When Should I Stop Bottle-Feeding my Kitten?

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  • #864094
    Riley
    Participant

    Hello all.

    I was hoping to get some advice about weaning my kitten, Echo. She is around 5 weeks old, and is shooting up in weight pretty quickly. I weighed her today after she went to the litterbox, and she was around 20oz (assuming my scale is accurate).

    Anyway, I have started the weaning process about a week ago. I first started blending small amounts of wet kitten food into her formula to adjust her to the taste. Later, after getting her familiar with eating from a bowl, I stated mixing a half can of wet food with a bit of formula to make a gruel and I put half of it in the dish between feedings. I normally feed her bottled formula three times a day (at 8am, 4pm, and 12am), and then halfway between these feedings (12 pm and 8 pm), I will give her half of the gruel. By the end of the day, she normally goes through all of the gruel made (which consists of a half of a can of Royal Canin babycat food and some formula). I also leave dry Royal Canin babycat kibble and water in her dish, which she is now eating and drinking as well.

    My question is, how do I know when to stop feeding her from the bottle? For her age, the recommended feeding amount per day for wet food, according to the Royal Canin feeding guide, is a half a can, which she normally eats. Plus, she is also eating dry food. Now, often when I try to bottle feed her, she does not eat too much (maybe a tablespoon or two at the most). How do I know when to start cutting the bottle out of her feeding regimen?

    #864097
    Kittyzee
    Participant

    It seems to me that you are there–at that stage where you can stop with the bottle feeding. She is eating wet solid food and dry food and drinking water. If you still have formula, then I would keep feeding it to her by mixing it in with the wet food or putting some in a saucer for her to drink. Since she is only 5 weeks, I think she would still benefit from the formula. You could stop giving it to her when she is 8 to 10 weeks old. Congratulations on raising your sweet furbaby to toddler hood!!

    #864098
    Riley
    Participant

    Okay, thank you Kittyzee. Starting tomorrow, I will stick to feeding her the gruel and dry food three times a day and see how that goes. Maybe I will put some of the formula into her water dish as well.

    Next thing on the list is to get her to use the litterbox! I ordered some Dr. Elsey’s Cat Litter Attractant, so hopefully sprinkling that into her litterbox will help.

    #864104
    Kittyzee
    Participant

    Put her in her litterbox after she has eaten. Also, her poops after stimulating, then take her paw and dig in the litter. She will smell her poop and will figure it out eventually. You could pee her over the box, and her pee will be in there too. Be careful of using clumping litter. If you notice her eating the litter (some kittens eat everything thinking it’s food), then switch to non clumping plain unscented clay litter until she’s old enough that she isn’t eating it anymore.

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