how long do cats nurse?

[NinaBruja]

my cat's remaining litter of 3 six month old kittens is still trying to nurse...

is this normal?

[Talula Fairie]

I was always told about 2 months is the average for cats. But I guess it depends on the kitty mama! I guess you have an extended nursing kitty on your hands

[NinaBruja]

i think that might be my dd1's doing
she was horrified of the idea of the mama wanting to wean and would hold her down and pet her while the kitties nursed... but that was a few months ago...

i think at 6 months now theyre getting weaned. its kind of funny because theyre bigger than mama now.

[mom0810]

OH MY GOSH! I don't know about cats, but puppies are done at like 5 or 6 weeks. Your cat is a sweetheart to put up with them that long. My girls (dogs) would have run them off by now.

[phatchristy]

That's totally normal!

Honestly, there are no issues with them nursing at all, they'll be healthier too in both the short and long term.

The mom will stop them when she no longer wants to! Queens LOVE nursing their babies.

[Talula Fairie]

Originally Posted by mom0810

OH MY GOSH! I don't know about cats, but puppies are done at like 5 or 6 weeks. Your cat is a sweetheart to put up with them that long. My girls (dogs) would have run them off by now.

Pretty sure it's roughly the same for cats. Usually it's 6-8 weeks, but every cat is different I 'spose.

[phatchristy]

Originally Posted by Talula Fairie

Pretty sure it's roughly the same for cats. Usually it's 6-8 weeks, but every cat is different I 'spose.

In my experience human interference is what causes early weaning like that . Same way with human babies LOL. If you start separating mom from babe, introducing solids early, etc. it leads to early weaning.

If you let them do their own thing, and don't push wet foods/weaning foods on them they will nurse closer to their natural instincts.

[Talula Fairie]

Originally Posted by phatchristy

In my experience human interference is what causes early weaning like that . Same way with human babies LOL. If you start separating mom from babe, introducing solids early, etc. it leads to early weaning.

If you let them do their own thing, and don't push wet foods/weaning foods on them they will nurse closer to their natural instincts.

I was told it's the same in the wild

But you certainly could be right!

[phatchristy]

Originally Posted by Talula Fairie

I was told it's the same in the wild

But you certainly could be right!

If you do a search in the pets forum you should find an old thread about nursing queens...my experience with the 'extended' nursing with breeding queens is fairly common.

[greenmagick]

I had a friend who rescued a momma and a couple of her babies. They nursed for months and months, and one of the males actually was still nursing around 9 months....totally for comfort

[Minky]

I've heard about extended nursing in cats, but our mamacats must have read "The Case Against Breastfeeding," because one weaned at about 7 weeks and the other at 8. Mama started forcibly pawing them away when they wanted to nurse. One of the mamas did have some medical issues that had caused dehydration and low supply, but still... Poor kittens.