Advice for 5 week old kitten.

Home › The Daily Kitten Cat Chat Forum › Cats & Kittens › Advice for 5 week old kitten.

Tagged: , ,

Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • 7 May, 2015 at 4:22 am #831322
    Emily
    Participant

    This Monday after months of thought, I decided to get a kitten and fell in love with the very first one I saw…of course.
    I was hoping to get a kitten around 12 weeks old because I have experience with caring for kittens around that age, but the kitten I fell in love with is just 5 weeks old. I have absolutely no experience with kittens this young so I need advice on pretty much everything. She is so small and I’m worried she’s going to hurt herself or I’m going to do something to hurt her on accident. My biggest concerns are what I should do with her at night to keep her safe. How often and how much I should be feeding her. The shelter told me she was eating a combo of soaked dry kitten food and wet kitten food, but that’s about all they told me. And also I would greatly appreciate any suggestions on how you all introduced your cats. My resident cat had 2 other cats with her at home, but over the last 2 years, sadly, both those cats have passed away. I thought since she had been around cats since the day I brought her home she would accept the new kitten without too much resistance, so far that has not been the case. And I’d love any other tips or things I should know in caring for my new baby.

    Thank you,
    Dreams

    7 May, 2015 at 1:15 pm #831341
    jcat
    Participant

    Hi, Emily,
    Here is a good link on introducing a new cat:
    http://messybeast.com/first-impressions.htm

    Your kitten will pretty much decide how much food she needs. I wouldn’t feed her dry food soaked as it tends to grow bacteria. A good quality wet kitten food is best. My cats (both girls) get one raw meat meal a day (needs to be high-quality, either human-grade from a supermarket or a high-quality pet food raw meat from a reputable company) and one wet food meal. Good raw foods are chicken necks, chicken livers, ox heart, lamb or beef kidneys, minced steak, minced veal, etc. You can feed her some dry kitten food but don’t wet it.

    She is very tiny and really too young to be away from her mother. Try to kitten-proof your place, get down to her level and try to look at your house/apartment from ‘her’ level. Cords she could chew, things she could climb and fall from, things she could get stuck under,drawers and closets she could get accidentally shut in, toxic house plants she could chew on (google them), things with water or liquid in (an open toilet) she could fall in and not be able to get out again. Be particularly careful with washers and dryers as kittens LOVE piles of (dirty or clean) laundry, never leave the doors open and always check before you turn one on that kitten is not inside. I tend to put little kittens on my pillow as (hopefully) while it’s warm and close to me, it’s not likely I’ll accidentally squash them, but you could also make a little nest for her in a box, with an unwashed sweater of yours in it, to smell of you, and a stuffed toy to comfort her. For more info, check the other threads, I seem to have been posting a lot of advice on looking after little kittens tonight!

    7 May, 2015 at 3:27 pm #831349
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Hi Emily,
    Welcome to TDK land. Here’s some links jCat was referring to and we use ourselves:

    4 wk old kitten will no longer bottle feed and hasn't started eating wet food


    http://messybeast.com/handrear.htm
    http://www.safehavenforcats.com/newborn.htm

    Chaos’ Guide to Constipation


    Let us know if you have any other questions.
    PG

    7 May, 2015 at 6:05 pm #831356
    Kittyzee
    Participant

    Hi Emily, the kitten you have fallen in love with is not old enough to be away from her mother. In the event that her mother isn’t available, then you will have to hand rear her until the 8 to 10 week old mark. The sites above are very good ones for help with that. I know kittens eat solid food at this age, but they are usually only introduced to it with their main source being KMR or goat’s milk for the majority of their nutrition. Good luck with your new baby, stop back in with more questions if you have them!

    7 May, 2015 at 9:34 pm #831374
    Emily
    Participant

    The kitten’s were found abandoned by the shelter I got her from. She won’t take a bottle from me at all I think because the shelter had been feeding her solid food is why she won’t take the bottle. I’ve been giving her the same wet/soaked dry mix of kitten food she had at the shelter do you think that’s okay or should we push harder for her to take the formula?

    7 May, 2015 at 9:41 pm #831375
    Emily
    Participant

    Thank you jcat I will definitely not be giving her anymore soaked dry food. So wet food it is! thanks so much for the rundown.

    8 May, 2015 at 10:08 am #831400
    jcat
    Participant

    Emily, try drizzling the warmed formula over her wet food in a very shallow dish, see how that goes. If she’s happy to eat from a flat dish, she just may not want to take the bottle any more, but she may drink formula from a dish.

  • Author
    Posts
Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.