What Milk Does Kittens Drink

No other sustenance not even water is yet required.

What milk does kittens drink. When do cats stop drinking their mother s milk. Kittens lack the proper enzymes to digest the lactose in cow milk and feeding cow milk to kittens can cause diarrhea and dehydration very quickly in very small kittens. Kittens will drink their mother s milk for the first few weeks of life or a specially designed kitten formula milk if necessary. Good food is very important for the health and development of your kitten but what can a kitten eat and drink and what should be avoided.

Kittens orphaned prior to 4 weeks old need to drink a kitten milk replacement formula. Clean fresh water for cats and kittens who have weaned. However they will be fully weaned by around 8 9 weeks of age. This applies only to mom s milk though as cow s milk can often lead to tummy distress and diarrhea troubles in kittens so be careful and keep it away from them.

If we have adopted a kitten of lactation age or their mother rejects them we must bottle feed them every two hours with special cat milk. Mother s milk will do for the first 3 to 4 weeks. Kittens drink their mother s milk when they are young so drinking milk probably brings back feelings of comfort safety and protection. Also milk is 85 water so cats who enjoy wet food may instinctively be drawn to milk.

It must be catered to them to aid digestion so avoid cow s milk. These formulas come in either canned liquid or powdered form. You can find these formulas in pet supply stores along with the other items necessary to feed your little one such as nursing bottles and nipples. The only milk that is healthy for kittens to drink is either their mother s or they will need a kitten milk replacer which can also be called kmr or kitten milk formula.

What do cats drink at a glance. The milk that the kittens take both by natural breastfeeding and artificial feeding is rich in fatty acids colostrum antibodies and. Cats feed on their mother s milk after they are born. From mother s milk to solid food.

For the first weeks of their lives the diet of kittens consists of mother s milk only. Here are our tips. The aspca states that this milk provides all of a kitten s required nourishment.