New Kitten Issue

[dsnymoners]

We just got a kitten yesterday and i think she was way to young to be taken from her mother but the lady had to get rid of all the kittens becuase they were going out of town. The kitten was born on 10/31 so she is just over 5 weeks old. Yesterday she wouldn't eat her soft food at all so I went and bought a small bottle and some kitten formula. Anyone have any experience of weaning a kitten yourself.

 

[Mickeys.friend]

Hi...My husband rescued a kitten off the side of the road once, and he's been with us for 2 years now. When he arrived he was about 5 weeks also. First, kittens and cats in general should not eat soft or wet food...it's not necessary and crunchy food is better for them and their teeth. I ended up spending the better part of one day helping our little kitty understand the litter box and the food bowl.....These are things mommy cat usually does for them....I just kept putting one small piece of food in his mouth and gently holding it shut so he would get the idea....After spitting it out about 5 times he finally chewed and swallowed. Then he was flipping out wanting more, so I put him in front of the bowl of kitten food and he ate by himself. The rest is history. Make sure you use a good quality Kitten chow...not junky stuff. Your kitty should adapt just fine. Just be gentle and patient....If you need more help, call a VET, not a pet store....Good Luck!

LIZ

 

[CinRell]

Please take the kitten to a vet! A kitten can dehydrate and deteriorate QUICKLY!

I've never heard soft food is not good for cats. In fact I know many cat owners who ONLY feed wet! For a kitten this young you should DEFINITELY feed wet for the added fluids.

I think a vet can give you the best advice as none of us can see the kitten or condition. You are right.. 5 weeks is WAY too young. Kittens should stay with their moms until they are 12 weeks old.. not only for health reasons but for very important developmental issues (bite inhibition, etc).... my ex got a kitten who was JUST at 5 weeks from a shelter (grumble grumble)... and without IV fluids at the vet, she'd have died.

 

[hambirg]

I think at 5 weeks your kitty should be able to start eating kitten chow. We always had cats growing up and I think by that age they are starting to wean. I think the advice above is very good. You might have to "teach" your kitty one piece at a time at first, but if she's hungry she will eat. Has she been seen by a vet yet just to rule out any other problems?

ETA: I agree that you need to make sure she is getting enough liquid. Call your vet.

 

[sbell111]

I also agree with mickeys.friend's entire post.

When I was in college, I ended up with a much too young kitten. We got her to eat the kitten chow as MF explained. I never, ever fed her wet food until the last few months of her life, September-November of this year. She was 21 when we put her down a few weeks ago.

 

[JackJack08]

I had a cat, that had a kitten (yes only one...the rest were stillborn)....and she didn't have any milk from day one. So basically, I bottle fed him from the day he was born.
It is pretty easy to bottle feed. Although, at that age I don't think you will need to. I would give her ONLY wet food. Hard, is way to difficult for them to eat. If you continue on hard, yes she will have no choice to eat it but she will not thrive. If you must use hard food, water it down.You could, however, mix some of the replacement milk in with the food to make it more pleasing.
Also, make sure her BM's and urinating is o.k. When kittens are fed by their Mother, they lick them to make them urinate and have BM's. She should be doing this on her own...but keep an eye. If not, just rub her "privates" after she eats or drinks and she will relieve herself. It's really not that gross, just have a paper towel handy. I'm sure she is going on her own anyway.
I have fostered many, many cats over the years. Nothing sweeter than a kitten! Enjoy!!

 

[pixiewings71]

You should call a vet but they will tell you much of what you've heard here. 5 weeks is much too young but with love and effort your baby will thrive. I bottle fed as well, you can get bottles and even formula at Wal Mart now, I would suggest asking a vet which brand they suggest. I think I used Tiger Milk when I bottle fed my kitten. Soft food is good to start them on, if you don't want to use soft food get kibble but add formula to make it softer and more nutritious. Have a warm place for your kitty to sleep at night too, kittens can get chilled easily and she may get lonely. My kitty had a small box she slept in with an old shirt and towel (we switched them off), a tiny box with litter in it and a small bowl for food/water when she got older. In the beginning it was just the kitten, the box and her towel or shirt.

 

[Val]

I can only reiterate what others have already said, and tell you our story. We, too, found a 5-week old kitten that had been abandoned. We took it in and did what the others have advised. It was a little tough going, and Teeny was teeny-tiny.....we really couldn't keep her (we had and have 5 of our own), but our neighbors had just lost their beloved elderly cat. Down the street she went about 4 years ago.

Two years ago the neighbors had a house fire while they were on vacation (their whole house alarm system started the fire- but called the fire department before it burned up!). DD21 had to help the firemen rescue the dear cat.....she survived with a little touch of smoke inhalation and was no worse for wear. She has had a few rough spots in her life, but she is one scrappy cat. Her favorite activity is to intimidate the neighborhood dogs (the bigger the better- she strikes fear in our Golden's heart!)....so much for the 5week old thing that wouldn't eat and cried all night. She still cries- but for MORE FOOD! She has received incredible loving care...and "Teeny Teaser" who started life so scrawny and tiny is now a HUGE 22 pounder....guess she made up for her rough start.

Good luck and keep us posted....and we want pictures!

 

[chyam]

All the above advice is good another thing you may want to try is a little "meat" baby food, it is high in calories and it is almost liquid, it also smells strong, cats need to be able to smell their food. I rescued a 5 week old in June, I had to teach him about the litter box too. Although with 4 others in the house he got the hang of it pretty quickly. Food choice is usually a personal opinion. I feed 2 cans of wet each morning and split it 8 ways, the rest of the time they eat dry. Dry food is great, it's good for their teeth and it also allows you to free feed, which is helpful if you are gone for hours or even for a weekend. Just make sure it is a good quality dry food. Your kitten if very young may have a little harder time chewing the dry food....they have teeth but they are so tiny so it maybe easier to feed the wet or maybe even let the kibble soak in some diluted baby food to soften it up a little. You will get plenty of advice but you have to chose what is best for you and your kitten right now,

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Good luck with your kitten!

You might look for Royal Canin Babycat food. We adopted a kitten last year who was rescued when she was only about 3 weeks old. When we got her from the rescue group at about 8 or 10 weeks that what she was eating. The pieces are little tiny so she was able to manage them just fine. You can buy it at Petco.

It is funny to watch her because you can tell there were things she never learned. She can't drink water out of a bowl very well. She can do it, but it is a very awkward maneuver! She turns her head to the side and licks the water from the very edge of the bowl. She didn't groom herself when we first got her. She does groom now, but she doesn't quite "get it" when it comes to licking her paws. She will try to lick her paw without tensing her "arm" so she keeps shoving her paw away from her mouth.

We already had a 2 year old cat when we adopted her so I think she has learned some things from our other kitty.

 

[dsnymoners]

Thank you everyone...I made a paste of some iam's soft kitten food and the formula and she ate all of that right up...looks like she will be coming to work with me the next week or so.

 

[JackJack08]

Oh....glad to hear she is eating! Maybe she is starting to feel right at home!

 

[browneyes106]

One thing you could try doing is mixing wet kitten food with the formula that way the kitten will get nutrients through formula and food. Also do the bottle feeding for a couple of weeks and then slowly wean off the milk by mixing it with her food. Keep us posted on the kitten and if you get a chance post a pic.

 

[Cool-Beans]

Two different vets (one emergency, one regular) told me wet food is absolutely fine. And both said that kittens should get wet food or dry food that you've mixed with a little water.

I couldn't find wet food at the grocery store, but found some at the pet store. I gave them the wet stuff sometimes and the Purina kitten chow (mixed with water) others. They didn't seem to care much either way, so once I no longer had to wet the stuff down (they were bigger and could chomp up the dry stuff), I gave them dry.

Dry is easier. If you can get the thing to eat it now, go with it.

While it may have been better for the kittens to stay longer with their mom, plenty of people get kittens that young and they turn out okay. A friend of mine got one at like 4 weeks and had to do the dropper thing and the cat grew up just fine.

Good luck with your kitten.