Taking Care Of Newborn Kittens Without A Mother

Newborn kittens need round the clock care and monitoring but can be raised by a human caregiver.

Taking care of newborn kittens without a mother. But if a kitten doesn t survive it can be very heartbreaking for any cat lover. The truth is taking care of newborn kittens can be a double edged sword. If you ve rescued a kitten whose mother died or abandoned her you ll have to fill that role. This gives the mother cat and her kittens extra calories and nutrients.

Even though kitten milk formulas are very nutritious there is no real replacement for mother s milk. As a rule of thumb for every ounce of kitten body weight he or she needs 8 ccs of formula. Provide food for the mother cat if she is still around. Like a human baby a newborn kitten will need to be fed frequently approximately every two to three hours.

Some cat owners mistakenly think that caring for newborn kittens is the same as caring for an older kitten. Newborn kittens may nurse about every 1 2 hours. Before attempting this however take the kitten to a veterinarian for a thorough examination and to enlist his advice to create a plan of care. Leave the kitten with its mother if possible.

At about three to four weeks old they can be offered milk replacer from a bowl and then small amounts of moistened kitten food four to six times a. So a kitten weighing 3 ounces will need about 24 ounces of milk replacement every 24 hours. But it s a lot more challenging because newborns are more susceptible to diseases. You can manage it by using the hot water bottle wrapped in a towel so it can give warmth but don t burn the skin of tiny kitten.

In hot weather kittens can survive at room temperature but in cold weather they must need proper care. But you can still help by providing food and shelter for the mother cat. If the mother cat is still present and caring for her kittens then the kittens will be better off if you let their mother take care of them. Although the mother cat was able to give birth and clean his body by itself sometimes there is still a placenta that is left on the kitten s body makes the mother cat does not want to close the baby.

You will need to mimic this behavior by stimulating the kittens with a warm wet cloth at each feeding. You can help clean it by cutting out the placenta so that the kittens to be clean that helps the mother cat to breastfeed as soon as possible. Feed mother cat high quality food during the time a mother cat is pregnant until a month after she s done nursing feed her a high quality kitten food. You should place the food and water near the mother and kittens.

Therefore a kitten s best chance of survival is if it stays with the mother until it is at least 8 weeks old.