How early can you feed a kitten normal cat food?

Question

I have a friend that has adopted a cat and 3 kittens. The kittens were born a couple of weeks ago. When is it appropriate to feed cats solid food? What should the solid food be - regular cat food or something else?

Answer 1

At about 4 weeks or so, mom will start to wean the kittens, at this time, blend some dry (kitten formula) food with water (or kitten milk replacer), to make a mush, think baby cereal consistency. Gradually blend it less and less, by about 6 1/2 weeks, soak the dry food in a bit of water to soften it, at about 8 weeks, they should be on completely dry kitten food.

Mom can also be eating some the kitten food, since she is a queen who is nursing.

Answer 2

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How early can you feed a kitten normal cat food?
I have a friend that has adopted a cat and 3 kittens. The kittens were born a couple of weeks ago. When is it appropriate to feed cats solid food? What should the solid food be - regular cat food or something else?

Answer 3

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Raw is best, but it's not suited for everyone. What you need to do is feed a quality food that's suitable for a baby carnivore - and that's canned, not dry. Nature created cats to eat meat, not dry carbohydrate filled kibbles. Get a quality canned kitten food (at the pet store not the grocery store) that is free of by-products, corn, wheat, or soy. Read the ingredients on the label. Some budget priced but decent foods are Petsmart's Authority brand, or any of the Nutro/Max cat varieties. Better still would be Wellness or Blue Buffalo, but those are more expensive. Also get some canned KMR - kitten milk replacer. For the first week or two, mix the canned kitten food with the KMR. While 5 weeks is three weeks to early to leave Mom, we do the best we can. Also be aware that your kitten won't be well litter box trained either - so be sure not to let him have free roam of the house. Also you need non-clumping litter - they tend to eat it and it can form clumps in their intestines if they eat enough. Get plain, old clay litter or one of the 'alternative' ones like World's Best. It's a shame that people irresponsibly allow their cats to breed, and then don't care about the welfare of the kittens :(

Answer 4

felines are actually technically "kittens" until one year old. Even though they may be approaching adult size around 7 months, they're still developing until one year.
soft food isn't necessary, and it's expensive. If the cat's stool is getting hard/compacted, you may want to give them some wet food so they have an easier time going poo. Nobody likes being constipated! But soft food isn't necessary every day, by any means.
Also, if you have a long-haired cat, the product Petromalt is great for preventing hairballs.
And for training them, Boundary spray works wonders. Stinky, but it's the only way my foster kittens would stop scratching my couch.

Answer 5

Well, one thing could be that it's closest to the ancestral diet of the dog. It's the basic form of what's IN the dog's kibble, but it's unprocessed, uncooked, and untampered with, so it has more nutritional value. Have you ever fed a dog (or any other animal) a raw diet? My ferret is fed raw, and within days of switching him from the Marshall crap, he had a lustrous coat, cleaner teeth, and more energy. You can't say that it's unhealthier if you see all of these benefits. I'm all for feeding a good quality kibble. Some dogs don't do well on raw. While it may be acclaimed as the 'best' diet, it doesn't work for all dogs. ETA: Feeding raw is also good if your dog has food allergies and you need to limit the ingredients your dog gets. You get to know exactly what your dog is eating, whereas with kibble, there are so many ingredients (except for with limited ingredient foods), it's difficult to rule out exactly what's causing the food allergy sometimes.

Answer 6

Kittens need the higher protein and essential nutrients of kitten chow to start when started on solid food. 5 weeks of age is a good age to start weaning the kittens. When weaning, you can offer soaked kitten chow. Just soak some kitten chow in water or milk replacer (formula) until soft; store this in the fridge and it will last for a day or so. Plus, while mom cat is nursing, she should also be fed dry kitten chow. She needs the nutrients to feed her self and her kids. Also, kittens learn from watching their mom. They will start trying to eat her food, learn from her to use the litter box, groom, and other habits (like drinking from a faucet). Some kittens take longer than others to wean, so don't be concerned if at 8 weeks of age, they are still nursing.

At about 6 months of age kittens can be switched, gradually, from kitten chow to adult cat chow. Many people recommend a mix of kitten and cat chow until 1 year of age or just feeding kitten chow until 1 year of age.

I have worked in a shelter and every nursing mother with kittens would get a large dish of kitten chow, a dish of soaked kitten chow, and water, of course. Kittens would often try to eat the kitten food at the same time mom was eating, and would act like ravenous lions when we put the soaked kitten food in each morning. Good luck!

Answer 7

Kittens require about twice the energy per pound of body weight as a mature cat. Kittens should be completely weaned by six to eight weeks and be accustomed to a regular diet of a complete and balanced growth-type food for kittens. It is recommended that kittens be fed three to four times a day during this period of rapid growth, and a source of fresh, clean water should be available at all times. Moistened dry food or canned food left at room temperature can become unpalatable and may even spoil if left out for several hours, so uneaten portions should be removed and discarded after one hour. As with other animals, any diet changes should be made gradually over a 7 to 10 day period to avoid causing digestive upset.

Kittens tend to be "occasional" eaters as they take a large number of small meals throughout the day. After consuming a small portion of the food, the kitten leaves and returns at intervals to eat. This behavior should not be confused with a reluctance or refusal to eat. If food refusal is prolonged and/or the kitten shows signs of illness such as listlessness, diarrhea, repeated vomiting, discharge from the eyes or nose, straining to urinate or constipation, or unusual hiding in dark places, a veterinarian should be consulted.

From seven months to one year, kittens should be fed twice a day. Kittens should be fed as individuals, and amounts to feed will depend upon activity and body condition.

Answer 8

Kittens should be fed kitten food until they are about one year old. As a matter of fact, the nursing mother should also be being fed kitten food right now, because she doesn't just need enough nutrition for herself, but for the kittens, as well.

The dry kitten food can be moistened with some water, to make it soft for the babies. As long as the food is there, they will follow the mother's lead and begin to eat when it is time. Be sure to have some unmoistened stuff there for momma too.

I particularly like Royal Canin Baby Cat food. It is a very small kibble, highly nutritious, and made for kittens up to four months of age. Please, also, tell your friend that these kittens need to stay with the mother and littermates until they are 10 to 12 weeks old. Too many people adopt out the kittens as soon as they are eating on their own. Then, we get questions on this board about cats that try to milk tread and nurse on people and objects, and the owners want to know how to stop it. The only way to stop it is to let the kittens stay with the mother until the mother weans them.

Another thing kittens learn from being part of the litter is how to play nice. They learn, from iteraction with their littermates and their mother, not to extend their claws when they are playing, and how not to bite too hard. That's another frequent question...how do I get my cat to stop clawing and biting me so hard when we play.

Apart from the behavioral aspects, the kittens are still getting important immunilogical value from the mother's milk. They really should weigh at least three pounds before they are adopted out. At less than three pounds, antibiotics, while they may be necessary at times, can have devastating side effects for kittens for kittens who weigh less than three pounds.

Just like children, animals need to be raised properly to be the right kind of adults. They need more time with their mother and litter than most people allow them to have.

Answer 9

I got my two kittens when they were eight weeks (two months) old. So, I would say around two months is the appropriate time. Be sure to give them food that is meant for kittens only: regular cat food is too big for them to chew, and they need the proper nutrients in the kitten food.

Answer 10

as soon as they navigate on their own put down a 50/50 mix of wet and dry KITTEN food. They need the extra vitamins in kitten food till they are a year old. Don't be cheap, buy a good food like Hill's science diet kitten formula. Put it on a plate so they can reach it easily and put down a shallow bowl of water.