Weaning

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  • #858385
    Rebecca Seaman
    Participant

    I have 2 5 week old kittens with a very attentive and loving mum. I kit I have seen crunching on dry food but not the other. Mum just keeps feeding them. I have tried cutting back her food a bit to reduce her milk a wee bit so the kits want extra but to no avail. Any advice??

    #858389
    Christa
    Participant

    My kitty was orphaned with no mama, and it still took her 5 weeks to be interested in food. We tried to start weaning around 3.5 weeks, but all she wanted was bottle. But we kept at it, offering wet kitten food mixed with formula or water a couple times a day and eventually she just started eating it at 5 weeks. She is now 6 weeks and doesn’t want anything other than kitty food. I wouldn’t be too concerned yet. Just keep offering kitty food and I think they will show interest soon enough.

    #858392
    Kittyzee
    Participant

    I wouldn’t cut back on her food especially since she is a nursing queen. This happens naturally, and when I have hand raised kittens, I usually don’t introduce food to them (wet food) until they are 5 weeks. Some will be interested, some don’t want any part of it. And like Christa has said, once they start eating well, they don’t go back to nursing mom, unless it’s just for comfort. She will sometimes lay on her tummy to keep the kittens from being able to nurse. She knows best, and you are lucky to have her caring for the kittens herself.

    I would offer them wet food first, and if you free feed the crunchies, they will eventually graduate to those when they want a bite of something.

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