Taking Mamma Cat Away From Kittens Too Early?

I currently live in Connecticut. In a lil over 1 week I will be moving to California. I will be driving for about a week with my 2 cats in the back of my car. I know that a long car ride like that is very stressful for a cat, but I'm extra  worried because one of my cats is a nursing mommy. This is her second litter. She had 4 babies and 3 survived (1 was still born ). When we leave they will be exactly 7 weeks old. I know that kittens should be 8-10 weeks when they are taken from their mother. The kittens are pretty healthy and are starting to eat wet food. They are having a lil difficulty with potty training. After I leave my parents are going to take care of them and find homes for them. 

I'm worried that the kittens may not be fully ready to be without their mother. Only 1 kitten really eats the wet food. Another licks it and the last one wants nothing to do with it. None of them have had any water. My mother insists that they will be fine. (She is driving out with me to help and then flying back and my dad/ bother will be the ones taking care of them that week and that worries me). We have already pushed back the trip a few times for unrelated reasons. Originally the mom was gonna stay behind as well and I was gonna fly back during the summer to pick her up. My mom says that it's so close to when they kittens will be ready that we will just take the mom and that she refuses to take care of her like she said before. I am unable to push back the trip any longer for work reasons =/

I am also worried about the stress it will cause the mother. She is a very shy/ skittish cat. She has already had a litter and they were given away, but they stayed with her for about 4 months before we found homes for them. Between the stress of the week long car ride and being taken away from her kittens I am very worried about her.

Please, any/ all help and advice is very much appreciated.

While not ideal, you certainly can wean the kittens; but, you need to do it now, before the mom is completely out of the picture in the event one of the kittens doesn't do well.

Go ahead and set the kittens up in their own room with their own food/water bowls, litter boxes, etc...
Mom can still have visits; but, you need to start weaning her from her kittens as well.

You can get some kitten KMR formula and start to introduce the kittens to it. They need to be lapping the milk out of a sauce at the very least before mom leaves. Also, with the kittens not having access to momma 24/7, they'll be more likely to start eating on their own. Once kittens are lapping the formula, you can move forward with making a slurry with the formula and canned kitten food (pate).

If at the end of the week the kittens are not eating/lapping formula on their own, a decision will have to be made as to whether or not to leave momma and whether the kittens will need to be bottle (or syringe) fed in the event momma goes with you and kittens are not eating adequately on their own.

Thank you for the help, I will definitely do that.

Do you think that there will be any negative effects on the mother cat for being separated form her babies? 

You know your cat better than any of us, so that is a question to ask yourself. How was she when her other kittens were gone? How long between the first and second litters?

I think it's certainly possible that she will mourn them being gone; but, how much varies cat to cat. I've had momma cats that would have done well being placed in a home with one of their kittens and I've had others that were more than happy for the kittens to be out of the picture.

I think the perfect solution would be for her to slowly wean the kittens over the next month or so, be spayed and recouped and then join you in your new house. But, if you have been told that she cannot stay with your parents, then you have to do the best you can. So, see how the next week goes.

I agree with CatPacks advices.   Proceed with the weaning as well as you can yes.

Not any ideal situation, but still possible to do the best out of it.  Or perhaps, the least bad.

Try to get a Feliway spray to have with you on the ride.  It will calm down the things somewhat.

You wil have them in a cage, or loose in the car?  A dog cage is a good tip.   Or a big Pet Taxi.

Have leash on them in the car, so you do have control of them during the stops.  Or at the very least, have collars with your mobile cell phone number on.

Good luck!

I'm just wondering why you have ruled out taking the kittens with you in the car? If you truly can't you can't but this seems a workable solution to me.

This is so distressing! I see your dilemma. It would be best to keep the kittens with their mom, then everyone would be happy. Mom will continue to feed them and clean them since they are not eating food or using a litter pan yet. I would bring them in the car all together rather than leave them with your dad and brother. Bringing them like the other poster said is the perfect solution. Please let us know what you decide. I think you would feel better about things too if you had them all with you. Do you plan to spay mama after she weans this time?

I'd suggest taking the kittens away one at a time during the coming week.

Remove the one that eats well first, wait a couple of days and remove the next one. Keep working on getting the other two to eat from a dish.

This will allow her milk to decrease slowly, avoiding the discomfort of sudden weaning.

I've raised kittens as young as 2 days old, and the kittens will be fine as long as the people caring for them know what to do. Write the instructions out in detail. Make sure they know to call you if they have any question. Maybe tell them about this site so they can come here if it's urgent and they can't reach you.

The mother probably won't be too distressed, especially if they are removed one at a time.

You might also want to get some calming aids for the trip. I sure wouldn't want to travel that far with cats! They hate travel and usually let you know. Hopefully after the first day they will resign themselves to it.

Good luck!

My opinions about this is going to be a bit different.

At 7 weeks, the kits are completely able to eat fully on their own without nursing too.

I highly recommend buying Babycat by Royal Canin. It's the one that says mothers and babies, NOT the one that says kitten. Babycat is teeny tiny bits of high protein, excellent dry food, the best in my opinion, by a mile too.

If they have a dhish available at all times, and fresh water, they will eat it.

I would also feed one meal a day of canned, fancy feast kitten is fine.

They need to be using the box faithfully by now, so the reason I know of when they are not is they are not contained, or have too large of a space and the box is not right under their noses, literally.

Mom should NOT be allowed to visit them, as mom cats do mourn for them, as they will for her, but it's only for a very short time. Out of sight is a MUCH faster way, and is SO much less hard on all of them. In a matter of a few days away from her, they will all be over it just fine. If she sees them or vice versa, it only prolongs it and she will keep producing milk.

Mom needs to dry up for about 10 days and then MUST be fixed, unless you plan to continue allowing her to make babies, which honestly goes against what we all feel here since there is such an out of control overpopulation and the more born, the more will be killed due to lack of homes.

It is unhealthy for mom and babies the more litters she has.

So PLEASE get her spayed ASAP.

The car trip.

Cats will adjust to the car, but a big help in this is to contain them in something larger than a carrier, unless it's a big one. Place a small litterbox, food, water and a bed she likes in there with her, and cover it up with a sheet except for the front.

If she cries, cover the front as well until she can relax after maybe a half a day or a day.

Fresh water is very important during the trip too. You don't want any dehydration happening, and suggest feeding canned food only during the trip.

Thank you all very much for your advice. I kept the kittens separated from their mommy half of the day today so that they would be hungry and put out wet food for them... without mama around to feed them, they ate it right up and even drank a lil. I think they will be fine on their own. At this point im more worried about the mama. She is very over protective of her babies, but she should be fine... We had planned for her to be fixed. when she first got pregnant my mom was watching my cats... i was going to have them fixed, but had to stay in cali for 6 months and when i came home she was pregnant x.x... we got the father fixed and were waiting for her to recover to get her fixed... then lots of things happened and that kept getting pushed back and she got outside =/.... we have one of the kittens from her last litter and he is being fixed the week we get to cali (his dad is staying with my mom)... and will get Melanie fixed asap... im not sure exactly when she can be, but i'll ask the vet when we get Fluffy fixed.... I feel awful for her getting pregnant again =/....

again, ty everyone for the help 

You are making good decisions! Thanks for the update and best of luck on your car trip!