How Long Do Kittens Nurse?

Video Transcript

"Let's talk about how long do kittens nurse. Newborns right after they come out, right after the queen or mother cat stimulates them are generally going to be looking for that nipple to suckle on and get milk or nutrition from. Kittens are going to nurse until they are full and generally that can be anywhere from five to ten minutes in most cases. So if the queen or mother cat is doing that for you then that is natural and they are going to do it on their own, however, if it is an orphan newborn kitten and you are having to use kitten milk replacer and using a nursing bottle then typically talk to your veterinary clinic about that and they can guide you on how much to feed and how long it takes. Most kittens again are going to suckle on one of these bottles for five to ten minutes until they are full and then they are going to go to sleep and rest so they can digest that. Generally in most kittens they nurse until about four weeks of age. After that is when they want to start lapping up milk or gruel and things like that and they still want to eat several times a day but as newborns they require much more milk and nutrition and so they are going to be feeding anywhere from every two to four hours, five to ten minutes at a time."