My 3-week-old kitten is small. How to get her to eat & regulate temp?

Hello, & thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Make sure what you are feeding the kitten is an appropriate kitten milk replacer. Kittens this young are not able to regulate their temperatures well, so make sure you have her on a heating pad set on low with a towel on top. There should be an area for the kitten to move off if it gets too warm. Make sure you are not overfeeding the kitten. A kitten needs 2 tablespoons ( 30 mls ) per 4 ounces ( 115 grams ) of body weight daily. Divide the daily amount into equal portions for each feeding & fed every 3-4 hours until bedtime. Stimulate the genital area after each meal, but do not be concerned if she does not have a BM each time. You can try feeding her a congee, which is often tolerated by the sickest kittens. Take 1-2 cups chicken broth ( low or no salt added ), add 1/4 cup white rice & a tiny sliver of fresh ginger. Boil for 2 hours. While cooling, add 1 Tbsp good quality protein powder - egg or casein, not soy. Stir together very well. The mix should be a bit thick. Drip into kittens mouth 1/2 - 1 ml at a time. Hopefully she will start to turn around. Just keep at it. Good luck.

Hello, and thanks for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Kitten food is actually more nutritious than KMR - KMR is really for those tiny kittens who are so little they're not yet ready to try solids on their own. So, if your kitten is willing to eat canned kitten food well, I would work on weaning her off the KMR. However, if she's refusing to eat anything for more than 1 meal in a row, then I would take her right in to your vet. Little kittens like Baby can get dehydrated and sick very quickly, so prompt medical care is important if she's not feeling well. Hope this helps!

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Be sure that Okoye is eating a good quality kitten food like Purina, Hill's or Royal Canin. She should be dewormed a few times. Around 7-8 weeks she should see the Vet for the first time and be feline leukemia and FIV tested, dewormed and given her first vaccination. At less than 8 weeks old she should only weigh around 2 lbs. Cats feel warmer than us. Theire body temperature is normally 100-102. If she is eating and active I wouldn't worry that she feels warm. I hope this helps!

At 4-5 weeks, kittens should be transitioning to solid foods, so it would be best to mix in the KMR with the wet food into a sort of slurry to help with the transition and make it easier to digest. You can also weigh Cleo with a food scale or other small scale to get her weight in ounces which can help you determine how big she is. Most kittens at this age will still needed to be fed several times a day. This article also has a great guide and charts about feeding and life stages from birth to about 8 weeks of age which may be helpful! https://www.petcoach.co/article/how-to-raise-orphan-kittens/

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Kitten formula is very hard on the GI tract. I recommend weaning bottle fed babies at 3 weeks slowly over 1-2 weeks. I would get a different brand of formula and mix it 50/50 with the old one. Add more water to it. Start mixing the formula with canned kitten food and get him weaned off formula in the next week or so. He should also be dewormed as well. Good luck!

Hello. Thank you so much for fostering Blue Bell. At this age, she does not need kitten formula, but may like a wet food along with her kitten kibble. Most will just leave the kibble out for the kitten to nibble on & you can offer her a teaspoon or so of wet food 2-3 times a day. You need to introduce the kitten to your older cat slowly by keeping them in separate rooms & every few days switching them around so they can become accustomed to each others scent. A calming collar is an excellent idea as is using a Feliway room diffuser in both rooms so they are bathed in the calming pheromones. At this age, Blue Bell can effectively regulate her temperature, so no heat lamps or heating pads are necessary. With time, hopefully everyone will adjust. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

It sounds like he is under weight, so I reccomend continuing the kmr every 6 hours for at-least two more weeks. Leave out kitten kibble for him at all times. If he is eating this well in two weeks, then you can incrementally reduce the amount of kmr feedings over the following week and hopefully wean him off by the end of that week. I hope that helps and hope all is well with Od.