Confused food and litter

Okay Flowers little ones are 3 weeks old and some people say that they had their little ones litter trained by 4 weeks?Yet most sites i read say to start at 5 weeks... what to do?
And what age can i give them food and keep water out for them to drink,I hear alot of different ages for that too.

As soon as my kittens were able to get out of their basket by themselves, around 3-1/2 weeks, I put a shallow litter pan next to each of the big litter boxes. They didn't actually use the litter for its intended purpose until they were almost 5 weeks old. I didn't do anything to try to train them. Basically they learned by watching their mother.

For the food I did the same thing, just put a dish of dry kitten food near their basket. I didn't see any of them eating it until they were somewhere between 5 and 6 weeks old. Mostly the mama cat ate it, which was okay, too. I figured as long as Goldy had enough milk and the kittens were growing there wasn't any reason to push them into eating solid food. I think they were about the same age when they figured out how to drink water from a bowl without falling in.

With my first litter, I started my kittens on soft kitten food at 4 weeks only because there were 8 of them. I also knew that once they started to eat real food, they'd have real poops so I started the litter box the same day as the food. As soon as they ate the food, I gave them about 10 minutes and then put them in the litter box and showed them how to dig with one paw. They figured out the rest

My second litter of kittens I got litter trained at 4 weeks also, but they didn't want to eat food but I tried them a few times daily. I left dry food and water in there and their mom ate and drank and then they got interested. It doesn't take long, cats are pretty good at all of it

i do not have the kittens in a basket i have them in some very creative carved/taped boxes which are kinda tall(i have 3 dogs that are not ready for little ones under foot yet)so about 4 weeks i can stick a litter box and food/water dish inside their massive area would be best bet?

As long as the area is large enough that the food and litter box can be separated it should work. Be prepared for Flower to eat the food and use the litter box before the kittens do.

kitens area is huge(almost half my bedroom)so i am prepared for everything,i think.

You can leave some out, and eventually they'll get curious and try it, though it might be in a week or so.Try dampening it with water so it's easier to chew. Any time is fine to start.

I leave dry food out for mom all the time and wet food gets put out once a day a few kittens seem really interested in the wet food and a few play with the dry food it is kinda funny.I will be putting a litterbox in their area this weekend when the kittens are 4 weeks old.

I usually litter at 3-4 weeks. I starting soft dry food training at the same time.

I just found out that kittens when first introduced to litter should not have the clumping litter. They end up injesting some and clumping is bad for them. At about 4 months they say you can switch to clumping.

I bought non clumping litter on my last major pet shopping trip.

I started out with non-clumping litter but changed to clumping a lot earlier than four months. I waited until I was sure the kittens weren't eating the litter, then changed the large litter boxes back to clumping litter. I kept the non-clumping litter in the small pans for the kittens, but that didn't exactly work out the way I intended. I caught the big cats using the little bitty pans and the kittens climbing into the big boxes. Go figure

I am not sure when i will change to clumping it is more or less see how the kittens do then adjust as needed.

Dont' change to clumping for a while, because the kittens get it on their paws, then lick their paws and it can kill them if it clumps in their stomach...

Ohh definitely,i was more or less thinking when the were older....2 of the kittens took a lick of moms wet food today i was so proud.

Originally Posted by angelic00

Ohh definitely,i was more or less thinking when the were older....2 of the kittens took a lick of moms wet food today

i was so proud.

Click to expand...

Ohhh, good, just making sure Were you planning on keeping them?
I know eh? They grow up so fast!I remember when one of my little guys first started investigating the water...he got quite the surprise when he dunked his head in it!

There are 2 we are thinking of keeping,not fully sure yet.