At What Age Can Kittens Eat Dry Food
When Can A Kitten Eat Dry Food?
I wanted to continue the kitten series by talking about when kittens.
What age can kittens eat dry food?
If you have been following along with the series, then you know from the weaning kittens that they will go from a bottle to a slurry to wet food. But when can kittens eat dry food?
The next step is a fairly easy process and that is moving them onto wet food.
So without further ado, let's talk about when a kitten can eat dry food and how to get a kitten to eat dry food!
Can You Feed A Kitten Just Dry Food?
Before we take that question, I want to mention WHY.
Some people will be asking, why can't we immediately feed kittens dry food?
Well, kittens have to develop their teeth to be able to chew the dry food. Much like babies, kittens teeth come in between two to six weeks.
They slowly develop as time goes on which means the older they get, the more teeth come in.
If kittens were to try and eat dry food before they are ready, they could choke on the food. So kittens should stick to a bottle and then the slurry combination until all their teeth come in.
Should Kittens Eat Wet Or Dry Food?
For those of you who have read the entire kitten series, then you know the process of weaning kittens from the bottle to solid food.
Those of you that haven't, then you may be asking yourself, what can kittens eat before dry food?
Well, if you think of it like a baby, the process is very similar.
Babies will start out with a bottle, and then move onto baby food, and from there start onto solid food.
Kittens are the same way.
They will start out with milk, whether it be from a bottle or a mother.
From there they will move onto a slurry or a combination of milk and wet food.
As they graduate from the slurry, they will move onto wet food until they are able to start trying dry food.
>>Have you seen?! How to Wean Kittens off the Bottle?
When Can a Kitten Eat Dry Food?
So to the main question, when can a kitten eat dry food?
The answer will range depending on the kitten.
However, most kittens will be ready for dry food anywhere from seven to eight weeks.
By weeks eight and nine, they should be grown enough that they can eat wet and solid food on their own without any issues.
If you are trying to figure out their age, you can check out the other kittens series which includes
Everything you Need to Know About Six Weeks Old Kittens, Seven Week Old Kittens, and Eight Week Old Kittens.
When in doubt, you can start out with wet food and slowly start adding dry food and see how they react.
It is important that when you start feeding the kitten solid food, you want it to be a kitten food, like this, to ensure the kitten is getting the nutrients they need.
This food tends to be higher in fat and helps kittens get the calories they need to grow big and strong.
Can I Mix Wet And Dry Cat Food?
Kittens should be given wet food until their teeth are grown enough to be able to chew up solid kitten food.
When in doubt, think back to the process of a baby.
They go from bottle to baby food to solid food.
The same is true for kittens.
The process instead is just bottle, slurry/wet food, and then dry food.
At What Age Can Kittens Eat Dry Food
Source: https://livelongandpawspurr.com/blog/when-can-a-kitten-eat-dry-food/