tips to get off the bottle?

The orphaned kittens I took in are now around 5 weeks old...they are using the litterbox on their own, running/playing quite often and growing fast! We started introducing canned food within the past week, and they are eating it but they still seem to want the bottle. IDK if its a comfort thing or if they still need it?
I have a shallow dish of water out, and they all drink it. Every 3 hours I put a few tbsp of wet food out, about 1.5 tbsp per kitten. In between these times I keep dry food out. I have tried giving dry food at the feeding times and they have little interest.
I am trying to get them off the bottle completely within the next couple days as they will be 6 weeks old sometime this week. When I took the sick kitten to the vet two weeks ago, he said to start introducing food and by this week I should be able to stop w/ the bottle completely. They are doing pretty well with the foods but if I am in the room after they eat, they swarm me and just meow constantly until they get a little from the bottle. I started watering the formula down a lot and am hoping that helps for them to not want it anymore, but I am not sure if that is a good idea?
Should I add a little of the kitten formula to their water dish and just add less each day til they are drinking primarily from that and not the bottle?

Any advice would be appreciated!!

If they are already drinking water from the bowl I would just stop the bottle feedings cold turkey. They will eat their dry food when they are hungary.
If it makes you feel better, give them a bowl of watered down formula morning and night for a day or two.
It sounds like your doing a great job!

Thanks for the response. I have about 1/2 of one can left of kitten milk I might add into their water dish just to finish it off and then hope for the best. It's hard!!! I am a bad kitten mama....I spoil these little ones.

It is hard to ignore their pleas for a bottle too, because they climb on my bed and all over my when they are hungry! Imagine 3 little kittens climbing all over your face to wake you up when they want food. haha. I set my alarm for halfway through the night so I can get up and get them their canned food on the plate, but if I sleep through the alarm they sure know how to wake me up!! I am hoping soon they will start liking the dry food more. I might try switching brands. They snack at it but don't really love it.

I felt bad the other day....a friend who is taking one of the kittens came to see them and her little kitten wouldnt leave my side until I left the room. They are very bonded to me because I have taken care of them since right when their eyes were 1/2 open, and I can't even sit in the room with them without them being all over me!! They think my toes are chew toys and my lap is their bed. Its an awesome bond to have with these babies and I am pretty sure I will bawl when they leave me for their forever homes!

I was a failure at weaning my bottle baby. She refused to even drink from a plate until she was 9 weeks old. She loved her bottle.

I would mix the formula into wet food as they're really too young to do strictly dry. You can supplement with dry, but they should be getting at least 4 wet food servings a day.

I know how you feel...I just fed five orphaned kittens from the time their eyes were half open. Five kittens wanting the bottle at the same time!
I couldn't WAIT til they could drink on their own. They still came to me for comfort and snuggling. These kitties weren't happy to be JUST on my lap...they had to be near my face, either on a shoulder or held close. I didn't have enough shoulder space for five, I'm sure people wondered how I got so many little scratches on my neck and chest.
Although, I'm not crazy enough to let them sleep in my bedroom... lol
I wouldn't expect them to LOVE their kibble. They will always prefer wet food and formula over it. It sounds like their getting plenty of nutrution.
You've done such a good job...I hope it's not too hard saying goodbye.

I wouldn't try to rush them.
I found, while I was rasing bottle babies, that by 8 weeks, they start to lose interest in the bottle.
That's usually about the time they start to really wander too.

I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry to hear about the grey kitty. Orphaned kittens really have a tough start in life and sometimes they just don't thrive. There is a term called "fading kitten syndrome". One of my five died around five or six weeks too. Just failed to gain weight, he was eating and drinking.
Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, it's just not meant to be. It's obvious you did everything you could for the little guy.

Originally Posted by Levi68

I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry to hear about the grey kitty. Orphaned kittens really have a tough start in life and sometimes they just don't thrive. There is a term called "fading kitten syndrome". One of my five died around five or six weeks too. Just failed to gain weight, he was eating and drinking.
Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, it's just not meant to be. It's obvious you did everything you could for the little guy.

Click to expand...

thank you.
I forgot about this thread for a couple days and just remembered to come back and check it. It has been a rough couple days with my crying randomly. Everytime I bottle feed my remaining two kittens I cry. They are getting wet food about 7-9 times a day. They don't eat a lot at a time, so I give them a bit on a place, every few hours. They DEFINITELY let me know if they want food between the regular feedings. And I have stopped feeding kitten formula, but I am still giving the bottle....I just put water in it. They do drink water from their dish but not as much as i want so I kept doing water in the bottle since the bottle seems to comfort them. And since their brother died yesterday morning, they have wanted the bottle with every feeding, so they are at least staying very hydrated.

I dont love having them in my bedroom, thats for sure! But when we first got them the safest place was our bathtub, so we set it up for them. When they needed more space, my walk in closet was perfect. Minus the fact that it had no door, so we used a baby gate. After a week they learned to climb it and would climb it when they were bored or lonely, and we couldn't leave the bedroom door shut because other cats were going in and out. So we let them out in the bedroom and have a gate up at the door. It makes it hard to sleep. The other cats eat their food if I leave wet food out so I set my alarm for a few times overnight to feed them. And they know that if they want food before an alarm is off, they can climb on my face and wake me up. Never to my husband, they just wake me up when they are hungry. LOL.

I have decided to continue w/ the bottle and just offer water for now. I don't want to wean them too early and make them feel like they are missing out, I already hate that they don't have a mama and even more now that one has passed. Oh and I have NO clue how I will give up the other two kittens. I have cried nonstop over the grey one. I feel like I did something wrong, I am hating myself because Tuesday morning he was climbing all over me while I worked and I pushed him away because I was frustrated and not getting anything done. Now I feel like the biggest jerk in the world for it and can't stop crying thinking about the poor baby just wanting my attention on the last morning he was alive. I hate myself for not giving it to him or noticing how sick he was getting earlier. I thought he was just sleepy, he was always sleepier then his siblings. I just can't stop thinking about it and that poor baby just wanting my lap and me saying no. I am hoping it was made up for since he slept in our bed with us tuesday night and spent wednesday morning in my lap/arms but I still hate myself for tuesday morning.

We originally had homes for the grey kitten and the girl kitten. Girl kitten home fell through, and grey kitten passed. The family taking the grey kitten wants either the girl or the other boy, but I am terrified. I love the boy...well i love the girl too but the boy and I have a special bond and have since day 1 and I dont know how I can let him go. I know I need too...I know I can't keep another cat, we are not comfortable enough money wise for me to add another cat in the mix so I know the best thing is to let him go to a great home with someone who already loves him. I just know it will be rough. I pretty much fell in love with these babies immediately, and I can't even describe the love kittens give when they think you are their mama. It is beyond anything I have known. I thought my cat Joey loved me more then anything, but these kittens...they want me all the time. They want to be around me, snuggled with me, playing on me, eating from me, they see me and come running. It is just amazing.

Well, I have fostered quite a few and continue to do so. That is what helps me not keep any. If I kept ALL of them....I"d be the crazy cat lady for sure!
Do you know the people that want to adopt the kitty? Perhaps they will send you updates so you can watch him/her grow.
Fostering can be extremely rewarding.

Well I had someone waiting for the grey one and he passed, so now the person who was going to take him is deciding whether she wants the little girl or the little boy. She met them and loves them both...and she might have a friend who wants the other one, which would be the best scenario. I will cry and cry when they leave but I know I will get pictures and updates and be able to see them grow which will help ease the pain. I know I can't keep every kitten I meet, or we would really have WAY too many. We are at our limit yet at least once a day, hubby and I look at each other and say "well we could just keep ONE of them right???" and the other is the voice of reason at the time reminding that we really can't.
I am happy that I do know the person waiting for a kitten, and if she trusts her friend to take a kitten then I trust her judgment in it, so I won't be giving them to strangers who won't give a crap about them.