My kitten wont eat

Question
Hello, i collected my kitten today (she is 8 weeks) & the lady said that she has to be force fed kitten food as she keeps trying to feed off her mother still. She gave me a syringe & told me to feed her a syringe full 4x a day. She has swallowed a bit but keeps spitting it out. she has drank water but i just cant get her to eat of her own accord. Is there anything i can do to get her to swallow? Also its really hard to open her mouth, is there a special technique to do this? Will she be ok? She is really tiny & she has slept LOTS, is this normal?

Answer
Hi Kelly,

Are you sure she's 8 weeks old? From what you've described this sounds like a much younger kitten. Most kittens are weaned by 5-6 weeks so maybe she's younger than you think.  If she won't take solid food you can go to the pet store and get a "pet nurser" and some kitten milk replacement to bottle feed her with.  A trick I was taught not long ago is to put some dry kitten food in the bottle so she gets used to the taste of it.  Then leave a bowl of dry food out for her to munch on.  Royal Canin makes a kitten food called "Baby Cat" and its for very young kittens just starting to eat dry food.  You can find that at a pet store.  Keep trying to get her to eat solids with the syringe, just put the tip of the syringe at the corner of her mouth and press gently until she opens her mouth.  It'll be quick so be prepared to put the syringe in but just a little bit and squirt a SMALL amount towards the back of her tongue so she won't be able to spit it out.  It'll take patience to get enough down her but keep trying.  While it is normal for kittens to sleep a lot if she shows any signs of weakness or lethargy you should take her into the vet as she might be suffering from low blood sugar.  When she's awake she should be very active, if she's not check it out with a vet.