will they eventually wean themselves, or will our mama cat just finally say no. they are 9w old & still nursing...lol ~ mama has definitely cut down, but i see them nurse a few times day. they eat & drink as well.

i was reading online & saw talk of weaning at 4-5-6-7 weeks...lol, guess our mama cat is ebf her babies ;)

also ~ i thine we have decided to keep all these lil fur balls...does anyone know how the relationships will be btw them? will they still cuddle up & sleep close, or will they all become independant cats?

will the mama always see them as her babies, or just other cats..kwim?

thanks

Our baby kitties are 7 weeks now, and three have gone to their new homes. We are keeping one, and the other is going to his new home in a week or two. The two that are left still nurse occasionally, but they were all eating at the dish, and drinking from the water bowl, along with using the litter box. Our vet gave us the go ahead to place them last week. Anywho, They look so funny nursing now, they are so big! I am curious if she will eventually tell them no, or what. Now, she still calls them over, and they lay down & munch. The two curl up together on a chair to sleep. They are so cute!

Actually studies show in the wild that feral cats nurse til 12 weeks usually, some 16. (o: So it's not bad, it's likely a good thing yours are nursing long. I know recommendations by vets and the AAHA are usually 8-9 weeks as studies show that long is best for babies, and like humans, longer is fine too, as long as Mom is healthy, not too thin and not becoming aggravated by them. They usually let them know though. LOL.

Just be sure you spay and neuter early. Brothers and sisters, and Moms and son can produce some very, very deformed babies despite others who claim they have had sucess with it. I know you don't want more anyhow, but just be extra cautious since the risks are increased with in-breeding, and they can get pg as early as 4 months now. If you can, alter them at 4 months, or do the boys at 3-4 months (their surgery is easier and less costly) and do the girls at 4-6 months. :)

We had a fantastic mama cat who gave birth to 4 kittens and then adopted 3 more (all found individually). We kept one of the adopted kittens and she nursed him for about a year! He was bigger than she was and was still nursing. At that point I doubt she was making milk, but he nursed all the same. Anyway, I don't know why they ended their nursing relationship, and it happened gradually so I don't think any of us noticed when it stopped.

Kimberly

My vet said not til 6 months when we brought our kitten in for his shots. Maybe I should check around for someone who does earlier for them.

http://www.hsus2.org/sheltering/library/early-age.html

Many groups endorse and recommend early spay/neuter for many reasons. Most speak of very early ones, like 7-9 weeks, but I don't advocate that early unless you may not have a chance to get them altered later, like a feral or wild/stray. Otherwise I think the older age of 6 months (which was just a "hey, lets say 6 months" type thing and is based on no medical reasons or supporting evidence) is too late for some cats who go into heat at 4 months, but don't think you need to spay and neuter as early as 7 weeks if you have said kitten safe at home and will be able to alter later. I'd recommend, from my experiences, 12-16 weeks. They recover faster, they bounce back like nothing happened in most cases, and no risk of early heat or pregnancy, or marking with males. I'd find one that will do it early than 6 months. I see a lot of pregnant cats by then, and a lot of males already competing for the females by spraying and marking. )o:

I've noticed that they bounce back better before they go into heat too many times... so the sooner the better... 4 months was when we did one of our females and it was fine but the other one we waited till she was 6 months and she found it much harder and was uncomfortable for longer and she had been in heat before... you certainly don't want any little kittens running around so I'd get a second opinion from another vet....

my cat nursed her kittens until they wre 9 months to a year..only occasionaly. and in my experience littermates will stay pretty close..or they will at least havea best friend in the litter lol. SPitfire's kittens all paired off into bestfriend pairs :D

I wouldn't worry about how long they nurse. They'll just do it till she gets peeved with them. They're her nipples and she won't share them any longer than she wants to. About the ferrel cats, I think that has a lot to do with malnutrition and access to edible food for the kittens. We've stolen a litter of kittens from our neighborhood cat before at five weeks. At that time they were at 2wk old development. And we fed the mama cat, she was just so scarce because of her kittens she never made it out often. (by the way they were up to speed and totally weened off the the bottle in three weeks flat. They ended up total people lovers and went to great homes).
Once when our cat Molly had kittens there was one left. Ralph was his name and our neighbors, Steve and Steve, took him. Well unfortunately one Steve was allergic so they brought him back. He was about 10 wks then. Molly would not be bothered by him. All he wanted was to nurse. She'd have nothing to do with it. So...
He found his uncle Butch and nursed on him. Butch tried to avoid him at first, but he wasn't so bright and gave in. lol
Another time my friend found some kittens outside, destined to be ferrell so she bottlefed them. Pretty soon they were nursing on eachother's "parts". We always tried to stop them, it was really a sight. :rolleyes: