How To Care For Orphaned Cats
by Nick Bulka.
Finding a litter of newborn kittens can be one that of the most exciting, or the most challenging, events of your life. Considering the fact that you are not a mother cat, it can be quite difficult for you to start taking care of these little tykes. To make things easier, there are five simple steps that you can take to ensure that by the fifth or sixth week of their life that they are healthy and strong enough to be independent young kittens. It won't be easy! However, it will be an event you will remember the rest of your life.
The first thing to consider is the area of general health. Are the kittens healthy? If the kittens are not healthy, then you probably do not want to try to save them yourself but seek the professional help of a veterinarian. If the kittens seem to be healthy, you may still want to go to a veterinarian to have them checked out. At least then you would know if you had a chance of saving the kittens at all.
If the kittens have sticky eyes or if you believe that the kittens may have fleas, lice, or any other noticeable disease or infestation, you should take them to the veterinarian immediately. Many things are detectable in early stages that will save a kittens life that only a veterinarian can notice and treat them for. Also, do not use over-the-counter medications that you think might help the kitten. More times than not, this is a poor choice and a veterinarian should be sought after in order to make a proper decision.
The second thing to consider is finding an adequate location within your home to keep the young kittens. Normally, at this point of their life, their mother would be providing their outside warmth. Kittens do not have the ability to keep themselves warm for the first few weeks after birth. Therefore, wherever you choose to place them, you should put them in a spot that can be kept at a temperature of 92 Fahrenheit to ensure that their body temperature stays in a healthy range.
You also want to make sure that the place that you keep them is free from drafts and is going to be safe from people and other pets. Common sense would dictate that placing them next to an air conditioning vent would be a poor choice but placing them in a comfortable box with a heating pad would be a good one. In fact, the heating pad will make it much easier to regulate the 92 degree temperature than keeping your house at a sweltering 92 degrees and wearing a tank top all day!
The third thing to consider is how to feed them. Obviously, you are not equipped to feed a newborn kitten, let alone a litter of them. Therefore, you need to find a kitten milk replacer and a couple feeding devices just in case they are not happy with the first one that you choose. Using a nursing bottle is fine unless, of course, the kittens cannot suck yet. In this case, you would actually have to squeeze the milk onto the nipple so that the kitten could begin to eat.
Kittens only need a few cc's of milk their first couple of feedings. They will also need numerous feedings at intervals of about two hours apart. This could really cut into your sleeping time or your work schedule, so before you consider taking on this 4 to 5 week challenge, remember that this will take up most of your time day and night for at least the first few weeks. The good news is that if the kittens need to be fed with an eyedropper at first, you will rapidly move to a larger feeding amount with the nursing bottles in just a few days.
Also worth noting is that kittens are usually full when they become disinterested in the milk that you are feeding them. If the kittens have not shown an interest in the milk at all, this is the time to bring them immediately to the veterinarian to see what is wrong with them. Hopefully, they will get through this stage by the third week and you can begin giving them dry food to munch on.
The fourth thing to consider is hygiene, specifically in regard to how they go to the bathroom. Young kittens need to be stimulated in order to make their first few bowel movements. This can be accomplished in one of two ways. If you are the mother cat, then you would simply lick their behind until they had a discharge. Being that this would not be a proper course of action for a human, it is recommended that you take a wet cloth, preferably warm, and wipe the anal area until they have gone to the bathroom. If you are lucky, you will not have to do this for longer than a few weeks until they get the hang of it.
The fifth thing to consider is what to do with your new litter of kittens once they have reached six weeks of age. By this time, all of them should be healthy and potty trained. You may be able to give most of them away to good homes. You may want to keep a few for yourself since you have had a close bonding with these animals for quite some time. The most important thing to consider is that you should have the time for a new pet so that you can give it the proper love and attention that it deserves. After all, you did just spend the last four to five weeks saving their lives. Saving orphaned cats can change your life, but only choose to do so if you have the time.
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