How to Wean an Orphaned Kitten

If you come across or have an orphaned kitten, understanding how to wean it from its dead mother's milk is necessary to save the orphaned kitten's life. Weaning involves introducing the orphaned kitten to solid adult foods; the goal is to gradually decrease the kitten's need for milk.

Things You'll Need

  • Cream
  • Plastic bottle
  • Semi-hard foods such as tuna
  • High quality cat food pellets
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Feed your kitten 1 cup of cream a day from the plastic bottle. Attempt to identify its age so that you can determine when to transition it away from cream. To do so, examine the kitten's eyes and teeth to see if they are developed. If teeth are beginning to form and its eyes are open and active, you can begin to transition it away from cream.

    • 2

      Feed your orphaned kitten semi-hard food such as tuna after four weeks of feeding it from the bottle. Kittens can be weaned starting four weeks after their birth by slowly introducing hard foods into their diet. The fourth week is a crossroads for the kitten to start developing its independence from its mother and her milk.

    • 3

      Feed your kitten hard foods, such as high quality cat food pellets, after you have identified your kitten's "milk teeth." Milk teeth develop at six weeks of age. When you begin to hear a sucking sound when your kitten feeds, you know that its milk teeth have developed and that it can be weaned from semi-hard foods. Slowly introduce the high quality cat food into its diet by steadily increasing the amount of cat food you feed your kitten each day.