What kind of milk to feed baby kittens

Can Kittens Drink Milk? | PetMD

People may think that you can give kittens a saucer of milk, but is cow milk actually healthy for kittens? What about soy milk, goat milk or almond milk? Are those healthy choices to feed kittens if they are orphaned from their mother?

Can Kittens Drink Milk?

The short answer: The only milk that is healthy for kittens to drink is either their mother’s, or they will need a kitten milk replacer, which can also be called KMR or kitten milk formula. Kittens lack the proper enzymes to digest the lactose in cow milk, and feeding cow milk to kittens can cause diarrhea and dehydration very quickly in very small kittens. This is why it is important to avoid feeding cow milk to kittens.

Can You Give Kittens Soy Milk or Almond Milk?

Because kittens have such sensitive stomachs, it is important to avoid feeding kittens other milks as well, such soy milk, almond milk or any of the other nut milks. Nut milks and soy milk do not provide the appropriate balance of amino acids needed for cats because cats are obligate carnivores and must eat animal products or they will become malnourished.

What About Goat Milk for Kittens?

If you do an online search, you may notice that some people recommend goat milk for kittens. But most veterinarians will discourage feeding goat milk to kittens because there are better kitten formula options available that are complete, balanced and a good fit for a kitten’s digestive system.

Feeding Kitten Milk Formulas

In addition to PetAg KMR powder, products like PetAg KMR liquid, Hartz KMR powdered formula and GNC Pets ultra mega premium kitten milk replacer powder are good options to feed kittens who are too young to eat solid food and still need to drink milk.

Most kittens need to be nursed by their mother or fed kitten formula from a bottle until 4-5 weeks of age; however, this isn’t a hard and fast rule. Weaning can take place later if a kitten is underweight or ill, and it is important to use your best judgement when weaning.

If a kitten starts to lose weight, stops eating or is acting more lethargic than normal during the weaning process, go back to feeding kitten formula for another 3-5 days before trying weaning again.

In most cases, you can tell when a kitten is old enough to be weaned when you see baby teeth emerging from the gums. The best way to start is to offer a slurry of canned or dry commercial kitten food that is soaked in kitten formula.

Your initial goal is to get the kitten used to the taste of food, and this will probably take some trial and error. Some kittens may do well if you blend some canned food with formula in a blender to make a thinner liquid. Other kittens may be better with a mush that has the consistency of oatmeal—so don’t be afraid to experiment.

Eventually, you can place the mush in a cat bowl with low sides, and prepare to get messy! Kittens who are learning to eat food are just as messy as toddlers who are learning to feed themselves, so put newspaper down to keep the mess contained.

Kittens will walk through their food, paw their food and get it everywhere. Over time—anywhere from a week to 10 days—increase the amount of canned or dry food in the slurry and reduce the amount of kitten formula until the kitten is completely weaned.

You can also offer dry food at the same time to let the kitten get used to the texture and flavor, but it is likely that the kitten will get the bulk of his or her calories from the slurry that you are making until the kitten is fully weaned.

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Homemade Kitten Milk Replacer Recipes

Homemade kitten milk replacer, or formula, is essential for kittens that won't suck, or when there is no lactating mother cat available for the kitten. Kitten supplement formula—sometimes referred to as "kitty glop" among breeders, or as "cat milk substitute"—is often used with orphaned kittens, but can also be used with hungry newborn kittens.

Under normal circumstances, kittens are cared for and fed by their mothers. Their mother's milk provides them with all the nutrition they need for the first month of their lives, but difficulties may arise that make a mother cat's milk unavailable.

The mother cat may not survive giving birth.
The mother cat, if an outdoor or indoor/outdoor cat, may be killed by a car or outside animal.
The mother cat may abandon her entire litter.
The litter may be too large for the mother to handle on her own.
The mother may reject one or more kittens because they are too small or weak.
The mother may be sick and/or have postnatal issues.

Unless it is manually fed by a human, the kitten may die from a lack of nutrients and care. These homemade formulas give the necessary nutrients for them to survive their early days and properly develop over time.

How Do You Make Your Own Kitten Formula?

A variety of recipes for homemade kitten formula exist, but if you can purchase a kitten milk replacement from the pet store to use, that is ideal. For times when store-bought milk replacement is not an option, find a recipe for which you have all the ingredients, until you can get some milk replacement formula. A homemade kitten replacement formula should not be used beyond 24 hours (as long as it is out of the refrigerator).

The following formulas are from The Cornell Book of Cats by the Cornell School of Veterinary Medicine:

Kitten Replacement Formula #1

1 quart whole goat’s milk
1 teaspoon light Karo syrup
1 tablespoon nonfat plain yogurt (made with goat’s milk preferably)
1 egg yolk
Unflavored gelatin
- Newborn to 1 week — 1 package gelatin
- 2nd week — 1-1/2 to 2 packages gelatin
- 3rd week — 2-1/2 to 3 packages gelatin
- 4th week — 4 packages gelatin

Put the goat’s milk in a saucepan and add the proper amount of gelatin based on the kitten's age. Heat the mixture just until the gelatin is dissolved and then remove it from the heat. Mix in the remaining ingredients and refrigerate. It will keep up to one week in the refrigerator.

Kitten Replacement Formula #2

8 ounces homogenized whole milk
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon salad oil
1 drop liquid pediatric vitamins (optional)

Mix well and keep refrigerated.

Kitten Replacement Formula #3

1 part boiled water to 5 parts evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon bone meal per 16 ounces fluid

Mix well and keep refrigerated.

Kitten Replacement Formula #4

1 can evaporated milk
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 drop liquid human pediatric vitamins (optional)

Mix the milk, egg yolk, and syrup well and store it in a tightly sealed jar in the refrigerator. At feeding time, mix half of the estimated feeding amount with an equal amount of boiling water. Once a day, mix one drop of the human infant liquid vitamins in each kitten's formula portion.

How Do You Feed a Newborn Kitten?

If you need to bottle feed a kitten, you'll need to use special baby bottles. Tiny baby bottles with tiny nipples for kittens can be purchased online or in pet stores. These bottles typically hold small amounts of formula so they are easy to handle while also holding a small kitten. If you can't find a tiny baby bottle, you can also try using a syringe without the needle, especially if the kitten won't take the bottle readily. Oral syringes can usually be purchased from a pharmacy and used for this purpose.

Heat your homemade or store-bought formula until it is warm and test a few drops of milk on your wrist first. It should feel just a little warm or even cool, not too warm or hot. It is not recommended to use a microwave. Most people put the formula in the bottle or syringe and then place the bottle or syringe into a bowl of hot water to heat it up. Once the formula passes the skin temperature test, you are ready to feed the kitten. Keep the kitten in a natural feeding position on its belly and offer warm formula every three to four hours until the kitten begins to wean to solid food. Kittens should eat about 8 mL of formula per ounce of body weight a day. This means that if the kitten weighs 4 ounces, they should eat about 32 mL of formula in total within a day, so you can give 8 mL of formula every 4 hours.

If constipation occurs, add one drop of vegetable oil to each kitten's formula, no more than once daily, until the problem is resolved.

How to Introduce a Kitten to an Older Cat

How to feed a newborn kitten without a cat at home

Feeding products

A special bottle with a pacifier is best for feeding a newborn kitten. If it is not possible to buy it, a pipette is also suitable for the first time, although it is not very convenient to feed the kitten this way, and it is not very useful for him either. The pet must develop a sucking reflex, and with a pipette, milk will fall into his mouth without it.

Whatever you use for feeding, these items should be thoroughly and regularly washed, boiled or sterilized.

Ration

In no case should a kitten be fed cow's milk, as it is poorly absorbed and not digested. In the stomach, it turns into a lump, which can lead to serious complications and even death.

Powdered milk, baby or special mixtures for kittens are suitable for feeding. You can also use goat's milk, but it must be diluted with water so that it is not too fatty. Food should be warm, but not hot - no more than 30 degrees.

In the first days of life, a kitten needs very little food - 1-2 teaspoons will be enough. It is advisable to cook food only for one day, and store it in the refrigerator.

Feeding process

To feed a kitten, it must be very carefully picked up and straightened, but do not forget that the baby still has very thin and weak bones that are easy to damage. All actions must be performed very slowly and carefully so as not to frighten him. The tip of the nipple must be carefully inserted into the mouth. To make the pet understand that it is necessary to suck, it can be moistened with the contents of the bottle.

During feeding, a kitten, like a newborn baby, can spit up air that has got in with food, so you need to make sure that he does not choke. For the same reason, the hole in the nipple should be very small - too much liquid, if it enters the respiratory tract, can block them, which can be fatal.

Feeding schedule

In the first week, you need to feed the kitten every two hours, day and night. Then night feedings can be carried out every four hours, and from the first month one meal per night will be enough. But there is no need to reduce the daily allowances.

In no case should you violate the nutrition schedule, no matter how difficult and tiring it may be, otherwise the pet will develop poorly.

Vitamins

Not a single mixture - even the best and most expensive - can replace mother's breast milk, which contains all the nutrients necessary for development and growth. Therefore, from the second week of life, the kitten should be given special vitamins in liquid form. But, before introducing them into the diet, it is necessary to consult with a veterinarian so that he picks up the right complex.

Digestion

After each feeding, the belly, anal and urogenital openings of the kitten should be massaged with a soft cloth. This is necessary so that the food is well absorbed and the excretion reflex develops. For some kittens, artificial feeding can cause diarrhea or, conversely, constipation. In the first case, the food should be made less liquid by reducing the amount of water. And in the second - to put enemas with a syringe without a needle, lubricated with petroleum jelly, with 1-5 ml of water.

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1. Gather the necessary supplies. To feed a newborn kitten, you will need a specially designed device. If possible, use a bottle with a kitty teat set, such as Hartz. This bottle itself is small and made of transparent plastic with markings for more accurate measurement of liquids. The nipple is made of special rubber and has an appropriate comfortable shape to fit in the kitten's mouth. This allows him to suckle the bottle as if he were suckling his mother.

If you don't have a dedicated feeding device, then another alternative is a syringe that can be used to dribble milk into the kitten's mouth. However, the kitten does not have the ability to suck on a syringe, so try to find a suitable replacement as soon as possible.

2. Sterilize the equipment. Maintaining sterile equipment is critical. A simple wash is not enough for this. Consider using a steam sterilizer (like for baby bottles) or immerse the equipment in a bowl of cold sterilizing liquid, such as Chicco.

Cold sterilization fluid can usually be found in pharmacies in the children's section. Follow the instructions on the packaging. If you decide to use such a liquid when sterilizing your kitten's feeding equipment, do not forget to rinse everything with boiled water afterwards so that there are no residues of the sterilizing agent on the inventory.

3. Prepare and heat the mixture. If you are using liquid formula, open the jar and measure out the required amount of mixture according to the instructions. When using a powder mixture, follow the instructions on the packaging regarding the required number of scoops per volume of water. Always follow the directions exactly, as a mixture that is too strong can lead to stomach upset, while a formula that is too dilute will not provide the kitten with the required amount of nutrients.

Always prepare a fresh batch of formula for every feeding. The mixture does not contain preservatives, and the immune system of a newborn kitten is still weak, so getting bacteria from the environment into the milk can be a disaster for his health.

Do not microwave; because of this, too hot and too cold areas can form in the mixture. Instead, simply place the mixture in a container and place it in hot water to heat up.
Make sure the milk is at the right temperature – neither too hot nor too cold. Ideally, the mixture should be at body temperature, so when you apply a couple of drops of it to the back of your hand, their temperature should seem to be about the temperature of your skin. If you use too hot mixture, you can burn the kitten's mouth.

4. Check your kitten's body temperature. When you are ready to feed your kitten, make sure it is warm. To some extent, a kitten's ability to digest food depends on its body temperature. If the kitten is cool, his digestion will slow down, and the mixture will linger in the stomach and ferment. Newborn kittens usually cling closely to their mother and therefore remain quite warm. For the first three weeks of their life, a temperature of about 35.6-37.8 degrees will be considered ideal.

Try to keep the kitten at this temperature by placing a heating pad under a well-insulated kitten nest. If you don't have a heating pad, use a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel to prevent the kitten from coming into direct contact with the hot water and getting burned. Refresh the hot water as needed to keep the kitten warm.

5. Feed the kitten. Sit in a comfortable chair with a folded towel on your lap. Place the kitten in the same way as it would be fed by its mother: lay it on its stomach with its paws down and with its head slightly raised. The first time you try to feed the kitten, squeeze a drop of the mixture onto the tip of the nipple or syringe. Bring it very close to the kitten's mouth. The kitten has a rather acute sense of smell and, most likely, having smelled milk, he will try to kiss the nipple or syringe.

When using the pacifier at this stage, you should help the kitten a little by inserting it into its open mouth. Natural instincts should take over and the kitten should start suckling.

When using the syringe, gently press the plunger to release a drop of milk into the kitten's mouth. Let the kitten swallow between drops. Never fill your mouth with milk completely, as the kitten can inhale the milk, it will enter the lungs and develop pneumonia, which is usually fatal for kittens. Just take your time and go slowly.

The position of the kitten is very important. Never feed it upside down like a human baby and make sure the kitten is lying on its stomach during feeding. Make sure that his head is not up, as this can lead to inhalation of the mixture into the lungs, which is very dangerous and can lead to the death of the kitten.

6. Feed your kitten the correct amount of formula. Kitten formulas are usually accompanied by instructions on how much and how often to feed. Follow these instructions. The following are only generalized indications of the volume and frequency of feeding mixtures of kittens in the first weeks of their life.

At the age of 1-3 days, give 2.5 ml of cat's milk replacer every two hours.
At the age of 4-7 days, give 5 ml of the mixture and organize 10-12 feedings per day.
At the age of 6-10 days, give 5-7.5 ml of the mixture and organize 10 feedings per day.
At the age of 11-14 days give 10-12.5 mixtures and feed the kittens every three hours.
At the age of 15-21 days give 10 ml of the mixture 8 times a day. At the age of over 21 days, give 7.5-25 ml 3-4 times a day simultaneously with the introduction of solid food.

7. Pay attention to important signs while feeding your kitten.

When learning and practicing formula feeding a kitten, remember that improper feeding can lead to breathing problems. Make sure that milk does not flow out of his nose during feeding, and his stomach does not swell.
In terms of feeding volumes, if your kitten is greedy enough to continue to suck on the pacifier even after exceeding the recommended dose, examine its abdomen. If it swells up and becomes tight, stop feeding. This is a sign of a full stomach, it's just that the kitten hasn't realized it yet. Don't overfeed him.

If your kitten eats less than the recommended amount, don't panic. This may be his personality. If you're worried about your kitten being malnourished, instead of trying to force more formula into him at the risk of choking his lungs, stop, let the kitten rest, and try feeding the kitten again in about an hour.

8. Remain calm. It is very important not to lose patience and remain calm when you feed the kitten so that he is also calm. In addition, allow the kitten to eat as long as he needs to avoid overeating or digestive problems.

Stimulate burping by placing the kitten's back against your body and stroking its belly. When a cat cares for kittens, she licks them and thereby stimulates urination and defecation. Don't be surprised by any of the possible results - these are good signs!

9. Clean the kitten's bottom. The mother cat usually licks the kittens' bottoms and genitals immediately after feedings to stimulate urination and defecation. She also eats their excrement, which is a natural way to keep the nest clean, as a dirty nest can attract predators.