What To Feed Orphaned Kittens

Learn how to handle the kittens.

What to feed orphaned kittens. 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. Kittens 5 to 6 weeks should be given kitten kibble and kibble should be mixed into the wet food. However if the mother is unable to nurse the kitten a foster mother is the second best choice. Compared to cow s milk queen s milk contains more than twice as much protein which helps explain why cow s milk is not ideal for feeding orphaned kittens.

Do not feed a kitten until it is warm since it can t properly digest when cold. Commercial kitten milk replacers are recommended as they are superior to cow s milk and home made mixtures. Mix the wet food with water until it achieves a soupy consistency and consider warming the mixture before serving. The milk replacer you choose should meet several key nutritional factors.

Many veterinarians have incubators to warm a chilled kitten. How to care for orphaned kittens less than three weeks of age. If there is a foster mother available her kittens should be no more than 14 days older than the orphaned kitten. Kittens under three weeks old can t control their body temperature.

Make sure you keep a fresh supply and not too much at one time. You can purchase commercially available milk replacers from a variety of sources including local pet stores online retailers and some larger feed stores. It is okay though to syringe feed a few drops of 5 sugar water or to rub a little bit of karo syrup on the kitten s lips. A newborn kitten can only digest milk and more specifically the milk from a female cat.

Feeding the wrong sort of milk such as cow s milk can have short term and long term effects including diarrhea dehydration nutritional deficiencies and long term health problems due to poor growth. Giving an orphaned kitten milk the best milk for a kitten is his own mother s milk. Kittens 7 weeks and older should eat mainly dry kibble. Creating a nurturing environment.