Expert: Jessica - 7/27/2010

Question
hi Jessica, the kittens are 4 weeks already and started to drink water about 5 days ago. but the mother cat still allow them to nurse. i tried take one at a time and teach them eat but fail. then i tried put food in the area but the mother cats just eats it all even tho the kittens are around her and showing interests on food. i dont know what to do, i wanna get the kittens wean asap since we are moving and i wanna be able to find homes to the kittens before i leave. mother cat is my roommate's and he's not coming back here till 5 months later. so i have to take care of them asap. what should i do?

Answer
Hi Lavie,

The mother is still going to allow the kittens to nurse even when the kittens begin to eat.  The babies are still young to begin trying to eat.  Some kittens don't start eating solid food until they're 6 weeks old.  The kittens will continue to nurse until they're over 8 weeks old, eating solid food as well.  It would be unhealthy for them to rush the weaning.  But the kittens will start to learn from their mother by example, so you should allow the mother to eat the food in front of the kittens.

If you have trouble getting the kittens to eat solid food, you may want to get some turkey baby food and try feeding it to the kittens in tiny amounts with a syringe.  This will help them get used to the taste of meat, and they should become more accepting of wet cat food.  But remember that the kittens won't be able to leave mom for at least another month.  This might mean moving with the kittens.