Newborn Kittens
In General
New born kittens need
- a lot of love & attention – check on the kittens regularly and respond immediately to their crying;
- warmth – kittens can’t regulate their own body temperature yet so make sure that you keep them warm, but also not too hot, e.g. with a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel;
- sleep - newborn kittens need a lot of it to be able to develop and grow, so when they sleep let them sleep and do not wake them up, also make sure that your kids understand that they are not toys to play with;
- nutrition – in the first weeks kittens need to be fed at least every 3 to 4 hours (also at night), but also keep in mind not to enforce these hours, every kitten has its individual need, sometimes they want to be fed sooner sometimes later;
- stimulation of their bowl – this is very important, because the kitten cannot go to the bathroom yet, so you have to stimulate it by rubbing gently a wet cotton swap on their genitals and anus to avoid congestion.
Orphaned Kittens
Feeding Bailey & Zoey
If you find new born kittens that do not have a mother and you decide to raise them yourself you can get support in several ways:
1) Call the experts
You can call your vet, the next emergency pet hospital for after hours or even a shelter to ask questions that you might have. The experience that I made was always positive because people appreciate that you are taking responsibility and care of an animal in need. And I have to tell you, it really feels good to not only get appreciation and compliments for your work but also see your kitten growing up to be an adult cat.
In case of questions about health issues please contact immediately the next vet or pet emergency clinic. Your fast response is crucial!
2) Research the internet
There are a lot of websites that provide you with information about how to raise new born kittens. I particularly can recommend the following sites that helped me out a lot:
Sue Freeman’s Guide to Rescue Cats – Orphaned Kittens
This guide by Sue Freeman helped me really a lot. It provides you with information on how to take care of orphaned kittens and gives you also a good time table of development on the kittens so that you get an understanding on the life stages of a kitten.
My tip: I kept a diary with the development of the kittens. If you feel comfortable with spreadsheets like MS Excel you can create a table that reflects the different events in a kittens life, like loss of umbilical cord, opening of their eyes, first teeth. I also kept track of the kittens weight with it that you can easily find out with a kitchen scale. If you know your way around in the spreadsheet program you can even make a graph that displays their weight gain visually.
Weaning kittens, as described in the guide can also turn the opposite direction. My kittens, for example, did not like the mix of KMR and wet food at all. They would not eat it at all. I found out that they just simply liked to eat solid kitten dry food immediately. My guess is that they liked to use their new grown teeth by crunching at their kibbles. :-)
Is another excellent website on how to raise kittens with a variety of topics: bottle feeding kittens, cold kittens, general care of kittens, pooping and peeing, kitten bonding, sexing your kitten, kittens in a cardboard box, kitten suckling, sick kittens, kitten death and a final word.
My tip: Because of their good description and time frame on Vomiting, Diarrhea & Constipation I was able to watch out for the kittens bowl movement and be able to go to the emergency clinic to let them get checked when I was concerned that they might be constipated.
I also learned from both websites that the kittens might suck on each other, which I experienced also, and could stop therefore one kitten hurting the other.
Hand Raising of Orphaned Kittens by Foothill Felines
This website gives you also a good overview and information on how to raise orphaned kittens.
Cat Food: Feeding FAQs or Answerbag: At what age do kittens become cats?
And last not least these websites on feeding cats answered my question on when it is time to start feeding kittens adult cat food.
3) Additional Problems And Things To Look Out For
I want to inform you about a problem that I was not aware of and have not read about until it happened to myself. Please make sure to watch carefully the eyes of kittens when they are still closed, this is the first 7 to 10 days after they are born. Their eyes can get infected and since they are still closed pus can build up and damage the kittens eyes. If you see any deformation at the eyes please contact and visit immediately your vet or an emergency pet clinic. The doctor has to open the kittens eyes and treat it with medication otherwise the kittens eyes can be damaged and end up being blind. For more information on this topic you can visit this site: Eye Infections In Kittens
At what age do kittens become cats?
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