4 Week Old Kittens..

[kaatex8]

Today we got two 4 week old kittens. They were posted on social media and I couldn’t risk them going to a bad home! We were told 6 weeks old but definitely younger.
We took them to the vet today and she says they seem healthy but too young to vaccinate yet. They gave cases of kitten wet food and a few cans of milk to mix in with the wet food. My question is they haven’t had any interest in eating? The girl ate for maybe a minute and the boy nothing except a lick of milk from our finger.
We’ve only had them since about 4pm so 5 hours about... we have a small box from the vet with litter but they won’t potty either even with us trying to stimulate.
I haven’t cared for kittens this young before so I’m not sure if this is normal as they are in a new environment?
Just looking for ease of mind or maybe some advice from people who deal with kittens like this. Their mother was not very interested in them after a few weeks. The lady we got them from said she was feeding them dry kitten food mixed with water and they had used the litter box before.

 

[rubysmama]

Have you tried giving them the same dry kitten food the lady you got them from mentioned?

Also, do you have a low sided litter box, that's easy for them to get into. Should also use non-clumping litter, as kittens sometimes try to eat litter.

Here's a couple TCS articles that may be helpful:
Weaning: How To Get Your Kittens To Eat On Their Own
The Essentials Of Kitten Nutrition

Please post pics of them, when you can.
How To Add A Picture To Your Forum Post

 

[maggiedemi]

What about Kitten Chow? Demi ate Kitten Chow and Pate when he was a baby.

 

[kashmir64]

At 4 weeks, they aren't eating or pooping by themselves yet. Try bottle feeding them with KMR and goats milk (you can get this at Walmart if you can't get raw). If you don't want to go that route, pour some goats milk into a saucer with the dry kitten kibble to soften it up. You can also try some kitten pate.
As far as stimulating, use a warm damp cloth. They may not go by themselves for another week or so.
I can't believe someone would find homes for kittens so young. They are way to young to be separated from mommy. Thank you for rescuing them. And yes, it was a rescue.

 

[Sarthur2]

Agreed, they are much too young to leave mom. You will probably need to bottle feed them for another week or two until they are ready to transition to soft food.

Feed them every 2 hours until you feel they are hydrated, then every 4 hours.

If they are dehydrated from not eating they will not pee or poop.

How are they today?

 

[kaatex8]

Thank you all for the responses and advice. I apologize greatly for my delay in an update! I was pretty desperate last week for some answers as I am a worrisome mother lol!

We did call the vet the next day and told them they weren’t eating or going to the bathroom. They had us bring them in and they were successful with a little syringe and helped us know what consistency their kitten wet food/milk supplement needed to be! They were able to stimulate one for a little bit of pee!
Later on that day, they chowed down on food and both went potty!
Now they will be 5 weeks tomorrow and they are doing amazing! We feed them every 2-3 hours, both are using the litter box with needing to stimulate. Our other cats are starting to love them and they are very adventurous!
Next Wednesday is their 6 week check up and will get to be vaccinated and tested! Once again, thank you all! Haven’t taken care of such youngins before but we are so happy to give them a loving home & they will be very well taken care of! Already spoiled!

 

[Sarthur2]

Thank you for the update. They are precious!

 

[kaatex8]

Correction to my post— they potty without stimulation!