Kitten Care

Kitten Care Tips: Raising a Happy and Healthy Feline Friend

What are the right and wrong ways to pick up my kitten?

A lot of people talk about scruffing the kittens because that’s what their moms do, but really we don’t want to scruff them. You don’t want to pick them up by their neck fluff. You can just pick them up underneath the arms, scoop their bottom, you just want to hold them tight because they are wiggly little guys and they like to climb and jump.

Dr. Brittany Bueter

Hebron Animal Hospital

How can I tell if my kitten is happy and healthy?

Typically just by the interaction. Purring, we don’t necessarily know why cats purr, but we do tend to link that with satisfaction or contentment. But wanting to be around you, coming and taking you out, playing and eating and drinking routinely, that is still pretty normal of a content cat.

How should I feed my kitten?

You definitely want to feed measured routine meals. Free feeding cats leads to obesity. The bag that you get will have a feeding amount on it. You usually want to feed a little bit less than what the bag recommends, but you can divide that up into two meals, three meals, whatever works best for your schedule, but definitely a measured amount of food.

Can I give my kitten regular milk?

Cats are typically actually a little bit lactose intolerant, so milk can kind of upset their guts and cause some gas and stomach upset, so they really don’t need regular milk.

When should I start feeding my kitten solid foods?

Usually around like four to five weeks of age. They can typically start to do some solid food. We kind of soften it with some warm water for a bit, kind of make it like a gruel, or just kind of let it soak until about five minutes before they’re ready to eat. They can slowly transition to actual hard kibble, usually around six weeks of age when they’re doing the softened food pretty well.

What specific kinds of food do you recommend?

We usually like to recommend either Hill’s Science Diet, Purina Pro Plan, or Royal Canin, just because we know that they’re veterinary-backed and they’ve been researched for proper growth and maintenance. They’re fairly additive low as far as all the extra plump and stuff that you don’t need. And then a growing kitten formula until they’re spayed or neutered or about six to seven months old.

Does my kitten need to drink any water?

Cats definitely need water. Some love water. Some are more like camels and don’t tend to drink a lot. So cats do definitely need water, some like standing water, some like water fountains with the running circulating water. Anything you can do to increase water consumption in cats is good, just for their kidney health, urinary health, dental health, that kind of thing.

What are some products I might need for my kitten?

Honestly, you don’t need a lot. You need good food. You can always use kibble for treats. You don’t need a lot of the extra packaged treats and things like that.