Kittens are born tiny. very tiny and helpless. After being born, kittens initially display primary altricialism and are totally reliant on their mom for survival. From birth, they don’t generally open their eyes before after seven days to a week. After about two weeks, kittens start to explore and rapidly develop. By three weeks, they show signs of hearing and sight, and start to grow.
Kittens can eat both dry food and canned food, depending on whether the mother has been weaned and if she has already eaten solid food previously. It’s important to introduce new kittens to both kinds of food, so that they get used to varying textures and flavors. You can also introduce one kind of food to the mother of two kittens to help her find it easier to feed her kittens. As usual, it’s important to use a high-quality kitten formula.
A healthy mother cat will nurse her kittens for at least six weeks. The nursing period usually varies between six and ten weeks. During this time, kittens receive a steady diet of milk that should be formula, chicken broth, or other commercially prepared cat food. As the kittens grow in size, they will require more food, until they reach approximately four to six months of age. This is the time when most kittens are ready to be weaned from breast milk.
Bottle babies have several advantages over young kittens. Most importantly, bottle babies are free from serious health problems and illnesses, such as those that develop in malnourished kittens under unknown circumstances. Bottle feeding also eliminates the social isolation that many kittens experience during weaning. Unlike bottle babies, bottle-fed kittens have a regular, predictable feeding schedule that calms and relaxes them. Bottle-fed kittens also enjoy a more normal weight and growth than do orphaned kittens.
In addition, weaning can be hastened if your feline kitten has already been weaned. In addition, if you bottle feed, your kitten can enjoy the benefits of solid food as early as eight weeks of age, while older kittens may still prefer breast milk. If you bottle feed, it’s best to provide an extra bottle of formula, so that you can replace one lost during the night. In addition, it’s good to introduce solid food gradually, allowing your feline friend to become accustomed to the taste.
Finally, kittens have shorter litter box usage periods because they are not able to hold on to the same amount of waste. They use the bathroom more frequently than adult cats and need to relieve themselves more frequently. For this reason, adult cats can be excretory-smelly for kittens. As a result, kittens cannot be expected to use the litter box as often as adult cats do.