7 week old kitten refuses solid food .

Home The Daily Kitten Cat Chat Forum Purrs 7 week old kitten refuses solid food .

Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #49000
    DixieRox84
    Participant

    Hey ya’ll , Im Dawn , Im new here . I have been hand raising a kitten for the last 6.5 weeks . I got her when she was 4 days old . My mother in law’s co-worker found her in her front yard and needed someone to take care of her , so I took her . Her name is LuLu and she’s 7 weeks old today . Ive raised kittens b4 , but I have never had one who refuses to eat any food by this age . I have tried all the usual tricks (milk in the bowl , soft food with and without formula , hard food soaked in formula/warm water , differant bowls ex ex) she shows no interest in food what so ever . She will not take her milk from a bowl or even lap it off my finger , she wants ONLY her bottle . Im currently giving her NutraCal to make sure she is receiving enough calories and vitamins as Im worried she should be eating at least some by now . Am I worrying to soon ? Any advice to get her to eat ?

    #705408
    CheetahBoysmommy
    Participant

    Seven weeks is a bit old for a kitten not to have started the weaning process, but it’s not unheard of. She may just be a slow starter. Have you tried mixing wet kitten food into the formula and giving her that through the bottle? If you added just a little bit she would get use to the taste and may start craving it.

    #705409
    ladysky61
    Participant

    I would try putting wetfood on a spoon and having her try lick off the spoon. Also, you could try a bit of “tough love” and refuse to bottle feed her and just put out the formula and/or wetfood in a shallow bowl. Or just bottle feed her for a little bit then stop and put out the food. Eventually hunger will take over. That’s what mama cats do. They roll on their stops so their kittens can’t nurse anymore. Does she see other cats eating food from bowls? I know it takes longer if you are weaning orphan kittens because they don’t have good models but 7 weeks is old enough.

    #705410
    jcat
    Participant

    Well, I’m a bit laissez-faire about weaning, simply because I’ve never seen a fully grown cat demanding a bottle, lol. But I can understand how bottle-feeding is a lot of extra work for you. I’d try what CBM suggests. I’ve had foster kittens refuse to touch wet food right up to 8 weeks but after that they got into it. Have you tried Royal Canin Babycat Mousse to induce her to make the changeover? One of our foster mums swears by it (but it’s expensive so I don’t think they get it for long).

    #705411
    DixieRox84
    Participant

    Thank ya’ll for the help !! Last night I started mixing some formula , wet food and a bit of NutraCal together in a syringe (sans needle of course!) and giving it to her that way , at 1st she wasnt sure about it , but is eating it fine that way for now . I still cant get her to take it from my finger or the bowl , but Im hoping we are working on it . Im also giving her water via syringe for fear that she will become dehydrated . JCAT , I have not tried the baby cat mousse , but if I can find some , I might give it a shot . LADYSKY61 , I have thought about the tough love thing , but wasnt sure it would work with a kitten so young , I did’t want her to just refuse to eat or just not know how to and be starveing . Does that normally work ?

    #705412
    DixieRox84
    Participant

    Oh , and she is an only kitty , so she doesn’t have any one to learn from as far as seeing other cats eat from a bowl , I think that may be some of the issue . I have dogs , but I keep them separated for now bc one of my dogs is about 95 pounds and she’s such a tiny kitten . We dont need anyone getting stepped on ! lol .

Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.