How do I encourage my 4 week old kitten to eat real kitty food?

pamelia32: How do I encourage my 4 week old kitten to eat real kitty food?
My kitten will be 4 weeks old this Sunday. Her two siblings eat the kitten food very well by themselves; however, my kitty only wants mommy or the bottle. The problem with mommy is she doesn’t want to feed them nearly as often as before.

This is my first cat (from a kitten) and these are my first (and last) litter (3) of kittens. This particular kitten goes to her new home in just two weeks.

She will use a litter box, but is not interested in solid food.

Any advice?

Answers and Views:

Answer by IzzieListening
Get kitty food(the ones for 12 months or less)…wet the food with some water. Or use the canned food.

Answer by Catcanscratch
Did you wet the food to make it mushy?? She just might not be ready!! 4 weeks is awfully young

Answer by Chris T
keep trying she will

Answer by RickysWifey <3
Maybe you should just bottle feed the kitten as it is still too young.

Answer by anondoesitall
You might have to feed the kitten with a bottle for a few more weeks, then after 7 or 8 weeks put some kitty food in front of its face, and see what it does.

Answer by Lisodo1
I usually soak kitten chow in just a bit of milk to soften it. I know alot of “experts” say not to give them milk. But, I have done it for years.

Answer by incantato
You can try Gerber’s baby meats in Chicken or Turkey. Also pick up a bag of Royal Canin Baby Cat hard food. It is really tiny pieces and they really seem to love this food. You can purchase this at Petsmart or Petco. Best of Luck

Answer by blonde.chik18
Maybe mixing it with cat biscuits…or have cat biscuit mix with water slowing encouraging her…

Answer by Callie
mix the food in with a little bit of milk then gradually reduce the amount of milk you put in there also put the kittens face near the food so he/she can smell it. 🙂

Answer by iammclovinxx
um just try feeding her the food and put her in a box away from her mom and the other cats. but dont torture her with food she will prolly get used to the food and then u culd take her out of the box and put her with the other kats. hope this helps good luck

Answer by Kiki M
Your not supposed to give a kitten real kitty food until about 6-10 weeks. so don’t start giving it real cat food now leave it on the nursing with its mother cat.

Answer by Paul and Kelle A
You could try putting warm water in the food to make it smell more scrumptious to the kitten and softer to eat. Another thing you might try is to get some kitten formula (don’t use cows milk- it’s very hard on their little bodies!) and mix it in with the food as well to make sure she’s getting all her nutrients and vitamins. When she starts getting used to the food be sure to slowly make it so it doesn’t have to be soft for her to eat anymore. I would maybe have a vet check her over as well, to make sure she’s looking healthy before you get rid of her.

Answer by Mike
I have had success with putting a little milk in a bowl and dropping a little bit of the kitten food in it forcing the kitten to lick around the food thereby tasting it.

Answer by Kylie Jewell
Start moistening the food a little at a time,,, slowly getting dryer and dryer each day,,, Your kitten will soon catch on.

Answer by tweetybird37406
try her out on some canned food first….take a little bit on your finger, and touch it to her mouth….she’ll lick it, and once she finds out how “yummy” it is, she should start pigging out on it. then after that, you could try moving her to dry kitten chow.

Answer by carve21sox
The vet has a great dry food with rice and it’s small and soft for kittens. I don’t remeber the name of it, because it’s been a long time since I had kitties, but give them a call. Also, adding a little warm water the same food the other kitties are eating can help. Just mash up the morsels a bit. A little warm kitty milk can help too. The kitty milk is sold at the big pet stores. I used to give it to my cats as a treat and they loved it.

Answer by Michelle
First of all, if you can help it, six weeks old is really too young to go to her new home. Some states even have laws prohibiting the transfer of animals before eight weeks old.

As for the food, she’ll get there on her own eventually. If you really want to help her along, are you offering wet or dry food? Wet is usually a bit easier to start with. A product called KMR simulates mom’s milk. Mix it with a bit of the wet food, then if she’ll eat that mixture, start to increase the proportion of wet food and decrease the KMR a bit.

If at all possible, please reconsider keeping her with her mom just a bit longer. It’s important for her socialization.

Answer by ashketchem1
just care for it and stuff. Has it purred yet? if so does it purr for you? if it dont then youll have a hard time to encourage it. but once it does it might take a week or two for it to get use to the food seeing how its so use to only drinking its mothers milk. Please pick me for best awnser!

Answer by Jillian Y
well what i have done with my puppy was to get the food, and put some warm milk in it and smush it. gradually put less milk, and it will start getting harder. and your kitten will be used to it.

or… if that doesnt work

just have a bowl of the food on the floor and when she/ he? gets hungary it’ll probably try to eat it!

or just give he/she to its new home, and tell them that you had no luck, but with teo weeks left (i think is what you said) he/she will probably be eating solids by then
good luck 🙂
– jillian

Answer by kittyteacher2008
Kittens aren’t usually weaned until 6-8 weeks of age. I would offer the kitten some KMR (kitten formula) in a tiny saucer or bowl. She needs this enriched formula to help her develop properly. It’s OK to suppliment the kitten’s normal diet (meaning mom) with kitten food. Generally, it’s best to begin with canned kitten food, then after a couple of weeks move to dry kitten food. Each kitten develops at a different rate, just as human babies do. Also, since each kitten has the possibility of having a different father, there is the possibility that this kitty is several days younger than the other two. Female cats continue to mate for several days…

Answer by emily
try giving the kitten some soft cat food and then take some of it and wipe it on its moth and after away mix the kitten food in with it and your kitten will be eating in no time.

Answer by pink9364
this baby needs kitten milk bought at store and maybe put it in with her food. she will get the milk she wants and the food you want her to eat