You do not need to know anything about 5 week old kitten care to adopt one. You can easily learn the basics as you nurture her into adulthood.
You would probably make a lot of mistakes in those early days. Most new cat parents must have made a number of mistake with feeding, littering and so on.
The more you discover about 5 week old kitty, the more you will love her. It is a step by step process that requires patience.
We want you to have the most valuable information regarding feeding, general care, and maintenance. So, we wrote this fun, easy-to-read article.
What to Feed a 5 Week Old Kitten?
Feed your 5 week old kitty a quality diet. Spending a few extra cents on a better choice of food. After all, it keeps your kitten healthier, and that pays off big when she gets older.
At five weeks, your kitty would probably not require frequent nursing. In the wild, a mother cat would start to discourage her young one from suckling milk. You should probably do the same.
During the period of weaning, you should allow your kitten to bottle feed, although at lengthening intervals as the kitty’s hunger is satisfied increasingly with more solid food.
Weaned kittens need about five meals daily of a sufficient quantity, which can be eaten within a few minutes.
You should reduce the frequency of feeds gradually so that by the time your kitten attain maturity she should be receiving a few meals daily.
Formula
At five weeks old, you should try to get your kitten to start eating solid food, but stay with 5 to 7 bottle feedings per day to ensure she gets her 128 cc of formula a day.
| Age (weeks) | Body Weight (ounce) | Total Formula/Day (cc) | Number of Feedings A Day |
| 1 | 4 | 33 | 9-12 |
| 2 | 7 | 56 | 7-9 |
| 3 | 10 | 80 | 7-9 |
| 4 | 13 | 104 | 5-7 |
| 5 | 16 | 128 | 5-7 |
For an active 5 week old kitten, we recommend a kitten formula that closely replicates constituents of a cat’s milk, which should be about 45 percent protein, 25 percent fat, 25 percent carbs, and 5 percent ash.
The calcium to phosphorous ratio should be ideal at around 1.2 to 1. The energy density should be about 5, which simply means it is concentrated food.
Give your kitty just enough at each feeding to enlarge her abdomen slightly without bloating it, and do not overfeed. Stick to the feeding schedule, and stop bottle feeding before the kitty does.
We strongly suggest that you encourage your kitty to drink the formula from a bowl. This will make it easier for you to wean her off the bottle.
Solid Food: Wet or Dry
At 5 weeks old, your kitten should weigh around 16 ounces, if you are feeding her right. To achieve and maintain a healthy weight you will have to include solid food in her diet.
Add a high protein dry cereal, such as oats or cereals to the formula. You should consider kitty food that is specified for growth.
Such kinds of foods comprise higher quantities of protein, minerals, fats, and vitamins for energy and fast growth.
Is Wet or Dry Food Better for Your 5 Week Old Kitten?
Whether or not dry or wet food is better for your 5 week old kitty is an ongoing debate among cat parents. The weaning process hasn’t made her much of an eater, but she does need the energy boost.
The best choice for a kitten during the weaning process is wet food, which usually features soft mousse that will help your 5 week old cat transition easily from formula feeding to solid food.
The best wet food brands usually contain antioxidants complex that reinforces the immune system of the growing kitten.
Make sure the wet food you buy has a macronutrient profile. Basically, a macronutrient profile offers a balance between carbs, fats, and proteins.
Dry foods aren’t bad for your 5 week old kitten, but they often contain too many carbohydrates that kittens, in general, have a hard time digesting.
Dry foods also contain a lot more plant protein than animal protein as its ingredient. There is an issue of low water content. Also, dry foods tend to be highly processed with limited nutritional value.
How Much Wet Food Should A 5 Week Old Kitten Eat?
Like we mentioned earlier with formula feeding, it is not a good idea to overfeed your 5-year-old kitten. Here is a table with some useful suggestions.
| Age (weeks) | Weight (pounds) | Suggested Daily Intake (grams) |
| 4 | 0.8 to 1.7 | 25 to 40 |
| 4 to 8 | 1.8 to 3.0 | 40 to 50 |
| 8 to 12 | 3.1 to 4.0 | 50 to 55 |
| 12 to 16 | 4.1 to 5.0 | 55 to 60 |
| 16 to 20 | 5.1 to 6.0 | 60 to 70 |
5 Week Old Kitten Potty/Litter Box Training
One of the main parts of 5 week old kitten care is potty training. Usually, you are supposed to start training your kitten to use the litter box as early as 3 weeks old.
There are a few things you have to know about litter training if you recently acquired a 5 week old kitty.
The Basics
- Kittens like a clean litter box as well as clean litter.
- The size of the litter box matters to your kitten; use a litter box three times the length of your baby cat from nose to tail.
- You must have a good location for the box where the kitty would not feel trapped or too exposed. Avoid high traffic areas in the house.
- Normally, cats, whether young or not, do not like to share a litter box. So, make sure there is one for every kitten.
- Make sure the box has low sides, which will be easier and more comfortable for your five week old kitten to get in or out.
- Use non-clumping litter in the box. Most five weeks old cats are likely to ingest the litter. You should know that consumption of clumping litter can be harmful to your kitten. The clumping litter can cause intestinal blockage.
Steps to Follow When Training a 5 Week old Kitten to Use the Litter Box
- Come up with a regular feeding schedule for your 5-week old kitty, which will help her to develop a consistent potty routine.
- Pay close attention to your kitten so you can mark and reward when she eliminates in the proper area when litter training becomes a problem.
- Call your kitty to use the box from more than one location in the house. These should mainly include soiled areas.
- Remember to wake up your kitty after a two-hour nap and bring her to the litter box, and always encourage her to get into the box by herself.
- Never punish your kitten for making a mistake. Instead, you should immediately clean the spot with white vinegar and water to eliminate any traces of the smell.
- Always scoop away any messes from the litter box. This will remind the kitty that a box is a clean place where she can be comfortable.
How to Give Your 5 Week Old Kitten a Flea Treatment Bath
Your kitten may probably not need frequent bathing if she has been indoors for a few weeks. However, the same can’t be said for a rescued 5-week kitty.
A rescued kitten would require brushing, grooming, and bathing for her to be free of fleas and dirt. This is a very important part of 5-week old kitten care.
Brushing/Grooming
To take good care of your pet, you will need a comb. The teeth of the comb can be coarse, medium, or fine, depending on the type of your kitten’s fur.
Medium to coarse combs is ideal for longhaired kittens, while medium to fine combs works great for shorthaired kitties.
If your kitten is shorthaired, she can do great with regular sessions using cat brush gloves. These gloves have inset rubber nubs in the palm that smooth the fur and remove loose hair.
Your kitty will definitely love the gloves because the action seems like you are petting her. Not to mention that the gloves stimulate the skin for a healthier, shinier coat.
Bathing
There are two types of baths you can give your five-week-old kitten: spot and full.
- Spot Bath
You will need a washcloth soaked in soapy, warm water to clean a localized part of your kitten’s body. But you should always avoid the mouth, nose, ears, and eyes.
- Full Bath
For a flea treating bath, we don’t recommend using chemical treatment because the kitty’s body is so small and vulnerable.
Instead, you should consider a flea bath. For this bath, you will need a washcloth, a couple of clean towels, warm water, and the best kitten flea control shampoo.
Here are a few steps you should follow:
- Step 1: Create a ring of soap/shampoo around her neck to prevent the fleas from going towards the head
- Step 2: Hold her gently and securely while you wet (warm water) and shampoo her body from the neck and towards the tail.
- Step 3: Use your palm or a washcloth to get rid of the fleas and dirt from the fur.
- Step 4: Then go ahead and rinse her. Make sure the water is comfortably warm.
- Step 5: Dry her coat immediately with a clean towel to keep her warm. It is normally difficult for your kitten to regulate her body temperature.
- Step 6: Use cotton rounds to spot bath her head while avoiding sensitive parts, such as the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
Play Safely With Your Kitten
This is the most interesting part of 5-week old kitten care. She can become very vibrant, especially when investigating new objects.
For this reason, you should not tease her with your hands or feet. You do not want her to learn that hands and feet are play toys.
There are three play modes you can teach your 5-week old kitten: locomotive, predatory, and social.
- Locomotive
The play behaviors associated with this mode are leaping, climbing, running, and finding places they can go into and come out of quickly, such as a box or a paper bag.
- Predatory
The play behaviors associated with this mode are chasing, grabbing, pouncing, and throwing things in the air.
- Social
This mode involves her playing with other pets or people in the house. This is an amazing time to use interactive toys with your kitten so she can learn to enjoy playtime with people other than you.
5 Week Old Kitten Won’t Poop
There are a few health issues that you five-week-old kitty may suffer from. You can handle the minor ones at home, but always consult your vet when you see alarming symptoms.
A rescued 5-week old kitty may need your help to defecate and urinate as her reflux eliminator. A kitten undergoing the weaning process may require stimulating after every meal.
For stimulation, you will need paper towels or clean cotton squares, warm water, and a container for the elimination.
After feeding, hold your kitty in one hand with her tummy cupped in the palm of your hand. Soak the cotton square with warm water and gently stimulate her urethra and anus area in a circular motion.
You can position the kitten over a litter box to catch the urine. Go on stimulating for 10 seconds to induce defecation.
Be patient for her to finish. A 5-week old kitten normally eliminates every twenty-four to thirty-six hours. The stool should be brownish yellow and slightly firm.
If she has diarrhea or loose stool, she will strain after elimination. Make sure you address diarrhea and loose stool with your vet to evade rectal prolapse from excessive straining.
Always take her to the vet when she has:
- Green diarrhea or loose stool
- Warms
- Constipation
- Fever
Conclusion
What we have covered in this article are important parts of 5-week old kitten care. However, there are other things that you can learn from your vet and other cat parents.
At 5 weeks old, you should not be overly concerned about vaccination. The initial vaccination is usually necessary from the age of 6 weeks.
If you are new to cat parenting, we urge you to avoid unrealistic expectations, especially when dealing with an orphan kitten.
She is likely to mess on the floor. Instead of punishing her, you should clean the mess and continue potty training. Also, remember to reward her whenever she uses the litter box.