What Should Baby Kittens Drink

Clean fresh water for cats and kittens who have weaned.

What should baby kittens drink. Can cats drink milk if they re orphaned. After that you may begin adding canned food to their diet. When the orphaned kittens are three to four weeks old begin to offer milk replacer in a shallow bowl then introduce a moist easily chewable diet. There should also be free access to fresh water for their mother and kittens will start to lap this too.

Kittens orphaned prior to 4 weeks old need to drink a kitten milk replacement formula. You can make gruel from warmed milk replacer and. By the time it is 4 to 5 weeks of age if it is eating enough food. A kitten should weigh about 14 to 16 oz.

You can find these formulas in pet supply stores along with the other items necessary to feed your little one such as nursing bottles and nipples. Starting at around 6 or 7 weeks most kittens can switch over to solid food completely and no longer need to drink from their mother. Young kittens will drink their mother s milk until they are weaned. Mother s milk will do for the first 3 to 4 weeks.

Very young kittens and indeed all mammals produce the enzyme lactase when suckling from their mother but the ability to produce the enzyme diminishes after weaning. Newborn kittens are able to get all of the nutrition that they need from their mother s milk. Although water is essential to keep cats healthy and strong they don t need it straight out of the womb. For the first weeks of their lives the diet of kittens consists of mother s milk only.

Water makes up 70 of a cat s body and is vital for survival. Movies and stereotypes would have us believe that kittens drink cows milk but that s actually not recommended as milk is not healthy for your feline s digestive tract. What should kittens eat and drink is not always evident. By the end of week 5 a kitten should only be nursing three times a day but at each meal it should be consuming about 3 tablespoons of milk or formula.

If we have adopted a kitten of lactation age or their mother rejects them we must bottle feed them every two hours with special cat milk. From around 4 weeks of age they will start to explore solid food and drink more water alongside their mother s milk. The first food that a kitten takes as soon as they are born is their mother s milk. These formulas come in either canned liquid or powdered form.

Water is all they need. Young kittens need milk either from their mother or if orphaned rejected a milk supplement if a foster mother can t be found. The result is pain and diarrhea for your kitten.