Weaning is 4 weeks long, not 1 day. Start the first paste at 4 weeks, move to semi-solid at 6 weeks, and have every kitten eating 100 percent solid food by 8 weeks, at 700 to 900 g. Kittens that finish at 700 g or more at week 8 handle the switch to a new home far better than kittens pushed off the queen at 550 g, and the difference is usually 2 extra weeks of the same food, not a different food.
The 4 anchors: week 4, week 6, week 8, 700 to 900 g
Everything else is detail around 4 numbers. Week 4 is the first taste of solids, not a meal replacement. Week 6 is when half the calories come from food rather than milk. Week 8 is the last day of nursing. The 700 to 900 g band is the check that all 3 steps landed, and it sits roughly 100 g per week above the 400 to 500 g a kitten carries at week 4. A litter that hits 8 weeks at 600 to 650 g is 1 to 2 weeks behind, not broken.
Week 3: the taste test nobody counts as weaning
At 3 weeks a kitten weighs 350 to 420 g, has its eyes open and is cutting teeth, and it will lick paste off a finger without swallowing much. Offer 1 teaspoon of kitten food mixed 1 part food to 3 parts warm water once a day, at 30 to 35 °C, and expect 80 to 90 percent of it on the face. This week is about smell and texture, not calories: the kitten still takes 100 percent of its energy from milk, at 8 to 12 feeds a day. Do not cut the queen's food yet, and do not move the litter box, because a 3-week-old kitten finds the tray by memory of 1 to 2 steps, not by sight.
Week 4: paste at 1 to 2, 4 meals, still 90 percent milk
Week 4 is the anchor. Mix 1 part kitten food with 2 parts warm water or kitten milk replacer, blend until it drops off a spoon, and serve at 30 to 35 °C in a shallow 10 cm dish. Offer 4 meals a day at 07:00, 12:00, 17:00 and 21:00, 1 to 2 teaspoons per kitten per meal, and leave it down for 15 minutes only — a dish left for 2 hours at room temperature is a bacteria culture at 30 °C. Expect 10 to 15 percent of daily energy from the paste this week, and expect loose stools for 2 to 3 days as the gut shifts; that is normal, watery stool for 48 hours is not.
| Week | Texture | Meals per day | Energy from food | Weight range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Paste, 1 to 2 with water | 4 | 10 to 15% | 400 to 500 g |
| 5 | Soft mash, 1 to 1 | 4 | 35 to 45% | 470 to 570 g |
| 6 | Semi-solid, fork texture | 4 | 60 to 70% | 550 to 650 g |
| 7 | Soft solid plus water bowl | 4 | 85 to 90% | 630 to 780 g |
| 8 | 100% solid, 3 to 4 meals | 3 | 100% | 700 to 900 g |
Week 5: mash at 1 to 1 and the first real meals
Thicken the mix to 1 part food and 1 part water, keep 4 meals, and raise the portion to 2 to 3 teaspoons per kitten. By the end of week 5 a kitten should be taking 35 to 45 percent of its energy from food, which for a 500 g kitten at 250 kcal per kg is 30 to 35 kcal a day, or about 8 g of a 4.1 kcal per gram food. Watch the smallest kitten at every meal: in a litter of 5, the bottom kitten gets 20 to 30 percent less than the top one when all 5 share 1 dish, so feed in 2 dishes placed 40 cm apart.
Week 6: semi-solid, 4 meals, and water on the side
Week 6 is the second anchor. Food should hold a fork shape, with enough moisture to press flat under a finger but not enough to pour. Keep 4 meals and 60 to 70 percent of calories from food; a 600 g kitten at this stage eats 35 to 45 g of food a day, split into 4 portions of 9 to 11 g. Put a 200 ml water bowl down now, 3 to 5 cm deep, and refresh it twice a day: kittens on semi-solid food take only 20 to 30 ml of water per day, and a kitten that gets 10 ml less than it needs will strain at the tray within 36 hours.
Week 7: 85 percent solid, and the queen starts to refuse
Drop the added water to 1 part in 4, or switch to a pate straight from the can, and let the queen leave the box for 2 to 3 hours at a time. She will refuse suckling more often from this week, and that refusal is the signal rather than the schedule. Expect 85 to 90 percent of calories from food and 4 meals of 12 to 15 g. If a kitten is still taking more than 20 percent of its energy from milk at day 50, separate it from the queen for 4 hours after each solid meal for 3 days.
Week 8: fully weaned at 700 to 900 g
Week 8 ends it. Remove the queen for the full day, feed 3 to 4 meals of 15 to 20 g, which is 45 to 60 g of food a day and 185 to 245 kcal, and check the weight band: 700 to 900 g, with males typically at the top and the smallest female at the bottom. A kitten at 700 g on day 56 has gained roughly 100 g a week since week 4, which is the number to expect. Do not send a kitten home under 700 g or under 8 weeks, even if it eats well; the last 2 weeks build the immune and social base that a new house cannot rebuild. Two extra weeks of food costs 15 to 25 dollars, worth pricing against the cost of the litter first.
Weigh weekly, on the same scale, and write the number
Weigh the whole litter every 3 days from week 4 to week 8, at the same hour, before the first meal. Expected gain is 60 to 80 g a week at week 4, 80 to 100 g at week 6, and 90 to 120 g at week 8. A kitten that gains less than 40 g in any 7 days, or drops 20 g, gets its own dish and a vet check within 48 hours. Weight gain tracks the same clock as eye opening and the other early milestones, so a litter that is late on 1 is usually late on both. Weighing is also how you catch the litter's quiet problem: 3 kittens sharing 1 dish will look fine on the group average and be 80 g behind individually.
Red lines that mean a vet, not a later start
- Watery diarrhea for more than 48 hours, or any blood in the stool.
- Weight flat for 10 days, or a loss of 20 g or more between 2 checks.
- Still nursing more than 3 times a day at week 9.
- Under 700 g at day 56, or under 550 g at day 42.
- Vomiting after 2 consecutive meals, or refusal of food for 24 hours.
- Queen with a hot, hard mammary gland, or milk at day 10 after weaning.
4 steps that carry the whole timeline
- Paste at week 4, 4 meals, 15 minutes on the floor.
- Fork texture at week 6, with 2 dishes for 5 kittens.
- Weigh every 3 days and write all 5 numbers down.
- Hold pickup until day 56 and 700 g.
Frequently asked
At what week should kittens start eating solid food?
Offer the first paste at 4 weeks, mixed 1 part food to 2 parts warm water at 30 to 35 °C, 4 small meals a day. That first week supplies only 10 to 15 percent of energy, which is the point: the gut and jaw learn while milk still covers 85 to 90 percent of the need.
How much should a kitten weigh when fully weaned?
Between 700 and 900 g at week 8, with males near the top of the band and the smallest female near the bottom. That works out to roughly 100 g a week gained since week 4, when the same kitten weighs 400 to 500 g. A kitten under 700 g at day 56 is 1 to 2 weeks behind.
Is loose stool normal when a kitten starts solids?
Softer stool for 2 to 3 days after the first paste is normal, because the gut is shifting from milk to solid food. Watery stool that lasts more than 48 hours, any blood, or a kitten that stops gaining weight at the same time is not normal and needs a vet visit rather than a food change.