by Sharon Brook

Created on: July 25, 2009

A kitten is about 4 ounces at its birth. At the end of first year it weighs almost 100 ounces.

First year is the most valued year in a cat's life, most cats attain maturity only between 2 and 4 years. Kittens have a lot of energy: they start walking, playing and jumping and look like the busiest creatures. If they are not busy in feed, they will play. They enjoy jumping, climbing, running and mock fight. It is delightful to watch them. This ceaseless activity demands a lot of vitality.

The First Week of Kittens :

Their feed will be mother's milk. They receive all the nutrients from mother's milk for their development. The milk is rich with protein and contains less of fat and carbohydrates. This is considered as the best sustenance obtainable for them - perpetually a novel at the correct temperature, unless they are sick. The cat produces colostrum, a thick type of milk for first two days. The colostrum encompasses passive antibodies, which give the kittens interim immunity.

During initial two days the mother cat should rear the kittens. You can rear them later if you like. This is only a gradual process as the kittens have to adjust to food very slowly. The lactating mother should nurse kittens for about four weeks. After that you can start giving them some food. When the kittens start taking other food the mother's milk slowly gets reduced and then dries up.

Weaning Time:

This is followed with the reduction in the food given to the mother cat. You can start weaning kittens by giving them combination of cat mammal sustenance (kitten or expansion formula), combined with water or cat mammal milk replacement. As per the Home Veterinary Handbook one part feline mammal sustenance and three parts of water should be used. If you use soft canned food, put double the quantity of water in it. You can diminish the quantity of water in food gradually until they reach 10 weeks, then you can stop adding water. Post-weaning feeding expansion recipes are full of proteins and have abundant of calories to provide the kittens a balanced diet to meet their extraordinary needs.

Post Weaning Feeding of Kitten:

Giving them a quality diet will keep them healthy and protect them from diseases. You don't require to feed them any vitamin or other add on. You can seek the advice of a vet and feed accordingly, in case they are sick.

Excessive supplements of vitamins or minerals will only harm the kittens. The kittens have a small stomach, so they eat many times in a day. Provide them free feed. If you feed them on canned food don't let it stay for long time as it will get spoiled. You can feed them three or four times a day and preserve the can in a cool place or in a fridge. The kittens develop their food taste during first few months and that remains there for their life. To break their finicky eating habits give them different food flavors occasionally.

However, the switching between should be done by a mix of old and new food, and then slowly changing the ratio of mix. Feed them with kitten growth food for one year. You should change their food to regular maintenance food after one years.

Cats can adjust to the regular adult food after one year, even if they are growing.

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