When to start feeding soft food to kittens, and other kitten-raising questions
By knicnax
@knicnax (2233)
Philippines
March 24, 2011 12:15am CST
Kaimi's been with me for a week! Yay! Thanks for all your support dudes! It really helped me and Kaimi. Especially me, since I was really down with the thought that I'm gonna lose him. Your words of encouragement really helped! (for those who haven't read my previous post, Kaimi is a 1 week old (just an estimate) kitten I found on the street last thursday)
Okay, so now that Kaimi's been with me for a week, I was wondering how long or big should he be? he seems to be at the same size when I brought him in last week. I was also wondering when would be the right time to introduce him to soft food, and which soft food is ideal for kittens to make them real strong and healthy.
I haven't trained Kaimi to eat off a bowl yet though, he still drinks milk via the syringe and I still wrap him with a towel. Good thing now though is he seem to be sucking on the syringe when it's in his mouth. He sucks for 2 seconds (I actually still push in the milk because I know he won't be able to suck the mil out of the syringe) then pulls away because his mouth is full already.
Do you guys have any more tips on how I could better take care of my little Kaimi? This is the first time I tried taking care of a very young kitten. I need all the help I can get.
Also, I have other kittens, (who are really to big to be called kittens, they look like cats now, but they're only what? 3 months old?) who seem to like to "play" with kaimi. I shoo them away because Kaimi's cry seems more urgent when the big kittens wrestle him. I think he's too young to play rough house, but people at home tell me that it's normal. What's your take on this?
4 responses
@innocents_lost (1026)
• Canada
24 Mar 11
are his eyes open?
if your feeding him every 4 hours and until he starts to refuse then stimulating him to go to the bathroom then your doing everything right i have weened kittens at 2 1/2 weeks usually a week after there eyes open is the best time to start showing them the food each cat is different though i did have one who wasn't weened until 2 months!!! just start showing him a pate kitten food adn you can even water this down slightly to make it more soupy
1 person likes this
@knicnax (2233)
• Philippines
25 Mar 11
When I picked him up, his eyes were already open.
Unfortunately I haven't successfully stimulated him to go potty. That's what I'm lacking actually. I'm really busy so I get too impatient when he won't go when I stimulate him. The people at home who I ask to feed him doesn't want to stimulate him either. *sigh*. He just goes when he wants to go
@knicnax (2233)
• Philippines
25 Mar 11
we had kittens before that had their eyes open after a few days only. I think when they're stressed, their eyes tend to open early? The kittens we used to have were born during the time when a tomcat was lurking in the neighborhood. The tomcat usually just enters our house and swipes at the kitties (yes we keep our doors open, and we usually don't see the tomcat enter because he uses the back door, and everyone's busy).
and i think 12 weeks is too long. We never had kittens that took such a long time to open their eyes. I also don't think Kaimi is at least 12 months old. He's only about 5-6 inches when I found him. He really looks like a week old kitten to me.
@innocents_lost (1026)
• Canada
25 Mar 11
then he is ALLOT older then you are thinking he is there eyes do not open until they are 12 weeks old and they can NOT AT ALL go to the washroom on there own before three weeks he is plenty old enough to be eating wet food as he is most likely 4 weeks old at the youngest at this point
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63568)
• United States
24 Mar 11
He really won't start eating solid food until he's about 3 1/2 to 4 weeks.
Any kind of soft food, like a good "loaf" type food rather than one with solid bits in it is a good start, but its still a little early.
Honestly, we liked to have NEVER gotten Oliver off the bottle, he was eating solids but wouldn't drink water or even the milk out of a bowl, until we had some tuna water, that's what finally got him to lap like a regular cat! 
1 person likes this
@knicnax (2233)
• Philippines
25 Mar 11
Still hasn't used the bottle. He's treating the syringe like a bottle though. I think the nipple on the bottle isn't conducive to letting milk flow. I'm trying to make the hole bigger but to no avail. My big kittens are trying it out though. Haha.
I'll try bottle feeding kaimi first. I think he's still too young to eat solids anyway. Maybe in 2 weeks he'll be ready
1 person likes this
@globaldoc (858)
• Philippines
25 Mar 11
It is fun to know you love cats that much. Well, cats are survivors. In fact, they are not supposed to be domesticated. Anyway, do not worry about its size. It will manage.
1 person likes this
@whatrow (792)
• United States
4 Apr 11
Don't be in such a hurry to start soft food. At only 1 week, he is definitely too young. My new kittens are 2 weeks old, and the mothers will not even allow their babies to walk around, never mind eating soft foods. They cannot eat cat food until the mothers decide to wean them.
In a previous litter, I tried to force progress by hand feeding them food and water. They could not understand that they were supposed to chew and swallow the food. They wouldn't even take it into their mouths. But, if he is walking around, you might put a very small quantity of food on a flat or low dish (they are too small to climb into a regular dish.) When he is ready, he will go to it. Good luck.
