Content
- what the kitten eats
- Homemade Puppy Milk Recipe
- How to feed a kitten - Using the bottle
- How much should a 1 month old cat eat
- What happens from the first month of the cat's life
- How to feed a 1 month old kitten
Weaning kittens should start at one month of age, but usually this transition to solid foods it is only completed when he is almost two months old. That's why this step is so important for a kitten.
Furthermore, during its first month of life, socialization occurs, which will be essential to having a healthy and happy cat in the future. If you've just adopted a very young kitten and don't have information about its past, you're sure to ask yourself: how to feed a 1 month old kitten?
In this article by PeritoAnimal we will give you the information you need to know how to raise the kitten that is no longer with the mother and whose food will depend exclusively on you. Good reading.
what the kitten eats
Newborn puppies acquire antibodies from the mother's colostrum during the first hours of life and, later, from breast milk, the nutrients they need to gain weight in their first few weeks. If the mother rejects her litter, does not produce milk or if any of her young are weak or sick, we must feed them with specific milk for puppies, the same as when we find puppies abandoned on the street, feeding them every 2-3 hours until they are three weeks old.
Furthermore, we must always provide them with heat, as they are not yet able to regulate their own temperatures on their own, the so-called thermoregulation. From 10 days of age onwards, they will open their eyes, and from 20 days of age onwards, their teeth start to come out.
Homemade Puppy Milk Recipe
The energy needs of newborn puppies gradually increase until reaching the 130 kcal/kg per day from the third week of life. From this time onwards, the feeding frequency can be extended to 4-5 hours. It is important to use specific milk for puppies. However, if you don't have any, you can choose to offer him emergency homemade milk. Check out the recipe for homemade puppy milk:
- 250 ml of whole milk
- 250 ml of water.
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon of oil
We emphasize that this is an emergency formula for puppy milk and the best option on how to feed a 1 month old puppy is always breast milk, but we know that this is not always possible.
If you offer him powdered formula for puppies milk, do not prepare more than one serving for 48 hours at a time. On the other hand, if you reconstitute a powdered milk marketed for cats, it can be divided into portions and kept refrigerated until use. Before use, they should be heated to 35-38°C by immersing them in a hot water bath, never in the microwave, due to the risk of overheating or uneven heating.
In the following video you can see how to take care of a kitten:
How to feed a kitten - Using the bottle
the orphan kittens must be bottle-fed, leaving the syringe for emergencies. To do this, they should be placed horizontally, belly down and head elevated to resemble the nursing position. To make it easier for the cat to start sucking, we can put a drop of milk from the bottle on the finger and bring it close to the kitten's mouth. During the bottle-feeding process, never remove the bottle from the cat as it can produce a breath of liquid.
In kittens less than three weeks old, it is necessary to stimulate the anus and genital area after each meal to induce them to relieve themselves. Keep a daily record of weight, meals, elimination of pee and feces and general behavior, as well as maintain a good temperature (30-32°C during the first week, dropping to 24°C in the following weeks) and that they are sheltered. in a safe place.
Of course, before you start feeding a kitten, especially if you've found it abandoned, it's important that you go to the vet because, among other things, this will help you know exactly how old the kitten is. For more information, you can refer to this other article on how to know a cat's age?
How much should a 1 month old cat eat
If at 3 weeks of age the puppies have to ingest at least 130 kcal/kg through milk, whether maternal or industrialized, at one month of age this amount rises to 200-220 kcal/kg per day, divided into 4-5 meals daily. From then on, needs grow much more slowly.
Thus, a one and a half month old cat should consume about 225 kcal/kg per day and, when it reaches 5 months, it will be a maximum of 250 kcal/kg per day. At this age, growth will be quite complete and will need less energy daily until it reaches, by the age of one year, the daily calories of a standard adult cat (70-80 kcal/kg per day).
Normally, one-month-old puppies still naturally drink most of the milk if they are with their mother in a household, but since they are already teething, they show an interest in solid foods. Because of this, in the wild the mother usually offers prey to her kittens. If an orphaned one month old kitten has just arrived in our lives, it is important to know that after four weeks of life its feeding must start to change, although it should be based largely on milk formulated for kittens.
What happens from the first month of the cat's life
A cat's socialization period starts at 2 weeks of age and ends at 7 weeks. During this time, kittens learn everything from their mother, and physical contact with humans is essential for optimal behavior in adulthood, as certain events during this time will have a long-term effect on the cat's personality.
Ideally, the kitten should live or have constant contact with about four people of different ages, not just one, and also with animals of other species. This will increase your future sociability.
From the first month of life, the kitten begins to weaning phase, reducing the ability to digest lactose in milk and increasing the amylase enzymes responsible for breaking down the starch present in carbohydrates in dry or wet cat food. Weaning starts at four weeks of age and can be extended to eight weeks of age, where the transition is complete.
Check out how to wean a cat correctly in the video below:
How to feed a 1 month old kitten
When we are responsible for a 1 month old cat, we can encourage introduction of wet cat food, but never force them. If they're not interested, it's better to leave it for another day or try another food.
Another option, especially if we don't have any food for 1 month old cats, is to try a homemade diet. we can offer him small pieces of chicken and see if they accept. Some cats may be very interested in this type of food, but we shouldn't overdo it to avoid causing indigestion, as it is still very small.
To encourage weaning, you should change the bottle your cat has been feeding during its first few weeks of life with one saucer with milk for puppies to teach them to drink from there, and little by little you can start adding a certain amount of commercial puppy food, which will soften with the milk. This will facilitate the ingestion of the feed.
Little by little, you should increase the amount of feed offered until, around 7 weeks of age, he is already feeding completely on feed. The best food that can be given to a kitten is the one specific for a kitten cat, which can also be offered to the mother while she is in the lactation stage.
Here's a summary of how to feed a kitten:
- give him formulated milk for kittens.
- At four weeks of age, you should start introducing dry foods to encourage weaning, and always do so gradually, starting with very little feed compared to milk, until this proportion is reversed and finally only the ration will be administered.
- Never forget that he must have a bowl of water at his disposal, even if he is not yet exclusively fed with dry food.
- He must be fed four or five times a day. It is not advisable that he always have available food, as this can cause them to gain weight in an exaggerated way.
- Keep in mind that a kitten from 1 month of age and up to at least 6-7 months, has triple the energy requirements of an adult, so feeding should be more energetic. The ideal is to offer him commercial pet food for kittens, much richer in calories.
- when they reach 7-8 weeks old, should be fed exclusively with dry and/or wet food for puppies.
Now that you know how to feed a 1 month old kitten and how to care for kittens, you might be interested in this other article that shows you how to bathe an adult cat for the first time.
If you want to read more articles similar to How to feed a 1 month old kitten, we recommend that you enter our Balanced Diets section.