2006-07-19 16:47:46 · 13 answers · asked by stephie541 3 in Pets ➔ Cats
At around 3 to 6 weeks of age, begin offering food to the kittens. Canned food, semi-moist or even dry kitten food moistened with water are all acceptable. Offer the kittens small amounts of soft food in a shallow dish. Up to this point, the kittens have been suckling to get their nourishment. Now, they need to learn to open their mouths and bite in order to get food into their mouths to be swallowed. Learning to do this results in some messy feeding times. Kittens will typically walk and fall in the food dish. They may even try to nurse on the food, resulting in some pretty messy kitties. Eventually, they learn normal eating behavior. Some people will place the food on a cookie sheet and place it in the bathtub and let the kittens learn. This allows for easy clean up.
Offer the food several times a day for about 30 minutes at a time. When the kittens no longer seem interested in the food, clean them up and put them back with their mother. During this time, allow the mother to stay away from the babies for longer periods of time. For some mothers, you may have to be persistent. Some mothers and some babies may not wean properly. Mothers that do not begin to push away their kittens by 4 weeks of age will need help. Weaning should progress slowly, to reduce the incidence of anxiety and mammary gland inflammation in the mother.
Several times a day, remove the babies for 1 to 2 hours at a time. Food should only be offered for short periods of time, but keeping the babies separate from the mother can encourage natural weaning. As the kittens age, more and more time should be spent away from the mother until finally, the kittens are on their own.
By the time the kittens are 8 to 12 weeks of age, they should be eating solid food and no longer nursing. For most kittens, separation from the mother should be delayed until the kittens are 12 weeks of age, to allow normal socialization and bonding.
2006-07-19 16:59:54 · answer #1 · answered by hellokitty11704 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well it depends. Is the mother cat still with them? If so then continue to let the mother cat feed them. With my kittens I usually wait until the their little teeth start coming in. At that time the mama cat is usually weening them and I start to feed them dry food that I soak in warm water for 15 minutes and mash it a little with a fork, put it down on paper and let them go at.
If the mother cat is not with them, then I would suggest giving them moist (dry) food but buying a kitten milk supplement from Petco or Pet Smart or any Feed and Grain store and give them that until their about 6 weeks old. Then slowly start weening them to just regular kitten food.
2006-07-19 17:02:59 · answer #2 · answered by Gemini23 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is NOT normal. Your kitten needs to see a vet IMMEDIATELY. Diarrhea can be life threatening for baby animals. They are too small to stand losing any body water. You need to find an emergency vet in your area and take the kitten in right away. And just an FYI for the future... pet store pets generally come home with all sorts of illnesses because they are kept in close quarters and are not medically cared for appropriately. Now, stop reading Yahoo! Answers and get your kitten to the vet. He needs your help and some good medicine.
2016-03-27 00:35:39 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They will still dine with mama for another three weeks or so. Around week five, get some kitten food (Max Cat or Iams or some other premium brand), mix it with a little water and see if they eat it. Sooner or later, nature will take its course and they will begin to eat solid food.
Most kittens are weaned around six weeks.
2006-07-19 16:54:21 · answer #4 · answered by freedomnow1950 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
get GOOD quality kitten food avail. now. The mom really needs it to help make milk. Then it is avail. for the little ones when they get about 4 to 5 weeks old they will start wanting more than mom's milk.
2006-07-19 16:53:47 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends on the kittens and how fast they are growing. We normally start ours out with a little baby food before we move to kitten food.
2006-07-19 16:51:56 · answer #6 · answered by ???? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would start giving them the option to eat solid food at 4 to 5 weeks. They are not old enough to separate from their mother until they are 6 to 7 weeks.
2006-07-19 16:51:37 · answer #7 · answered by Ms_E_Bunny 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Check for the development of their teeth. If they already have a few cheek teeth, offer them little bits of softened pellets. By 4 weeks they should be eating softened kitten food, but they'll still have their mother's milk for a while.
2006-07-19 16:52:40 · answer #8 · answered by Calimecita 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Their too young. Hand feed them for 1-2 more weeks and then feed them whizkaz kitten food.
2006-07-19 17:04:00 · answer #9 · answered by PERSON 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you need to start weening the cats at about 8 weeks of age try to get them to drink milk out of a bowl or saucer then buy some soft cat food and mix it with milk if they eat it do once or twice a day for 3 to 4 days then feed them soft cat food with no milk once or twice a day for a week then buy some hard cat food mix it with soft food or milk do that for a while then go to regular hard cat food and they should eat it
2006-07-19 16:57:23 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋