My 13-week-old kittens won't stop nursing. How do I wean them?

Question

My 13 week old kittens are still nursing. They are both eating solid and wet food, but very picky. Keeping the kittens seperate from mom is hard..they tend to meow a lot if they are separated for too long. I've even bought a sort of "suit" for mom to block access to her nipples, but then it's clear she doesn't like it and won't eat as much while wearing it. What should I do? Should I just allow the nursing to continue it's natural course? Pet's info: Cat | American Bobtail | Female | unspayed

Penelope Graben, DVM · Accepted Answer

Hello there, Kittens are typically weaned at 8 weeks of age. Kittens that are weaned later in life may chronically suckle on objects through their lifetime. Sometimes this can become an obsessive behavior, lead to ingestions of non-food objects, or can cause injury to another pet. In the wild, most kittens would be quite independent from their mother already. Chronic suckling can only happen in captivity when they are kept together longer than they normally would be- being kept together means there is no natural end to the suckling. I'd recommend keeping them strictly separated for a few weeks to months to try to stop this behavior. They will likely become anxious and vocal at first, but it will be for their benefit in the long run. I hope this is helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

My 13-week-old kittens won't stop nursing. How do I wean them?

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