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

Hi and thanks so much for the reply. You know, they have wet food, dry food and water available but I just haven’t seen this guy eating any. He is active and playful, just not feeding much from the bottle anymore. I like your idea which I think would work if I had a kitty willing to take the bottle but he’s just become so finicky. You know, I’m starting to wonder if he’s just growing out of the bottle, maybe has been nibbling on the dry food, getting water too and is just having transitional digestive issues. He’s now over a pound and I guess if he’s still active, alert and purring here an there, perhaps I’m freaking out for nothing. Ugh! I’ll be so happy when they’re all eating on their own. Thanks!

Thanks so much Kittyzee, no I need to know what to do and that’s what I was afraid of. Maybe I’ll try to feed him every 3 hours. I had been stretching it out because I had read on a reputable site that once they are about 4 weeks old that you feed them four times a day. It’s so strange because two days ago he was really taking the bottle well. I keep trying to determine if he’s dehydrated by pulling up the skin behind his neck to see if it’s lose (rather than springing back) but it’s hard to tell. I’ll just keep forcing him to feed no matter if he whines and bites at the nipple and I’ll do what you said and mix some wet food with formula and feed it to him in the bottle with a bigger hole in the nipple. Thank you :-))

Wonderful, thanks so much. I’ll check them out.

Hey, I tried something – I noticed that when I’d set him up for the bottle, he would be eager, alert and whining probably because he just couldn’t get any milk out of it. This was confusing because he was such an expert nurser and the others were having no problems. I just figured that maybe he was having digestive issues but last night I tried something new. Instead of feeding him like I was before (bottle straight in the mouth) I put the bottle in the side of his mouth and since he wasn’t sucking, I had to gently squeeze the milk in. Guess what, I got him to take about 20 cc’s and this morning he did about 29 cc’s. I think it’s his teeth! Whatever works…. just so glad that he’s in his bed sleeping with a full belly! Many thanks!

Hello there 🙂

Ok I’m lame… how do I post more photos of my kittens?

Hi there P,

Oh thanks so much for the response. I’ll do that next time I guess because I had to give the kitties back to the rescue org. because we’re going out of town but I did get them through the bottle feeding stage and so the next person will have it made as long as they stay healthy. I hated parting with them! One day when I can get a cat, I guess I’ll get an adult cat anyway because there are so many that need homes. See you all again next time I foster kitties! This site and participants have been so immensely helpful :-))