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Good and bad news. The good is that nice people have adopted both of my cat's kittens together without splitting them up.

The bad: someone told me 6 weeks was old enough, but now I found out 8 is the actual minimum suggested age and some people siggest more than that.

The kittens have been eating solid food and using a litter box for about 4 days now. Will they be ok having been adopted together, even though they're just six weeks old? The new owners have taken care of kittens in the past, and they thought six weeks would be ok.

Zaralynda
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J.Todd
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  • If they eat on their own and know how to use the litter box it's safe to assume they will be fine. Prob a bit of momma withdrawals, but fine health wise. – Just Do It Apr 08 '16 at 14:22

2 Answers2

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As you've subsequently learned, 12 weeks seems to be the recommended age for separating kittens and puppies from mama.

However, given that it's over and done with, and the kittens seem to be doing well, I wouldn't worry about it. A few decades ago, 6 weeks was widely accepted as an OK time to adopt out kittens and puppies. And although we now know that it's better to wait a little longer, most of those kittens and puppies did just fine. The fact that both kittens are staying together will probably do a lot to offset the stress of leaving home a little early.

mhwombat
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There is a big debate on when kittens should leave mum, and generally I believe it works on a cat by cat basis. I have previously worked in a rescue shelter, and as long as kittens are toileting normally by themselves, and are fully weaned onto solid food, then we would often start splitting them from mum over a two week weaning period at around six weeks of age.

As long as the kittens are putting on adequate weight and doing the above mentioned toileting and eating activites healthily, then there will be no real health detriment. Moving into a new home at six to eight weeks of age can have a very positive effect on a kittens social development. During this period of their life they are very open to experiencing and accepting new things as the norm, so a new home will be more easily accepted by an 8 week old kitten than one rehomed at 12, as this one may have already gone through a lot of it's social development and find all the new sensations overwhelming and quite difficult to cope with.

From the sounds of it, your kittens will be doing fine. The big deciding factor we used to use is whether or not the kittens were vaccinated, usually the first dose should be given no earlier than seven weeks old, so any time after that if the kitten is healthy should be fine.

Ashley Hetherington
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