My 8-week-old kitten is too weak to eat. What and how much to feed?
Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Cat | Domestic Shorthair | Female | unspayed | 1 month and 18 days old | 1lb
I have a malnourished 8 week old kitten. He is to week to eat food so I am having to basically force feed him formula every 2 hours. How much should I feed him?
4 Answers
Most Helpful Answer
Published on April 16th, 2020
Hi there. An 8-week-old kitten should be eating regular solid food at this point, not formula. If he isn't eating on his own, you can get canned kitten food and mix it with a little bit of water to form a slurry, and then use an oral dosing syringe to gently put it in his mouth.
4Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Related Answers from Veterinarians
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Published on December 13th, 2017
Sounds like you are doing a fine job so far. When he turns 8 weeks old you should then take him to your local vet to start his kitten vaccines, started on flea prevention and get him on flea prevention. He can start on Revolution flea prevention now if he already has a flea problem. Daily acitivity, immunizations, and a high quality food is the best way to care for a kitten. My top food recommendations are Hill’s Science Diet, Royal Canin, Evo or Eukanuba kitten fed three times a day until he is around 6-8 months old, then he will only need to be fed twice a day. If hope this helps and best wishes taking care of your new kitty! Take care.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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Published on December 15th, 2018
Most kittens like Oreo will begin eating formula and kitten food with some help. You can purchase kitten formula (which is the only thing you would want to use, do not use cows or goats milk). You can try offering the formula in a bottle but he may drink it out of a bowl. Offer a bowl of formula, a bowl of canned kitten food and a bowl of kitten kibble soaked in formula. You may need to smear some of the food/formula around his mouth so that he gets the idea. Allow him to eat as much as he wishes. Once he is 5-6 weeks old, you can start to decrease the amount of formula. He also likely needs to be dewormed several times and to start his vaccines between 6-8 weeks of age. Most kittens are one pound of body weight for one month of age. So a one month old kitten weighs one pound. A two month old kitten weights two pounds. Get an accurate body weight and this will give you an idea of how old he is. Please post again if you have any further questions and congratulation on your new kitten!
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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Published on February 6th, 2017
Small frequent meals are better for a kitten this young. Yuo can try other brands if he is refusing this cat food, but you can also try moistening it with a little water or low sodium chicken broth as well as warming it to see if some combination entices him to eat better for you. If you can, leave out dry food for him to nibble on all day long and give him a small amount of wet food in the morning and evening.
2Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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