Aa
newborn kitten
HOW DO I TAKE CARE OF A NEWBORN ORPHAN KITTEN
Excellent suggestion about the heating pad. The only thing I would add would be to not only cover it with soft towels, but to make sure that it only covers about half of the area that the kitten is confined to, this way if he gets too warm on the heat he can move off of it onto a cooler surface.
I agree with you on the rewards of hand-rearing them. I wouldn't trade Ed-A-Puss for a pot of gold! He's my baby! :)
I agree with you on the rewards of hand-rearing them. I wouldn't trade Ed-A-Puss for a pot of gold! He's my baby! :)
Read the post from Ghilly, plus the later one about the cottom balls' necessity. We found a 5-7 day old kitten, and became instant parents. Bottle feeding every 3-4 hours, cotton ball stimulating the hind quarters, and all other assorted parental duties. My additional suggestion is to make sure this little kitten is kept warm. Mom cat usually provides body warmth; what we did was put a heating bad on low in a carrier, and cover the pad with a few soft towels. Oh, and I had to take the little guy (yes, found out on his first vet visit on the day we found him) to work for about 6 weeks, to be able to keep up with the feedings and continual warmth. Tiny kittens have a lot of requirements, but are definitely worth the effort.
We named our little guy Kismet, which means fate in Turkish. From being around him so long with taking him to work, we've got quite a bond. Oh, and he'll be 5 years old next month -- so it can be done, and is well worth the extra requirements.
We named our little guy Kismet, which means fate in Turkish. From being around him so long with taking him to work, we've got quite a bond. Oh, and he'll be 5 years old next month -- so it can be done, and is well worth the extra requirements.
Heh heh...I find you have to keep your sense of humour on this forum. It gets really depressing really fast. I've tried to start up some more light hearted threads...but mostly its desperate folks signing on with big problems.
Whenever it gets too much, I log on to you tube and check out those cat slide shows with added captions to the pictures. They definitely capture the essential whimsical silliness of cats everywhere. :)
Whenever it gets too much, I log on to you tube and check out those cat slide shows with added captions to the pictures. They definitely capture the essential whimsical silliness of cats everywhere. :)
Oh absolutely! Thanks for mentioning that! And don't forget about the kitty porn on the internet! LOL
Ghilly
Ghilly
Heh heh...you forgot to mention that baby kittens are too young to allow internet access! There are predators on the internet (kitophiles...raccoons, possums...) who will expose their fuzzy little minds to all manner of lewdness and naughty behavior. :)
I forgot to put this in my first post - when the kitten is very young, after each feeding you have to take a cotton ball soaked in warm water and stimulate him or her to pee and poop. Pee happens after each feeding, poo doesn't happen as often. This MUST be done, because when the kitten is very young, it has no control over its own bladder and bowels, and it won't go without the stimulation, so it's up to you to make sure that it happens. By the time the kitten is about 3 to 4 weeks old it will be able to go on its own, but in the beginning it is IMPERATIVE that you tend to its needs after each feeding.
Ghilly
Ghilly
Newborn kittens need to eat every 2 to 3 hours, pretty much around the clock for the first two weeks. You need to purchase either KMR (Kitten Milk Replacer) or a powdered mix that you add water to, and that will be the kitten's only diet for the first few weeks. I raised a Siamese mix from birth with a bottle on a powdered milk replacer called "Just Born" and he is now a four year old, 20 pound GORGEOUS seal point cat!
Most well-equipped pet stores sell nursing kits that contain small bottles with extra nipples. The bottles have score marks down the sides so that you can see how many ccs you are feeding them, because as they gain weight, naturally you have to increase their milk intake so that they will continue to grow. The containers that the milk replacer comes in have charts on them that tell you how much you have to feed them for whatever their current weight is. I used to weigh Ed-A-Puss twice a day when he was a tiny kitten, and by the third week he was eating more at night than he was in the morning, he was gaining so fast! As time goes on you can space out the feedings to every three hours, then four, etc., because they will eat more and more at each sitting as they grow, so they can go for a longer period of time. By the time they are about three weeks old you don't have to worry about feeding them during the night, so there's really only about a 2 1/2 week period that's rough on your sleep.
The best way to weigh them is to put a shoebox on a baby scale (at the very beginning you can use a diet scale because they only weigh about half a pound at the end of the first week), and then zero the scale out with the box taped onto it. That way the weight of the box doesn't figure into the weight of the kitten.
Has this kitten had any time at all with its mother? I'm just wondering if it has gotten any natural mother's milk at all, since the mother's milk for the first day or two contains antibody-rich colostrum that protects the kittens from disease. The antibodies only last for about two weeks, though, so as soon as the kitten is about 6 weeks old you need to give it its first immunizations, followed by the second shots two weeks later.
The most imoortant thing to keep in mind when they are sucking on the bottle is to make sure you don't squeeze the bottle too hard, causing milk to be forced down their throat, because they can aspirate it into their lungs and develop pneumonia.
An easier way to make sure that they get the correct amount of milk is to ask the vet to show you to tube feed the kitten. A tube is attached to a syringe, and the tube is then passed down the throat into the stomach, and the milk is pushed from the syringe, down the tube, and into the stomach. Using this method you are certain that the kitten has gotten all the milk you need him to get, but you have to be sure that the tube is in the stomach and not in the lung. It's very easy to do, but many people don't like to use this method because if you accidentally push the milk into the lungs you could easily kill the kitten. I prefer tube feeding for puppies. I have never had a problem getting a kitten to suckle a bottle, but puppies, for some reason, are more difficult to bottle feed, in my opinion. I guess it's all in whatever each individual's experience is.
When the kitten is 3 to 4 weeks old you will feel teeth coming through, and at that point, you can start to introduce them to canned kitten food, but milk replacer should still be the main dish on the menu. You can slowly switch them from milk to solid food over the course of a few weeks, and by the time they are about 8 weeks old they can eat normal kitten food. I used to soak dry kitten food in very hot water to make it mushy, then I'd mush it up and mix it with the milk replacer so that the familiar taste of the milk was still in the food until he got used to eating solids.
One other thing - the nipples on the bottle kits have VERY tiny holes in the ends, so you will have to use an X-Acto knife or a razor blade or cuticle scissors or something to cut a large "X" in the tip of the nipple so that the kitten can get the milk easily. If they have to suck too hard and don't get enough out of it, they get discouraged and give up, and it's VERY important that they drink every drop that they are supposed to in the early days so they grow and thrive.
That's about all I can think of right off the top of my head. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask, either in a post or a PM. I will do my best to help. I love hand-rearing kittens. They're just too cute for words!
Ghilly
Most well-equipped pet stores sell nursing kits that contain small bottles with extra nipples. The bottles have score marks down the sides so that you can see how many ccs you are feeding them, because as they gain weight, naturally you have to increase their milk intake so that they will continue to grow. The containers that the milk replacer comes in have charts on them that tell you how much you have to feed them for whatever their current weight is. I used to weigh Ed-A-Puss twice a day when he was a tiny kitten, and by the third week he was eating more at night than he was in the morning, he was gaining so fast! As time goes on you can space out the feedings to every three hours, then four, etc., because they will eat more and more at each sitting as they grow, so they can go for a longer period of time. By the time they are about three weeks old you don't have to worry about feeding them during the night, so there's really only about a 2 1/2 week period that's rough on your sleep.
The best way to weigh them is to put a shoebox on a baby scale (at the very beginning you can use a diet scale because they only weigh about half a pound at the end of the first week), and then zero the scale out with the box taped onto it. That way the weight of the box doesn't figure into the weight of the kitten.
Has this kitten had any time at all with its mother? I'm just wondering if it has gotten any natural mother's milk at all, since the mother's milk for the first day or two contains antibody-rich colostrum that protects the kittens from disease. The antibodies only last for about two weeks, though, so as soon as the kitten is about 6 weeks old you need to give it its first immunizations, followed by the second shots two weeks later.
The most imoortant thing to keep in mind when they are sucking on the bottle is to make sure you don't squeeze the bottle too hard, causing milk to be forced down their throat, because they can aspirate it into their lungs and develop pneumonia.
An easier way to make sure that they get the correct amount of milk is to ask the vet to show you to tube feed the kitten. A tube is attached to a syringe, and the tube is then passed down the throat into the stomach, and the milk is pushed from the syringe, down the tube, and into the stomach. Using this method you are certain that the kitten has gotten all the milk you need him to get, but you have to be sure that the tube is in the stomach and not in the lung. It's very easy to do, but many people don't like to use this method because if you accidentally push the milk into the lungs you could easily kill the kitten. I prefer tube feeding for puppies. I have never had a problem getting a kitten to suckle a bottle, but puppies, for some reason, are more difficult to bottle feed, in my opinion. I guess it's all in whatever each individual's experience is.
When the kitten is 3 to 4 weeks old you will feel teeth coming through, and at that point, you can start to introduce them to canned kitten food, but milk replacer should still be the main dish on the menu. You can slowly switch them from milk to solid food over the course of a few weeks, and by the time they are about 8 weeks old they can eat normal kitten food. I used to soak dry kitten food in very hot water to make it mushy, then I'd mush it up and mix it with the milk replacer so that the familiar taste of the milk was still in the food until he got used to eating solids.
One other thing - the nipples on the bottle kits have VERY tiny holes in the ends, so you will have to use an X-Acto knife or a razor blade or cuticle scissors or something to cut a large "X" in the tip of the nipple so that the kitten can get the milk easily. If they have to suck too hard and don't get enough out of it, they get discouraged and give up, and it's VERY important that they drink every drop that they are supposed to in the early days so they grow and thrive.
That's about all I can think of right off the top of my head. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask, either in a post or a PM. I will do my best to help. I love hand-rearing kittens. They're just too cute for words!
Ghilly
Have an Answer?
You are reading content posted in the Cats Community
Members of our Pet Communities share their Halloween pet photos.
Like to travel but hate to leave your pooch at home? Dr. Carol Osborne talks tips on how (and where!) to take a trip with your pampered pet
Ooh and aah your way through these too-cute photos of MedHelp members' best friends
A list of national and international resources and hotlines to help connect you to needed health and medical services.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
