Weaning Age: Everything You Need to Know

Weaning age

This is a crucial question to ask yourself before getting your companion, because the psychological wellbeing of the kitten or puppy depends heavily on it. Legally, an animal cannot be sold or given away before the age of 8 weeks. Many people wrongly take that age to be the point at which a kitten or puppy is weaned, but that is a serious mistake. There are two phases to weaning:

– Dietary weaning (0 to 8 weeks)

– Psychosocial weaning (8 weeks to 13 weeks)

The weaning phases

Both phases are essential if you want a companion who is comfortable in their own paws.

Dietary weaning covers two stages. The first lasts four weeks; during it, the kitten feeds, sleeps, and begins to observe and discover the world around them. Then comes the vicarious stage, in which the kitten watches their mother and starts to copy what she does: grooming, eating, using the litter tray, hunting, and so on.

At around 8 weeks, psychosocial weaning begins — the phase in which the kitten or puppy socialises and learns to live in society. They learn limits (in play, in hunting, in nipping, in scuffles) and the rules of feline or canine conduct, and they learn how to behave both with other species and with humans. This learning period ends between 11 and 14 weeks. Generally, 13 weeks is taken as the end of this compulsory “schooling”.

What to know about weaning

There are far more studies on the importance of weaning at three months for kittens than for puppies, where the literature is thinner. Many cat breeders let their charges leave at three months, whereas for puppies that remains the exception. Still, it is worth asking why things would be any different. In short, it is essential that your future companion stays with their mother until the end of their socialisation phase. Any breeder or rescue that cares about the wellbeing of their animals will take that final phase into account and will tell you when your future companion is ready to join your household.

As you can see, we place a great deal of importance on weaning age. You can find our adoption conditions here: Pomsky adoption conditions

Loving them means protecting them and thinking of them first — so be patient.

Article written by Charlotte HAMEL