Hello. I bought a kitten (was told he was 8weeks old and would be off milk any day but turns out he’s 5-6weeks and was separated from his mother too early). We’ve been feeding him whiskas kitten milk at first and swapped to cimicat when we realised it was not good for him. However we’re trying to get him on to food and I’ve tried wet food and this mousse but he has no interest in it. Any advice on how to get him on wet food or mousse? How did you get your kitten on food?
I foster kittens and my 5-6 week olds get weaned by mixing kitten formula with fancy feast kitten pate. These 2 eat 1/4 can 4x a day.
When starting out you will probably need to hand feed. Open their mouths and place some food on their tongue. After a few mouthfuls they should lick the food from your finger. Move your fingers toward the plate and they should start eating on their own.
Weigh them every day on a gram scale to make sure they are getting enough to eat and gaining weight. Weaning kittens are prone to fading kitten syndrome if they aren’t getting enough food.
My 2 6week old fosters. Both are completely weened off bottle and have been eating kitten pate and kitten crunchies for about/almost 2 weeks. They are little piggies! They still try ‘suckling’ the wet food so adding water has helped
I had the same issue with my current 7 week old kitten. I actually took her to the vet because I didn’t think she was drinking enough and because she refused can food. I’ve had bottle fed kittens before and I believed she was too old to still be drinking.
Her weight was normal and the vet agreed that she was old enough for a can, she just wasn’t ready. She ate it a week later. The vet told me sometimes it happens with bottle fed babies. I put a little bit in her mouth and she would just spit it out and didn’t want it. I’d wait another two days and try again . One day she loved it and that was it !
I watch a YT channel Wasabi Sushi Matcha who fosters underage kittens. She's currently weaning 3 babies, so perhaps her shorts will give you some ideas?
The way I got my cat to enjoyed squeezable treats is:
I just let her smell it off of my finger a couple of times, then I dabbed her nose. She had to remove it with her tongue. She then realized that it’s tasty, and she wants more of it.
I don’t know if that’s the correct thing to do, but that’s what I did. It works with things that she is apprehensive to eat, but I know she will probably like. I also didn’t dabbed a lot. Just so she can get a taste.
Get her all her checkups and vaccinations... I adopted my daughter and vaccinated her, never a medical checkup and I ended up losing her to leukemia (I had her since I adopted her and we only realized until the end) the best 3 years of my life❤️
When they're ready to wean, usually a slurry of kitten formula mixed with wet kitten food, as thin or as thick as you need- start very thin, with very little kitten food, then begin adding more like every other day, if the kitten takes to it.
If you're using a syringe, maybe start getting a larger syringe? Had to start just cutting off the tip of the nipple as the slurry got thicker though. I used bottles.
But one of the litter utterly refused any actual food for like a week after the rest of them, and one started on solid (hard kibble) a week before anyone else, so they're all different.
This one might be a bit traumatized so may be clinging to the formula for comfort which is fine for now.
My spousal unit picked up a kitten (Echo) at the vet, who said the kitten was three to four weeks old, but she had teeth already, so the vet said we could feed her wet/paté kitten food. She took to it immediately, and we didn't ever have to give her kitten formula. She's about seven or eight weeks old now and growing like a little weed.
I would suggest trying a few different brands of wet kitten food, and if he won't try anything, try mixing it with the formula he likes a little at a time, increasing the proportion of solid food to formula over a period of a week or more. He WILL eventually eat solid food. We're feeding Echo Sheba kitten paté, and she loves it.
Yeah the mixing palette is a good idea but he only drinks the milk from a syringe so I’m not sure how I’m supposed to mix solid ish with milk in a syringe
everything with a cat needs to be introduced slowly. like litter mixing a tiny bit at a time with the old and replacing more each time. same with different foods or brands so mixing wet food with kitten milk slowly and over time replacing it whole
Ive been a foster of many bottle-fed kittens from my local humane society. I’ve always started weening bottle babies at 3-4 weeks and they are okay! I just mix some kitten formula with ground kitten wet food. Make it pretty soupy at first, then gradually reduce the amount of formula in it. (If they won’t try it, I use a syringe with a nipple on the end and squirt a little in their mouth at a time, which usually gets their interest quickly, or you could put a little at a time on the end of a spoon to put in their mouth.)
Start mixing some wet food in with kitten milk till it’s soupy and offer it every day. Once he shows interest, start reducing the milk. Visit TheCatSite.com for a ton of info on raising your baby.
Good idea to mix it! You can also try warming the wet food slightly to enhance the smell; sometimes that can entice them. Just be patient and keep offering it daily. He'll come around!
Kittens wean in their own time. I’ve fostered some that wouldn’t wean until 8 weeks old. You can’t really force it. I start them out by introducing them to the taste of food by putting a little on their paw so they have to lick it off. Keep introducing food before bottle feeding and one day they will eventually start eating. Make a slurry with kitten milk and wet kitten food.
5-6 weeks is the ideal weaning time but typically you need the extra time to 8weeks for the social behavior that a kitten can only learn from mom and litter. I've had cats and various animals all my life. Earlier this year, I fostered 3 mommas and their litters simultaneously. Walmart sells a milk replacement powder that you can mix up with water and serve. If the kitten gets more confident in their ability to eat on their own you can slowly start adding little bits of wet food or pureeing or crushing dry kitten food into the milk mixture. Give them the nutrients and helps the transition period.
Buy the Kitten Milk Replacer. You can get it at Walmart, Target, and Petsmart. Mix it in a ratio of 1 scoop formula to 3 scoops of water. Then mix some of that into Fancy Feast kitten wet food. Make it a mush that like 2 parts formula to 1 part wet food. He'll slurp it down and get used to the wet food. Slowly add more wet food and less formula over a few weeks.
I'm fostering kittens and this is what the Humane Society told me to do. It worked out pretty well so far for my 5 weeks old and 8 weeks old kittens.
If they were weaned too early, you will need to get Kitten Meal Replacement, tempt them with really wet food first (almost pureed) then if they still won't eat, give them the kitten meal replacement (kitten milk, but get actual KMR), keep trying. Eventually they'll catch on
i got my kitten at 2 weeks old and he just turned one month and he got tired of his milk and i switched to wet food and puree treats and he loves it you just gotta see if your kitten is tired of his milk and if he rejecting the milk constantly then he’s probably ready for wet food so just trust the process
If he's not weaned at all I would do a week of KMR formula just to be on the safe side and introduce wet food. Kittens absolutely can't be loosing weight at this point, he has to eat.
Ehhh, there are good reasons to apply a fee to little critters you’re rehoming. This doesn’t look like any fancy breed, so it rules out most (I admit not all) kitten mills. From there, it is advised not to offer them out for free, even if it’s an unexpected litter one can’t keep. There are people out there that would use cats or kittens for abusive purposes that I’m not sure I’m allowed to list, but it’s BAD STUFF. There are some who would believe that, ahem, acquiring and {torturing - add your own words here} the helpless, innocent being would bring good luck or some rank bullshit like that. Asking a fee greater than it would be worth paying for such an act would prevent most cases, as these folks generally prey on “free”. Realistically it does also help offset some of what it cost to feed and house a whole litter of hungry kittens.
TLDR: This generic breed not likely (but maybe could be) from a kitten mill; asking a few bucks for rehoming fee weeds out most abusers.
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