Adopting a male kitten, ~5 weeks old?

Ok. The advice that you receive from people about waiting until 8 weeks to take the cat away from its mother is consistent with the rule of thumb thinking about DOMESTIC cats. The same rules do not apply to FERAL cats. The reason that people say that 8 weeks is the proper amount of time is because that is the time frame in which kittens learn social skills from their mother. But, think about it: do you want a kitten that you plan to keep as a house pet being socialized by a feral cat whose socialization will include teaching the kittens to avoid humans? Because that's what will happen.

With regard to separating a kitten from a feral mother cat, the window of opportunity is generally between 4 and 6 weeks. If you wait until after 6 weeks, you will likely have difficulty teaching the kitten to trust (and thus form meaningful bonds with) people.

You should just take him now. If he is able to eat solid food then he has begun the weening process and should be good to go.

ADD: For what it's worth, you do not need to bottle feed a five week old kitten. If it were less than four weeks, you would have to consider that option, only if the mother weren't present. And, on another note, if the mother is human avoidant, bringing it inside with the kittens would be worse for the kittens in the long run in terms of taming them as it would stress the mother, and that stress would be transfered to the kittens. The mother is not automatically going to become "tame" just because you bring it inside. It will still teach the kittens to be human avoidant.

Adopting 2 is not more work than one.... same amount of effort involved, and you can work with them together on training.

Five weeks is too young to take a kitten away from it's mother.... 8 weeks should be the minimum. He may be eating some dry food, but if Momma is around, he's still nursing.

If there's a change of catching the Mother and all the kittens, and bringing them in until the kittens are weaned -- doing a TNR on Momma, and finding homes for the other kittens, that would be the best way all around (other than finding a home for Momma too, but that would be much, much harder). But if you can't, if you're putting food out regularly, chances are neither Momma, nor the kittens are apt to go too far for the next could of weeks, at least one more week with Momma is really needed.

Sounds like you'll make a great home for him! I have to male cats and one female cat. I actually prefer males over females (although my female is pretty sweet). I don't think you'll have to worry about the potty training things. Cats are different creatures. You pretty much show them where the litter box is a few times and they get the hang of it from there. They aren't like dogs as far as potty training goes. You won't hurt him at all by taking him home early. He will be much better off in your home rather than outside fending for himself. Kittens are usually sent to their new homes at approximately 8 weeks anyhow. As long as you are giving him love (holding him, petting him, playing with him, etc) he will be a happy cat. He will groom himself just fine. But do note that if he's a long-haired cat then you'll want to stay on top of helping him by brushing him frequently. Two cats is definitely a great idea. It is always easier to start them out young if you're going to have two at a time. They just get used to each other and things are easier that way. That's not to say that you can't have just one now and then adopt another one later. Cats can be finicky. Depending on the cat(s) they will either love each other or tolerate each other. And that's fine, either way. Have fun with your new kitten!! =]

It's too young at five weeks to be taken from its mother. The best thing to do is to bring the mother and all the kittens into a shed and outhouse, feed her well so she has milk for all the kittens and also begin to gradually tame them before they are rehomed at 8/9 weeks at the earliest. Contact your local Cats Protection Society for information about taming, rehoming, fostering cats and kittens and any other problems you have.

This kitten is way too young to be leaving it's mother! Give it the best chance and keep it with Mum puss until at least 8 weeks old. Poor little thing.

WHOA - the kittens are living outside????

There is so much wrong here that I don't no where to start and there is more information I need to correctly advise you as to what you have to do.

Is the mother with the kittens or are they on their own?

These kittens, with the mother, if she is present, should be taken inside immediately! If the mother is not present, the kittens still should be taken in. If they are not fully weaned, they need to be bottle fed.

They need to be in a safe place, not outside, under a bush, where other other animals cat get at them.

They need to be taken to the vet, now, for a full exam. They probably have fleas, they may have worms - a vet needs to check them over.

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I cannot possibly cover all the issues this question brings up!

Please email me at hee.chee@yahoo.com or go to my profile (click on my name at the top left hand corner of this answer - on my name) and send me a message. If you use the email link on my profile, I will not see your email address.

For me to be able to reply to you, if you use the link on my profile page to email me, you will have to change your Yahoo Answers information to allow people to email you.

If you email me at hee.chee@yahoo.com, I'll be able to reply to your normal email address.

Seriously, there are so many issues here that I can't begin to cover them in this answer.

Better yet, I'd prefer to go over it with you on the telephone but I doubt that you will send me your telephone number. If you will email, one way or another, so that I can reply to you, I'll send you my cell phone number, my wife's cell number, and my wife's business number (she owns and operates the business).

Please, contact me just as soon as you can.

These kittens are not in a tenable situation and they need to be moved inside immediately.

If their mother is not present, you need to determine if they should be bottle fed.

Oh, there are so many things here - email me, please. I am very worried about the survival odds for these kittens.

Please email me.

We have a web site about feline diabetes at http://www.sugarcatsimon.com/

The site is not up at the moment - the "under construction" page that is there explains why the site is not up right now - it should be back in about a week.

There are otheres email address for me and Simon (our first diabetic cat) at the bottom of the "under construction" page.

Please email me.

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5 weeks is too young. 8 weeks is the recommended age to separate a kitten from it's mom.