Young kittens ... when to start on solid food?

[DallasRechelle]

I had my stray cat, Fancy, leave me her kittens on the doorstep nearly 2 weeks ago. The kittens are now almost 4 weeks old and are still suckling from a bottle. Out of the 4, only one has started eating solid food, but all have started using the litter box (I'm so proud of them!!!).

When should I start the transition from the bottle to at least eating from a bowl and maybe eating more solid food?

Also, how old do kittens need to be before you can safely start to give them up for adoption? I need to treat them for fleas before I can do that, but I just want to know what is a good age.

Thanks!

[Sonia59]

At the shelter where I volunteer, I think they already start giving solid food at 4 weeks. But I am not pretty sure, I hope someone else with more experience can answer this.

What I know is that they first start with wet food that they mix with milk to make a gruel. At the beginning they prefer the milk (especially if they still have their mother feeding them) so it can be hard to have them used to solid food. But the more you dilute the food with milk, the easiest the transition will be. And they use baby wet food, of course.

[catmandu]

I would start with Baby Kitten Dry from Royal Canin, which is usually priced very reasonably.
them a good quality Kitten Food, and some soup, or Baby Food.
Bless you for taking those Babies in.
I pray someone can help that poor Momma Cat.

[dab_20]

I've been starting Oreo's kittens with solid food at 4 weeks. But you've got to make it mushy, by soaking it in water or kitten milk replacer... we use water. The kittens still haven't tried it yet though. You should put them up for adoption at 8 weeks. It's so good of you to take them in!



What I know is that they first start with wet food that they mix with milk to make a gruel. At the beginning they prefer the milk (especially if they still have their mother feeding them) so it can be hard to have them used to solid food. But the more you dilute the food with milk, the easiest the transition will be. And they use baby wet food, of course.

You can use the milk people drink?

[catmandu]

I would recommend Ultra Milk ,which you get from Whiskas, or the Vets.