Weaning can be a messy business for kittens and their mothers (and sometimes for humans trying to help out). Some kittens are ready to try solid food at only three weeks (like The Cat’s grand-daughter, Pippin) whereas there are others who make you wonder whether they will ever eat unaided from a bowl (like Flora, Pippin’s mother, at over six weeks). We tried to encourage feral kittens to try solid food as early as possible to ease the burden on their mothers, and some took to it immediately while others were less than keen.

The Cat’s daughter Drip favoured the stand-in-the-bowl method which was also favoured by her brother Fred and, in later years, by Lightning. Naturally, the kittens were keen to eat the adults’ food and, if there was a bowl of kitten food and a bowl of adult food available, the kittens would eat the unsuitable adult food while their mothers gobbled up the expensive kitten food.

When The Cat and her daughter Sprocket combined their litters into a single colony, it was The Cat who led the seven kittens solemnly to the food bowl in the garden where they gathered round looking puzzled before following her lead and tucking in. After that, mealtimes were a family affair as Sprocket demonstrated in this photo, which shows her with Big Bang, Early Lately and Little Bang (and Tippex sitting at the back).

Kiwi had been coming to eat twice a day and returning to her family in the fields. When she felt the time was right for weaning, she brought Stardust and Ariel to the drive. They needed no encouragement to enthusiastically work their way through a bowl of food with their mother eating at their side. They were definitely ready for weaning, and it was a welcome respite from feeding them for Kiwi who had brought them up during a long, hot summer.

Cracker brought her kittens to the garden from the fields and made a nest for them behind an old ladder and these crates. Clover, Dandelion and Daisy were not used to all the other cats who ate in the garden, so it was better for them to have their own bowl next to their nest in familiar surroundings for their first week or so.

Floras’ family, on the other hand, were used to having humans in the garden twice daily, and well used to the other cats who passed through. The kittens were happy to eat in the middle of a group of older cats with their mother and grandmother close by. Here you can see The Cat on the left and Flora eating on the right, with (clockwise from top) Brunel, Vi, Black Tulip, Mango, Pippin and Calypso.

She-ba’s daughter Lychee was not a strong kitten so it was convenient that She-ba brought her to the front path where we could try to tempt her to eat with a pouch of gravy food (which would have been stolen in seconds by other cats, had we been in the garden).

Dawn was no doubt saying ‘and don’t forget to wash your paws when you’ve finished’. At least her kittens were enthusiastic about food, even if they wanted to wade through it.

Phantom’s kittens were always superbly disciplined. She brought them (all together) from the far side of the fields on the other side of the road to the front path where they gathered obediently around the bowl, sharing nicely, with no arguing.

And of course there were those who were not (yet) interested in food to whom food bowls were handy places for a nap, even if your brother or sister was trying to eat around you. Kittens lying in the munchie-crunchie bowls was more common that you might think – there was definitely some attraction there.

Flora and some of her kittens at teatime. As you might expect, the brown bowl of munchie-crunchies with jelly pouch mixed in (which was Flora’s favourite) was intended for Flora. In true cat fashion, however, the kittens insisted on eating it while their mother tucked in to the dish of wet food intended for them.