Ryu and foster kitten

[fyreflair]

After what happened with Ryu's last litter she still had milk and it hasn't dried up, I found a pair of young kittens who was abandoned and needed help. Ryu took to them and is letting them feed (to her relief I bet). I plan on finding them good homes when they are old enough but right now they seem to be about three weeks. My problem I need some help with is one of them (whom I nicknamed Mr.Mobile cause he's always wanting to be on the go) he's taken to trying to mimic the other cats and trying to eat and drink like they do. I'm wondering if he's actually old enough at this point of if it will make him sick. So far I've been semi-deterring him but I don't want him to reject the food all together and he's still feeding from "mom" at the same time. 

BTW I swear even though it makes a mess it is ADORABLE watching him get water! He actually tips the bowl over so he can get to it.

 

[skeletor]

Do you know how old the kittens are? Kittens start to wean and gain the ability to eat/digest solid food around 5 weeks old. Some kittens start sooner, and some start later depending on how they develop just like babies. Is the kitten still producing proper "Output"? If he's not getting constipated from the solid food then he's probably fine, just a little ahead of the game.

If you give wet food and that's what he's eating try to keep it poultry based. I've heard that fish based foods can be harder for kittens to digest and gain nutrients from. I'd also recommend watering down some dry food into a mushier mix for the kittens to start on !

 

[skeletor]

I missed your note on them being three weeks! If they were bottle babies or malnourished they can be a lot smaller for their ages too. My new kitten was 14.5 ounces at 8 weeks after I found him under the overpass, he's a healthy hungry eater now.

 

[maewkaew]

Good advice from Skeletor.   I agree, if you are going to let him try some food,  stay with pate style chicken, turkey or duck;   avoid byproducts , grains, fish and red meat.    Rabbit would also be OK if you had that.

  & yes,  if they'e been malnourished they might be small for their age.   Do you think they might be a bit older than 3 weeks?

 Are the ears up?   What teeth do they have?   How is their movement ?  Can they walk well?   Can they run?

 

[fyreflair]

They're somewhere around three weeks, only reason I know that is I was keeping an eye on the mother. There are some kids around that like to terrorize her if they find her so when she got pregnant I made sure that she found a good place to hide and knew when she had her kittens. Though I'm not entirely sure of the exact time which she had them, hence my "they seem to be somewhere around three weeks". I'm not sure what actually happened but she rejected these two. I seen them try to go to her and she hissed and smacked them a few times. They are small for their age but they seem further along otherwise then my other cats were at that same age. They "go" just fine, Mr. Mobile even has a corner that he runs to every time (unless he's sleepy! Lol) And while Marshmellow doesn't run around as much as Mr. Mobile they both can run almost as well as my older cats. (Marshmellow prefers to cuddle and Mr. Mobile likes to explore) As for their teeth I'm not sure they won't let me see in their mouths, I can't even get them to meow at me if I have the intention of looking at their teeth. And yes their ears are up.

Now I'm not actually letting him eat the regular food but he refused the mush I made and tries to insist on eating the food. Only thing that stops him is he can't get in the dish unless he tips it and if it's too full he can't tip it. Most of the time I catch him before he gets to it. 

I hope the back story helps, I was in a rush to type the first time around cause my computer battery was dying and I misplace the charger.

 

[maewkaew]

OK  now I understand that you did know when they were born.  They sound advanced for 3 weeks !   You did say somewhere around 3 weeks though,  and  I know how time can go by quickly,  so maybe they're close to 4 wks and are rather precocious.     Normally if they were like just turned 3 weeks,  they would not be running so well  as older cats.

    & if they're maybe 3 and a half to 4 weeks, it wouldn't be that unusual they are starting to eat    since it is not rare for them to start trying some food at 4 weeks.

WHen you say regular food, do you mean hard / dry food?  Personally I would not want a  kitten so young to eat that yet.    I would try to keep them to either mother's milk  or wet cat / kitten food.   maybe put the other food where they can't get to it,  like somewhere the mom would need to jump to.

 Or just feed her on mostly wet food right now and only give her some of the dry separately from the kittens.

Companies do put a coating on dry food to make it tasty , so that might be attracting them.    I guess you could crumble up some of it and sprinkle it on the wet food.  That would at least be not as hard on their teeth -- but don't give much unless it is food specifically for kittens,  or for both cats and kittens.  ( Most of the commercial dry adult cat food is too low in animal protein & fat and too high in carbohydrate to be ideal even for adult cats,  and definitely not for growing kittens. )

 

[fyreflair]

I've been feeding my cats kitten food for a little while now, when Ryu had her last litter (if you didn't see any of my other posts none of them made it due to various reasons that's why she still has milk) and I still have some in the bag. They do seem really advanced even given the bit of leeway in age. At least compared to the first litter born into my care. But compared to wet food it's still really hard and he only seems to go after crumbs, he just picks up and drops anything bigger, almost like he's getting it out of his way.

I've had them both for about a week and a half (that's when I finally realized that their original mama was rejecting them) and I had to give up the idea of keeping them in a box because he managed to get out of the box by the end of the first day, and has actually been interested in the food since then but didn't actually attempt to eat it at first. (I do find this little one to be simply amazing with how well he's thriving) 

Anywho, went off on a tangent there, as for putting it where he can't reach I would actually try that except there are several other cats in the house and quite honestly they are hyper. They would knock it over within an hour and then it would just be all over the floor lol. I honestly don't want him to be able to eat it but he's determined. If it won't hurt him I wouldn't worry as much but this just seems so abnormal and early that I'm checking every half hour to make sure he's not by the food. I think I'm slightly annoying Ryu.

 

[skeletor]

In agreement that it sounds like he's just advanced for his age. I agree that sticking with wet food (or water on dry food until it's soft) would be best and to maybe keep a small bowl of that with the kittens to see if he will eat it over going to the adult bowl. You might also consider changing bowl types for the time being to a dome shape that's like ...this shape /___\ because those are much harder to tip.

I think you're doing well, as long as Ryu is still nursing and doing okay as well. I'm so sorry for you losses.