What To Give Orphaned Kittens

A 2 to 3 week old kitten will still need to be fed every 2 3 hours and it should consume at least 1 2 tablespoon of formula or milk during each meal.

What to give orphaned kittens. Once they get the hang of it the kittens should consume the milk replacer greedily. You can stop the feeding when the kitten begins to slow down the consumption or becomes disinterested. Keeping the kittens warm is important because if they re not warm enough they won t want to eat and in fact all of their bodily functions will slow down. Here are some tips to help you raise your orphaned kittens.

To care for orphaned kittens less than 3 weeks of age feed them every 2 3 hours with powdered cat milk replacer heated to 95 degrees f. So monitoring your kitten s bathroom activities though perhaps the least enjoyable part of caring for your cat is important c it allows you to know that she is using the cat litter box regularly. In most cases an entire litter is orphaned rather than a single kitten. Commercial kitten formula is available at any pet store or places like wal mart or you can make your own at home with some ingredients you may already have on hand.

Feeding the wrong sort of milk such as cow s milk can have short term and long term effects including diarrhea dehydration nutritional deficiencies and long term health problems due to poor growth. If a kitten is nursing from its mother you ll have to depend on how much the kitten weighs to know whether or not it is consuming enough food. A kitten should eat about 8cc of formula per ounce of body weight per day 1 ounce 30cc so this is just under 1 4 ounce of formula per ounce of body weight. A newborn kitten can only digest milk and more specifically the milk from a female cat.

To ensure nutrition is adequate daily weight checks should be performed for the first 4 weeks then weekly thereafter. The principles of raising one orphaned kitten are not significantly different than those of raising an entire orphaned litter. How much to feed. When the orphaned kittens reach about 3 weeks of age you can start providing watered down meat based kitten food for them to nibble on.

Orphaned kittens will need extra care for survival to compensate for the loss of their mother. Constipation or obstipation can lead to serious problems such as illness due to absorbing toxins from the colon and even rectal prolapse if the kitten is straining with too much force to pass stool. After feeding the kittens you ll need to wipe their genitals with a damp cotton swab to encourage them to urinate. Kittens must be kept warm very clean and fed frequently using an appropriate amount and type of formula by bottle or less often tube feeding.

An orphaned kitten needs formula that is specific to his needs and evaporated milk is not nutritionally balanced for him. Kittens have been known to accidentally suck formula into the lungs.