Kitten Weaning & The Right Kitten Food

Kitten weaning onto solid kitten food needs to be planned for so that you have the right kitten food available when required.

When do kittens need weaning?

Queens can produce milk for up to 12 weeks and if so her kittens may still nurse from her until that time.

However from the age of about 5 weeks old they may start to take notice of their mothers own food and indeed some mother cats may encourage them to eat it instead of nursing.

As an owner you should be prepared to start to wean your kittens from around week 5, this is also true if you have hand reared your kittens.

Weaning should be done gradually, do not expect them to take to eating solid food all the time at first. They will still need cat milk (or substitute if hand rearing) up to week 12.

picture by Marcus In NY on flickr

The steps:

Hold a piece of the kitten food to their lips to allow them to smell it.

Then push a little of the food into their mouths.

Wait for them to swallow the food and repeat. They will gradually learn to expect food this way. At first give them up to half a teaspoon of solid food this way followed by their milk (or feed from their mothers)

A week later offer the food on a plate (not a bowl)

Once they are used to eating from a plate you can leave some food on a plate in their enclosures all the time so that they can eat when they wish.
Eventually they will stop nursing from their mothers and only eat from the plate. If hand rearing you will have to monitor how much solid food they are eating and gradually reduce their milk kitten food accordingly.

This video shows you how to wean your kittens.

Kitten weaning onto solid food - What Solid food should I feed?

Basically the smellier the better as this will encourage them to eat it. Although you can buy and cook your own meat at home for kittens, which they will love, it will not provide all their nutritional requirements and so should not be the only type of food given when kitten weaning onto solid food.

It is best to feed some high quality specially prepared kitten food which is available to buy. It will have been specially prepared to contain all the kittens nutritional and moisture requirements.

You can feed wet and dry food to your kitten but it is best to soak the dry food in water before serving, as their teeth and digestive system may not be able to cope with dry food for a while.

A mixture of both wet and dry food will work out cheaper for you as a lot of kitten food is made up of a high quantity of water (required by kittens).

This will increase the protein quantity in the food but will not be harmful. Your kitten will also find the mix more palatable than just dry food alone.

Offer solid food every six to eight hours, always remove any uneaten food so that it does not spoil, it will also reduce the chances of over feeding.

Always provide plenty of fresh water.

How do you know if your kitten is eating enough?

Knowing if your kitten is eating enough and that you are providing the right kitten food for them can be a problem. There are some gauges that will let you know if your kitten weaning is going well:

picture by Editorb on flickr

The kitten should clean up their plate within 30 minutes. Left food could mean that you are feeding too much so offer less next time. Remember kittens do not have very large stomachs.