When do kittens stop drinking milk from their mother

Kittens are essentially baby carnivores with specialised needs. Kittens naturally wean off their mother’s milk at around 8-12 weeks of age. When young cats are old enough (around 8 weeks old) they start to eat food on their own whilst simultaneously decreasing the amount of milk they suckle from their mother.

Basic kitten feeding guide

The following information is general advice, but as each kitten is an individual, seek veterinary advice, particularly if your kitten has any special dietary needs or has a reaction to a standard diet.

The basis of your kitten’s diet should be a high quality balanced premium commercial kitten food that is appropriate for their life stage and health status. By reading the label, you can check that it complies with the Australian Standard for the Manufacturing and Marketing of Pet Food AS 5812:2017 [1]. It is best to start feeding wet kitten food and introducing dry kitten food as your kitten grows. Provide some moist foods in the diet regularly e.g., wet can food. Never feed puppy or dog food to your kitten as it will be deficient in taurine, an essential protein that cats can only obtain through food.

Kittens should be offered food at least 4 times per day.

Take care not to overfeed or underfeed your kitten. Your vet will be able to weigh your kitten, assess your kitten’s body condition score and provide advice.

Please ensure clean fresh drinking water is available at all times but do not provide milk as this can cause gastrointestinal upsets.

Teething

Between four to six months of age, the permanent teeth appear and grow rapidly. Introducing kitten-specific chew toys and healthy chewable treats can alleviate “teething” issues – the global Veterinary Oral Health Council lists dental products that meet standards for safety and reducing plaque/tartar.

Bones and raw meat are not recommended as they can break teeth and cause constipation and internal blockages, raw bones also carry bacteria that can make both animals and humans ill.

If you do choose to offer bones to your kitten, these should always be raw and introduced gradually. The bone must be large enough so that the kitten cannot fit the whole bone in its mouth or swallow the bone whole; only some smaller bones are suitable for kittens such as raw chicken necks and wings. Never feed your kitten cooked bones as these can splinter, causing potentially fatal internal damage or intestinal obstruction. Always supervise your kitten when eating raw bones.

Other foods

Fish, such as tinned sardines in springwater, tinned tuna and tinned salmon (take care with any fish bones) can be offered as a treat occasionally but please avoid feeding fish constantly because this is not a complete diet. Cooked meat such as boiled chicken may also be offered occasionally, but please ensure there are no cooked bones, onions/onion sauces, or other toxic substances present (see below).

As mentioned above, raw meat and bones carry bacteria that can make both animals and humans ill and so are not recommended. However, if you do decide to feed your kitten any raw meat or raw bones, it is recommended that you choose only human-grade raw meat and bones. Any raw food offered to kittens should always be fresh. Avoid feeding raw meat until the kitten is 20 weeks of age to help avoid certain nutritional deficiencies during growth.

You should avoid raw meat products marketed as pet food (pet meat/pet mince/pet rolls and bone products, sausages, sausage meat and cooked manufactured meats as they can contain sulphite preservatives. There have been many pet food safety incidents linked to sulphite preservative-induced thiamine (Vitamin B1) deficiency, which can be fatal. See this article for more information.

A small amount of finely-cut vegetable matter may also be offered. It is important to remember that cats are ‘obligate carnivores’, which means they require meat in their diet, so their nutritional needs cannot be met by a vegetarian (or vegan) diet. See this article for more information on cats’ special dietary needs.

Provide access to grass (avoid chemically treated grass and toxic plants). Kittens will occasionally eat grass, which may be a source of vegetable matter and micronutrients. Be aware that large amounts of certain types of ‘cat grass’ can cause high levels of vitamin D, which may lead to symptoms of poisoning such as vomiting, weakness, loss of appetite, increased drinking and urination, bloody faeces, weight loss, constipation, internal bleeding, seizures or abdominal pain.

Toxic foods

Do not ever feed the following substances as they are toxic to kittens and cats (note this is not a complete list): alcohol, onions, onion powder, garlic, chocolate, coffee or caffeine products, mouldy or spoiled foods or compost, avocado, bread dough, yeast dough, grapes, raisins, sultanas (including in Christmas cakes etc), currants, nuts (including macadamia nuts), fruit stones or ‘pits’ (e.g. mango seeds, apricot stones, avocado stones), fruit seeds, corncobs, tomatoes, mushrooms, cooked bones, small pieces of raw bone, fatty trimmings/fatty foods, salt and roughly-cut vegetables.

Also ensure your kitten doesn’t have access to string wrappings around rolled roasts or absorbent pads found under meat when wrapped on trays.

Kittens grow up so fast. Now that they're weaning and eating solid food, it's only a matter of weeks before their mother stops producing milk. This is an important time for the mama cat -- keep an eye on her to make sure she's healthy.

Although they're 100 percent reliant on mother's milk at birth, kittens start eating solid food when they're 3 or 4 weeks old. Some kittens stop nursing immediately, but most switch gradually. Some kittens may try suckling at their mother's teats now and again until they're 7 or 8 weeks old. By the end of their eighth week of life, most kittens will have made the lifelong switch to solid food. The end of lactation is usually a process, not a full stop. During these later weeks, you may notice changes in the mother cat as nursing wanes and lactation begins to wind down.

As a pregnant cat gets ready to deliver her kittens, her appetite usually increases. That's because she needs more calories and nutrients to produce life-sustaining milk for her offspring. These requirements dwindle as kittens begin weaning, especially during their seventh and eighth weeks of life. After that, mother cats begin eating less, start becoming aggressive toward kittens that continue to try to nurse on them, and stop producing milk. After about two weeks of this, most cat's breasts run dry. That means a healthy mother cat's milk supply usually doesn't dry up until her kittens are 10 weeks old. The longer kittens actively nurse, though, the further back this timetable is pushed.

It's not unusual for nursing, weaning and lactation cycles to vary a week or so in either direction. If a cat's milk production stops suddenly before her kittens are 9 weeks old or continues after they're on solid food at 11 weeks, the mama cat may have a medical issue. Call a vet, especially in the case of the former, as the mother cat's kittens are still dependent on her for nourishment. It's not unusual for kittens to occasionally try and feed on their mother toward the tail end of the weaning process, even after the mother has stopped lactating. The mama cat may become aggressive and hiss or even bat her offspring. Don't worry: That's normal. But if that happens soon after the kittens are born, a medical issue may be at hand. Call a vet.

Abnormal cat lactation can indicate a number of medical issues, which is why it's important to contact a vet as soon as possible. Feline mothers milk can be watery, particularly as lactation ebbs and flows, but should always be whiteish. Yellowish, brownish and even bloody milk can indicate mastitis or mammary gland infection. Firm, non-painful bumps on her chest or abdomen may indicate mammary gland hyperplasia, a benign tissue growth, or even cancer. Early cessation of milk production may mean blocked glands or could be a complication related to any number of illnesses. Continued lactation may mean another pregnancy or even a psuedopregnancy. Diagnostic methods and treatment options differ for mother cats who are still nursing, as their health and milk supply also affect their kittens.

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During a litter of kittens' tender earliest weeks, mama's milk is all that is necessary for health and survival. Soon after, however, weaning procedures begin -- when a queen cat slowly but surely starts her little ones on other foods. In general, weaning takes about four weeks in all.

The ASPCA indicates that mother cats usually start weaning the little fluff balls when they are about 1 month old. In general, kittens need their mother's milk until they are a minimum of 4 weeks old. The complete weaning process generally takes about a month, meaning that the wee kittens are usually fully weaned when they are between 8 and 10 weeks in age. Towards the end of the run, however, kittens should be receiving the vast majority of their dietary intake via food that is made specifically for kittens.

Once weaning begins, kittens are usually ready to start eating dry food part-time, even though they are still simultaneously nursing with mom. When it comes to getting kittens to eat "real" food, the process moves slowly.

The Humane Society of the United States indicates that weaning a kitten too early can sometimes bring upon unpleasant consequences -- particularly in the realms of chewing and suckling. If a kitten is taken off of her mother's milk too soon, she may continue suckling on random items well into adulthood, like blankets, wool sweaters or your most cherished winter coats -- no thank you.

Up until a kitten is roughly 1 month old, her dietary needs can be fulfilled completely through nursing. Because of this, it is absolutely unnecessary to offer kittens any other types of food whatsoever, whether dry or canned wet meals.

If for whatever reason a kitten's mother is absent from her life, then it is important either to search for a foster cat to temporarily "replace" mama for nursing purposes, or to purchase and use a "KMR" -- kitten milk replacer. KMRs are specifically designed to closely replicate the nutritional caloric offerings of a mother cat's milk with similar carbohydrates, fat and protein.