how to wean a 6 month old kitten off KMR

silvermoonmyst

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I was talking to a friend in my journal and she mentioned that she is still bottle feeding her 6 month old kitten KMR. Can that kitten be getting all her nuitrents from KMR at this age? How can she wean her kitten onto regular food.

From what she tells me, her kitten is much like a toddler. when it dosent get what she wants, she starts screaming. Ive only heard a kitten scream once, and i can only imagine how loud a 6 month old kitten would scream.

Any ideas?
 

jen

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Oh my that is crazy. I have never heard of bottle feeding a cat until 6 months old! Wow, I have no suggestions other then just stop doing it and offer warmed smelly wet food. See if it eats that.

Are you sure she didn't say 6 weeks or maybe she accidentally told you 6 months instead of weeks.
 

kittnldy

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Whoa....I agree with Jen. Could be 6 weeks? Gosh, I hope so!! Other wise, I'd just go to kitten food. Wow.
 

goldenkitty45

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Something is really wrong (IMO) when a 6 month old domestic kitten is only eating KMR and using a bottle.

Kittens should be weaned completely and eating normal cat food by 8 weeks at the most.

A 6-month old kitten is closer to an adult and should have been eating solid foods long ago. She should start giving her kitten solid food and maybe mixing a bit of the KMR but eliminating it quickly. The kitten cannot get all it needs for proper growth and health by drinking just milk.

Why in the world is your friend still feeding this cat milk and KMR and only that?
 
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silvermoonmyst

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ok, she found a 3 week old kitten in the begining of december and started bottle feeding her. And shes still doing it.
I thought that the kitty is probably gonna be sickish from not getting enough food...

ive never heard of a cat 6 months old eating a bottle.
 

charmed654321

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Tha's ridiculous. The kitten should have been weaned at 4-5 weeks of age onto solid food.

She's probably doing it not because the kitten is screaming, but because she likes to do it.

The suggestion of putting some warm kmr in wet kitten food and starting to get her to eat that, and quickly weaning off the kmr is the best.

Not only is it not giving her the nutrients, the high protein content that is so good for the newborns can actually be harmful to the older cats. That's why you aren't supposed to continue giving cats kitten food after the most a year.

Is it possible the kitten is screaming because it's so hungry because it's not getting enough nutrients from the kmr?

She needs to do that asap. If she will not, I would recommend calling animal control. If the kitten is not getting the food it needs to thrive, that is considered abuse and the kitten would need to be removed from there.
 

tnr1

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Originally Posted by silvermoonmyst

I was talking to a friend in my journal and she mentioned that she is still bottle feeding her 6 month old kitten KMR. Can that kitten be getting all her nuitrents from KMR at this age? How can she wean her kitten onto regular food.

From what she tells me, her kitten is much like a toddler. when it dosent get what she wants, she starts screaming. Ive only heard a kitten scream once, and i can only imagine how loud a 6 month old kitten would scream.

Any ideas?
I would seriously get her in contact with this woman:

http://www.safehavenforcats.com/

Jeri has been working with orphaned kittens for years and can probably assist your friend with weaning this kitten onto solid food.

Katie
 
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silvermoonmyst

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as an update, i have forwarded all of your comments and information out to my friend ( well i kinda edited out some parts) So thank you all, and i really hope she listens!!
 

goldenkitty45

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I'm just wondering how big this kitten really is. It cannot be very large if KMR is the only thing she's been feeding for 6 months. IMO it almost sounds like she's trying to create a mininuture cat and will seriously restrict any growth. Sorta like that cruel fake website of "bonsai kittens"??????

And I'm willing to bet this "kitten" has never ever seen a vet.
 
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silvermoonmyst

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Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

I'm just wondering how big this kitten really is. It cannot be very large if KMR is the only thing she's been feeding for 6 months. IMO it almost sounds like she's trying to create a mininuture cat and will seriously restrict any growth. Sorta like that cruel fake website of "bonsai kittens"??????

And I'm willing to bet this "kitten" has never ever seen a vet.
She did tell me that she feeds KMR as a suppliment, not as an only, The cat also gets cat food, and treats. But i did forward on the information given to me
 

callista

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Whew! So this is more of a situation of "Kitten who demands KMR in addition to regular food"? What a relief!

I think your friend is really going to just insist the silly kitten eats regular food. She could possibly start diluting the KMR with more and more water, until eventually there's just water in the bottle... If she's feeding a grown cat water from a bottle, it'll just be a weird quirk, and not dangerous (unless Grown Cat decides to bite the nipple off the bottle or something). Then she can just keep spacing the bottle out more and more until there aren't any more feedings...
 
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silvermoonmyst

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See i didnt think it was all that bad because ive had cats growing up and they were all cows milk babies, but when she first told me, she told me that she still bottle fed, it was several notes later that she said she also fed some cat food. I passed everyones suggestions along though, i just though that the KMR could be harmful.
 

Brenittt

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My 6 mo old kitten still takes a bottle so it’s obvious not unheard of.. but my boy also eats dry and wet cat food and treats.. but he still wants his kitty formula to.. he’s definitely not over weight either. I’m unsure of his breed but he’s pretty big for his age he has a very long body and lean. He just still really enjoys and thinks he needs it so I give it to him :)
 

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