Ideas For Introducing Kittens to Solid Foods Needed

Hi Everyone ... sorry to have been so largely absent over the past several weeks, but honestly, I have had my hands quite full here at home - work is always busy at the end of the month, my sister was in visiting from Minnesota and I am on my own here without help or an extra pair of hands these days, so needless to say, I have gotten quite behind on so many things!

Lexus and the babies are all doing fine, thanks to those who have emailed and PM'ed to ask about them.

The babies will be 5 weeks old on Wednesday of this upcoming week and I am having a really hard time getting them to eat moist canned kitten food. I have tried all the tricks, mushing it up with the KMR, using baby food, administering it in a needle-less syringe, smearing it on paws, you name it, I've tried it. They are VERY resistant. I have never seen a cat resist chicken meat baby food before, but here we are. A couple of them are using the litter tray nicely, the others are still letting Lex do butt duty.

Does anyone have any ideas I can try? These guys are getting BIG and it is time to give Lexus a little break. She's been a stellar Mommy and I love her for it, but she needs to stop being their sole nutritional provider.

Thanks in advance,

Gaye

What is their response when you feed them with the syringe? I have a thought but it won't work if they don't have any idea that the stuff in the syringe is food...

I wonder, too, if these guys aren't just somewhat late bloomers. I have known some kittens to be totally disinterested in solids until 5 and even 6 weeks (and on the other end, I have had orphaned 2-week-olds who accepted assisted feedings of canned food much more readily than a bottle). They could easily figure out the whole thing on their own at any time and completely forget about all the grief they gave you. ;-)

The response to the syringe feedings is pretty much disinterest - of course, they wiggle about and squirm - so I get more food on them than in them. The good news is that they are beginning to lick it off of themselves (instead of Lexus hunting them down and licking it off of them) so hopefully, this is a good sign of positive things to come.

I am gonna try again in the morning and yet again and again. I know they will eventually get the hang of it - I just need to be patient.

Thanks, Semiferal, I really do appreciate your reply.

~gf~

You might not want to go this route but I noticed that the litter before this one I had a really hard time trying to get my 6 week old kittens to accept solid food (canned food mixed with KMR).
This time it's completely different. I decided to put momma plate of raw meat down on the floor last week. The 4 week old kittens immediately ran over to her plate and started chewing and chowing down on her raw meat!!! They love it it's like the just know what to do with the raw meat!
You might want to give it a try and see how they react. I am curious if all kittens react to raw meat the same or if it's just mine.
I would imagine that at a certin point in the wild momma cat brings the kittens a bird or a mouse and they start chowing down just like they did with my momma cats raw meat from her plate.
They also make a really cute sound when they chew its like yumm, yumm, yummm sound,half meow ,half growl.

I am a little squeamish at the idea of totally raw, but I might certainly try some shredded, boiled chicken ... of course, I am literally gonna have to lock Lexus up somewhere - preferably in another state - because the old political campaign slogan "A chicken in every pot" would need to be amended to contine "And a Lexus waiting for it to cool" *grin*

Thanks, Bengalbabe - on the off chance I consider going with raw, what would you suggest as a suitable first offering and how should I ummmm - prepare it? I mean, I know I don't cook it, but like, do I trim or grind or ... you know.

~gf~

I have had good luck introducing kittens to canned food by putting a good sized glob on a plastic knife (the kind you get at fast food places). I sit the kitten on my lap, open the kitten's mouth by gently squeezing the corners, and stick the blob of food in the kitten's mouth. Usually he will respond by beginning to suck down the food. I have had kittens as young as two weeks old accept solid food this way (little contrarians who wanted to be like "the big kids", I guess - it was bizarre but since they're healthy young adults now I guess the proof is in the pudding).

Have you tried separating them from Lexus for a couple of hours before trying to feed them? If they are a little hungry they might be more receptive to the new experience. I know I wouldn't jump at the chance to sample a weird-looking new food if I'd just filled up on my favorite food.

If you try the raw food route, you might get some plain boneless, skinles chicken (I would guess dark meat would be more appealing but hopefully someone more knowledgeable can help here) and give it to the butcher to grind up. Ask them to clean the grinder beforehand or go first thing in the morning while the equipment is still pretty clean. Then you can just give them the ground meat. I would stay away from packaged ground meat since you do not have any way to know how it was handled prior to packaging.

I haven't completely read through this thread Gaye, but had you been supplementing them on some sort of milk before hand? We feed goats milk as you may know, and then we just mix the solid food into that - easy as pie

Well, success at last this morning ... I took your advice Semiferal and removed Lexus from the room before the babies began to stir (at Oh-God-Thirty AM!!) so they wouldn't nurse. I poured a jar of turkey meat baby food onto a small paper plate, nuked it for about 15 seconds and put it down. The babies LOVED it. My, my, my you should have heard all the slurping going on! There is one little Blue Point boy holding out, but he was sniffing around the plate and licking his lips so I know it won't be much longer for that one.

Thanks everyone - I was scratching my head with this bunch.

~gf~

There aren't many things that are funnier than watching kittens who are just discovering the joys of real food. Of course, there also aren't many things that are messier...

Glad you finally had success.

Thank goodness I have a carpet shampoo'er. There are chicken meat baby food paw prints EVERYWHERE. *grin*

~gf~

well that's good to hear but darn I wanted to know if it's just my kittens that go for raw meat like mine do =0)
I don't have the mess issue. The raw meat dosent stick to anything and momma claens up what they get on the floor.

Originally Posted by bengalbabe

You might not want to go this route but I noticed that the litter before this one I had a really hard time trying to get my 6 week old kittens to accept solid food (canned food mixed with KMR).
This time it's completely different. I decided to put momma plate of raw meat down on the floor last week. The 4 week old kittens immediately ran over to her plate and started chewing and chowing down on her raw meat!!! They love it it's like the just know what to do with the raw meat!
You might want to give it a try and see how they react. I am curious if all kittens react to raw meat the same or if it's just mine.
I would imagine that at a certin point in the wild momma cat brings the kittens a bird or a mouse and they start chowing down just like they did with my momma cats raw meat from her plate.
They also make a really cute sound when they chew its like yumm, yumm, yummm sound,half meow ,half growl.

Click to expand...

It's not just your kittens. We use the raw food method on all our litters and it works everytime without fail. It's 200% better than trying to coax a kitten to eat a dry piece of kibble. Once they're eating the raw, they seem to go for the kibble almost as quickly.

ahhh...thanks for the info. Good to know.

I am still interested in what you give as raw meat, Bengalbabe ... and how you go about it all. I am not in any way, shape or form discounting that it may be an alternative, but for me and for my kitten buyers, I am just not certain it is the best option.

I understand. Each has to make thier own descision what is best for thier own cats.
I use chicken thighs. I cut the meat off, grind the bones and add them to the mix. I add a small amount of heart and liver and a couple of fish oil capsules. I have the recipe on my website.

Thanks, I'll check into your site. And as an added bonus, I get to look at your pretty pictures!! *grin*

~gf~

ok!!

Our kittens were not interested in solid foods till 5 or 6 weeks old and didn't start eating it on their own without some help till 6-7 weeks old (these are barn kittens).

I kept mom and kittens in the same room and they kinda copied from her. But I would add hot water to it, and make it soupy then push the kittens mouth into it or take a bit on my fingers and they got the idea. After a week of this routine, they would start to eat it off the plate.

I find feeding kittens on a plate or paper plate works a lot better then trying to get them to eat out of a bowl. Its messy but works a lot better.

Thanks Goldenkitty - I did use a small paper plate this morning and instead of adding water to the baby food, I nuked it for about 15 seconds to warm it. I stirred it around until it was cool enough and put it down for the babies. I smeared a little on mouths one at a time and before I could say Boo, there were three of them just sucking it down. Of course, they were getting it everywhere, up their noses, all over their faces and paw, but they are eating from a plate, and that was what I wanted to accomplish.

Thanks for your ideas,

GayeF

LOL Gaye, I'm glad the little ones have finally discovered eating on their own. Go easy on the baby food - you'll create addicts!