What Can I Feed Orphaned Kittens
To ensure nutrition is adequate daily weight checks should be performed for the first 4 weeks then weekly thereafter.
What can i feed orphaned kittens. Place the kitten on a towel for about 20 minutes and then. 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. Most kittens can handle a diet of solids by seven weeks of age. Remove fleas using a flea comb.
This is very time consuming for someone who is bottle feeding a newborn kitten so if at all possible you will want to try to keep the kitten with its mother or a surrogate lactating cat who can nurse it. This video is to help people with bottle feeding of orphaned and abandoned kittens. Kittens that are bottle fed should consume about a tablespoon or 15 ml of special kitten formula at each feeding. A kitten aged between six to 10 weeks old needs to be fed six to eight meals a day while a kitten aged 10 weeks to six or seven months needs four meals a day and a kitten up to nine months needs three meals a day.
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. At this stage you can provide them with a saucer of water please only use a shallow dish so the kittens can t fall in and possibly drown. Ask your vet for a flea spray that s okay to use on very young kittens. Fleas and worms can cause anaemia which can lead to death.
Both canned and dry foods are okay and it is up to the owners. It s also important to monitor the kittens while they are eating as they are. Part 2 of 2. First use a flea comb to remove as much of the dirt and fleas from the fur as you can.
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. It will encourage a suckling. Now that the mixture is ready how do you feed it. It is important to ensure the orphaned kitten is parasite free.
Change water at least once a day. The kittens can eat kitten foods and they will start to develop preference of foods and it will last for the rest of their life. Young kittens can easily get anemia from flea infestation and really endanger its life. Orphaned kittens will need extra care for survival to compensate for the loss of their mother.
Formula needs to be warmed to their body temperature about 100 degrees. Mix the wet food with water until it achieves a soupy consistency and consider warming the mixture before serving. While for the wet foods you need to store them into refrigerator and when it is the time to feed. Never begin feeding orphaned kittens with cold or lukewarm water it can drop their body temperature and cause stomach cramping and diarrhea which is dangerous for kittens.
Always read the warnings on any flea product to confirm at which age it is safe. Make sure you keep a fresh supply and not too much at one time. Additionally clean the kittens fur in short strokes with a damp cloth when they ve finished eating. Note that it s not until adulthood that two meals a day for a cat is acceptable.
The best thing to use for feeding orphaned kittens is an eye dropper.