It's the mental health of the kittens in question when taking them away too early from their mom. Mom teaches them what kind of behavior is ok, i.e. no biting or scratching while playing. Mom also teaches them to hunt, for toys if an indoor only cat, but she does it anyway to make sure her kittens will survive. Breeders keep their kittens for 12-16 weeks for a good reason. The 16 week mark is usually because of vaccination schedule, but some kittens need to stay with their mom a bit longer.
A kitten will survive without it's mother if taken care of properly, but you can't teach him/her how to be a cat. For example my last litter had a kitten who I had to bottle feed for the first 4 weeks of his life because he was too small and couldn't make it alone because the bigger siblings were pushing him away from the mom's nipples. However it was the mom who taught him to use the litter box and clean himself and act like a cat should. He is doing fine now. He was 13 weeks old when he moved to his new home. Mommy was still happily nursing the kittens at that point (and few weeks later too).
80% of the kittens/cats I've met who were weaned way too early (usually around 8 weeks) are biters and scratchers. They also seem to have more litter box 'accidents' and they are very clingy or the exact opposite, incredibly shy. For 10% I can't really tell because they are mostly outdoors and the other 10% seem to be fine.
This could also be because of high inbreeding (cats breeding outside with each other every year for generations, whether or not related), but my vote is on the early weaning/lack of proper socialization.
*edit to add*
1-4 weeks: the mom feeds the kittens. Kittens don't do much else at that point because they can't keep themselves warm yet so they need mommy to keep them warm.
4-6 weeks: kittens start to explore a bit more, they start to get interested in solid food and drinking from a dish. Litter box is tested.
6-8 weeks: play fighting between kittens start to actually mean something and their eye sight is getting better (it won't be fully developed until they are 2 months old). Litter box habits should be learned fully around this time.
8-12 weeks: kittens have grown full set of baby teeth, scratching post manners come slowly when mom shows them what to do. Mom starts to 'tell' them when they are playing too rough, and starts to bring prey/toys to them in order to stop nursing and kittens to learn fully eat solid food and get it themselves if outdoors (if outside, they usually stick with mom a bit longer, around 16 weeks until able to hunt properly). You will notice that they don't treat you as a toy anymore once the mom has, if needed, showed them that it actually hurts what they were doing.
A kitten will survive without it's mother if taken care of properly, but you can't teach him/her how to be a cat. For example my last litter had a kitten who I had to bottle feed for the first 4 weeks of his life because he was too small and couldn't make it alone because the bigger siblings were pushing him away from the mom's nipples. However it was the mom who taught him to use the litter box and clean himself and act like a cat should. He is doing fine now. He was 13 weeks old when he moved to his new home. Mommy was still happily nursing the kittens at that point (and few weeks later too).
80% of the kittens/cats I've met who were weaned way too early (usually around 8 weeks) are biters and scratchers. They also seem to have more litter box 'accidents' and they are very clingy or the exact opposite, incredibly shy. For 10% I can't really tell because they are mostly outdoors and the other 10% seem to be fine.
This could also be because of high inbreeding (cats breeding outside with each other every year for generations, whether or not related), but my vote is on the early weaning/lack of proper socialization.
*edit to add*
1-4 weeks: the mom feeds the kittens. Kittens don't do much else at that point because they can't keep themselves warm yet so they need mommy to keep them warm.
4-6 weeks: kittens start to explore a bit more, they start to get interested in solid food and drinking from a dish. Litter box is tested.
6-8 weeks: play fighting between kittens start to actually mean something and their eye sight is getting better (it won't be fully developed until they are 2 months old). Litter box habits should be learned fully around this time.
8-12 weeks: kittens have grown full set of baby teeth, scratching post manners come slowly when mom shows them what to do. Mom starts to 'tell' them when they are playing too rough, and starts to bring prey/toys to them in order to stop nursing and kittens to learn fully eat solid food and get it themselves if outdoors (if outside, they usually stick with mom a bit longer, around 16 weeks until able to hunt properly). You will notice that they don't treat you as a toy anymore once the mom has, if needed, showed them that it actually hurts what they were doing.
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