month pretty much attached to me as she just cried if I left her...she was on solid food and using a litter tray, but mentally she was way too young.

She's a pretty well adjusted adult now, but she needed way more looking after as a kitten than my other one and she had the older cat and a cat friendly dog to mix with as well.

Pedigrees came home at 12ish weeks. We had one at 5 months as the breeder was going to keep her for breeding but changed her mind. She was a Maine Coon and matured slowly just like the Siberians and Norwegian forest cats.

I wouldn't take one as young as toots ever again tabulah

She was really settled as a kitten though. Nothing wrong with her. But her attitude now is pretty nasty and I wonder if being with her mum for a few more weeks might have knocked some manners in her

Is toots spayed?

Not yet

She's 9 months old now and we still haven't done it. But she hasn't had a season yet either

We got ours too young, we were lied to and told they were 8 weeks but they were more like 6 I felt so guilty and our girl is so clingy with me it's unreal, they are 4 years now but she still likes to suckle on my dressing gown. I feel like such a bad cat mam

MCat, not sure. He was DH's cat, who became our cat. He was the last of the litter to go apparently, (B&Ws often get overlooked.) But most likely 8-10 weeks. He suckles the end of his tail sometimes.

Little M was 13 weeks, strolled out of the carrier as if he owned the place and just wanted to play. For hours. Slept between us that night, and refused to give up on making friends with neurotic MCat who hissed, growled and swiped at him relentlessly. Now they're like proper bro's, having the occasional squabble, usually caused by Little M being an arse, and not respecting MCat's space.

I think it's good they're kept with their mum until the 13 week mark, they're bolder and less likely to be frightened by their new surroundings/family than a younger kitten. All depends on the circumstances of course - mum cat might reject them, or need hand rearing etc.

That explains the temper on her then Soub. She needs spaying or a good seeing to.

Our retired queen tried to get our neutered Tom to mate with her before we spayed her, he'd mount her & bite her and then stop when it became apparent nothing was going on in the trouser department. Then she'd attack him.

It was pretty brutal.

The instinct was in him despite him never mating.

Her temper will go when she's spayed.

Hope so.

I seem also to recall TCN talking about the rescue's experiences with unspayed females in closed environments. It wasn't pretty.

Book her in directly.

The correct term is "psycho" apparently.

😳

Just remember, if she beats up your new cat for not having lead in his pencil it's just her sex drive talking.

It's not her being a bad cat per se.

Psycho fits very well actually....

She's got a new favourite torment.

If I get up in the night to go to the toilet she will follow me downstairs all lovey dovey (downstairs toilet) and then as I go to go back upstairs, she swipes my foot everytime it lifts up.

Bloody hurts and I'm covered in scratches.

Try to chase her off when I go up but she's sneaky and determined

They seem to often dab bare heels or ankles going up the stairs. (If you watch lion cubs in a pride, you'll sometime see them trying this with the pride lions - who generally respond in a very tolerant fashion. I've sometimes wondered whether it's related to 'bringing down' a prey animal eg by catching their back leg and putting them out of balance.)

Not what you need at 3am though..

Well No.

3 months is quite normal from a breeder, and much much better for the kitten.

Kittens when with their mum don't actually wean until they are about 9 weeks old.

They are still incredibly cute little bundles of fluff at 3 months, mine have all been this age and never had any issues with toilet training, setttled in very quickly, still small enough to try and run my leg.. in jeans it was quite cute when wearing pyjamas bottoms not so much :)

Secondcat used to run up people's backs and then sprawl on their shoulders. (It led to some very bemused plumbers etc etc.)