5 Week Old Kittens Weaning

[klmd302]

Hello! I am fostering a stray mama cat and her litter. The kittens are 5 weeks old as of today. There are 4 kittens and they're all doing great with weight gain. Over the weekend, they started showing interest in Mom's wet food, so I put out some wet food mixed with KMR for them. Only two of the kittens have wanted to eat the food. A third kitten wants to eat Mom's kitten kibble, but has no interest in the wet food. The 4th kitten has not wanted to eat any of it. They are all still nursing as well.

My questions are--
1. How often should I put out wet food for them? Do I need to keep mixing with KMR? They like the Royal Canin Babycat which is super soft.
2. Is it ok for the one kitty to eat kibble at this age? They definitely have teeth, but I worry about her trying to eat the pieces whole. Should I give her some softened kibble?
3. Anything I can do to get the 4th one interested, or just give him time?

Thanks!

 

[rubysmama]

Until some other members reply with their comment/suggestions, here's the TCS article on Weaning: How To Get Your Kittens To Eat On Their Own

 

[Sarthur2]

Offer the kittens wet food 4-6 times a day. You do not need to mix it with formula, but you can. Eating dry food is fine. All the kittens will wean soon enough, but still nurse mom too. Just give it time!

 

[klmd302]

The two boys are eagerly eating the wet food whenever I put it out. The girl is enjoying her softened kibble. The last boy has still not shown any interest. I'm weighing everyone daily, and he is still gaining about 10g/day, but barely. The other ones are gaining more like 30! I think mama cat is ready to be done nursing. She spends a lot of time up high where they can't reach her.

I wonder if I should keep the one kitten (Jack) separated from mom for a few hours with some food available and see if he gets hungry enough to try it? He's 5.5 weeks old.

 

[klmd302]

Here are my cuties Jack is the fluffier tux.

 

[kashmir64]

It sounds to me like the one boy is not ready to wean yet, even though mom is. I would give him a saucer of goats milk, or even kibble softened with goat milk and see if he doesn't start eating a little more.
You can get goats milk at the grocery store if you can't get raw somewhere.

BTW, they are adorable.

 

[Sarthur2]

He will start eating soon. Some kittens do not eat until 6-7 weeks. Do you put him at the food when the others are eating?

 

[klmd302]

Yes, I keep putting him in front of both the wet and the dry and he gives a quick sniff and then does a burying motion next to the bowl. I already have KMR I could put out, but is the goat's milk more appealing to them?

 

[Sarthur2]

Use the KMR that you have. Goat’s milk is recommended for young orphaned kittens who do not do well on formula.

 

[klmd302]

Of course I just caught him trying to eat litter. High standards, this one!

 

[kashmir64]

Use the KMR that you have. Goat’s milk is recommended for young orphaned kittens who do not do well on formula.

I respectfully disagree. Goats milk is not only appealing to the orphans, but also the older as well. And it makes a nice treat for any cat.

 

[Sarthur2]

I should have said that either is fine!

 

[klmd302]

Well I've never had luck mixing the KMR without a bunch of clumps and I had to go to the store anyway, so I got some goats milk. It took some convincing, but once he tried it, he drank for a few minutes! So, I'm thinking if I give him wet food mixed with it he might try that too?

I brought the leftover milk to his siblings afterwards and only one of them wanted any. I can't believe how picky these kittens already are

 

[klmd302]

It worked! And now they need a bigger bowl...

 

[klmd302]

He's hooked now. He even went back for seconds. Lol

 

[kashmir64]

I am so glad it worked. Now he can start to gain some weight.

 

[klmd302]

He was the first born and he was the biggest for the first few weeks. Then their weights started to spread out and now he is about 50g behind the next smallest kitten since the rest have been eating food for almost a week. He's still gaining ok on his own, they were just gaining a lot more. Now he can catch up Thank you both for the idea to get him to try some milk first! I had a feeling once he actually tasted the food, he'd like it. Just like my picky toddler!

 

[rubysmama]

Awwww... so cute.