Weaning Kittens?

debsy42

We have a cat who moved herself in with us, turns out she was pregnant and gave birth to 7 beautiful kittens.

The kittens are now 4 weeks old and never having been in this position before I'm looking for help in how best to wean the kittens. Reading online it says they can wean from 4-5 weeks, the fella I spoke to in Pets at Home yesterday said 8 weeks?

I bought some Purina One which says they can have from 4 weeks and tried them with that but they are not interested at the moment.

So am I too early, do I need to wait until they are 8 weeks and try again or persevere with them at 4 weeks.

Also, any recommendations for kitten food and any practical tips from anyone who has weaned kittens before would be most welcome.

KxMx

If they are not interested now then they aren't ready. Offer at intervals (I'm thinking days not hours or weeks) and see how it goes. 

8 weeks seems too long to me, you may notice when they are interested in Mum's food which is a sign they are ready to start. 

Kitten Lady has a great website and Youtube channel.
She's very used to orphans and is rather hands on, she had a feral Mum & kittens recently and would weigh kittens several times a day and bottle feed as necessary.

I feel kittens should be left to Mum's care and intervention only if a kitten seems unwell or under weight. 

donnac2558

They are ready to leave the mother at 8 weeks but weaning usually around 4-5 weeks.  Wet food and mash it up at first sometimes putting a little on your finger and then dabbing on their nose encourages them to lick.   It's like a human baby they have to be taught how to eat solid food.

debsy42

Thanks for the help, I kept trying what I'd been doing already and a couple of days later they clicked and are now eating us out of house and home. I thought I was missing a trick but seems they weren't just quite ready when I originally posted.

eamon

You have kittens, the internet demands pictures.