Do i need to teach kittens to eat solids?

i have 4 little 4-5 week old kittens.


they are very very small. not much bigger than my palm. they are slightly bigger than new borns.


the eldest and biggest one is starting to eat solids almost every meal. the others refuse to even look what's in the bowl. they want their bottle.


do i need to "teach" them or will they start eating when they are ready?


thanks

Do i need to teach kittens to eat solids?
Try blending the food up into bits in the blender and then adding some of the formula to make a gruel.





The formula "smell" will help attract them to the food and the gruel will be easier to eat.





Once they are eating gruel just slowly decrease the amount of formula and how little you blend up the food.
Reply:I think they will eventually start on their own, but there is no harm in introducing them to it by offering them tastes of soft, gravy covered kitten food to start. But they are still babies, and its ok for them to still have milk.
Reply:Let them get hungry and offer them wet meat. Keep feeding them but let them get a little bigger before you put them on solids talone. After they get used to eating solids leave dry food out for them.
Reply:They start when they are ready. If they were taken away from their mom too early it will actually take *longer* for them to be ready. Feed them kitten milk replacement (formula). You can get it in a powdered form at Wal-Mart or Pet Smart.





Good luck!
Reply:you need to try to wean them. they might not be as developed as the biggest. their teeth may not be as strong. try wet foods, then try moving to dry. they may have difficulties eating dry because of pain in undeveloped teeth. they also don't usually wean until about 6 weeks, but if they have teeth, you can start weaning now. not all the kittens grow at the same rate. if you're still not sure, ask the vet, a breeder, or look online about it. also, "abby's" idea is a very good one, they'll smell the formula or milk (momma's replacement milk. i've seen it at the vet) and pay a bit more attention.
Reply:Hi there, I am assuming here that you are bottle feeding? I would not start feeding these little ones solids for another week yet, and if they are not much bigger than your palm I would think they would be younger than you think? I hand reared 4 kittens 3 years ago... I left them on vet milk out of a bottle and teat, and just left a saucer of mashed up kitten food for them in a saucer while I was feeding the others... they instinctively know when they are ready to eat.. just watch them when food is down though, cos they do end up in the middle of the plate lol and you'll have to give them a wash all over again... am assuming also that you are doing the stimulate the bladder trick like their mother would do? is easy to 'litter train them' when doing this...as they get older, start to stimulate their pee holes, and when a drop or two starts to come out, put them in the litter tray, they get the idea really quickly... although two of them decided to sleep in the litter tray and get out and pee on the carpet lol... good luck just let them develop at their pace, keep feeding the bigger one, let the others catch up at their own speed...
Reply:You're weaning them a bit early. I've bottle fed several kittens and most don't wean until 6 weeks. I had one that wouldn't come off the bottle until 8 weeks. Just give them time, esp since they're so small.