Kittens 4.5 weeks, rarely eating their wet food

[Buglife]

We took in a stray cat who turned out to be pregnant, she had 4 kittens 4.5 weeks ago and all are doing really well. They’ve suddenly become very active and I’ve been trying them with food (kitten formula mashed with some wet kitten food? In a saucer and while one or so of them will lap some up every now and then they’ve not yet taken much interest. Is this ok? I’ve let them lick some off my fingers and a spoon. I haven’t seen mum feeding them last 2 days but They are in our bedroom so I haven’t seen them for a while.

Also, they all climb out of their box and run around the room and I found them all asleep in a heap on the carpet earlier, is it ok to let them roam and play around the room or should I be trying to keep them in one place most of the day and do supervised roaming? Mum cat seems sick to death of them and also not being able to leave the house until she’s spayed 😂 but I don’t know if a pet crate/cage would be a good idea. We are open plan downstairs so I want to keep them in for

Can't possibly answer without a photo 🤷🏼‍♀️

Didn’t mean I say I haven’t seen them for a while! I meant I haven’t seen them feed because we aren’t always in our bedroom! I’m sure they are Breastfeeding as they are plump and active and happy.

Here’s some pictures :) I put them in a higher sided box since but they just hurl themselves out of it!

Apparently a mum cat feeding is sensitive content?! 😂

I’ve bottle fed abandoned kittens and when I start weaning I make a soupy porridge mixture of kitten biscuits soaked in kitten formula milk. They’ll probably need to be encouraged to lap as they’re used to suckling. I dip a finger into the mixture and drip it onto the side of their mouth or on their paws, so they lick it off, then let them follow the milky finger into the bowl of soup. It’s a messy business to start with but they soon get the hang of it. Good luck

They look gorgeous, mum has done a good job with them! 😊

Get this moved to the Litter Tray board OP. They’ll be lots of helpful advice from posters in there.

Thanks! I’ll look out for kitten dry food/biscuits to mix with the formula. My other worry is that mum cat will swoop in and eat their food if they don’t take to it immediately, and when I’ve shut her out the room so they have some time to attempt it she scratches and yowls at the door so I let her in. So they don’t have much time to adapt! Even when I feed her at the same time she’s over at their food as soon as she’s done. I had hoped she’d maybe encourage them!

I’d leave mum to wean them, feed her and she’ll introduce them to the food herself.

This ^ Just feed mum kitten food.

I’ve helped raise three litters by now. We start weaning gradually at six weeks, so don’t worry at all about them not showing much interest yet.

They’re looking good!

Do you have vet advice? They’ll need worming if they haven’t been already, and vaccinating soon.

Thanks everyone! So hopefully mum cat will start introducing them to the food soon and not just eating it all for herself? They are plump little kits with chubby belly’s so obviously well fed. Luckily DH has a large animal loving family so 3 kits will be off to other cat households and we are keeping one to hang with mum. Vaccinations booked for 9 weeks and mum had been wormed but looking for a good kitten worming solution.

Iirc 6 weeks is the earliest you can deworm kittens. Get something from the vet, not OTC.

Just leave a bowl of kitten food down - they have tiny stomachs so will probably only eat a few biscuits at a time and they're still very young to be eating solid food.

https://www.petdrugsonline.co.uk/royal-canin-mother-cat-kitten-food?gclid=Cj0KCQjwmZejBhC_ARIsAGhCqneha3LMgUbKFr23QMyh3_lEyv_a7bsVQS3kehoySuO3rtoEna5mjgAaApwUEALw_wcB#646=37764

Is good food!

OP nursing Mum cats have to eat huge amounts of food to produce enough milk to feed all those kittens. Could you cat be hungry if she's trying to eat the kittens food? When my cat had her kittens she had 2 sachets early in the morning at 6am, 2 more at 11am, 2 more at 4pm and 2 more at about 10pm and kibble availabl. Once the kittens started eating kitten pate mixed with kitten milk we took away 2 sachets per day so she went back down to 6 sachets a day and we left kibble out all the time with kitten milk and water.

Worm them with Panacur. Every 3 weeks until 12 weeks old.

To answer your other question:

No chance of keeping them in one place now that they want to explore! They need to run and pounce and climb and generally discover how their bodies work. They need to experience smooth and rough surfaces, things to hide in and chew and claw and chase and jump off (good luck), household noises and so on.

Yes to worming with Panacur paste. Measure it carefully as it's a tiny amount for small kittens, and dose them by syringe. If they're anything like my last lot they will fling themselves round the room spitting dramatically, but some of it will go in.

I'd caution against keeping a kitten for mum. They've often had enough by the 8-9 week mark and can't wait to see the back of the kittens.

I’be no advice sorry, shamelessly here for the pictures (omg they are ADORABLE). Made my day they have! Thank you for saving my sanity today. The world isn’t so bad. It has kitties.

It was panacur liquid that the vet gave us for worming our kittens when we got them at 8 weeks. It was dosed by weight so you need to know how heavy they are first

They are chonky kittens so mum is doing a brilliant job feeding them.

Have you had a cat with a kitten before? they try to boot them out after 12 weeks by biffing them, hissing at them and generally distancing themselves from the kittens so keeping one might not be what you anticipate.

Our boy was 17 weeks when we got him and his mum was not nice to him.