Expert: Jessica - 7/15/2010

Question
Hello Jessica, thank you so much for the help before. the mommy cat started to eat more today after i mixed some kitten dry food, friskies can food and chicken soup together. i think she like the heavy flavor of friskies. she loves the whiskas cat milk too..

so as the kittens are 2 weeks and a half now, they'll probably wanting to try solid food in a week or so. what is ur advice on their beginning food? should i only give them wet food or mix wet with moistened dry food? im afraid if they start on wet food they'll never eat dry food later on. i'd love to feed them only wet food if thats food for them, but it gets pricey in long term. what's ur suggestions??

-lavie

Answer
Hi Lavie,

The kittens will probably want to start experimenting with food around four weeks old.  But at this time, they should not be allowed access to any dry food.  They should be given canned food only, mixed with a little bit of warm water or cat milk.  I spread the food in a thin layer on a plate for the kittens.  Most times, kittens won’t understand what the food is the first time they’re introduced to it.  They may only step in it and sniff at it, but after seeing mom eat it for a couple of meals, they should get the idea.  If the kittens are slow to learn, dab some food on their noses, and they will lick it off.  This will help them understand.

The kittens have only milk teeth, or baby teeth, until they’re 12 weeks old, when they begin to grow in some permanent adult teeth.  At this age, they can begin to have some regular dry food.  If you decide to start feeding them any dry food at all before this age, be sure to soak it well in some warm water so that it becomes nice and soft.  

I don’t recommend feeding any dry food, even softened, before the age of eight weeks.  This is not only because they are too small and may choke, and their teeth are too delicate, but also because a young kitten’s digestive system is very, very sensitive.  Dry food contains a lot more carbohydrates than canned food, and carbohydrates are much more difficult for a cat’s short digestive tract to digest.  So it’s important to give the kittens’ systems a little time to adjust to solid foods before transitioning them onto dry foods.  Kittens usually don’t have any problem accepting dry foods even after they have been eating canned food.  They are very accepting of new foods early in life.  Problem eaters are typically created when you give a cat only one food for her whole life and then try to give her something else suddenly, but these little ones won’t have a chance to form such an attachment to canned food in just a few weeks or even months.

Keep up the good work!

Jessica