How old should kittens be before they are introduced to food and water?

Question

How old should kittens be before they are introduced to food and water?

Answer 1

If the kittens are still nursing with mom, they will be weaned off milk at about 5 weeks old. Select a quality brand of kitten food with a named meat source as the first ingredient (chicken is good). Ideally, they should be given the same kitten food given the mother cat, as the kittens will quickly accommodate to eating mom's food. Use a shallow plate and expect their first experiences to be messy.

Although the mother cat will wean the kittens, they still need the nursing experience to satisfy their suckling needs, at least until they are eight or ten weeks old, by which time the mother cat will have gradually weaned them.

If they are orphaned and mom is not available to nurse, are hand raised and bottle fed, they can be weaned as early as 3-4 weeks old. First, you have to make sure that they are able and ready to accept semi solid food. Drip some formula onto your finger and see if the kitten is able to l**k it off. If yes, put some on your palms and test it again. Once the kitten can lap from your palm and l**k off the formula, she is now ready and able to lap from a dish and you can start introducing semi solid food. With bottle babies, it's easier to tell because after a certain period, they will no longer be interested in sucking the bottle nipple, but rather they will chew it and spit it out. That's one cue that it's time.

Also, water should be available 24/7 once they started eating semi solid. Place a few bowls around the house to remind kittens to drink.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

My kitten was abandoned, so she (and her siblings) had to eat when they were very young. They had sterilization surgery at 10 weeks I think.

Someone told me recently that dry food is not good because it has sugar in it. I don't know, but that is what I feed my cat. I give her some people food too, but she doesn't always like it. She just want to know what I'm eating.

I have to brush her teeth sometimes because she doesnot chew wiht her back teeth.

Water was hard, because I let her drink from the faucet and now she hates drinking from a bowl.

Answer 3

i've seen kittens fed food and water at 2 months old. i'm not sure when they can be introduced but you should keep them milk-fed as long as you can. and gradually introduce them to food. give them a bottle (or let them drink from their mother, however you're doing it), then a bite of food if they take it. and the next day give them 3/4 of the bottle and some more food, etc. etc. until they eat the food on their own.

Answer 4

the vet told me mum dose it thats some of the reason why u put mum on kitten food if u dont have mum with them fone the vet and c what age is safe

Answer 5

make food and water available to mum at all times and when te kittens are ready, they just help there self

our kittens started just helping themselves to water first and then started on kitten foo when they gt a couple of teeth. they also still get milk from mum and food is always available to both mum and kittens

Answer 6

3-4 weeks