Why won't my 11-week kitten eat cat food, only formula/sweets?

Hi there. An 8-week-old kitten should be eating regular solid food at this point, not formula. If he isn't eating on his own, you can get canned kitten food and mix it with a little bit of water to form a slurry, and then use an oral dosing syringe to gently put it in his mouth.

At 5 weeks Baby should be old enough to start eating some solid food. You can try mixing some canned kitten food with some kitten formula like KMR and putting it in a shallow dish. If she still won’t eat I would recommend seeing a veterinarian to determine what might be wrong. They can also teach you how to tube feed if necessary.

Hello, thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Yes, you can. There is also a Kitten weaning formula, but the milk is fine. I would also provide the dry food plain, so Sky can crunch down if she wants too. Take care.

Oh my gosh, so much cuteness in one photo! At 11 weeks, it's time for all of these little guys to have had their first kitten vaccines as well as deworming. The first thing to do is to make sure that there's not a medial reason why Bubbles won't eat anything other than his mother's milk, and your vet can do that. If he's healthy, you're going to have to strictly separate the kittens from the mom. Heat up the wet food a bit in the microwave until it's warm, or soak the kibble in warm water to entice him to eat. Eventually he will get the hang of it once mom in inaccessible.

Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach with your question about Gaiman. Congrats on your new kitten! At six weeks of age, he will be fully weaned and does not need formula. Keep feeding him the wet kitten food, and you can start introducing small amounts of dry kitten for him as well. Give him the same brand of dry food as the wet food. He is not too young to be adopted out. I would consider six weeks the minimum age to be adopted out. I hope this helps!

Some kittens do nurse longer than others, and wean at a later date. He does need to learn to eat regular food, however, you can try to wean him. To start, mix dry kitten food with kitten milk replacer formula so they recognize the taste. Smear the mixture around their mouth with your finger and let them lick it off. Once they get used to the taste, they’ll seek it out elsewhere. As he get used to this, add in more dry food, and less formula until you have completely eliminated the formula.

It does take time for kittens to get used to eating out of a bowl, and you'd done the right thing by putting wet food and formula milk together. I would mix them together with some dry kitten food to make a mush. Soak the kitten food in the formula milk to make it softer. The mush should be the consistency of oatmeal. Over the next two weeks, gradually increase the amount of dry kitten food and decrease the amount of canned food and KMR you use until Oreo is eating the dry kitten food only. Keep this kitten mush out at all times, and reduce the amount you bottle feed her so she get used to eating from a bowl. You may have to stick your finger in the mush and get her to lick it off, then bring your finger closer and closer to the bowl until she is eating out of the bowl.