My son and his wife rescued two young kittens yesterday from a squat.  He estimates they are about 6 weeks old, so too young to be away from their mother.  They don't seem interested in solid food at the moment, but I guess they are probably stressed from the move and a train journey from London to the south coast which can't help.  He is feeding them kitten milk from a syringe at the moment which makes me think they are really young.  What age should meat be introduced?  I have suggested mixing some kitten milk with meat and mashing it into a paste to see if they are interested.  Apart from one having a weepy eye and one trying to eat cat litter they seem in good spirits.  Does anyone have any experience of kittens this young and the best way to look after them.

Thanks for any help.

The weepy eye is most likely the first sign of cat flu so a vet visit will be in order and some antibiotics -that will make them feel better and be more open for solids as well. (Trying to eat cat litter is normal, that's how all kittens start off being weaned.) I assume they are moggies, they tend to be early to wean so may well take solids at 5 weeks or so, my pedigree kittens can be as late as 10 weeks at times although most common for mine are around 6-7 weeks. Sounds like they could be younger than 6 weeks. Get some really soft food (chicken mince is perfect, as sold in petshops) and pop a very small amount straight into the mouths. Usually it will be spat out again a few times but then they suddenly get it and can go on to lick it off fingers and then from a shallow dish.

Continue with the kitten milk as well (although hopefully before too long they will be able to lap it) as they need it until at least 12 weeks old.

Thank you so much for the reply.  I will get my DIL to make a vet appointment straight away before it gets too bad and will recommend they try the chicken mince.  Fingers crossed for them.

I  also suspect that the kittens may be less than 6 weeks old. When I got my kitten he was only 6 weeks old (moggie) and he was fully weaned/eating solids and quite independent.I got my kitten at 6 weeks from a student who was moving back home with the mother cat (end of term) - at the time I didn't realise that 6 weeks would be regarded as probably too early for a kitten to leave the mother cat.
Hopefully the vet might give them a better idea how old the kittens are. Although in a squat environment perhaps they simply haven't been given any solids to date.
Hope they thrive.
Ailsa

Thanks for your reply.  I haven't seen them yet and i think  you are probably right in that they are less than 6 weeks old but from what i've been told they were living in really awful conditions and are better off away from it.  I'm not sure what happened to their mum.  They are going to the vet tomorrow or Friday so fingers crossed they will be ok.  Knowing my son, he will spoil them something rotten so they will be given every chance.  I know he has done the best thing in taking them but they should never have been born in the first place.  There are just too many unwanted animals about, it's just so sad.

Just an update.  The little ones have been to the vet this morning and he is quite happy with them and says they don't have anything nasty that requires antibiotics and is happy that they are only taking milk at the moment. Still early days but sounding positive.

That's good to hear. :)