5 week old kitten not eating

Hi all, I hope someone here can help me.

My friend gave me a kitten that is now apx 5 weeks old. I got her just over a week ago. When i got her she was pretty thin and cried a whole lot. I had her on a bottle until today. She has been gaining weight, is now littler box trained and is very active. Yesterday she stopped wanting her bottle. would chew on the nipple but not suck on it and get any food in. She pretty much did not eat all day. Today was the same thing. cept if you put the bottle near her she would cry and scream. I had even taken the food out of it and put water in so she could get something down her and she was not pleased over that.

I have wet kitten food for her and i did get a tiny bit of that down today. but it had to be on my finger when she would try to chew on my finger she would eat it.

She is playing like normal and everything. She is sleeping like normal. Just the only differance i have seen is that she is crying more (not normal for her) and is not eating. Any ideas as to what could be wrong? i was told that momma cat stopped feeding her.

Thanks,
theresa

try chicken baby food (people food). It will get her appetite going again. You can also try putting formula in the kitten food you have now - make a slurry. Sometimes they aren't sure how to eat when it is not real wet. Their little teeth and mouths can't yet handle the whole process of chewing/swallowing.

The crying could be because she is hungry.....I am sure others will come by soon with some advice....all I can say is she really needs to eat...

I would take her to the vets, she is way to young to be without her mum. If she is chewing, she might take some kitten food mashed up with kitten milk, but she might need some help from the vet in case she is dehydrated

When my cat had her last litter, she started to feed the kittens a lot less and they werent quite ready to be weaned yet. Same situation as yours, they wouldnt suck on the bottle. I got wet can food, a little bit of dry food, some KMR, and a tiny bit of Nutri Cal and some water, put it all in a blender until its a nice mushy consistancy. I had to feed them with a syringe, just squeeze a very little bit at a time. He probably wont want to eat it, as mine didnt. You just have to gently open his mouth and put the syringe in and like I said earlier, GENTLY squeeze the syringe. Dont worry too much, he will start eating on his own soon. Although, if you keep feeding him and hes not gaining weight, make sure and see a vet.

I have 2 kittens,, In 3 days they will be 5 weeks old.. I put out a bowl of water and some kitten chow 2 days ago.. They have not ate or drank yet, so they have not used a litter box yet.. You say the kitten is litter trained? Have you actually saw any thing in the litter box? If not you have to help the kitten go pee & poo just like the mama would normally still be doing... Maybe thats why its meowing and the fact that it misses mama and its litter mates..Good luck

I have known people who literally hand feed their kittens and by that i mean the kittens would only eat food off their fingers. They only had to do this for a little while until the kittens got used to the wet food. If your kitten is doing this why not keep it up for a bit and see what happens. Wishing you luck with this.

Any update? How is the kitten doing?