Weaning a kitten
By CoffeeWoman
@CoffeeWoman (24)
United States
October 30, 2007 9:45am CST
Not long ago, I adopted a baby kitten for fostering. He was only a week old, little eyes closed, tiny ears still flat. In the few weeks since then, he's become a fat-n-sassy little boy who sucks down his bottled formula and climbs everywhere he can. His teeth are starting to come in and we've started litter training.
My question is this: in trying to wean him, he wants nothing to do with anything other than the bottle. I've tried putting some wet kitten food made soupy with formula on and in his mouth, putting formula moistened food within reach during the day and even tried getting him to drink plain formula out of a small dish. He just cries for the bottle. I know he's hungry when we try this because he devours the formula in the bottle.
Any suggestions on how to wean my little boy?
3 responses
@houndsgood (774)
• United States
30 Oct 07
If he is 4 weeks old, I would not push him off the bottle and I am not surprised he is not interested in anything else.. Make other food available and he will gradually get curious about it and try it. In particular, if you have another cat that he can "model" after it is even better. Kittens will eventually put dry food, etc in their mouth if given it. They may play or experiment with it first. But how they really learn is watching their mom, too, which he does not have. if he does eat other food at this age, its by accident or he is just playing around.
I wonder...where is mom? Did she get hit by a car/die?
@CoffeeWoman (24)
• United States
30 Oct 07
I don't know where mom is. We think it may be a certain cat near where I work who has litter after litter and abandons them. The other strays in the neighborhood have been caught and neutered/spayed, but we can't seem to catch her.
@spiritwolf52 (2300)
•
30 Oct 07
How old is the wee fellow? He may be too young to try to get him on food. I thought they are usually weaned between 6 to 8 weeks. His teeth may not be big enough to handle the food yet. Have you asked your vet? If you have canned food have you tried to put some around the nipple to get him used to the smell and feel and taste of the food?
@CoffeeWoman (24)
• United States
30 Oct 07
We think he's about 4 weeks. I haven't tried him on dry because of the teeth - hence why I've been trying soupy wet food. I find it ironic because my other two boys (8yr old bengal and a 7mnth old marble) looooooooooooove wet food. The moment they hear the can open, they come running as if it's the first time they've eaten in days! (i keep dry out all of the time for them - the bengal, Mynx, tends to be underweight and the wet helps him)
@lena_mae1983 (383)
• United States
31 Oct 07
I'm the proud mommy of 3 orphan kittens that are now 7 weeks old. I got them when they were 2 weeks and went through the whole bottle thing myself. I started litter box training at 4 weeks which went well for the two little girls, in about 2 days they were using it. The little boy still has accibents though so I'm still working with him. I started weaning off the bottle at 6 weeks after doing some research online about raising orpahn kittens. None of them wanted anything at all to do with food in a dish for the first couple of days, but soon caught on that there was a world of different flavors out there outide of the formula in the bottle. Just keep trying and when it is time it will happen.
