When should a separate kitten from mom?

[Alee26]

Hello everyone. This is my first time posting. For several months, I've been feeding a feral cat (my kids call her Sprinkles). A month or so ago, two 6-7ish month old kittens that seem to belong to her showed up as well. Two weeks ago I managed to TNR the tortie kitten. I think the gray and white may be male based on size and face, but of course I don't know for sure. This cat is much more shy.

I am on vacation from work this week and my plan was to TNR Sprinkles and/or the gray & white kitten...but then Sprinkles showed up with a new kitten that I am guessing to be about 3-4 weeks old . Now I don't want to set the trap to catch the gray and white kitten because if I catch Sprinkles instead and have to release her, I'm afraid I'll never be able to catch her again.

So, I am wondering how do I know when I should try to separate her from the newest kitten to TNR her and take and rehome the kitten? I believe there is only one. Tonight I found them together in the heated cat house on my porch. Sprinkles runs away as soon as anyone opens the front door but the kitten stayed in the house and I was able to gently touch it. What should I do from here? I really want to spay her before she has more kittens!

Thank you!

 

[Alee26]

Sorry, title should read "When should I separate...", but I can't figure out how to edit my post.

 

[fionasmom]

How Old Is That Kitten? Kitten Progression: At-a-Glance

Welcome to The Cat Site! This chart from Alley Cat Allies may help. I have rescued kittens of that age who were abandoned and assumed responsibility for them, but have never separated them from their mother intentionally. Hopefully others will come along to give you an opinion on this.

 

[Willowy]

Sometimes you have to separate feral kittens sooner than is optimal. Grab that kitten the next chance you get! It's their best chance at surviving, being fully tamed and finding a nice indoor home. And you might get lucky and be able to use the kitten to catch/tame Sprinkles, and then they can be together again.

They're usually around 5-6 weeks when the mother starts bringing them to the food dish so the kitten should be old enough to eat solid food by now.

 

[Alee26]

How Old Is That Kitten? Kitten Progression: At-a-Glance

Welcome to The Cat Site! This chart from Alley Cat Allies may help. I have rescued kittens of that age who were abandoned and assumed responsibility for them, but have never separated them from their mother intentionally. Hopefully others will come along to give you an opinion on this.

Thank you for the helpful chart. The kitten is still a bit wobbly, so I really don't expect it is more than 4 weeks.

 

[Alee26]

Sometimes you have to separate feral kittens sooner than is optimal. Grab that kitten the next chance you get! It's their best chance at surviving, being fully tamed and finding a nice indoor home. And you might get lucky and be able to use the kitten to catch/tame Sprinkles, and then they can be together again.

They're usually around 5-6 weeks when the mother starts bringing them to the food dish so the kitten should be old enough to eat solid food by now.

Thank you. I'm very hesitant to separate it from Sprinkles at this stage. It is still quite wobbly. I saw it making attempts to eat the wet cat food I provided this morning but it didn't seem very successful. I believe that they will continue to return to the cat house and I can work on handling the kitten if that is advisable. I think I'd like to wait another week or two before I try to take the kitten away. I'll plan to trap Sprinkles at the same time.