Kitten to young for adoption?

5 weeks is WAY too early!

Good breeders (and people who are not breeders too) keep kittens to about 12 weeks old. 10 minimum.

It is vital because at 5 weeks he has JUST started eating, and should no be weaned yet. He needs to be with momma cat so she can teach him how to use the litter box, how to act towards humans, how to behaive. Many people come on here with young kittens who were taken from mom too young, and they want to know how to get the kitten to stop biting, peeing on the floor, ect.

Good luck, I hope this person will keep him longer... if not, he may be better off with you anyways.

IMO This is not a good breeder - I would run away from these people, keep my money, and find a good, reputable breeder. This is probably a backyard breeder who only wants the cash and doesn't care for the kitten at all, if she did, she would never let the kitten go this early. Five weeks is trouble.
IMO 10 weeks at the least 12 better.

Yes its far too early. They nurse up to 8 weeks old, they are not even eating solid food very well and they certainly are NOT litter trained at 5 weeks old. But under the circumstances, get the kitten out of the situation.

Do you have other older cats or kittens for this one to learn proper behaviors? If not, I strongly suggest you get a kitten about 6 months old (spayed/neutered) to help your kitten develop proper behaviors. Otherwise you will have a lot of social and maybe physical problems in dealing with a kitten this young.

Those of us who have raised cats a long time and dealt with newborns could help the kitten adjust with not too many problems.

You will have to get canned kitten food, KMR and mix it up to a thick soup mixture. And confine the kitten to one room with a litter pan, food, water for at least a month till he's more reliable with the litter pan - this can take a month or so before you allow him more free running in the house.

I never allow my kittens to have free range with no supervision till they are about 4-5 months old.

Sounds like a backyard breeder to me. How did you find her? I would not get that kitten - you are running the risk of a lifetime of behavior problems. Also under these circumstances, I would highly doubt the quality of these kittens - meaning: you would also risk a life time of health problems.

I know the feeling of wanting to save the kittens, but by doing so, you help her, and help to perpetuate this situation. I would not promote her business by buying a kitten from her, plus put myself in a risky situation.
I have a cat from a bad breeder, and let me tell you, it is no piece of cake - and I only deal with the health issues, by the way... You are setting your self up to double trouble.

Just my opinion for what is worth.

ok... When you said you couldn't pay her for another 2 weeks, I assumed she was a breeder, as that would be a high sum of money...
Yes, in this case I would go ahead and save the kitten from this crazy lady IF:
You have the financial means to properly provide for the kitten. Be aware that a $25 kitten can get pretty expensive sometimes... Please do not take me wrong, but if you can't afford that much now, I would be seriously considering this whole thing...

Vet care, food, money for spaying/neutering, and money for emergencies... Just keep that in mind before you take that baby on...
But again, yes, if you can afford it properly, yes, I would go to its rescue.

Please read this link and the weeks after it ... your kitten will be roughly 7 weeks when you get it ....http://www.kitten-rescue.com/four_to_five_weeks.html

Fyi- I have fosters on craiglist that are spayed/nuetered with shots and 6.5 months old for 25$

Do you mean the woman is getting rid of the mother cat now? She can't even wait until the kittens have gone to new homes? Five weeks is definitely to early to take them from their mother.

I got my first kitten when she was 7.5 weeks old. I had no idea that it was too early. I haven't had any major problems with her health or behavior but there were things I could have done better if I'd known what to look for. I now have six cats and Shareena is certainly the least well behaved. She has a tendency to bite (not hard enough to break the skin) when she's done playing instead of just walking away. She also bites my ankles when she thinks I'm too late filling up her food dish.

Goldy was abandoned near my house when she was 6-7 months old and pregnant. Reading through the notes I made at the time, two of her kittens ate their first solid food the day before they were 5 weeks old and the other one the day after. And that was just little nibbles. Goldy didn't start seriously weaning them until they were about 8 weeks old, so they weren't completely weaned until closer to 10 weeks.

If the mother cat is already gone I would say take the kitten as soon as possible. Leaving it with the other pregnant cat is not going to help if the kitten is not being fed properly. It doesn't sound like this woman would bother hand feeding the kitten.

I hope things work out for you whatever you decide to do.

In most places there are laws that dictate a minimum age for "selling" kittens and puppies. Can you report this person to the proper authorities? As you now know this person is very unreasonable to try to place these babies even before weaning is done.

It is so tempting to rescue animals from crappy breeders - be they "professional" or "hobby". In the end though it enourages these crappy breeder to do it again.

Consider getting a kitten from a reliable shelter or rescue group. The initial cost may seem higher but will probably include shots, a vet check and probably either spaying or nuetering.

Okay, this right here tells me that this clearly wasn't an accidental litter. She is doing this on purpose. Why is she even asking any money if the kitten hasn't caused any costs to her? I do not think the price is there to rule out non serious buyers because she definitely isn't seriously taking care of the kittens herself if she's giving them away insanely young! (Reputable breeders do NOT let the kittens leave before 12 weeks, no matter purebred or not).

Never take an animal out of pity. I would stay away from this person and find a kitten elsewhere from someone who takes proper care of their animals.

5 weeks is too young and there's no way that the kitten is eve weaned properly.
i'm not a proper rescue person but i've taken in a few litters without mothers. i have not been able to wean a kitten fully before 6 weeks of age.
if you get a kitten too young they have issues (pm me if you want details of what i've experienced) and they will probably get sick while they're still young

It's very sad These kittens needed to be fostered by someone that knows how to raise a litter I too would NOT take this kitten. Get one from a foster/rescue situation, you will be SO much happier! I got my kitten at 12 weeks; she was with her siblings til then! I think they had left their mother a little earlier (maybe when they were 8 or 10 weeks, as they were s/n at 10 weeks), but the litter stayed together after that. She was well socialized, cared for and healthy. That's the kind of kitten you want to get! I feel sad for this litter and the litter to come. The best we can do is educate and not pay these people for their kittens (and puppies) ;(

Five weeks is quite young, but it's better that the kittens with you if it doesn't have a mother or siblings any more. Just keep an eye on it to make sure it can eat properly, etc. Most of my fosters stay with me until 8 weeks, then stay with each other at the shelter until nine while mom gets spayed, although they pretty much don't nurse at all at that point...
Anyway, good luck!

If she's getting rid of the mom cat, ask if you can have her too so she can finish nursing the kitten. That is one crappy excuse for a breeder, though, to be letting kittens go at half the age they should be.

I would take the kitten, but I helped raise a litter from 10 days once. Do you have someone who can coach you, like a friend who's a serious cat person, or a local rescue group? If so, I'd recommend taking two kittens rather than only one, so they'll at least have each other to play with and won't be as awfully lonely. What I'm getting at is, take the kitten, but only if you're really sure you'll be able to take care of it right. It'll need special food, kitten formula, socialization, and training (like litterbox training) that would be a lot easier with the mom cat in the picture.

She IS a breeder, just not a responsible reputable breeder. She's quite obviously running a kitten mill. You said she has another pregnant cat besides and that she "always" sells the kittens at 5 weeks.

I agree with Carolina, this person is bad news and people like her are one of the reasons the shelters are full to bursting and thousands die each day.

Be careful with Craigslist kittens. The woman I got my Teddy from told me he was 6 weeks old. I knew something was off when I saw how little he was. I brought him straight to the vet who determine he was about a week old and very sick with a URI. Little ones are pretty expensive if you have to get kitten formula for them. Plus there is the cost of shots and neutering.

When I got my other cat, I adopted him from an animal shelter. His adoption fee was around $85, but it included his shots, neuter and a vet check up exam. If money is an issue for you, you may want to adopt from a shelter.

Alright, I'll try to answer as many of your questions as I can

You can try calling your shelter or vet about inexpensive exams in your area...they should know.

Some people have different oppinions on when to neuter- usually 4-6 months is what I do, before they're old enough to produce offspring, but some people do do it younger.

When you get him you'll get an idea of what type of food he's used too...mixing dry and wet is good, but only do a little at a time because it will get soggy and he won't eat that much.

Make sure that whatever litter you use is Non-clumping- this is very important for kittens, because they like to lick their paws, and if they lick their paws with litter on them, it can clump in their stomach.

Good luck with your new baby!

I promise I'm not picking on you but those are not generally good foods. Unidentified byproducts, corn, dyes and hormones, etc.
Some good ones are Innova, Innova EVO, Felidae, Taste of The Wild, Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul, etc.

Other than that I agree with everything.

Good luck with your new kitten, Suri.

Most vets give free exams to cats adopted from SHELTERS. Getting a kitten from a kitten mill....I don't think you are going to find any vet wanting to reward you with a free check up. Of course it's worth a try.

I agree with the neuter advice for a male kitten, and I agree to not use clumping litter.

The foods mentioned are not good quality brands. This kitten may still need KMR. I recommend whatever you feed him, to add KMR to his food for a few more weeks (kitten milk replacement) Be sure to know what the "breeder" is feeding, she should in fact give you some of whatever food the kitten is now eating, and gradually transition to a better food.

The litter box should be placed somewhere the kitten has easy and quick access to it.

The kitten is going to need a ton of attention from you.

Best of luck with him, and definitely get him to the vet right away. He's going to need to be de-flead and dewormed I haven't the slightest doubt about that, and expect an URI too.

Try this place http://www.vetsforless.com/pricing.html Its the only low cost exam I can see for non shelter animals, they also do spay/neuter but I don't know any vets who will do a speuter at 7 weeks

Since you've decided on taking him home with you, if you can afford double the food and vet visits, ask if she'll give you a discount on a littermate...two is barely any more work than one at that age (able to eat mushy food with KMR mixed in from a shallow bowl) and he'll be much less lonely. It seems to help them adjust to a new place if they can do so while chasing and pouncing each other.