When can kittens be rehomed - age?

[Whyismycatanasshat]

Hi; advice needed please - I’ve always rescued the old boys of the cat world so am out of my depth here!
A semi feral cat is living around the farm at the back of us; she has 7 kittens which are living under our shed. We have taken to feeding her wet pouches and she comes when called at dinner time.
She does not belong to the farm or any of our neighbours and is a young thing.
She brings/calls the kittens out to see us and we have been playing with them for some weeks.
Neither she nor the kittens are the definition of feral. She comes into our conservatory and suns herself if the doors are open.
We have homes for most of the kittens but I do not know are what age they can be separated from her - can anyone advise?

We plan on having her spayed - again, no clue about doing that - when and do I just ring our vets?

Asshat cat of my username is now 15 and unconcerned by this interloper.

Thanks.

I was told 8 weeks, but I could be wrong.

10 weeks + ideally,mum can be done when kittens 10 weeks too.

It is 8 weeks. They need treating for fleas and worms too if you’ve not done this, as well as Mum. I would get her spayed ASAP after they are 8 weeks as she could well have mated again so already be pregnant.

Nearer 13 weeks. With cats it's as much to do with learning appropriate behaviours as to do with weaning.

The reason why feral kittens are sometimes rehomed earlier is so they don't learn the feral behaviours of their mum, and have so much fear of humans, but it looks like you're already doing all the handling of the kittens so that won't be a problem.

CPL gave me a dkitten at 8 weeks old..

Like PP said, 12 to 13 weeks is better - DKitten (now DCat) came to us at 12 weeks old and he was/is super chilled yet very confident and well socialised. The breeder explained to us that at 8/10 weeks the mum is still really involved with the kittens, but by 12 weeks had massively backed off from them, so it does seem a more natural time to remove them.

I'm not sure if the advice would be the same for a semi-feral cat though.

Aw you are really kind! This cat sounds like a stray rather than feral, if she's letting you touch her kittens. A feral cat would attack you. I think if the kittens are being socialised to get on with humans 12 weeks is good, I think cats are more streetwise and confident the longer they stay with Mum. I also think they get on better with unrelated cats. Are you tempted to get the advice of a rescue for rehoming outside of your friends/family network?

@RoobarbandCustud The farm
think she is one of a litter they’d seen around the place; possibly the runt, There’s only 6 houses in our area so I’d be surprised if she’d been a stray who had wandered so far as to find us; she’s definitely a young cat.
I spoke to our most local rescue (we live rather rurally) and they said they’d probably and maybe find them homes; which made me a little concerned. I will go down that route if necessary but they’ll not be going to that rescue - I’ll cross the border and take them to a blue cross if I need to.

8 weeks minimum but having had an 8 week old kitten and a 12 week old one, definitely wait until they're 12 weeks.

Definitely at least 12 weeks if you can - they should be completely weaned by then and toilet trained.

8 week old kittens are still v small and will probably be still feeding from mum a lot.

7 kittens is a big litter - you and the mum have done really well to keep them all alive 😀

How lovely, I know someone who's just done the same! Stray arrived on her back step in winter pregnant. It took to living under a section of the house and then had her babies there. Friend gives two meals a day and momma brings her babies with her to feed. Momma cat has now been to the vet for a check up and spay, and one of the cat's kittens had been identified as being particularly close to momma so will stay... only it's been 5 months now and I think my friend is finding it hard to move in to the next step!

Sorry, further help needed!

I have probably got homes for them all now (maybe not the runt, I might end up keeping that one… and Mother cat) but I need to know if I should get them to their new homes all in one or staggered?

I mean do I remove them all at once or one or two at a time? I’m worried Mother Cat would hide the rest if one or two went at a time.

I was hoping to keep them all until at least 10 weeks but family friends who are keen on having two are driving back up from their holiday via our house to collect them when I think they’ll only be 9 weeks. They are a very experienced cat family who will adore these little ones so I’m keen for them to have them.

Thank you for all the help! I am so out of my depth!

Ime dcat won't give a shiney shit they have gone!!
As a bf dm myself 10 weeks is well time to be fed up!
Especially when they will have lots of tiny teeth!

12 weeks is the ideal age. 10 weeks at a push. Definitely NOT any younger than that

Had cats for over 42 years

My only experience is at 12-13 weeks, at which point the mum is very happy to see the back of them!

Cats aren't very good at counting, so do not notice if they go in dribs and drabs.

I am really surprised by this. I’ve always had rescue kittens (never from a breeder) and Cats Protection/RSPCA/local rescue have always been very happy to rehome at 8 weeks. I would’ve thought the priority here is getting Mum spayed as chances are she’s pregnant again. An early enough spay to also terminate a pregnancy is in her best interests. Wait too long and it’ll be too late and she’ll be giving birth to another litter.

Good article here OP that discusses it in detail. Short answer is: 12 weeks is ideal. 10 weeks is a bit young and will distress the kittens/mum. 8 weeks is very sad but often used by heartless kitten dealers / shelters with no capacity to keep animals for long.

www.pets4homes.co.uk/pet-advice/how-old-should-kittens-be-before-they-leave-their-mother.html

I’m a bit disappointed there are no photos…. I thought there was a rule about that? 🤔

We got our 2 at 8 weeks

@EthelbertaChickerel Cats aren't very good at counting

This made me laugh, especially the 'not very good' like they CAN count but just might get numbers in the wrong order or miss them out.

Sorry, not helpful but no photos? 😣

My DMIL had a lovely cat who was a great mum, but was always moving her kittens round to find the best spot possible.

Once she had put them in their new bed, she would always go back and check that she hadn't left any behind.

When I commented on this, DMIL said it was because they can't count past 2-3 so always check!

And yes OP - there is a charge of a photo for our advice 😹

I have finally had an email from a previously mentioned cat focused charity; they have said to get them homed and away from the mother at 8 weeks. No mention of spaying her either. That’s disappointing.

Our vet was a bit vague; about 10 weeks she thought; but couldn’t tell me about spaying and how long the mother cat would be away - is it a day job and “home” or overnighter - bearing in mind she’d be released straight back into our garden where she is living for now but regularly hops the fence into the farm at the back.

I am so sorry I haven’t paid the cat tax; I am hesitant to post kitten pictures as they’re heavily featured on my social media as part of my quest to get them loving homes and it would be quite identifiable as me; I am afraid I like my Mumsnet vague anonymity! I should have name changed! But they are lovely, you’ll have to believe me on that one!

I agree 8 weeks is a bit young ideally but if she’s still living outside the priority would be to get them to new homes so she can be spayed before she gets pregnant again. Unless she can stay in your conservatory with them a bit longer?

@Univalve unfortunately she won’t bring the kittens into the conservatory; I’ve tried coaxing her a lot as we have a few badger and fox around the place but she remains under the shed.
Bloomin’ cats! As stubborn as stubborn can be!

Anyone want to guess the age?

This may or may not be one of the kittens. It might be an image of one very similar, or not.