I have had a kitten(stray) since she was 2 weeks old. Her mother had 5 kittens all together, she took away 3 and left behind 2. Unfortunately one kitten passed away and I decided to keep "Oreo". I took her to the vet and started giving her KMR milk replacement. Now she's 6 weeks, I started giving her wet kitten food (soaking Whiskas chunks till they become soft enough to mash up). A week ago I stopped the bottle completely, but she still tries to suckle on her food. And instead of lapping up milk she puts her entire mouth in and suckles as well as nurses on my hands whenever she gets the chance to. I'm worried she will never learn to stop suckling as she was left by her mother too young and doesn't have any other kittens or cats around her to help her learn. I even tried making her watch cat videos. What should I do?
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Kittens wean from 6-12 weeks old, so she is still young. You have time.
You said she was only six weeks right? Most kittens are completely weaned between 10 and 12 weeks. You can still give her the bottle and wean her later on.
She will want to suck--she isn't old enough to be weaned yet. She will eventually wean off the bottle. Our vet doesn't want kittens on food until closer to 10 weeks
I love your idea of having her watch cat videos - lovely!!
She is still very young, so I would not worry about the suckling.
For the very best chance for her to live a long and healthy life, I would suggest feeding a raw meat diet, not vaccinating after the initial set (except every 3 years for Rabies), avoiding chemicals and most importantly working with a holistic vet and learning the 100% safe health builders you can do at home (free after the initial training or study). www.myHealthyAnimals.com has more on these 7 keys to health and comments on a lot of the books.
One of the classics is by Anitra Frazier - The Natural Cat, and by Yarnall/Hofve is Cat care, naturally. www.BigCatLittleCat.com has great info, too.
I actually got the idea of cat videos by seeing a post. A lady made her cat watch mouse videos to cheer him up before they could put him down. So i thought if that cat could respond to a video so well, why not try having my kitty learn how to lap up milk that way.
Cat Videos! Neat! Who knows about what/how animals may learn?
Aside from that - there are many, many opinions about what/when to feed kittens so you may have to do a little more research and decide for your self. Baby animals are a lot like human babies - they do not all progress at the same speed.
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Thank you so much
Thank you so much. I did read alot of different things about when kittens should be weaned and it is a bit confusing.. she ate shredded boiled chicken yesterday for the first time and im trying not to get my fingers near her mouth so hopefully she gets the idea not to nurse on my hands, just as momma cats push their young away when weaning them
my 8 week kitty did that on my ear lobe when i would go to bed at night and she was weaned from her mommy previously.. she grew out of it...... yo are her mommy now :)
Atleast your kitty was weaned by her mummy completely. I just feel bad that my kitty didn't get the attention she deserved :'( and want to make sure i take care of her as best i can.
It sounds like it's just normal kitty development at this point and not worrying about right now, unless she continues doing it
Ideally, kittens nurse up to and sometimes beyond 8 weeks. Oreo was abruptly displaced by the momma cat and the suckling is normal for kittens that are taken from the mother too soon.
I hope this is not too far ahead: There are many kitten habits that a teenaged kitten will carry over into cathood. Our 3 year old cat Gingerbread (he's buff orange) still kneads. He enjoys kneading our soft blanket on the bed. He is still a finicky eater, even though I rwad it's not the cat it's the wrong food cats' are fed. We feed him and his cat "sister" Luna Lia grain free food from Nature's Variety Instinct brand that has real chicken with real menhanden fish and real freeze dried chicken. Gingerbread loves and insists on eating his favorite canned cat food IAMS *tempt me tuna* it is grain free and has tuna & mackeral.
a cat taken away from it's mother that young will most likely ALWAYS have sucking/eating issues. make sure you baby-proof your house as completely as possible and NEVER put icicles on the christmas tree or you'll have a cat with a twisted intestine and tinsel dangling out of her rear!
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