What Do Baby Kittens Need To Survive

The mother cat offers her newborn kittens their best chance for survival so wait and watch as long as you safely can for her to return before removing them.

What do baby kittens need to survive. This article will show you the correct way to feed a newborn kitten in order to give it the best chance of survival. Part 1 gathering the right equipment. Wrap a heating pad or hot water bottle in a blanket to create a warm bed but position it so that your kitten can move away from it if she gets too warm. Wrap it in a towel or blanket so it won t accidentally burn your kitty.

Kittens younger than 10 weeks old need a warm bed to prevent them from becoming chilled according to vetstreet. Newborn kittens cuddle up with their mother and siblings to stay warm. If you adopt or foster an orphan kitten in this age group special care will need to be taken including bottle feeding the kitten for every two hours up to four weeks of age and possibly helping your kitten pee and poop. The best food for the kittens is their mother s milk.

Newborn kittens may nurse about every 1 2 hours. When the kittens are 3 4 weeks old provide formula in a shallow dish as well as some kitten food that has been softened with water. However you will need to provide the cat with enough necessities that will equate to the maternal love they would have gotten from the mother cat. The following is a general eating schedule for newborns and young cats.

When the kittens are 1 2 weeks old bottle feed the kittens every 1 2 hours with a commercial milk replacer formula. Do this until the time the kitten can fully eat. Orphaned neonatal kittens require around the clock care so you ll want to establish a routine of care every 2 4 hours the younger they are the more frequent the intervals between feedings it s normal for the kittens to sleep just make sure they are in a safe and confined space. If your kitten has been abandoned you ll need to keep her warm.

Place a heating pad into the box as well set to low. Because kittens this young are unable to regulate their own temperatures they rely on one another s body heat to survive. 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. Do not give cow s milk to the kittens because it is too hard for them to digest.

An ideal spot is a simple cardboard box lined with a warm blanket. In addition they are still developing vision and leg coordination. Your little cat needs two to three times as many calories and nutrients as adult cats making proper nutrition particularly important. You need to feed the kitten bottle feed formula after every 2 3hours.

Remove the kittens only if they are in immediate grave danger. If the mother cat returns. Kittens get everything they need from a mother cat s milk for the first four weeks of life and are usually able to chew dry food by 6 to 7 weeks and completely weaned by 8 to 10 weeks of age.