Tips on newly bought pet kitten(male)?

Question

the kitten is 3-4 weeks old. We just picked it up yesterday and everything seems to be fine. The only problem is that the kitten refuses to drink any water. It always crawls into dark corners like under a bed or something. Any tips on what i can do to make this kitten drink water, and be a little more used to the new house environment. I also bought hard and soft food for it, but it only eats the soft. It likes the hard kind, but it is too lazy to try and chew it. Ok so in short what is the best way to take care of this kitten.

Answer 1

First and most importantly (if it wasn't stated when you brought the kitten) It needs to be taken to the vet to get it's inoculations. It may not be drinking water due to some worms, which a LOT of un-vaccinated kittens have.

It's best not to feed it any hard food at all until it's older, and make sure the soft food that you're buying is specially formulated for kittens.

It's also important to 'bond' with your cat early on, so it grows up to be more affectionate (although with cats, 'affectionate' can simply mean it knows where to go when it's in the mood for a pat or some food, lol)

Perhaps a way to coax it out of the corner is to lower the lights around your home, if it's feeling 'safe' in darkness, having a dim setting might put him at ease. Generally, you're not supposed to feed milk to cats, but a little bit of it warmed up will be a nice treat that you could use to lure it out.

Also, it's important that you let it get used to the house before letting it outside. It's a good idea to close all of the doors to bathrooms/bedrooms/closets, and let the kitten explore one space at a time, so it has a chance to get comfortable and not feel stressed with so many new things at once.

A general rule-of-thumb, (and some people may dispute this, although it's -always- worked for me with my cats) is that when it starts cleaning itself, it's a sign that the kitten is comfortable enough in it's new environment to 'lower it's guard' long enough to smooth out those furry imperfections.

Hope this helped a little! Please update us once you've decided on a name, new kittens are so adorable, and seem to conjure happiness in us meager humans =)

Answer 2

It is very young and too young to be from it's mother; more details would be helpful as to how you came upon the young thing.

Kittens don't normally drink water that young, and feeding them regular milk it a bad thing.

It's not lazy, it's just a kitten.  It's adult teeth won't come in for a while yet, and it's too young to eat hard food so put that stuff away.

Another trick is get baby food in the box, mix it with the milk you get for kittens and warm it just alittle.  It has lots of nutrients, and is perfect for this little thing to eat.

The next best thing is get it back to it's mother.  A kitten this young is like a year old baby.  It's just too young to fend on it's own.

I would also do some research on the net, as kittens are very fragile.  They may be cute and such, but too much handling can kill it.

It's just very frightened and doesn't feel safe at all.  Be patient, talk softly and hold it gently when you do.

Big responsibility for a kitten that size......

Answer 3

Before people start fussing at you, you might want to add a detail that says how you got the kitten so young. I'm sure it's because of one of many good reasons to have it, and I am glad you are taking care of it, but others will see that it's 3-4 weeks old and "yell" at you.....

Anyway, cats, especially when they're kittens, don't drink a LOT of water, and if it is eating soft food it's getting some moisture from that. You could mix more water into the moist food or put a little water in some dry food to make it moist. That's what I did when I got my kitten at 4-5 weeks (oh, judgemental people, he was found and brought in alone to animal control), and he made the transition from moist dry food to regular dry food just fine.

One more tip for water: make sure it's in a wide bowl that is not very deep. Cats don't like their whiskers to touch the sides of the water bowl, and they don't like dipping their faces into too much water. But still, it may not drink very much water at all.

As for hiding, it's young to be away from its mommy and siblings, no matter what the reason, and it's scared right now. Try to handle it as much as you can, gently, and it will get used to human touch.  Good luck, and thank you for taking in a kitty and taking good care of it!

Answer 4

Kitty sounds a little young to be on it's own. Normally mama cat is still caring for the young at that age. You may want to do some research on the care and feeding of the young cats,because there may be some bottle feeding in your future. As for solid foods, kitty may not be developmentally ready for it. I think I would ask my vets advice too.

Answer 5

If you read the information on the package of wet food, sometimes it will say how much of the kittens daily moisture it has in it. Maybe you could even mix some water in with the food you're feeding it (wet or dry) and see if that helps. I know Meow Mix has a wet food with 80 percent of a kittens daily moisture needs in it. Just keep fresh water available all the time and I'm sure your kitten will come around. My cats really only drink at night when all is quiet. Weird.

Answer 6

a 3 week old kitten should not be away from its mother yet!! of course it can't eat hard food yet, it still has milk teeth and is only beginning to start to wean. at 3 weeks it will still suckle quite a bit. you need to take that kitten back to its mother until it is 8 weeks old. kittens learn many important social skills as well as acceptable behaviors from their mothers and litter mates at this time, they also need mom to teach them how to clean themselves properly and use a litter box. you are asking for trouble- in regards to health and behavior- when you take a kitten that young. if you can not take it back for some reason then you need to get KMR kitten milk replacer and mix some in the wet food until it is really soupy so the poor thing does not starve to death, feed it as much as it will eat, as often as it wants to eat. it has not been taught by mom how to drink water yet, it has barely learned how to lap formula from a plate. it is not lazy, it is an infant! it is also cold. it's body has just now developed enough to be able to regulate its own body temperature. it needs a warm snuggly bed (box with towels or blankets) keep an eye on in when it defecates as kittens this young do not always have the hang of going on their own yet. (shaking my head here) Please try to return it to its mother until it is 8 weeks old.

Answer 7

That's a little young for hard food.  Talk to your vet.  Kittens that young should not be for sale.  8 weeks is ideal.