Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi-I am fostering a litter of 5 kittens & a mother and I'm having trouble getting a few of them interested in canned food. They are all getting over URIs and are well on thier way to being fully recovered, but while they were sick and not hungry, I was supplementing their nursing w/ KMR (using one of those large plastic syringes). The kittens are about 6 1/2 weeks old, and a few of them will eat the canned food, but 2 of them have absolutely ZERO interest, even if I mix some of the KMR with the canned food, warm the food, etc... I am wondering if I just cut them off completely from the KMR, will they get hungry enough to eventually start eating the canned food? I doubt they are still nursing enough to fully sustain them, so I don't want to do any damage by refusing to supplement their nursing, but I wonder if they will ever start eating canned food if keep feeding them the KMR...Anybody have suggestions? THANKS!

It's not unnormal to find kittens still nursing at 8 to 10 weeks old. Because yours are only 6.5 weeks I would hold off from cutting anything out that they are getting now. Just have the canned food available. Do you have it watered down? That might help some. Eventually they will start eating it. Some are just slower then others.
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Moxie, Gabby and sometimes Tucker

You know, I have mixed the canned food w/ the KMR to the point where it is liquid enough to feed the kittens through the wider-tipped syringe---and for the most part, they'll eat it (messily). It's almost as if they are unconcerned about the *type* of food that they are eating, they just are just picky about HOW it is they are eating---these two kittens only want to be hand-fed. I wonder if I have some how gotten them *addicted* to syringe-feeding?? I have tried putting the KMR into a dish and gently putting the kittens' front paws into it, but they'll always step right out and scamper off to play, barely even stopping to clean their feet. I will keep trying, though...Thanks for your response!

It isn't at all unusual for some to want to nurse longer than others and some to like food at first more than others. I would not take away their KMR or try to force them to wean. Kittens can get issues if weaned to young, like trying to nurse on people and sucking on them forever. I have found that Mom cats start decreasing the times they nurse them at about 6 or so weeks and by about 8 weeks mine are usually down to nursing at bedtime and briefly in the morning and the kits eat and drink on their own between nursing. Of course I had one cat that nursed her kits until they were 19 weeks old and another that allowed her 1 year old son to nurse along side her new kittens, but they are the exception.
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PHWildCat/Tessa and 18 cats, 1 dog and even a hamster
Cat Board Monitor and Chat Host
Pet Hobbyist
A house without cats is like a garden without flowers

I am relieved to hear that my foster kittens aren't as "behind the curve" as I feared they might be with the weaning thing. My main concern is that they are eating some sort of canned/dry food on their own when it comes time for me to take them back to the humane society to be adopted out---I am sure it will be more of a mission for the people at the shelter to have to hand-feed these kittens, and I just want this litter squared away and ready to be adopted sooner rather than later... Thank you for your response!

I have raised several litters of foster kittens, and what Tessa said is absolutely true. Some show interest in eating on their own before others. And why not? Those kittens don't want to give up the yummy private feeding and the cuddles that go with it! They WILL, however, begin to eat, and they will learn from the other kittens.
The mother cat should be allowed to nurse them as she wishes, and the extra KMR will not hurt them. It's almost impossible to over-feed kittens for the first 6 months of life.
I usually feed dry food to my fosters and they learn to eat that at about the same time as canned. I don't like to leave the canned down as long as it takes them to finish it.
If your humane society will allow it, try to keep them until they are 10 weeks old and by then you can be certain that they can sustain themselves eating on their own.
Now is about the time for them to be given their first kitten vaccine, also.
Thank you for doing foster care. It's so important, and so hard for shelters to find good people to do it.
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The Wiscats: Every life should have (at least) 9 cats!
Monsieur Gervais le Blanc
Beau
Simba
Minette
Henri le Chanceux
Andre-Guillaume
Annie-Claire
The Excellent Lady Sophie-Marie
Poucette-Noelle
Sylvie-Chantal la Joie
~~and varying numbers of foster kitties coming and going, including right now Flame, Stevie, Wi'l Chloe, Cocoa, and Fiona, plus Hans, Fritz, Greta, Liesel, Heidi plus TinyBabies Maple, Soren and Maija~~

I also advise against trying to force the kittens to be weaned. I found with my kittens, they all advance at their own rate. One of my kittens was about 2 weeks behind the others, eventually, he caught up. Trust that your kittens will do the same. You may need to "help" them realize that the canned food is what they want. When the other kittens are enjoying the canned food, stick your finger into the mixture, and then put your finger in the mouths of the other kittens that are not eating. It may be frustrating for a few days, but they will catch on. Before you know it, they will love it as much as the others. I had to do this for a few days with mine. You may also want to stick to the same flavor until they are all eating the canned food. When they get a little older, then you can start introducing a little variety.