When can I wean my three 11 week old kittens off of wet food?

Question

Or should I keep it the way things are now- dry food out always and wet food twice a day?

How would I wean them off of it?

Answer 1

start mixing in dry food with the wet food. add more dry food every day till it is all dry food.

Answer 2

It's healthier for you cats to wean them off the dry food, and just give them the right amount of wet food to keep them healthy.  Cats don't have much natural sense of thirst because in the wild they get most of their water from eating raw animals, so if your cat eats dry food only -- even the ones that actually have meat in them -- your cat might get dehydrated, and that's just not healthy.

However, cats really do like the dry stuff, so if you can find a dry food that's not mostly corn (and you really have to look around), you can do what I do and offer a measured amount of each for every meal.

Answer 3

Unless you want your cats to get pudgy pretty fast, cut back on the food a bit. Once they get to about three months in age, cut back on the wet food a bit, and when they're one year old, give them limited wet and dry food, not out all the time.

Answer 4

Keep them on wet food. Cats were never meant to eat dry food, also known as cereals or kibble. We, humans, make them eat it for convenience to us. It has nothing to do with them or their nutritional needs. It's completely species inappropriate.

All small domestic cats descended from desert cats. In the wild, desert cats derive their entire liquid intake from their prey. They do not have a thirst mechanism because they don't need it when eating a species appropriate diet. They get all they need from what they eat. Additionally water was usually not available to them in their desert climate. So they do not often drink water. Regular ol' house cats have descended from those same wild desert cats.

So in a home environment, your kitty does not get the moisture it needs from dry food and it’s almost always in a constant state of dehydration. Water fountains are encouraged to TRY to get your cat to drink more and your kitty may even enjoy it, but it will never meet its water intake needs drinking from a bowl.

Deadly feline illnesses such as diabetes, kidney failure, obesity, allergies, Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD), bladder stones, kidney stones,  urinary tract blockages and Urinary Tract Infections (FLUTD), with and without deadly crystals run rampant these days. Cats are not taking in enough water to stave them off. Proper water intake through a species appropriate diet alone can prevent most of these conditions.

Overall,  wet is all around better for any cats diet, be it canned or Raw and they should never be fed dry cereal kibble if we wish to most closely match their wild nutritional and dietary needs. Kibble meets our needs… not our cats.

Answer 5

Google Catkins Diet and you will find info on the current thinking on proper cat nutrition. More protein, less carbs.  Cats that are fed canned food, for a 6-10# cat, 3 ounces in the morning and at night with dry food as a treat instead of "junk food" treats, will stay healthier and slimmer and not be as prone to diabetes as they age.