Kitten weaning

Question
I took in a 2 day old kitten, many weeks ago after she was dumped. I hand reared her, and she survived. She is now almost 6 weeks old but refusing to eat kitten food from a bowl/plate. I have tried using different types of foods and different bowls etc but she will not pick it up. However she will take the food when hand fed.

I know shes still young and learning, but I am worried that she will learn that food comes from hands rather than her dish!

If you have any advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Hi
Well done for hand rearing such a young kitten, its not always that easy.

I wouldn't worry at the moment, weaning happens usually between 8 and 12 weeks and some cats can take a little longer. Feeding her as you have with your fingers is the right way to do it, it gets them used to the texture of food and after awhile she will take it from the bowl. The reason she wont know is simply because she isn't ready too ie still too young.

I have a page on my site all about hand rearing which you may find of further interest

/kitten-weaning.html

best wishes Kate