Comments on: What age do kittens start eating regular kittens food?

By: jennyrae27

jennyrae27 — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 07:02:18 +0000

My kittens couldn’t eat any food until they were 7 weeks old. They started getting interested in their mom’s food at about 6 weeks and would try to eat it and choke. The vet told me they should start at 6-8 weeks. All they eat is the dry kitten food and water now. They are 13 weeks old.

By: momto6

momto6 — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:56:34 +0000

At 4-6 weeks of age. Be sure to feed them kitten food, not cat food. They need the extra protein. They will still nurse at this age also, but it will slowly wean them while keeping them healthy.

By: RuneAmok

RuneAmok — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:52:49 +0000

EDIT: My bad, I misread your question. But I’m going to leave my answer up anyway because it’s good advice about choosing a food - once they’re ready to start eating it.
********
Any age if you feed them good food. “Kitten” food is little more than marketing.

Good food is either a properly balanced raw meat diet or a good quality canned food, such as those found in the links below.

You can switch your kitten to any of these foods at any time, and they will benefit immensely!

From my blog:
Do kittens need to eat “kitten” food?
My impression is no, and this entry will detail my research.

Why do I care? I don’t have kittens, but this question has come up on Answers and I want to know the truth.

Why do I think the answer is no? Old Cat Lady says so. That’s good enough for me but I want to be able to cite sources.

Little Big Cat has failed me here. This site has provided some info:.

Energy Requirements for Kittens and Adult Cats
Age kcal/lb body wt
Kittens: 10 weeks 113
20 weeks 59
30 weeks 45
40 weeks 36
Adult Cats: Inactive 18
Active 20-30
Pregnant 45
Lactating* 56–145

So it appears that kittens need many more calories than adults. So why not just feed them more?

This site has another table showing the minimum protein allowances for cats v. kittens. It boils down to kittens needing 4% more protein than adults. There were other items in there, but it didn’t vary widely at all.

Kittens need the same amount of fat.

They need a little more calcium, phosphorous and magnesium.

So in essence, it appears that so long as the food is adequately high in protein, your kitten will get what it needs - regardless of marketing hype.

By: horselover99

horselover99 — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 07:30:46 +0000

when they get off their mothers milk.that is when they turn 6 weeks old.

By: K

*K* — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 01:29:57 +0000

Six weeks when they start to wean off from their mother.

By: Mela

Mela — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 01:25:48 +0000

7-8 weeks they should be totallly weened by 9

but when they are about 6 weeks start to add some moist kitten food to their diet while still allowign them to nurse…

aww good luckk
i luv kittens =)

By: gilliegrrrl

gilliegrrrl — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:43:31 +0000

6-8 weeks is just right. At first my kitten ate wet food exclusively, then she discovered the crunchies on her own! It was so cute, you could tell she felt just like one of the big kitties…

By: viciousvince2001

viciousvince2001 — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 21:02:27 +0000

About eight weeks. When they are ready, they will show it. They won’t be happy nursing any more, and they will eat what is put out in front of them readily.

By: chrys

chrys — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:31:12 +0000

kittens usualy eat regular kitten food at about 5-6 weeks cause 6 weeks they can usualy be given away and some eat solid food earlier.

By: no name

no name — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:13:18 +0000

i have a litter right now so i say 4 weeks it keeps them from nursing the mom to much start them on some can food, but let them continue to nurse till 6 weeks