Age to adopt out kittens

Ever heard of a kitty that sucked things, or had separation anxiety, or bit peoples hands or didn't play with toys or other kittys or had other strange behaviors or health issues?
One reason for these things is that people are taking kittens from the momma too soon and adopting them out. For the best adjusted and healthy kitten don't adopt your kitten before its at least 8 weeks old.

There are a number of opinions about how old kittens should be when they leave their mother and move into adoptive homes. Kittens who stay with their mother for the first 10 - 12 (a minimum of 8) weeks are less likely to have certain health and behavioral issues. It really is best if mom cares for her kittens until they're at least 8 - 12 weeks old, at that time they're less fragile, they've been eating solids for awhile, they won't usually suffer from low blood sugar (can happen quite suddenly in kittens 9 weeks old or younger and it can be fatal if not discovered in time) and by the age of twelve weeks kittens have learned some basic etiquette in terms of how they socialize with other cats and their humans.

Kittens should stay with their mother for at least the first 8, preferably 12, weeks of their life, this is when they're growing most rapidly and they also learn important skills including how to defend themselves, how to stalk, pounce on prey, how to interpret feline body language and respond appropriately. Kittens learn about things like litter training, using scratch posts and how to interact politely with people from their mother. The first 12 weeks of a kitten's life also include milestones such as potty training, eating solid food and learning skills like bite inhibition and not using their sharp claws/teeth on any part of any person's body which are important parts of their socialization and will help to ensure that these kittys are as adoptable as possible.

Kittens with these strange habits, behaviors or health issues can cause their adoptive family to euthanize, abandon or take their cat to a shelter. In North America the leading cause of death in cats is euthanasia due to behavioral problems. Some problems are completely preventable by properly allowing kitten to stay with the momma cat for proper socializing when they're tiny kittens, others undesirable behaviors are prevented or reduced in intensity by spaying/neutering kittens as early as possible,