Alas, weaning

Kittens seem to thoroughly enjoy nursing, and so does a mother cat—up to a point, anyway. The mom cat seems to have an innate sense that the nursing has to end at some point and that the kittens have to “leave the nest” and start eating solid food.

Around the third or fourth week after birth, the mother actually starts to move away from the kittens when they try to nurse. There isn’t a “cold turkey” sort of break, yet the kittens begin to get the idea that mom isn’t quite as thrilled with nursing them as she once was, and that it is time to grow up and try something besides milk.