8 wk old Kitten won't eat solids?

Question

We have a stray cat who had 4 kittens and they are now 8 weeks old. Three of the kittens are eating hard food and going in the litter box but the runt who has alot of energy refuses to eat any food except for kitten milk. the mother didn't seem to have enough milk and won't let them eat from her anymore. What can i do to wean this baby kitten to hard/solid food? He will only drink the kitten milk. I am afraid he is going to starve himself. Help

Answer 1

It is very important that you wean him off of milk as soon as possible.  Try soaking the solid food in water, and microwaving it a little bit.  Cats are driven to eat predominantly by their sense of smell, so if you soak it in water and microwave it, it will release a much more pungent odor which will hopefully stimulate him to eat more.  You can also try buying canned food, and see if he will eat that.    

Answer 2

I would recommend mixing some really smelly wet food with a bit of milk, as that's the first stage of weening. If he won't take it, put some on your finger and shove it in his mouth (well, not SHOVE, but you know the idea haha) He might get the hint then. Keep trying it. Once he starts eating that get some crunchies and make them a bit soggy, then eventually transition to just crunchies. He will get there, he's just being stubborn. If he is refusing the wet food, bottle feed him, but try to make every 2nd meal wet food, and then when he starts to accept it feed him from the bottle less and less.

Answer 3

He's smart, he realizes that what you are feeding isn't healthy and he is hoping you will learn about feline nutrittion





Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s health

Contrary to what you may have heard; dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.

Please read the label on what you are feeding? What are the ingredients? Do you know what they mean? Is the first ingrediant a muscle meat like chicken or meal or other things?

http://www.catinfo.org/#Learn_How_To_Rea...

http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04...

Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i’s and a host of other problems. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods. Rashes, scabs behind the tail and on the chin are all symptoms

The problems associated with Dry food is that they are loaded with grains and carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process.  Also, Most of the moisture a cat needs is suppose to be in the food but in

Dry, 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Another thing, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.

http://www.catinfo.org/#My_Cat_is_Doing_...

You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all.    The best food for cats does not contain any grains at all.

Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies  whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods. I would rather feed a middle grade canned food then the top of the line dry food.

Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Does a hard pretzel clean your teeth or do pieces of it get stuck? http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bp...

Please read about cat nutrition.

                               http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics...

                               http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.ht...

      http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.ht...

Vetinarian diets  The reason your vet thinks so highly of the pet food they sell probably has more to do with money than nutrition. In vet school, the only classes offered on nutrition usually last a few weeks, and are taught by representatives from the pet food companies. Vet students may also receive free food for their own dogs and cats at home. They could get an Iams notebook, a Purina purse and some free pizza.  http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04...

Answer 4

bring him to the vet or take the milk away

Answer 5

Go to the store ASAP and buy this http://www.petco.com/product/8767/Pet-Ag... usually you feed them by the bottle. But if they are stray, and scared you can put it in a bowl and she/he will lap it up. Make sure the solid is for kittens as well. Also you may want to try to get in touch with a local animal rescue group (not an animal shelter). Rescue groups adopt out the cats/kittens and will cover costs of their shots. It's really important to do this, even if the mommy cat is feral, most rescue groups will pay to have them get there shots and get spayed/neutered. If you don't call a rescue group..chances are your going to be seeing a lot more kittens in the future. Hes a site where you'll be able to find rescue groups near you http://petfinder.com/ !

Best of luck!  

Answer 6

your're okay. keep trying the hard food everyday. still give it the kitten milk too.         peace