Feeding baby kittens without mom

Caring for Newborn Kittens Without a Mother

During the late spring and early summer, animal hospitals, shelters and rescue organizations brace themselves for that legendary time of year – kitten season! Yes, that’s right. There is an actual time of year when an overwhelming number of sweet, baby cats are born into this world.

While the cute factor is high during this time, so is the stress of caring for these kittens, many of whom find themselves at DoveLewis or at a shelter without a mother. And looking after these orphaned, adorable creatures is hard work! Much like caring for newborn humans, newborn kittens need constant attention, feeding and help during the first stage of their life.

Ever wonder what it’s like to act as a surrogate mother for these tiny creatures? Dr. Erika Loftin, DoveLewis relief veterinarian, shares details on the ins and outs of kitten care.

What should you expect when caring for newborn kittens?

Caring for orphaned neonatal kittens takes round the clock effort, but it can be done if you are willing to put in the time and dedication. You have to be prepared to get up throughout the night for the feedings. It’s very much like caring for a human baby in that regard. However, they grow up much faster, so you are not doing it for months at a time. But it still takes a similar dedication. You definitely have sleepless nights and periods of worry. Are they getting enough to eat? Are they growing the way they are supposed to?

It can also be really sad sometimes, because they don’t all make it. Some studies say that the mortality rate for kittens can be up to 40 percent. But you definitely create a real bond caring for them through that period.

How often do you feed newborn kittens?

Neonatal kittens need to be fed on a regular basis day and night. For the first week of life, they need to be fed about every two to three hours. After that, you can usually stretch it out to every four hours.

These kittens should be bottle-fed using kitten milk replacer (or KMR), which comes in either liquid or powder form. It’s the equivalent to formula that you would use for a bottle-fed baby, except it’s formulated for cats. The formula, bottles and nipples are all available over the counter at most pet supply stores. You don’t need a prescription. The instructions will give you a guideline on how much to feed based on the weight of the cat.

When preparing the bottle, be cautious of milk flow. If you make the hole in the nipple too big, the kitten can actually aspirate, or drown. The bottles come with instructions on how to prep the nipple for milk flow. However, if you are struggling, I would advise you to seek help from your veterinarian. Never cut off the entire tip of the nipple, as this is often what causes cats to aspirate.

What about bathroom time?

Orphaned neonatal kittens need help urinating and defecating. Generally a mother cat would do that with her rough tongue. Without the mother available, use a warm, damp cotton ball or cloth and rub gently over their genitals and anal area. If they are well-hydrated, which is your goal, then you should stimulate them after every feeding and pee should come out. This stimulation usually needs to occur for the first three to four weeks of life. Be sure to clean and dry the area after they’ve done their business.

Do newborn kittens need special bedding?

You can use a simple box with soft blankets to contain the kitten. For warmth, I would suggest using a warm water bottle wrapped in a towel. Simply put it between two blankets that line the entire box. I would discourage people from using a heating pad, because it’s easier for the kitten to overheat that way.

What are some special handling techniques to keep them healthy and safe?

In the first four weeks of their life, minimize the number of people who handle the kitten. During that time, they have not yet built up their immune systems, and they are prone to illnesses and infections. Be sure to wash your hands before and after each time you handle them.

Avoid allowing the kitten to interact with other animals – even other cats. You never know how another animal will treat a small kitten, and neonatal cats are fragile in this stage of life.

If you have more than one kitten from the same litter, you can definitely keep them in the same box. They can help keep each other warm. If they are from different litters, you can still keep them in the same box, unless they are radically different ages or sizes. Also, don’t mix sick and healthy kittens.

When should I take kittens to the veterinarian?

Overall, it’s a good idea to keep in touch with your veterinarian during the first four weeks of the kitten’s life so they can help you monitor their progress and answer any questions that may arise. Your veterinarian will most likely see them once, but they may request more check-ups depending on the progress you report along the way.

Feeding Orphaned Kittens | VCA Animal Hospitals

Newborn kittens are relatively immature at birth compared to many other mammals. The period of time they spend being nursed by their mother (queen) helps the newborn kitten transition from in utero nutrition to solid food.

When a kitten is raised on queen's milk, their growth and health is influenced by:

the nutrition of the queen during pregnancy and early lactation,
the queen’s overall physical health and behavior, and
good neonatal care.

The first few days of a queen's milk is known as colostrum. Colostrum is very high in protein and transfers important immune system elements. Whenever possible, newborn kittens should receive their mother's milk as it sets the stage for normal immune system function and protection from disease.

"If the queen is incapable of raising her kittens herself, the kittens are considered orphans and some important needs must be met in order to ensure their survival."

If the queen is incapable of raising her kittens herself, the kittens are considered orphans and some important needs must be met in order to ensure their survival. These needs include appropriate heat, humidity, nutrition, elimination, sanitation, and social stimulation.

Fortunately, most orphaned kittens can be raised successfully with a bit of care and attention to detail. Using a logbook to track their development is a good place to start.

What should I track in a logbook?

Maintaining a logbook about the orphaned kittens does not need to be complicated. The reason for the logbook is to simply keep track of how the kittens are doing so you can identify if there are any potential concerns with their development.

Tracking their weights, milestones, and routines are key, so be sure to record details of when their eyes open, when their teeth begin to erupt, their food intake, and stool consistency.

TIP: Individual kittens must be identified in some way, so consider colored collars or nail polish on a few front toenails.

How often should kittens be weighed, and how much should they weigh?

The birth weight of each kitten should be recorded, and weight should be taken every day or two for the first four weeks of life. Starting in their fifth week, you can switch to weekly weigh-ins. A digital food scale with capacity up to 5 pounds works best for these measurements.

Kittens normally weigh between 80 to 120 grams (g) at birth. They gain about 100g/week during their first six months of life and should average at least 7g per day.

What do orphaned kittens need for proper nutrition?

Water is a critical nutrient for orphaned kittens, just as it is for all other stages of their life. Normal water intake is relatively high for kittens, needing 155-230 milliliters (mL) of fluid per kilogram (kg) of body weight each day.

"Compared to cow's milk, queen's milk contains more than twice as much protein, which helps explain why cow's milk is not ideal for feeding orphaned kittens."

On average, the total fluid volume fed per day (including milk replacers) should be approximately 180mL/kg of kitten body weight. Queen's milk is highly digestible and very calorie dense. Compared to cow's milk, queen's milk contains more than twice as much protein, which helps explain why cow's milk is not ideal for feeding orphaned kittens.

Commercial kitten milk replacers are recommended as they are superior to cow's milk and home-made mixtures. The milk replacer you choose should meet several key nutritional factors. For every 100g of milk replacer fed, there should be:

79 g moisture
21g dry matter
7.5g crude protein
8.5g fat
4g lactose

How do I feed orphaned kittens?

Most kittens will suckle on small pet nursing bottles, also known as pet nursers. When bottle fed, kittens will nurse until they are full and then reject the bottle.

Be sure the opening in the nipple restricts the outflow of fluid to one drop at a time in order to avoid a flow rate that is too rapid for the kitten. When the flow rate is too rapid, it can lead to aspiration, pneumonia, and/or death.

When feeding, hold the kitten in a horizontal, head-neutral position. If the kitten is too weak to suckle, your veterinarian can show you alternative feeding methods and assist in tube feeding if needed.

TIP: Handling kittens during feeding contributes to critical socialization.

How much and how often should I feed orphaned kittens?

Orphaned kittens should be fed on a strict schedule, preferably every 2-4 hours. Kittens up to two weeks old can generally consume their daily intake in 4-5 meals per day. Small breed kittens should be limited to 10-15mL per feeding during the first week of life in order to prevent diarrhea.

Commercial milk replacers are labeled to help you calculate the total volume to be fed per day. To calculate the amount for each feeding:

dilute the total daily volume of milk replacer to a final volume of about 180mL/kg of kitten body weight, and
divide that total into the desired number of meals per day.

It is recommended that you warm kitten milk replacer to approximately 100°F (38°C) before feeding, but be careful not to overheat it. Cold formula, overly rapid feeding rates, and overfeeding can lead to regurgitation, aspiration, bloating, and diarrhea.

If the orphaned kitten develops diarrhea, reduce the formula volume. It is better to slightly underfeed than to overfeed neonatal orphaned kittens. Kitten milk replacer should be the sole source of nutrition until 3-4 weeks of age at which time the weaning process may begin.

What’s my role in helping a kitten to eliminate?

Kittens cannot eliminate (urinate or defecate) on their own until about 3 weeks of age. They rely on the queen to stimulate their reflex to initiate elimination. Orphaned kittens, on the other hand, rely on their caretakers to stimulate them to eliminate. After feeding, you can stimulate their reflex to eliminate by gently stroking the area between the anus and vulva or penis with a warm, moistened cotton ball or soft cloth. Your veterinarian can teach you this technique.

What are some best practices for proper kitten hygiene?

Orphaned kittens require you to pay strict attention to their hygiene for optimal health and development. Follow these best practices for proper kitten hygiene:

bottles and nipples should be cleaned and then boiled in water to sterilize them between uses.
never prepare more milk replacer than can be used within 24 hours and always keep it refrigerated.
discard formula after 1 hour if left at room temperature.
once or twice each week, gently wash the kittens with a moist cloth.

By paying attention to the details of feeding and hygiene, you can help orphaned kittens thrive.

How to feed a kitten without a mother - how to feed a kitten at 1 month without a mother

11/22/2019

For newborn kittens, there is nothing better than mother's milk, which contains a complete set of nutrients, vitamins and trace elements, as well as antibodies that protect the animals' immature immunity. For the first few weeks, kittens eat only this milk, so it is extremely important not to wean them from their mother.

However, there are cases when natural feeding is impossible: for example, kittens are left without a cat, or she simply cannot physically feed all her offspring. Then the question arises of how to feed the kittens - it is impossible to get mother's milk without a cat. A replacement must be found immediately.

The main thing that any owner should remember is that kittens should never be fed cow's or goat's milk. The fact is that a kitten absorbs milk sugar - lactose - in a very limited amount, in cat's milk it is much less than in ruminant milk. But the density of proteins and fats in the milk of carnivores is several times higher.

Feeding kittens with regular milk results in slower physical development in animals. In addition, an abundance of lactose leads to diarrhea, and this, in turn, causes dehydration that is dangerous for the kitten.

That is why special milk substitutes are used for artificial feeding of newborn kittens. However, there are many nuances that should be taken into account when choosing a substitute. Here are three simple principles.

First, the milk replacer must contain enough fat. Cat's milk is almost three times fatter than cow's milk - it contains 8–8.5% fat. It is these numbers that you should focus on when choosing a mixture.

Secondly, the substitute must not contain starch. The enzyme amylase, which breaks it down, begins to be produced in cats only as they grow older. So in the kitten's body, starchy milk will ferment, leading to diarrhea and dehydration.

Third, be sure to look for the “contains DHA” label on milk replacer packaging. The three mysterious letters are docosahexaenoic acid, a polyunsaturated fatty acid that is necessary for the proper development of the whole body of a kitten, and especially its nervous system.

Choosing the right milk replacer based on these principles is easy. There are adapted milk formulas on the market today to meet all the needs of a kitten, from birth to weaning, a great example is ROYAL CANIN® Babycat Milk.

But it is not enough to choose the right substitute, it is important to follow the technology of preparing milk formula and feeding the kitten. Here, too, several basic principles can be distinguished.

First: prepare the mixture with clean hands in a disinfected dish. The substitute is prepared immediately before feeding: do not prepare the mixture for the future, it will quickly deteriorate. The dry mix jar itself should also not be stored longer than a month after opening. Please read the additional conditions carefully, they are indicated on the package.

Second: always check the temperature of the finished solution. The dry mixture is poured with water heated to 50 degrees Celsius. The temperature of the finished product should be 36-38 degrees: you can check it by dropping a little mixture on your wrist. Do not feed formula that has cooled to room temperature. If you have multiple kittens, use a thermos to keep the mixture warm so you can take turns feeding them.

Third: feed the animal until it is full. If after several approaches the kitten resists the nipple, do not force feed it. Also remember that when feeding, the animal should lie on its stomach and in no case on its back, otherwise the mixture will enter the respiratory tract. After feeding, lightly massage the kitten's abdomen and perineum to encourage defecation and urination, as kittens do not have enough abdominal strength to relieve themselves. Requires stimulation with massage. Usually a cat does this stimulation by licking its kittens.

Fourth: feed the animal often. Kittens fed by a cat eat 15-20 times a day. But how to feed small kittens without a cat? On artificial feeding, 8 times is enough, that is, you need to give the animal food every three hours. As the kitten grows, the frequency of meals is reduced. Kittens at the age of three weeks can be fed once every six hours.

Some kittens that are initially weak or that are developmentally delayed may need to be tube fed. This procedure will require a visit to the veterinarian, who will show you how to properly insert the tube and talk about the basic principles of this type of feeding.

Artificial feeding loses to natural feeding, but allows the kitten to grow into a full-fledged adult cat. The main thing is to choose the right product and strictly follow the instructions.

Mature Consult (in sauce)

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Sterilized (in jelly)

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Watch a video on how to properly feed a kitten

A newborn kitten without a mother: how to take care of it?

If a kitten is left without a mother, his survival depends entirely on how well you organize care for him. The ideal option is to find a surrogate mother cat for the baby, who can feed the kitten (or kittens, if several were born). But this is not always possible. Therefore, if you are forced to cope on your own, the most important task should be to provide kittens with food and warmth. Feeding a kitten without a cat is quite possible, however, you must understand that newborn kittens without a mother are very vulnerable, and you will need patience to care for them. Contents:

Features of care for kittens

Caring for newborn kittens without a mother is a laborious process. And if a month-old kitten without a mother is a pet that has already grown a little stronger and gained strength, then a week-old kitten without a mother is an absolutely defenseless creature. So, the kittens were left without a mother, what to do? We will answer the question of how to feed kittens left without a mother a little later, but now we will focus on care.

To learn how to care for a kitten without a mother, you need to imagine how important a cat is to your babies in the first weeks of their lives. The cat gives kittens not only food, but also protection, warmth, care and affection. The kitten was left without a mother, which means you will have to take over her functions.

First of all, take care of the physical comfort and health of the kittens. Do not let them get cold - if you understand that the kittens are cold (the pads of their paws are cold, the kittens meow plaintively), put a heating pad wrapped in a towel in the box or the kittens' house. Always wash your hands before feeding and handling kittens - their immune system is still very weak and kittens can get an infection. Motherless kittens are especially in need of warmth - make sure that their box or house is in a place protected from cold and drafts. Put towels on it to keep warm. If kittens live in your house without a mother, caring for them does not require separating the animals into different rooms. It is advisable to keep the kittens together, unless, of course, one of them is sick, in which case he should be quarantined.

Of course, if newborn kittens are left without a mother, the first 2 weeks of their life will be quite difficult for you. You will have to wash the kittens - wipe them with a warm, damp cloth (usually the mother cat licks them herself). In addition, you need to help them with urination and bowel movements. To do this, after eating, put the kitten on its back and start wiping its tummy and ass with a cotton pad - gradually the kitten will begin to urinate or defecate. Wiping the tummy, you will help him cope with these tasks, because he still does not know how to do it on his own.

Monitor kittens' weight by weighing them. If you have a kitten on nursing, 1 month has already passed without a mother, and you are weighing, you should see at least 250 g on the scales. The norm is from 250 to 500 g.

Have you taken the kittens to the vet? If you have already done this, then you know everything you need about vaccinations, tests and preventive examinations. If not, then show the kittens to the doctor, it will not be superfluous! The doctor will also tell you how to feed a monthly kitten without a mother and how to care for him in the future.

How to set up a place for babies

Newborn kittens require a "nest box" that can be made from a regular box or a hard-walled cat carrier. This box should be lined with warm and soft material, but not too fluffy, so that the crumbs do not "get stuck" in it.

The optimal temperature for kittens in the first week of life should be around 30 degrees. In the future, it can be lowered to 24 degrees. You can use a heating pad or heater to keep the box warm. But kittens should be able to crawl away from the heat source if they suddenly become hot. Therefore, you will need a fairly spacious box.

How to feed a kitten without a mother

The answer to the question of how to feed a kitten without a mother seems simple to many: give them regular cow's milk. But it is absolutely impossible to do this - the crumbs simply will not be able to assimilate this product. The best solution for feeding orphaned kittens is to use a commercial cat milk replacer. Such a mixture is recommended to be diluted according to the manufacturer's instructions, as a rule, heating up to 35-38 degrees. In this case, it is undesirable to use a microwave oven due to the possibility of severe overheating of part of the mixture.

How to feed a kitten for 2 weeks without a mother? A kitten left without a mother should be fed every 2-4 hours in the first week of his life, and then every 4-6 hours. The volume of the mixture for one feeding should correspond to the weight of the kitten. The maximum volume of the stomach in a kitten is 4-5 ml per 100 grams of live weight. To feed a kitten without a mother, you can also use small disposable syringes.