What To Feed Newborn Kittens Abandoned
One of the most heartwarming things to see is a mother cat caressing and feeding her little ones.
What to feed newborn kittens abandoned. Queen s milk is highly digestible and very calorie dense. If you can t find a foster buy a milk replacer designed specifically for kittens. Don t give a kitten cow s milk which can cause gastrointestinal upset. Stimulate the kittens to go to the bathroom.
Kittens need constant feeding to stay nourished. A newborn kitten can only digest milk and more specifically the milk from a female cat. Sterilize the bottle and nipple in boiling water then let them cool completely on a clean towel. 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.
You can make gruel from warmed milk replacer and. It s heartbreaking to think about a mama cat not accepting her babies and you may be wondering. Commercial kitten milk replacers are recommended as they are superior to cow s milk and home made mixtures. 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.
Even in shelters abandoned kittens are sometimes put with a nursing mom who will accept and nurture the motherless babies as her own. Here s how to safe. Mix the wet food with water until it achieves a soupy consistency and consider warming the mixture before serving. Between 1 to 3 weeks of life kittens need two tablespoons for each 110 grams of weight every 2 to 3 hours.
Newborn kittens typically nurse every one to two hours. To feed the kitten place them in the same position that they would have if their mother gave them milk. Prepare to feed the kittens. Make sure you keep a fresh supply and not too much at one time.
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. Mix up the milk replacement formula using a little whisk to get the lumps out. Hold the kitten with their head high and belly on a towel let them suck over and over again but do not give him too much. If you re caring for a newborn orphan kitten syringe feeding might be a good option but you want to make sure you re doing so carefully.
And please never feed cow s milk to a kitten as this is extremely dangerous to their health and can lead to death. When the orphaned kittens are three to four weeks old begin to offer milk replacer in a shallow bowl then introduce a moist easily chewable diet.