what food should i feed the kittens?

Question

should i feed the mam with the food so the kittens get good milk. also what age should i give the kittens solid food. right now they are only 6 hours old.

Answer 1

Well, Hello Again, Brittany--Did the 5th kitten ever come, or was there only 4?

As far as feeding, you may want to try giving mam (Daisey) both dry and canned KITTEN FOOD for the first few weeks. This should boost the nutrition in her milk supply so that the kittens have a great start. Kitten food is higher in protein, vitamins, minerals and calories than regular adult cat food. You won't want to do this for longer than 1 month because it will have a tendency to make mam gain weight, but for right now, it is very good for her and the kittens. And as far as the kittens, of course, right now, and for at least the first month, they will be breast-fed by mam--until they have teeth. After that, you can slowly introduce small amounts of a good grade (Iams, Fancy Feast, Friskies, etc. ) canned kitten food. Only little bits in the beginning, as it may give then diahreah for the first few days. Gradually, you can give them more as their tummys begin to adjust to a change in diet. Check all of them for the size of their teeth. Once you can see quite a mouthful of "baby" teeth (sharp as razors), you can (and SHOULD) also give them the dry KITTEN food. This is even higher in vitamins & minerals and all the good stuff that kittens need for a good start in life. Also, provide a somewhat large, but shallow bowl of fresh water for them. At this time, you can start allowing mam to be away from the kittens for a longer period of time. If, in the event she is a very "doting mam" and doesn't want to leave them for more than a few minutes, you will have to keep the kittens in one room, with the door closed, and let mam have run of the house for a while so that she can get some proper excercise and not just lay there and let the kittens nurse all day long. I had to do this with my beagle "Rainbow". This also allows time for mam's milk to begin drying-up, and this is fine once the kittens are eating solid food. You don't want to completely wean them away from mam until they are at least 6 - 7 weeks old. The kittens still need mam's milk for good nutrition even after they have begun to eat solid food, but not nearly as much as before.

By the time the kittens are about 4 weeks old, they will be running all over the place and doing all the silly and cute things a kitten can find to do. And, they are just sooo cute from this stage on. Most likely, it will take until about this time for you to decide which kitten you are going to keep.

Now, by the time they reach 5 - 6 weeks old, you can try weaning them away from mam completely. The more solid food (canned & dry) they are eating, the less they will need to be nursing. In some cases, you have to enforce this issue, as the kittens will still keep coming back to mam to TRY to nurse and this is totally counter-productive, and if mam is overly "motherly" she may just lie down and allow them to do so. In other cases, the mother cat will also be getting tired of this nursing business and fully cooperate---so this just depends upon Daisey. But, by the time the kittens are 6 weeks old (hope you marked your calendar for their birthday), it is fine to get them fully weaned off of nursing from mam. You also may have to keep them separated TOTALLY for 4 - 6 hours at a time. This is also a good time for you to begin to litter box train the kittens. It really is not difficult to do---but that is quite a ways away, we don't need to worry about this just yet.

For right now, all you really need to do is make sure that mam is well-fed and drinking pleanty of water, and she will take care of the rest. It is really quite wonderful to watch how well a mother cat cares for her kittens--and most mother cats who have just had a litter that is still nursing will "adopt" any other small stray animal (kitten, rabbit, squirrel, dog). I truly believe that there is no better mother on earth than a "Mommy cat". They not only take care of their own, they'll take care of others, too.

Well, I hope this gives you some good information to work with. And, any other questions you may have---or to just give me an up-date on mam and the kittens, you can feel free to e-mail me directly, if you'd like, rather than going through Yahoo! My e-mail address is: [e-mail].
You take care now, Honey, and have yourself a GREAT day. Sharon Wagnor

Answer 2

I would always feed the mother cat because they need alot of nutrients, those kitten take alot out of them. Also I would try to give the kitten solid food mixed with a little bit of water to soften it up. Let it sit for a couple mins first. Do this when they are like 4 or 5 weeks old. At least try to anyway. If they see the mother cat eating they are more likely to try too!!

Answer 3

The mother should be on kitten food, and allowed to eat as much of it as she likes. Lactation places huge energy demands on a female. She needs to be fed kitten food until the kittens are weaned (between 6-8 weeks of age)

You can start offering the kittens soft kitten food from 4 weeks of age. Usually they will start helping themselves from their mother's food around this time anyway.

Chalice

Answer 4

feed mama kitten chow so like you said they get milk with more vitamins and minerals and mom will need this to help make more milk..don;t feed them kitten chow till around 7weeks if possible then feed kitty chow ; mixed with wet food ,you are so lucky to have little babies now; but be sure to keep mom and babies in a dark quite place to rest and dont touch babies yet as mama could hide them or even kill them with another scent other than her-own,,when the eyes open than you can hold them for short periods,,,good luck with all and you for being the caregiver to all,.

Answer 5

6 hours?

They will need mother's milk for at least 2 weeks - and nothing else.

You can start feeding them kitten fomula after about 3-4 weeks - i.e. when they can start to move on their own.