I have a 5-6 week old kitten, any feeding advice?

Question

she is a long haired calico, sleeps alot and meows constantly, i am very worried as none of my cats have ever done this. she wont eat biscuits, wont drink liquids only licks mushed up kitten food. It has been three days and her nose is dry. I am taking her the vets, any advice?

she was dumped with a larger litter in the pet shop and was covered in fleas bless her

Answer 1

She is only just at an age where she will be eating solids. Try a little tuna and that will only be a few mouthfuls. Kitten food can be brought and has she been wormed yet?
Maybe a visit to the vet to get her checked over wouldn't be a bad idea, he can tell you what she needs and what she doesn't. A lot depends on what you know of her background as in caring for by previous owners.
She shouldn't even be apart from the mother yet, 8 weeks is the minimum recommended age.

Answer 2

First of all congrats!! The best thing to feed them right now is wet kitten food, try to stay away from the fake momma cat milk, it causes diarrhea and it's hard to get them off of it after you start it. Do the wet food for about a week then start mixing some dry kitten food in with it and eventually go to just the dry. The main thing to look out for with kittens is fleas, their immune system is not very good that young and fleas can run them down pretty quickly. They will play and chew on things and make you crazy, you just have to be patient with them, they have alot to learn. Oh, and if you plan on keeping them inside make sure you show them where the litter box is a few times a day, so they know where it is and will use it, it will come natural so you don't have to train them. Just have fun with them you will fall in love!!

Answer 3

She is still missing her mother and litter mates. Have her checked out by the vet. He may tell you she still need to be fed by a bottle. (Doll size) Don't give a cat milk. Give her water. But yours may need a formula. She can't eat biscuits yet. Doesn't have strong enough teeth. If she licks mushed up kitten food, she may eat more of it if you liquefy it. But the vet is the best person to get advice from. A flea bath by a groomer will get rid of the fleas if she is loaded with them. Good luck with her, sounds like she needs a lot of TLC and holding. She needs cuddling and I would sleep with her at night until she doesn't need to anymore and she'll decide that.

Answer 4

i have a 6 week old kitten also. i've been taking care of him since he was 2 weeks old. Trust me you are past the hardest part! probably the best advice i can give is that you heat up a spoonful of kitten food. and mush it up.. if she isn't interested you should put some on your finger and rub her gums so that she can get used to the taste. that seemed to work for stache. but you should get her to the vet and get her wormed right away and by 6 weeks she is ready for vaccinations. this is usually the age they begin eating kitten food instead of formula anyways. as for water until recently i still had to bottle feed water to him... he just couldn't get he had to lick the water... he was just dunking his head in it... soon enough they learn on there own what they have to do... good luck with your little baby!!

Answer 5

Your vet may find that Precious has ear mites or something else. I had that problem with a new 5 week old. There are specially formulated kitten foods out there, both crunchies, (smaller for babies) and wet canned kitten food. Iams is good. Little mouths and little tummies need extra care. I once got 3 siblings at once. This is what I did. Worked well.

Answer 6

Get kitty milk. You can buy it at the vet or at some grocrey stores
also what i have done is get soft food put it on my finger and put it in their mouth. Time consuming but it really gets them going. You also can delude the Can food with the milk and put it in a syringe and feed it that way. Fleas can make a kitten very weak so try this and hoe it helps. Has with the kittens I've taken in.
good luck

Answer 7

As she is too young to be away from her mommy, she should be on a kitten formula or goats milk, plus be offered a good quality canned food once she starts eatting better, in the mean time I find that all cats will dive right in to the whiskas canned in the shreaded or ground varieties & you can start offereing her a kitten formula dry food. We use Eukanuba, but found Royal Canin baby cat to be really good for kittens that young. Sounds like she really need to be built up a bit. She also sounds like she needs to be rid of all parasites. I would recomment bathing in medi flea ( the dilution is 1/8th shampoo to 7/8 water & wrap her in a warm towel & let it soak on her for 10 minutes before rinsing it off. Then clean her ears with a mitaside & worm with pyrantel. Discuss the flea issue with your vet as she will probably need to be treated for tapeworm ( fleas carry their larva ) as soon as she is big enough. Good luck with her.

Answer 8

I think you're doing the best thing by taking her to the vets. Remember to voice all your concerns about your new kittens eating habits. 5-6 weeks is very young for her to be away from her mother, usually around that age kittens are weaning (I think). The vet might give you a formula to put her on as she's a bit young for solid food and bisuits.
HOpe it works out for you and the kitten.
Good luck.

Answer 9

Get the kitten formula they sell in pet stores. Some pet stores also sell wet kitten food. She will get the water she needs if she eats that. I have a kitten that would hardly touch his dry food and would not drink water either so I had no choice but to get the wet kitten food.

Answer 10

Is this kitten no longer nursing?? If not, I recommend that you buy cans of evaporated milk, and dilute it half and half. She should take right to it. If not, you will need to buy a nursing bottle for kittens, and go at that way. I have alot of experience in this area, since I was a Vet Tech for 2 years, and have had to nurse many a kittens back to health. Good Luck.