When to introduce litter of kittens to household dogs & cats

Question
Hi Jessica!

I brought home a very pregnant & homeless Calico cat that blessed us with a new family of six kittens.  They turn 3 weeks old today (8/15/06). The Mamma is very people friendly and allows me to handle the kittens just fine.

At what age can I introduce them to our adult and well trained dogs? They are very good with our other cats.  My biggest concern it the Mother of course, I don't want her to abandon the kittens.

Thanks in advance for your advise.

Shari in California

Answer
Hi Shari!  Thanks for taking in this mama in need.

The sooner you can start introducing the kittens to the dogs, the better.  As long as the dogs are very well-trained and don't have any negative history with cats, now is fine.  They're very open to change and socialization right now, but that will start changing in a couple of weeks.  As it is now, you will notice some hissing and some posturing when you introduce them.  Two weeks from now, you're going to have kittens that are completely terrified of the dogs!

Mama isn't going to abandon the kittens once they're introduced to the dogs.  It may happen with some species, I'm not sure.  But it doesn't happen with cats.  I would, however, not introduce the mother to the dogs until she's weaned the kittens.  She's much more likely to be overly aggressive toward the dogs while she's got a young litter to protect.  So take the kittens from mama to introduce them to the dogs.  A three-week-old kitten is just fine to spend 15 minutes a few times a day away from mom for some socialization.