home Analyzes Is it possible to feed one-week-old kittens? Development of kittens by week. Feeding with ready-made formulas

Is it possible to feed one-week-old kittens? Development of kittens by week. Feeding with ready-made formulas

Development of a newborn kitten: Newborn kittens photo A newborn kitten is born weighing 80-120 grams, the size of kittens at birth is body length about 9-12 cm. Newborn kittens during this period are absolutely helpless, they are blind, deaf, and do not know how to regulate temperature. Newborn kittens have no undercoat; the fur is thin, weak and does not warm at all. Newborn British kitten photo Kittens do not know how to stand on lamps, their bones are very fragile, so babies require special care. At this time, sleep and kittens are almost inseparable concepts. Newborn kittens sleep almost constantly and eat a lot and often. Kittens need sleep for the further development of their nervous system. Newborn kittens also cannot defecate on their own; the mother cat licks their genitals and eats their feces. What is really well developed in newborn kittens is their sense of smell and touch; they easily find their mother’s nipples, fingering them with their paws, sucking and, thereby, stimulating further milk production. Newborn Scottish Straight kittens During this period, it is better not to touch the kittens at all, just monitor their weight. Kittens should add it daily (about 10-20 grams per day), if the kitten is growing, then everything is in order. Photo of a newborn Scottish Fold kitten What to take care of:

Set up a box for a cat with newborn kittens. It should be warm and dry there. The bedding should be changed (it is advisable to use white sheets to track the color of the mother cat’s discharge), because The cat will have discharge. Also, if necessary, you can put a heating pad.
Cat food. It should be plentiful and balanced; food is a must for nursing cats. Food and water should be freely available, next to the nest box. It is also recommended to place a tray here.

Cats are by nature excellent mothers and may not leave the box for a whole week, so it is important that newborn kittens have enough milk. In the first days, the cat produces colostrum (very fatty, nutritious milk that has antibodies, thanks to which kittens develop lasting immunity).

Photo of a newborn kitten If there are a lot of kittens, be sure to make sure that each newborn kitten gets its good portion.

Newborn Scottish Fold kittens The development of kittens after birth (the development of newborn kittens) is very active, so the first week can be scheduled day by day.

Kittens - development by day:

1-2 days after birth, a newborn kitten only sucks milk and sleeps. After 3-4 days, the kitten’s umbilical cord heals and falls off. After 4-5 days, the kitten’s hearing begins to develop, and you can already observe how it begins to react to loud sounds.

How long do kittens sleep?

Why does the kitten sleep all day?

Kitten sleep If it seems to you that the kitten sleeps all the time, this is most likely normal, do not worry right away. In the first week, the kitten sleeps about 22 hours a day. Just weigh the kitten daily - this is the best indicator that everything is fine with the baby.

A newborn kitten sleeps How much a kitten should sleep, he decides for himself, however, if the kitten sleeps constantly and does not gain weight, first of all, pay attention to whether the kitten has enough free nipple (this often happens if there are 5 or more kittens in a litter), if the kitten is weak or the last born, apply it to the cat more often and do not let other kittens chase it away. If in this case the kitten behaves sluggishly and does not recover, contact your veterinarian. Kittens from birth to one month change greatly both in appearance and development, and it is important to pay close attention to this in each period. Newborn kittens in the photo, look in the pictures.

An absolutely necessary condition for the survival of kittens is warmth in the nest. Usually the cat keeps the kittens warm, leaving the den only for a quick snack and visiting the toilet. I put each kitten in its compartment with an ordinary rubber heating pad. For the first week, the heating pad should always be hot, 37 degrees, we had to change the water even at night, because... By dawn the heating pads had cooled down. Then the temperature gradually decreases, and at the age of one month the heating pad becomes unnecessary. Unless at the dacha, on cold nights, I put hot water bottles on at night.

The heating pad should be wrapped in a separate cloth, since newborn kittens naturally go to the toilet under themselves. And under the heating pad, on top of a soft warm bedding like an old sweater, woolen hat, etc., you need to put a separate rag, preferably on oilcloth, so that it can be changed if necessary. The following figure shows such a socket arrangement. The kittens always huddled close to the heating pad or slept directly on it.

An old sheet will do just fine, tear it into small rags. One or three large sheets are enough for the entire cat’s “infancy”. If you wish, you can wash these rags, but you don’t have to bother and just throw them away. The main thing is that the nest is always dry and clean, and certainly warm. Kittens get cold very quickly, because... Thermoregulation in babies is weak.

I didn’t take the kittens to the veterinarian, I didn’t give any immunoglobulin injections at one month of age, I didn’t use anthelmintics, anti-tick ear or anti-flea medications, but that’s only because the kittens were found in a tied bag immediately after birth. If it were different, then it would be necessary to show the foundlings to a veterinarian, and if there are other animals living at home, then quarantine for the foundlings would be necessary. Well, we got practically “sterile” kittens.

Regular feeding

While the kittens were lying in the above-mentioned basin, I found on the Internet that it is necessary to feed the orphans with a special cat's milk substitute, sold in veterinary pharmacies. But 10% cream and regular high-fat milk are also suitable; sometimes you need to add 0.5 liters of raw yolk and 4 teaspoons of granulated sugar. I immediately went to the store.

I used glass pharmacy vials from penicillin as bottles, and the rubber parts of ordinary pharmacy pipettes became the nipples. They calmly stretch onto the wide neck of the bubbles. But you need to immediately purchase about 20 pipettes. They are sometimes torn, sometimes lost, sometimes spoiled by the kittens’ rapidly growing teeth.

The milk needs to be heated, you can do it for 3-5 seconds in the microwave, check before feeding to see if it is too hot - in general, everything is the same as with human children. And, of course, you need to wash and dry the nipple pipettes and bubbles after each feeding. It is convenient to pour the daily portion of milk into a separate jar with a plastic lid, store the jar in the refrigerator, stick a 10 ml syringe with a needle into the lid, and use it to pour milk into the bottle through a hole in the nipple. And you can draw milk from a jar with a syringe without a needle. This is more convenient than aiming milk from a tetra pack or can into a narrow penicillin bottle, then pulling the pipette onto the filled bottle. The syringe and needle should also be washed regularly.

The volume of a kitten's serving increases from 10-20 ml of milk in the first week to 100 ml by 3-4 weeks; they set the frequency of feedings for themselves. By two weeks, the 10 ml penicillin bottle can be replaced with a larger volume bottle, for example, a 20 ml pharmaceutical bottle of bacteriophage, and by three weeks - a 100 ml bottle of alcohol, if the number of kittens is more than one. Kittens eat depending on the weather - sometimes every hour, sometimes every 3-4 hours in sleepy, cloudy weather. When they are full, they lean away from the nipple. At night, our kittens slept decently, giving me a rest from midnight until exactly 8-10 in the morning. Only on the first night they made me stay awake, eating every hour.

It is convenient to feed kittens in your arms, with their back facing you, holding them with one hand under their front legs and belly, and holding the bottle with the other. A hungry kitten will fiercely cling to the bottle, preventing itself from sucking on the nipple, so at the beginning of feeding you need to hold your paws, and then when the kitten is calmly sucking, let go, then he will wrap his paws around the bottle.
Visually or on scales, monitor the growth of babies; by a week the weight should double and reach about 250 g, at 2 weeks - about 400 g, per month about 600-700 g, at 2 months - about 1300 g, by 6-8 months it reaches the size of an adult cat . If the kitten does not gain weight, is lethargic and weak - immediately go to the veterinarian!

At the age of 15-20 days, you can feed kittens with soaked dry food for kittens, a couple of crackers are enough, or natural food. We started with natural complementary foods, in mini volumes - rice, corn, buckwheat porridge, cottage cheese with sour cream, boiled chicken or beef. Our kittens refused to eat boiled vegetables. When the kittens were constipated for longer than 3 days, I gave them a little Vaseline oil (from a syringe into the mouth), and did mini-enemas with warm soapy water (a syringe lubricated with Vaseline oil). Around the age of one and a half months, we switched to dry food and canned food for kittens, since the kittens refused to eat natural food.

Tummy massage combined with hair and eye care

Under normal conditions, the mother cat licks all the kittens’ fur, eyes, and mouth, thereby not only cleaning them, but also massaging them. Massaging the tummies and perineal area is necessary so that the kitten relaxes and goes to the toilet. Without massage, he does not know how to regulate his muscles.

Orphans can be massaged with a barely damp cloth, and their eyes can be wiped with a damp cotton swab. The kitten itself will begin to wash itself in 20 - 25 days. Our kitten Moor (which we kept for ourselves, and gave the second one away at one and a half months) began to wash itself from the eighth day, and was captured on this day - for history.

In the first 2-3 days, the umbilical cord falls off, so the belly must be wiped especially carefully during the first days. The procedure should be done after each kitten wakes up, making them want to defecate. By 4 weeks, kittens can control their urges to go to the toilet, so litter box training can begin at this age. We started even earlier, at about 2 weeks, when the kittens’ eyes had just opened, so that the kittens could get used to the sight of the litter box and to the fact that the smell of the toilet should be located only in one limited place.

When we went to live in the country, we took the tray with us. Once the kittens have woken up, been carried to the litter box and had their tummies and perineal area massaged, and they know that they need to go to the toilet after sleep, the pleasant feeling of relief in the bladder and bowels is automatically remembered and associated with the litter box. In this way, we practically “led” the kittens to the toilet by the hand, so by the age of one and a half months, Moor began to go to the toilet on his own one day. I watched him for a couple of days, no mistakes happened. Of course, then there were a couple of mistakes, but I washed everything with soap, put the lid on with a few drops of vinegar, and Mavrik forgot that place.

Silence and peace for kittens

If there are small children in the house, explain to them that you can only pick up the kitten for care and feeding; the kids are not yet strong enough for play. There is also no need to carry around a nest box with kittens. Kittens' sleep is superficial, restless, with dreams, apparently. They are already twitching their paws, waking themselves up, looking for their mother, looking for something to cling to, so there is no point in bothering them or waking them up on purpose. In the first days, the outer ear in kittens is not developed, the auditory opening does not differ, hearing will be achieved by 9-11 days. But you still need to maintain relative silence, do not jump or stomp near the kittens, do not pull the box - the kittens feel the vibration. The box needs to be covered with something on top, even a dark rag, so that the bright light does not damage the eyes. The eyelids will open by a week or two weeks of age, and the kittens will be able to see clearly in another 5-10 days. If the eyes or one eye do not open by the 17th day, you need to contact a veterinarian.

Saucer training, education

The most difficult thing for us was to teach the kittens to lap up milk on their own and eat solid food from a saucer. They loved the bottle. We put small peas of complementary food into their mouths. Why should they give up such pleasure?

In general, kittens, obeying the feeling of hunger, begin to lap at 3-3.5 weeks from the saucer. But with us, they cried shrilly, poked at the saucer, sneezed from milk that got into their noses and could not understand what to do. There was no one to show how to lap; there were no adult cats or dogs nearby. A week of unsuccessful attempts passed, but then guests came to us - experienced cat breeders and in half an hour they taught the kittens to lap from a saucer. You need to dip your finger in the saucer and let the hungry kitten lick it. Gradually reduce the distance from the saucer to the finger until the kitten understands what to do. The first time the Moor was so tired of lapping that he fell asleep with both paws in the saucer.

If at 2-3 weeks the kittens are not yet playing, if you take them out of the nest, they can barely walk, waddling from side to side, and constantly squeak, then by 4 weeks they are already accomplished tomboys who have learned to climb onto the sofa, jump on a stool, bite and fight.

Do not allow the kitten to do things that you will not allow him to do as an adult - climb curtains, on the table, sharpen his claws on furniture, scratch his owner.
You can teach a nickname at any age, just call the kitten by its nickname, and it will quickly begin to respond to it.
Kittens can rumble and purr from the first days, but they will consciously thank their owners for dinner by about three weeks. Talk to the kitten, and he will answer you with purrs, purrs and affection.

When a newborn kitten is left without a mother, it is quite difficult to get out. The main problem is feeding. The baby’s digestive system is very sensitive, and the newly born body requires all the necessary nutrients. If somewhere nearby there is a cat that has recently given birth, then you can place a kitten next to her while she is nursing. This is the best option, but this option is not always available. Therefore, the worries of raising a small kitten often fall on the shoulders of a person. To feed a kitten without a cat, you need to pay extreme attention to all the nuances and advice of the veterinarian.

Feeding rules

It is better to immediately abandon the idea of feeding your baby just cow's milk. It cannot replace the mother's. For example, it contains half the amount of protein that is necessary for growth and development. Cow's milk in its pure form often causes allergic reactions and problems in the gastrointestinal tract. For a newborn, such disruptions in the body can be fatal.

The best option for feeding a kitten are special mixtures - cat milk substitutes. Their composition is as close as possible to natural, so this nutrition is easily absorbed by the body. There are several of the most popular manufacturers of mixtures, whose products have long proven themselves on the market:

Katzenmilch;
Beaphar Kitty-Milk;
Royal Canin Baby Milk;
Gimpet Cat-Milk;
Hartz.

Their only drawback is the price, which is quite high. But if you consider that the amount of food for a newborn is not too large, then the costs will not seem excessive.

In addition, in each box of any of the listed mixtures there is a bottle with which feeding is carried out. It is difficult to replace it with something else. Of course, there are ways to syringe feed kittens. You can pour food directly from it directly into the baby’s mouth, but this method risks the kitten choking and suffocating. A punctured rubber band from a pipette placed on a syringe eliminates this risk, but the feeding process becomes very inconvenient. Therefore, it is better to use a bottle, which can also be purchased at a veterinary pharmacy.

How to make the mixture at home?

If a ready-made cat's milk substitute is unavailable for some reason, then it can be replaced with a mixture made independently. There are several recipes with the optimal composition.

1. Universal mixture. Mix 200 ml of warm boiled water, 800 ml of condensed milk without sugar and a teaspoon of bone meal. Mix thoroughly until the lumps completely disappear; it is most convenient to do this with a whisk. Then strain, bring the mixture to a temperature of 36–38°C and give to the kitten.
2. Egg mixture. Mix 200 ml of cow's milk with two egg yolks and a teaspoon of vegetable oil, drop vitamins Tetravit or Trivit into the finished mixture.
3. Nutritional formula for weakened babies. Mix egg yolk and 100 ml of milk (fat content 3.2%), pour in 20 ml of glucose 5%. Then add one of the additional components to the mixture: from 0.1 to 0.3 ml of Tetravit, Vetom on the tip of a knife, half a teaspoon of unrefined oil or 2 scoops of dry mixture for human babies “Nutrilon fermented milk”. The base of yolk, milk and glucose can be stored for 24 hours, and additives are added only before feeding. Then the mixture should be filtered and heated to 36–38°C.
4. Scott's mixture. Mix 50 grams of cow's milk and 15 grams of dry milk, add 3 grams of dry yeast, 50 grams of chicken egg and beaten egg white, 4 grams of glucose and 1 gram of vegetable oil. You should get a homogeneous mass, which needs to be heated to 38°C. The weight of the ingredients is given per 1 kg of kitten.
5. Tailig mixture. It is made by thoroughly mixing 25 grams of cow's milk, 5 grams of milk powder, 2 grams of glucose and 1 gram of vitamin supplements. Before feeding, its temperature should also be brought to 38°C.

Feeding mode

Like any baby, a kitten needs a strict diet for normal development. The number of feedings and the intervals between them depend on age.

Newborn babies and week-old kittens should eat 6 times a day. Feeding occurs every 3 hours, including at night. The amount of mixture eaten per day should be from 25 to 33 ml.
It’s already easier with two-week-old kittens; night feedings can be removed, leaving only 4 daytime feedings. The daily dosage of the mixture is from 45 to 55 ml.
At 3 weeks, babies eat three times a day, consuming 75–85 ml of formula per day.
Four-week-old and one-month-old kittens also eat three times a day, but the daily amount of mixture increases, now it varies from 105 to 115 ml.

The specific daily volume of the mixture must be determined individually in each case, focusing on the behavior and condition of the kitten. If the baby remains hungry after feeding, he will squeak, worry and suck the fingers extended to him. A well-fed kitten falls asleep contentedly.

You should also pay attention to your pet's stool:

loose yellow stool means that the amount of food slightly exceeds the required amount;
greenish stool - more significant overfeeding;
gray color indicates constant excess nutrition.

If, on the contrary, there is not enough nutrition, then this is easy to notice by the kitten’s lethargy and lack of weight gain. Body weight should grow quite quickly. There are general weight standards for kittens:

0–7 days - 110 g;
14 days - 200 gr;
21 days - 300 gr;
28–35 days - 370 g;
42 days - 450 gr.

Of course, these standards are suitable for kittens of regular size breeds. For Maine Coons, for example, the indicators will be completely different. In such cases, it is necessary to focus on the norms characteristic of a particular breed.

At the age of four weeks, you can begin to introduce more adult foods into your pet's diet. First, milk porridges, then little by little you should add thermally treated minced meat. Over time, more and more porridge is replaced with meat. By the age of two months, the kitten completely switches to self-feeding; the mixture can be discontinued and vegetables can be introduced into the diet.

A kitten appeared in the house - what and how to feed it?

Feeding will be much easier and will give maximum effect if you follow several important rules:

Before feeding, you should wash your hands thoroughly so as not to provoke an upset stomach;
a bottle or other container from which the baby will eat must be sterilized before each feeding; to do this, they are boiled for 5–15 minutes;
You can check the temperature of the mixture not only with a thermometer, but also by simply dropping it on your wrist: sensitive skin in this place will definitely show whether it is too hot;
It is advisable not to heat food for the kitten in the microwave; the best option would be to place the filled bottle in a bowl of hot water;
during feeding, the baby should be in a lying position, stomach down, it is most convenient to hold it in the palm of your hand;
usually the pet grabs the pacifier himself, but if it happens otherwise, then you need to carefully open his mouth and insert the pacifier, after squeezing a drop of the mixture out of it onto his lips;
Lightly stroking the forehead or back will help stimulate the sucking reflex;
while eating, there is no need to put pressure on the bottle, the kitten should suck the mixture itself;
if he refuses to eat, then this usually means he is full, but when this happens regularly, and the kitten constantly squeaks and worries, then you need to either change the formula or show him to the veterinarian;
after eating, you need to hold the baby in a “column” and wait until he burps excess air;
After each feeding, it is necessary to massage the tummy with a damp gauze pad; the pressure should not be too strong, as a result the kitten should defecate.

Replacing a pet's mother is quite difficult, especially in the first week. But the result will be a healthy, beautiful and incredibly sociable pet.

Adult cats raised without a mother are capable of amazing understanding with their owner. They will give a lot of warmth and positivity to the whole family.

Some of them were so small that they had no chance of survival. Experts believe that the weight of a newborn kitten should be at least 60 g, only in this case can we hope that it will be possible to feed it. But not only this is a necessary condition for successful feeding.

How to care for small kittens without a cat? What does caring for a newborn kitten at 1, 2 and 3 weeks of life include?

How to feed your baby

Ideally, an orphan kitten would be adopted by another cat and raised along with her kittens. She has much more chances than you. After all, she doesn’t need to run to work and do important things, combining them with regular feedings every 2 hours. She also always has excellent milk ready, and you will have to dilute the mixture or even prepare it yourself.

Nutritional formula recipe

If you still cannot find a wet nurse, then use the recipe that has been tested by most breeders: mix a glass of 6% milk, a raw egg and a teaspoon of honey. Honey can be replaced with glucose 5%.

The resulting mixture is nutritious and well suited for feeding kittens; it should be stored in the refrigerator for no more than a day and heated to the required temperature before each feeding. Pet stores sell powdered milk formulas for kittens, but they are still more suitable for supplementing kittens than for feeding newborns.

How many times to feed

Let us remind you that without a cat, caring for a kitten of the 1st and 2nd weeks of life is not only a noble task, but also very troublesome. Until two weeks of age, feedings should be repeated every 2 hours, the 3rd week allows feeding every 3 hours, and only in the fourth week can you do this procedure every 4 hours.

Feeding technique

Bottles, pipettes, special cones, disposable syringes, and even syringes are suitable for this purpose. It's important to get used to it. The feeding technique should be as follows: the kitten should be placed on your lap or on the table with its belly down. Under no circumstances should you place your baby with his stomach up - he may choke and choke. Gently insert the pacifier into his mouth and hold it at a 45° angle, shaking it slightly to encourage him to suck instinctively.

If your kitten coughs, turn him head down so he can catch his breath. While the kitten is suckling, gently stroke its head and back, purr or quietly mumble something to yourself, imitating a cat's peaceful purr. Don't limit your kitten's food intake. When the kitten is full and refuses the pacifier, wipe its face and other places soiled with food with a cloth soaked in warm water.

A constant squeak should alert you. This is how the kitten lets you know that he is hungry and is not getting enough. Sometimes your foster baby is so weak that he cannot breastfeed. In this case, you will have to contact a more experienced person or even a doctor to insert the probe.

How to care for a small kitten

Warmth and massage - this is what newborn kittens need; without a cat, you will have to take care of their little body! First of all, you will need to massage the area under the kitten's tail, imitating the mother's tongue, so that the baby can urinate and have bowel movements.

We look at the baby's chair

The kitten's stool should be golden brown, well formed and fairly firm. Any deviations will indicate overfeeding or underfeeding. Liquid yellow stool is a sign of slight overfeeding. Greenish indicates moderate overfeeding, and gray indicates constant overfeeding of the baby. In case of curdled diarrhea, the baby should be shown to a doctor, as in this case there is a risk of infection.

Definitely warm!

Provide your baby with constant warmth - he needs it vitally. In the first days, heat exchange in kittens has not yet been established, and they spend a lot of energy in order to warm up. In addition, hypothermia is deadly for the kitten, circulatory failure develops, breathing rate decreases, and an irreversible coma occurs.

If a three-day-old kitten is abandoned by a cat, caring for it will be greatly facilitated by an incubator - you can build it yourself. Any box with high sides will do. Place it in a quiet, draft-free place. For heating, use an infrared lamp. It creates even, constant heat at 26°C. Using heating pads or installing electric heaters is dangerous!

The bottom of the incubator should be soft and at the same time elastic, so that the kitten can crawl and not get tangled in rags. In the incubator, one side should be slightly cooler so that the kitten can crawl away and avoid overheating.

Caring for a kitten is a future joy

Your efforts will pay off handsomely. I had to feed the kittens several times from the first day, and within a week each of them recognized the sound of my steps and crawled towards me in the hope of getting the coveted bottle. Well, a month later we were already the best friends in the world.

They needed from me not only food, but also affection, and later, games. Animals raised by human hands have the highest degree of socialization and prefer the company of people.

Nadezhda Zubkova

What canned food tastes best for cats?

RESEARCH ATTENTION! You and your cat can take part in it! If you live in Moscow or the Moscow region and are ready to regularly observe how and how much your cat eats, and also remember to write it all down, they will bring you FREE WET FOOD SETS.

Project for 3–4 months. Organizer - Petkorm LLC.

Unfortunately, there are situations when newly born kittens are left without maternal warmth and, accordingly, milk. There are many reasons for this - the cat could die during childbirth or simply refuse to feed the kittens. In order for the babies not to die, you need to know how to feed a kitten without a cat. Of course, the best option would be to find a wet nurse for the newborn - a cat. This is not often possible. However, you shouldn’t be upset, there is a series of recommendations that you can follow to raise a healthy animal yourself.

In addition to proper nutrition, small kittens need to be provided with comfortable conditions. We are talking about:

"Nest" with heating
Controlling bowel movements
Nutrition equivalent to cat milk

First of all, kittens need a cozy nest in order not to suffer from hypothermia. Being near the cat - mother, they warm themselves from her - her temperature is about 38C. Therefore, motherless babies need to be provided with a similar nest temperature, this is especially important in the first weeks of their life.

The “house” is made from natural fabric or from special diapers for infants. Soiled fabric is easily washed, and soiled diapers are simply thrown away. A heating pad is placed in the house. If it is not there, you cannot refuse heating; you can use a simple heating pad or a simple plastic bottle with warm water. The main condition is to constantly monitor that the water does not cool down and that the optimal temperature for the kittens is maintained in the nest.

It is difficult to forget about changing the water. Since babies ask to eat very often at first, with their squeaks they will immediately remind you of feeding and heating the house. Do not forget that the heating pad or bottle must be wrapped in terry cloth or a towel. This will protect the kittens from getting burns. After everything is in order in the nest, the kittens are placed there and the house is covered from above with a woolen scarf, shawl or sweater. This is necessary to ensure that the heat does not escape outside and is retained inside the house.

When choosing a base for a nest, it is better to give preference to a basin. Unlike a cardboard box, it is more hygienic and does not absorb unpleasant odors. It can be easily washed and disinfected. Having arranged a place for the children to live, we move on to the immediate question of how to feed a kitten at home.

Piece feeding

In principle, it is not difficult to feed a kitten that has lost its mother on your own. If you approach feeding correctly and follow the advice of more experienced specialists.

First of all, you should remember that milk from a cow, based on the amount of certain components, is absolutely not suitable for feeding a kitten. So, if the level of water, lactose, fat and ash in cat and cow milk is almost the same, then if the protein in cat milk is 7.0, then in cow milk it is only 3.3%.

The best option for feeding a newborn kitten without a cat is to purchase a ready-made powder substitute. It could be:

Royal Canin Baby Milk
Kitty Milk

If you don’t have a veterinary pharmacy near you or don’t have enough money to buy one, you can prepare formula and feed newborn kittens yourself.

Correct preparation of the mixture

At home, it is absolutely easy to prepare a mixture for newborn kittens. It will be as similar in composition and properties as mother cat milk and is perfect for feeding a newborn kitten without a cat. In order to prepare it, you will need various ingredients, since there are several possible ways to prepare piece feeding compositions. The main condition is that all products must be fresh.

Milk can also be replaced with cream diluted 2 times (10%). In this case, the water should be boiled first.

Whichever of the above options you prefer, please note that the shelf life of the stock in the refrigerator should not exceed 24 hours. Before feeding the mixture to the kitten, it is necessary to warm it up to a temperature of 38C.

What to feed a kitten

When purchasing a ready-made formula, in most cases, manufacturers also include a bottle with a nipple. Similar devices are sold in most pet stores or veterinary pharmacies. If you do not have such an opportunity, you have to use improvised means:

Syringe with needle removed
A pharmaceutical pipette placed on a thoroughly washed medicine bottle

When piercing the pipette, make sure that the hole is not too big and that the little one does not choke. If the milk mixture regularly enters the baby’s respiratory tract, there is a risk of pneumonia.

Of course, it is much better to feed kittens with a designated nipple, satisfying their innate sucking reflex.

As in the case of artificial feeding of a child, and in the case of feeding a kitten, it is very important to maintain a clean process. All devices, after washing, must be boiled (sterilized).

Procedure

Having prepared the mixture, do not forget that the feeding procedure itself must be properly prepared. When feeding a newly born kitten, it is carefully picked up. Lightly placing a purchased or home-made pacifier into the baby's mouth, support it at an incline of 45. If the baby suddenly coughs, you should turn him head down so that he does not choke.

Experienced cat owners advise that while feeding, gently and lightly stroke the kitten on the head and, if possible, imitate the calm purr of a nursing cat. According to many breeders, such actions have a very beneficial effect on babies. When a kitten is left without its mother, a cat, it is more sensitive to affection and living warmth.

A well-fed kitten can be identified by the milk remaining on its face and round tummy. Milk “gurgles” coming from the baby’s mouth also indicate saturation. In addition, a well-fed kitten stops sucking the formula and falls asleep.

After the feeding procedure is completed, wipe the kitten’s face and any soiled parts of the baby’s body with a cloth soaked in warm water, preventing the mixture from drying on the fur. Such care is mandatory for hygiene.

Amount of formula for one feeding

It’s not difficult to determine whether a kitten is getting enough. Hungry babies constantly squeak and crawl in search of their mother. If you present them with a finger, they immediately strive to suck it. Well-fed kittens are calm and... Having eaten, they go to bed.

There are also certain physiological factors that indicate both that the baby is overeating and that he is undernourished. We're talking about kitten poop:

With slight overfeeding - liquid and yellow
With moderate overfeeding - greenish
With constant overfeeding - gray

Please note that you need to pay special attention to gray or white feces, as these colors of feces may indicate infectious diseases in the kitten.

If the kitten is malnourished, it sleeps little, trembles, squeaks and is lethargic. Besides that, kittens. Babies who receive too little food practically do not gain weight.

Number of feedings

Feeding follows an approximate pattern:

Additional care

In situations where a kitten is left without a mother cat, in order to ensure its full maturation, in addition to feeding, it is necessary to find time for some actions, replacing the mother cat. We are talking about a mandatory tummy massage. It is performed using damp gauze or cotton wool. Movements are performed strictly in a clockwise direction. Paying special attention to the areas of the genitourinary and anal openings.

In this way, you help the kitten to defecate and get rid of its waste products. If necessary, the baby is given an enema. Vaseline oil is stirred in water and the procedure is performed using a 5 mm syringe with a cone lubricated with Vaseline.