KittenClass.Com | July

8-Week Old Kitten Care Tips

Being an 8-week old kitten is an important milestone for a cat in their life. Starting from their birthday until they reach the age of 7 weeks, they are mostly dependent, either on their mother or on you as their owner.

Of course, an 8-week old kitten is by no means entirely independent, they can naturally handle their basic needs alone. Most kittens don’t need their mother anymore to satisfy their nutritional needs because normally, kitten has become fully weaned by the time they reach 8 weeks of their age.

Here we will show you what to expect from your young feline, how to feed them, their size and weight, any medical measures you should take to protect them, and how to keep them away from flea.

What to Expect from an 8-Week Old Kitten?

By the time your kitten reaches 8 weeks of age, which is roughly similar to 2 months, your kitten will enter the third stage of their growth and development: the exploration stage.

They will be less dependent on their mother and begin to explore their basic instincts and survival abilities, but they still need to wait for about 4 weeks before they can become fully independent. For now, your kitten has officially become your pet and no longer their mom’s cute baby.

8-Week Old Kitten Size and Weight

People tend to use kitten’s size and weight to determine how old they are. Indeed, healthy kitten should be of a particular size and weight when they reach a particular age. There is a chart that you can refer to if you want to determine the correct size and weight for your 8-week old kitten.

Generally speaking, an 8-week old kitten should weigh between 1.4 and 2.6 pounds. Anything outside that range is a sign that your kitten is either too thin or too obese.

8-Week Old Kitten Interaction and Socialization

You can interact with your kitten more freely once they are 8 weeks old. Their legs have become so strong that they can now jump, run and punch everything they are interested in. So, it is a good time for you to let them play with ball, furry bundles, and anything that attract them.

A 8-week old kitten should also be trained to be social. Raise them, hug them, hold them, and expose them to people other than you so that it will be easier for your kitten to be a social cat.

Failure to do this essential training will make your kitten an introvert. They will shun other people, flee or become panic when being approached, and even attack them.

Although you need to train them to interact and socialize with human properly, your kitten is still a young kitten that needs a lot of rest. Normally, an 8-week old kitten will sleep for about 20 hours in a day, so make sure that you make use of the remaining 4 hours optimally.

8 Week Old Kitten Feeding

Your 8-week old kitten has already had deciduous teeth that they can use to munch both dry and wet food. If you wish to supply them with healthy nutrients, you can also add kitten formula to the menu. Now is the best time for you to teach your kitten about eating routine and healthy eating habit.

Make an eating schedule and rule that you and your kitten can abide by and make sure that you never violate it. Bad eating habit is easier to change now than it is later when your kitten has grown up. Don’t forget to balance meal with exercise to prevent your kitten from becoming overweight.

8-Week Old Kitten Health

One very important thing to mind when your kitten has reached 8 weeks of age is vaccination. Your kitten is now fully weaned. When they still drank their mom’s milk, the content of the milk boosted their immune system. Now that your kitten no longer drinks their mom’s milk, you should get them vaccinated to protect them from dangerous diseases.

There are a number of vaccinations that your kitten must get. The mandatory ones are vaccinations against feline herpesvirus, feline calicivirus, rabies, and feline panleukopenia virus.

For kittens that spend their time outdoors a lot, additional vaccinations, including those against feline leukemia virus and feline immunodeficiency virus are required.

Talk with your vet about vaccination, about the right flea treatment for them (because toxic treatments for adult cats might be dangerous for them), and about whether spaying or neutering is needed.

8-Week Old Kitten Litter Training

Normally, kitten should have mastered litter training when they are somewhere around 6 weeks of age. If you haven’t done it by the time your kitten reaches 8 weeks of age, don’t worry because you are not late yet.

How to Litter Train a Kitten

Just prepare a litter box for them and encourage them to use it. Kittens, and cats, normally relieve themselves in sand, so it should not be too difficult for you to introduce the use of litter box to your 8-week old kitten.

When Do Kitten Open Eyes for the First Time?

Kittens are weak creatures especially when they are a newborn baby that cannot even open their eyes yet. If you witnessed the birth of the kittens when they emerge into the world for the first time then maybe you are curious when do kitten open eyes. Since the kitten cannot open their eyes yet, of course they are blind for the first few weeks until they finally open their eyes and see the world.

In addition of the blindness, the kittens are also deafness, but do not worry because it is also normal and designed by nature. For your information, kittens are really sensitive to the sounds and loud voices can harm them so the kittens are born without hearing to protect themselves until they are finally growing up and can hear the owner’s voice clearly.

When do kitten open eyes and ears after being born?

Why the kitten eyes are closed when they are being born

In fact, most of kittens are born before all of their organs and senses are develops enough to adapt with the new world. You might also notice that their ears are firmly attached to the head which meaning they cannot hear yet.

For several days to weeks, the kittens are normally blind and deaf so they can only rely on their sense of feeling and smells as well as their mother at first.

And just like we mentioned before, the kittens are not only sensitive to sounds but also light, so their eyelids kept shut to protect their eyes before they can adapt from the outside world.

When do kitten open eyes and ears

The kitten eyes are began to open in the first week or so. They will slowly adapt and their senses are developed gradually. Their eyes will open partially though since they are still sensitive to light. And the kitten will completely open their eyes after couple of weeks.

Their eyes will open wider and continue to open when the reach the first two or three weeks of age. As for the ears, they will start to adapt hearing in the first 5 to 8 days of age.

The blue eyes of kitten

You maybe notice that the kitten’s eyes are blue in color. Many kittens have blue eyes at first, although not all of them but as they gradually growing into more mature state. Their blue eyes are mostly will change and finally they will get permanent colors and they will lose their blue eyes completely when reach 3 months of age. This is such an important kitten development timeline you should know.

Taking care of the kitten eyes

Never rush the development of your kittens by forcefully opening their eyes because the eyes will open naturally. Sometime you also need to clean and wipe the eyes with cotton ball soaked in warm water in gentle manner to remove the discharge. If you spot infection on the kitten eyes then quickly bring them to the vet for further check up.

How to Litter Train a Kitten?

After you know the development of the kittens especially when do kitten open eyes and ears, you can rest assured that the kittens are normally born with their eyes and ears still closed.

How To Potty Train a Kitten to Use Litter Box

Learning how to potty train a kitten cannot be done in short time as your kitten need to get used to the litter through several period of training sessions. And you should know that not all mothers will train their kitten to use the litter, although there are some that does. Thus most of the time, you will need to train your kitten as early as 4 weeks old.

Learn How To Potty Train a Kitten Easily

First thing that you need to do is to of course have all of the equipment ready to avoid having litter training kittens problems. It is better when you have big litter box that your kitten can use for a long time even though it is too big for them at this moment. Then try to choose kitty litter which is more suitable for kittens.

Choose brand that is widely available, and unscented. Scoop-able litter is good to use as you can remove the waste easily. Now, that all of the equipment is ready, then you can train the kitten right away.

To train the kitten, you need to put the box in peaceful place to not make the kitten nervous and give her privacy. Once the area is ready, now you can try to make your kitten accustomed to the area. What you need to do is to place the kitten inside the box frequently.

Do this even though they do not want to relieve themselves. And also do this everything you think they want to relieve such as after meal, when she wakes up, etc. Do not encourage them to dig as well as burry their waste as it will come naturally for them.

Your kitten wills eventually pickup the meaning of the litter box even though some might need more time. When that happens, then do not forget to give some praise whenever your kitten goes by themselves.

If you need to move the litter box to other place, do not do it right away. Instead, move the litter box a few feet from the initial place and ensure it is still in sight. Do this a few times until the litter box arrived in the new place that you want. This will help the kitten to recognize the litter box location and avoid confusion which might make them accidentally goes outside the box.

However, if she accidentally goes outside the box, then you needs to let them sniff their mess, then put them gently inside the litter box. This is useful so they will know what to do the next time they want to relieved themselves. Remember to not hit or even yell at them as they would not understand your meaning. This will only make them hate you if you really hit them.

If the cat that you want to train is new to your house, then it is better for you to try and put them in confinement for a period of time around a few weeks. Then put the litter box inside the confinement, so you kitten can easily reach it.

How to Make a Kitten Poop and Pee?

You might wondering how to make a kitten poop as young cat from one day until 3 week old need to be encourage for elimination. Actually this process will be done by their mother as the mother nurture the kitten when they are still young.

But if you pick up orphanage kitten, then it is another case to deal with. Thus you are the one that need to make the kitten poop.

Learn Step on How to Make a Kitten Poop

If you are wondering why won’t my kitten poop, then you should know that they cannot eliminate by themselves without being encourage to do so. That is why; you need to stimulate them for elimination by doing several things we will mention here.

First of all, you need to stimulate their elimination after they done eating. Use your non-dominant hand to hold them using your palm and ensure their behind is facing you. Hold them gently but do not let them escape. But you need to ensure that the kitten still feel warm when you do this method as young kitten can be sick if their body temperature is low.

Next hold a soft and damp wash cloth using your dominant hand. Try to choose wash cloth that is very soft as well as light in color which makes it easier for you to see your kitten poop later on. Alternately, you can also use damp cotton as well as gauze to do this method.

Now you need to rub this cloth to the kitten anal area to stimulate their poop. Remember to do this gently as it may irritate your kitten if you rub it too hard or if you use rough cloth.

You only need to massage the kitten genital as well as anal area using your thumb as well as fingers to stimulate it. Do it one area at a time, until you notice that your kitten finish eliminating.

Try to check whether your kitten already eliminate or not by seeing the change in the wash cloth color that you use. When your kitten starts to eliminate, you will feel some warm in the wash cloth. When this happen, do not stop the motion until your kitten finish eliminating.

How to Bathe a Kitten ?

But you may need to move around the wash cloth to clean area, to ensure that you always use clean area to rub the kitten. However, if you use cotton ball, then you may want to disposed it and use new cotton ball once again.

After one area is finish, now you can move to the other area and do the same steps once again to the next area. This process will only need around one minute to finish, so it should not take a while to do it. Remember to always use clean area in the wash cloth or new cotton ball when moving to a new area.

2 week old Kitten Care

The kitten poop is usually soft as they have not eaten solid food yet. However, if you notice that your kitten does not eliminate after they done eating, then you might want to contact your veterinarian immediately.

6-Month Old Kitten Care Tips

Your 6-month old kitten gradually loses their baby-like characteristics and starts to show some attributes of an adult cat. In fact, for some breed, the age of 6 months can be a threshold for a kitten to enter the realm of adulthood.

In other words, some kittens simply become adult cats when they are 6 years old, although there are kittens that don’t become adult cats until they reach 1 year of age or later. You need to be aware of every change that occurs in this stage of their growth and plan the best care accordingly.

6-Month Old Kitten’s Physical Changes

Physically, at the age of 6 months, your kitten will become leaner and gradually lose their baby fat. They are no longer plump and even if they are fat, they barely look chubby like baby. They are also still in the process of losing their baby teeth and gaining permanent adult teeth.

This process, which began around the age of 4 months, will conclude by the time your kitten reaches 7 months of age, when your kitten will have four molars and all adult teeth. For now, expect to find tooth debris in carpet, food, and anything that your kitten bites.

6-Month Old Kitten Behavioral Changes

Your adolescent 6-month old kitten has become more aggressive. Unless you have spayed or neutered them, they will make numerous attempts to attract other cats for mating, including marking places using urine, making “hot” noises, or roaming around the neighborhood.

Your kitten will also starts to see other kittens and cats as rivals. Your kitten has also become more able to communicate with you both verbally and non-verbally, so you should be attentive when your kitten approaches you, rubs their body against your legs or hands, “speaks” to you, or interacts with you by any means.

If you are attentive enough, you should eventually be able to understand what your kitten actually needs.

6-Month Old Kitten Nutrition

Your kitten has now grown older, so it is okay for you to give them adult cat food; however, protein-rich 6-month old kitten food and kitten food formula are still the most recommended meal for your kitten.

You may want to wait for another month until your kitten gets all of their adult teeth before deciding to give them a larger portion of cat food.

Your are free to choose either dry or wet food. Some kitten loves one over the other, some others love both. Dry food can be left outside for a whole day, but wet food should not be exposed to open air more than 20 minutes.

If your kitten drinks a lot, giving them dry food only is okay. If they drink rarely, eating only dry food may dehydrate them. Take this into consideration.

Medical Checkup for Your 6-Month Old Kitten

Normally, your 6-month old kitten should get their last vaccinations this month, so take your kitten to your vet to get ones. It is important to understand, though, that not all cats are the same.

Your veterinarian will mostly ask you about your cat’s lifestyle and check your cat’s medical records to determine whether additional vaccinations are needed.

How to Litter Train a Kitten

Due to your kitten’s more aggressive behavior, spaying or neutering is almost a must. If you haven’t done so last month or the month before, you should do it now. Your 6 month old kitten also needs a toy that they can use, or abuse, to vent their aggressive behavior.

How to Raise and Care for 4 Week Old Kitten

Raising an abandoned or orphaned 4 week old kitten may feel like an exhausting full-time job, more so in the beginning when they must be frequently fed throughout the day. However as the day goes by and now that they are in the fourth week of their lives, things may finally start to feel a tad bit easier for you.

Not only do they not need to be fed as often as in the first two weeks, they have also become stronger and more active. This is when the fun begins. However, your job of caring for them is far from over.

Taking care of orphaned or abandoned kittens may be exhausting, but we cannot deny the fact that it is also incredibly rewarding. Now that they are learning to properly balance themselves and walk more often, you may crack a smile every single time you catch their glimpse as they roam around.

3 Week Old Kitten, Everything You must Know

At this point their heads are larger than their entire body, which is the reason why they wobble their way around. As their curiosity and activity increase, so is your responsibility.

Caring for 4 week old kitten: what you should know

With the kitten start walking and roaming around their surrounding, one of the first things you must do is evaluate any harmful plants as well as items and chemical products around the house. Consider relocating the plants and storing the aforementioned products and items in a compartment or somewhere they cannot reach in order to eliminate the risk of harming them during their exploration. Other than that, you must also evaluate the house for small openings to avoid their accidental escape.

Another aspect worth noting is, while four week old kittens are still nursing, the weaning process must be started at this stage. This is important as they need to eventually make the move to solid food, and four weeks is the ideal age for you to introduce them to kitten food.

Mother cats typically start the weaning process by the end of their third week, but at four weeks they are still allowed formula as long as it is in addition to kitten food or homemade gruel.

Other than starting the weaning process, another task you have at hand is introducing them to their litter box. While cats do not need to be trained to use their litter box, they must still be introduced to their litter box from early age. That way they will understand the appropriate place to urinate and defecate.

Caring for 4 week old kitten: how to wean the kitten

Encouraging your kitten to start eating and stop suckling come with quite a few challenges. However, as challenging as it may be, it can definitely be done. If there is one thing you should never do, it’s to abruptly change their diet. Slow and steady always wins the race when it comes to these lovely creatures. The fact that they are still nursing may make you wonder how often you should give them formula, in that case a good rule of thumb is to give them 8cc for every ounce of their bodyweight.

Alternatively you may give them 104cc (13oz) of milk, given to them 3 times a day. This is of course aside the obligatory introduction to food (also referred to as “gruel”). Homemade gruel is essentially a mixture of either high-quality dry kitten food or wet kitten food and their formula with a little bit of warm water. To make the gruel using high-quality dry kitten food, you must let the kitten food sit in warm water for a while. Once softened, mix it with milk replacement formula.

To get them to try, place a small amount on your fingertip and let them smell it. Once they come closer, slowly move your finger toward the food bowl. Your kitten will follow you and will soon start lapping up the gruel. Gradually over the next few weeks, thicken the homemade gruel until the kitten is finally starting to eat plain kitten food.

Caring for 4 week old kitten: how to introduce litter box

When it comes to using the litter box, cat owners really hit the jackpot as cats do not require a proper litter-training unlike their canine counterpart. However, a little introduction is needed. Fortunately, this introduction process is as easy as taking the kittens and placing them inside their litter box in order to let them smell the box and get used to it. Your kitten may dig around the litter box for a while or shun the litter box by hopping out of it.

If your kitten is among those that hop out, simply take them and place them back in the litter box in an hour. Continue to introduce them to it after meals and in the morning, and every time you think they are about to urinate or defecate, gently place them in their litter box to do the job.

Why Does My Cat Bite Me When Playing?

As a cat owner you might be wondering why does my cat bite me, which usually happens when you play or pet your cat. You should know that your cat has different behavior as human. Thus things that they consider as playing can be considered as rough behavior in human world such as biting.

Learning the Reason Why Does My Cat Bite Me

For cats playing consist of biting, scratching, punching, and many other action that seems aggressive for human but actually normal in feline world. This is a type of social play that the cat usually does to other cat as well as people that owned them.

They do this behavior with playful intention, however sometimes this kind of behavior may injure human as they does not have the same skin as the cat has which also protected by their fur. What makes it worse is that, this type of injury may be infected easier as it is an open wound.

To ensure that this does not happen anymore, you need to understand more about why do cats bite their owners for no reason. First of all, you can see whether their biting is aggressive or lovely.

If your cat bites aggressively, it usually leaf deep scar which may even lead to bleeding. This kind of behavior usually happen when your cat is scared or something. It may also because they can sense other cat in their territory.

But most common reason why this type of bite happens is because they play too roughly with you as it is their natural behavior. Thus you may want to learn further how to control this behavior so they would not be too rough.

Another type of bites that your cat might do is called as love bites. This type of bite may happen when your cat is receiving over stimulation from their owner.

For example when you petted them, in their favorite spot. As they feel stronger bond with their owner, they might use this kind of bite as their communication method. It is another form of cat communication that you should understand so you will know the reason why your cat bites you.

You can tell this kind of bite by the effect that you received from it. Usually if it is love bites, then their bite would not hurt or tear open your skin. It will only be a gentle tug in your hand that you may feel but would not make you hurt or anything.

How to Care for 1 Week Old Kitten (NewBorn Kitten)

In the high kitten season such as spring and summer, it is not unusual for us to find a nest of unattended newborn kittens or 1 week old kitten seemingly the runt of the litter that has been abandoned by its mother somewhere.

Upon finding them, we instinctively decide to take them back with us and take care of them. Rescuing these poor kittens is a noble decision, there is no doubt about it. But not all of us know how to properly care for newborn kitten and this may lead to a serious issue.

The fact that we do not know anything about how to take care of newborn kittens often makes us question our decision. But when we look back on it, our decision to rescue them is much better than leaving them on their own when we are aware they are still unable to fend for themselves. Now all we have to do is educate ourselves, and luckily for us this article is specifically made for this reason.

How to care for 1 week old kitten: step one

Despite having the responsibilities spelled out, it may still come off as confusing. This is largely due to our unfamiliarity with how to correctly do the aforementioned responsibilities. We know how to keep babies warm, and we also know how and when to feed them as well as how to properly change their diapers. But this is not a human baby we are talking about, so a task as simple as feeding may become ten times more complicated to us.

First, purchase kitten formula and nursing kit from the nearby pet store. This nursing kit typically includes a cleaning brush, and a bottle along with several nipples. If you want an economical option, go for the powdered kitten formula and remember to never give them cow’s milk.

To start, cut an opening in the first nipple with a scissor. To know whether or not you have the right opening size, hold the bottle upside down and when it slowly drips, you are good to go.

How to care for 1 week old kitten: step two

Before each feeding, you are advised to sterilize the nipples and bottles by boiling them in water for a few minutes. Make sure the formula is slightly warmer than room temperature. If you are not using surgical gloves made out of latex for feeding, you should wash your hands before and after each feeding to protect the kittens from each other’s germs.

To feed them, place them on their stomach on a clean cloth or towel then gently open their mouth and slowly slip the nipple in. They will quickly get into enthusiastic suckle mode which is exciting to see and experience. However, remember that you must always lightly pull the bottle.

This is important to ensure that the bottle is always at a 45 degree angle in order to avoid air from being sucked into their stomach. If after feeding they start choking, it’s common so don’t panic. Simply hold them upside down until they stop.

Another thing that is worth noting is the fact that kittens always instinctively knead their paws when being fed, which brings us to another good alternative position for feeding. If it is possible for you, sit on the floor with your legs crossed, and put a towel on your leg before you place the kitten on your leg. This way the newborns will be much more comfortable during feeding. Just remember to change the towel each day.

How to care for 1 week old kitten: step three

While kittens know how to suck the nipple by instinct, you may come across a newborn that somehow refuses to take the nipple. When your newborn kitten refuse to suckle, you may coax them by delicately stroking its back or rubbing the nipple gently but firmly on the newborn’s forehead. These are incredibly stimulating because they replicate the cleaning activity that mother-cats always do to their newborns.

If this does not work out, chances are the newborn kitten is simply being fussy. In the event that this happens, you may change to another type of nipple. The nursing kit typically consists of extra nipples with different length. If you are using the shorter nipple, immediately change it to the longer one and use it to feed the picky newborn.

How To Litter Train a Kitten

If the kitten still refuses to take the nipple, examine whether they seem weaker than the others. Newborn kittens who are too weak to suckle usually can easily be stimulated by gently dabbing some Karo syrup on their lips.

If Karo syrup also does not work, they are possibly sick and must be given a small dose of amoxycillin. While this usually does the trick, you may take them to the veterinarian right away and have them properly examined.

How to Bathe a Kitten in the Safest Way

Step by step how to bathe a kitten the safest way is really important for cat owners since washing a kitten is quite challenging especially if the kittens have some serious cases like flea and diarrhea. Kittens can get dirty and this is why you need to bath them to make them clean and stay healthy.

However, you do not need to wash the kittens regularly because bathing them frequently can cause their skin to dry and flaky. Most of kittens also do not have long furs yet, so you do not need to wash them too often.

While in some cases, if the kittens have diarrhea or injury or flea, then it is the time you need to throw them to the bathtub.

Step by step how to bathe a kitten and other information to take note

If you have kitten that just few weeks of age then you need to start wash them slowly thus the bathing experience does not turn into traumatic event. That’s why before you take the kittens into the bathtub; you need to make sure that they are already in comfortable state.

Recognize when the kittens need to take a bath

Most of kittens and cats in fact do not need to bathe regularly since they are mostly can cleaning and grooming themselves without anyone help. In case the kittens have fleas, diarrhea, or when the kittens just going outside and then they come back appear so dirty then it is the time you need to clean them properly. So, the kittens do not need to be bathed more than twice a year unless they get really dirty or have special cases just like we already mentioned above.

Wash the kittens with damp cloth

If the kittens just few weeks of age and they are really young, never to give them full bath. You just need to clean them using damp washcloth, just wipe their body and fur gently. This is how to bathe a kitten without shampoo or other chemical products.

Prepare the washroom

You can simply take the kittens at bathroom, but it is recommended to prepare the washroom specifically for the pets. You can use large bowl as a bath for them or you can use the sink by ensure the kittens can comfortable placing their little feet. You can fold a clean towel and then position it in the middle of the bathroom sink.

How to bathe a kitten with shampoo

In case the kittens are really dirty, you can use special shampoo for kittens to wash them gently. Select a shampoo that especially mentioned it is kitten friendly. Never use dog or human shampoo to wash the kittens because they can dry out the skin.

Better to take unscented shampoo since kittens have sensitive sense of smell. Remember to mix the shampoo with water first because you need to avoid putting the soap directly on the kittens.

Bathing kittens which have fleas and diarrhea

There are two things you need to understand for these two specific issues:

How to bathe a kitten with fleas? Kittens or cats need to be cleaned using shampoo that can kill fleas or flea eggs. If the kittens do not have fleas, then they can use regular kitten shampoos at pet shops, however if the kittens do have fleas, you cannot bath them using regular shampoos because they can irritate their skin.

How To Bottle Feed a Kitten

How to bathe a kitten with diarrhea? If the poop getting into their furs then you should clean them first slowly because they can be really sticky. Use warm water and shampoo to remove the sticky poop on their furs. After that, do not forget to take them to the vets to investigate the cause of the disease. Please take a note that, kitten’s diarrhea can cause diseases or illnesses on humans, so wash your hands after you handling them

Is it okay to bathe the kittens using dawn?

Many kitten owners like to wash their pets using dawn dish detergent to remove fleas and it is somehow do the trick. Of course you can do similar thing only if the kittens have fleas to be removed and not to mention dawn detergent is cheaper than regular kitten shampoos. How to bathe a kitten with dawn is simply using the same method just like when you wash the kittens with regular shampoos.

Follow those information and steps about how to bathe a kitten in the right ways so you can avoid harming the kittens.

What to Feed a 4 Week Old Kitten ?

If you take care of a young cat, then you surely want to know what to feed a 4 week old kitten so you can give them the entire nutrient that they need. When you want your kitten to wean so they do not need to constantly depend on their mother then you might want to do it carefully. It will take some times for the kitten to actually adapt to other type of food than what they currently eating.

Learn What to Feed a 4 Week Old Kitten

During 4 week old kitten care, there are actually a few foods that you can feed to them. You should be careful to not give them wrong kind of food which may not be nutritious enough for them. Food that you can give to your kitten such as:

Milk replacement

Most feline owner thinks that they can use any kind of milk including cow’s milk as the replacement for their mother milk. However, it is a big mistake especially for someone that taking care of orphaned kitten.

Other types of milk could not give the right nutrition for your kitten, especially the cow’s milk which may even make the kitten get gastrointestinal problem such as diarrhea. That is why; you need to purchase a specially designed milk replacement for kitten.

You can easily found one at the pharmacy, pet store and from your vet. You can give this milk along with gruel as a 4 week old kitten still needs both.

Gruel

Kitten that still has their mother will be encouraged to eat other kind of food even when they are still 3 week old. That is why; by the time they are 4 week old, then they would already eat gruel as their primary food.

To make one by yourself, you can easily mix the kitten food both dried and wet with water or milk. Try to make the gruel in the same consistency as oatmeal.

If you use dried food, then you need to let the food soak the liquid before feeding it to the kitten. Use this consistency and gradually thicken it every week so in the end your kitten can eat solid type food.

To encourage your kitten to eat the gruel, first you may want to put some of them in your finger tip, and then hold it against your kitten mouth for them to taste. Then slowly guide them to the gruel bowl using your finger and ensure that your kitten follows then eat the gruel directly from the bowl.

You need to give food to your kitten every 6 until 8 hour stretch. If your kitten does not eat all of the gruel right away, then you will need to still give them the milk replacement. It is only so they still get enough nutrients that they need. But you still need to encourage them to eat mostly gruel food. So they can get accustomed to food with thicker consistency until they move solely to eat solid type of kitten food.