Sometimes a cat who has just given birth gets sick or refuses to feed newborn kittens. There are also more tragic cases. And someone had to pick up completely blind kittens, for some reason left without a mother. How to prevent a defenseless baby from dying and feed him yourself?
Instructions
Step 1
If you are unable to find a nurse cat, get ready to feed the baby yourself. Decide what exactly you will feed him - a ready-made substitute from a pet store, or you yourself will prepare a mixture that is close in composition to cat's milk. If you choose to make such a mixture, mix 4 parts cow's milk with 1 part chicken egg white. Milk should be boiled - raw kittens are not suitable! It happens that cow's milk is poorly tolerated by a kitten - then you can try infant formula for newborns, just dilute it twice as thin as indicated in the instructions. The mixture should be warm, but not hot - 38-39 ° C for the first week of life, 30-32 ° C for the second, then 26-28 ° C.
Step 2
During the first days of life, the kitten will have to be fed from a pipette if you were unable to get a special cat bottle with a nipple. The pipette must be clean and thoroughly rinsed with hot water after each feeding. Place the kitten in a box with low sides on its tummy, let its front legs rest on the side of the box. Holding the baby with your left hand on the back and neck, feed him. The pipette can be either with a sharp end or with a blunt one - whichever is more convenient for you, and it is better if it is plastic, not glass. Remember that you do not need to squeeze the entire contents of the pipette into the kitten's mouth - he should, as it were, suck it out; if the kitten has forgotten how to suck, it will be impossible to teach him again. Since a lot of air gets into the kitten's stomach when feeding from a pipette, it will be necessary to give him the opportunity to regurgitate from time to time. When the kitten is one week old, try switching to a medical syringe without a needle.
Step 3
Newborn kittens are fed every 2 hours, including night hours; from 3 days at night, you can feed every three hours. From 5 to 21 days of life, kittens are fed every 4 hours. When the kitten is 2 weeks old, you can sometimes give him to lap the mixture from a spoon or a small saucer, but he still does not know how to eat on his own. From 3 weeks old, you can teach kittens to other foods.
Step 4
Feeding a kitten is a laborious task, but, growing up, a funny fluffy lump will reward you for all your worries with warm affection.
