Pink asked:
I signed up to be a foster parent to cats and/or kittens. They said they will call me most likely tomorrow. I have had a lot of cats and some kittens but what special care would you have to do for newborn without the mother? Can they sleep through the night or will I need to feed them every 2 hours around the clock.
Dora
I signed up to be a foster parent to cats and/or kittens. They said they will call me most likely tomorrow. I have had a lot of cats and some kittens but what special care would you have to do for newborn without the mother? Can they sleep through the night or will I need to feed them every 2 hours around the clock.
Dora
Tags: Clock, Foster Parent, Newborn Sleep
Michele
They have to be bottle fed. You probably already know that, but I don’t really know if it’s every 2 hours or not.
Gilbert
Oh, I wonder what happend to the mommy? Anyway, I believe you have to feed them every 2 hrs. And also stimulate them with a warm washcloth to go to the bathroom. That’s what the mom would do. Keep them warm and comfy. Blankets in a box in a confined area where they can’t be hurt. A bedroom perhaps.
Phyllis
Here is a website all about it:
Here is another site with more general kitten info:
Pedro
That’s great you signed up. It would be best for you and the kittens to let the place you signed up with know that you’re not quite sure what to do. They should appreciate knowing that, and help you and give you resources.
Tina
Just hold it alot, you dont have to feed it every 2 hours, it should sleep through the night, but when you do feed it, use a cat bottle.
Sara
I rescued one that was abandoned at birth on my mother-in-law’s porch. The vet said don’t get your hopes up, but he right now is sleeping on a chair about four feet from me, over seven years old, and boss cat in a household of seven. Newborn kittens cannot eliminate on their own, and you must rub their bellies to help them to go. Normally their mother does this with her tongue–you can use your fingers. Use a commercial product called KMR to feed them. Keep them warm, give them a very soft blanket, and make a very soft doll to cuddle against. And be prepared to feed them frequently–they will loudly let you know when. But–for the first two weeks, they need that help to eliminate.
Vicki
Every two hours around the clock. They must be kept warm. Normal temperature for kittens is 101 F. Also, if under 4 months the kittens will not be able to potty by themselves. You will have to take a warm wet washcloth and rub the kittens ******** until you get all urine and ***** out, every time you feed. Also, you will need bottles and replacement milk, do not change types or brands of milk once you start feeding them. If you do they throw up and get choked on the vomit. You will want lots of baby blankets and baby wipes and baby wash cloths once they are old enough to go potty on their own. For about 2 weeks you will have to wash blanket every time you feed them because they will go on the blankets until litter trained. I know that this sounds like a lot of work, but the love that you will get from these bottle fed babies will be worth it. When you feed the babies make sure that you lay them on their tummys and hold the bottle at a 45 degree angle to keep them from ******* air. If you lay them on their tummys, they are a lot less likely to choke on the milk and die. You have to be very careful with tiny babies, they choke very easily. I love my bottle fed babies more than life though and would do it again in a heart beat.
Edna
Kittens should be fed approx. every two hours for the first couple of days to make sure they have learned to nurse, and are hydrated.
The rule of thumb for feeding formulas, is 24ml for every 100g of body weight, in a 24 hour period. So if a kitten was 100g at birth, you would feed it 2ml, 12 times in 24 hours. You can get an inexpensive set of diet scales that weigh food portions for weighing the kittens. Weight should be checked twice a day the first week, and once thereafter. By the third day, you should be able to cut back to every three hours, and caclulate their feedings according to weight and the new schedule. There is no way that newborns can sleep through the night. They are not human babies.
They need to be kept warm, but you must be careful of dehydration. There are special heating pads such as the Kitty Komfort model, that are designed for animals and elderly or sick humans. This supplies a steady heat, in response to their body weight on the surface of the pad.
You need to have a vet teach you how to detect dehydration. Generally, you pull up their skin between the shoulders, and if it stays tented, and slides back down slowly, they are losing moisture and not getting enough to drink. In that case, they may need subcutaneous fluids.
After each feeding, massage their rectal area with a warm, damp facecloth. Walmart has big bundles of 30 for about $6. Use a fresh one for each kitten at each feeding. Wipe their faces, stroke over their bodies, and then do their bums.
It is not true that kittens can’t eliminate on their own until they are over four months. Their muscles begin developing at around three weeks and will respond even better when they start getting canned food at four weeks.
It would be a good idea to meet with others who foster for this group and discuss their methods of raising orphan kittens.
Jimmy
It’s two and a half hours. Get an eyedropper and some homogenized milk mixed with water. Skim milk won’t work because they need the fat in homogenized, but in lesser concentration. Feed them untill you can feel their bellies go taut, but make sure you can put pressure on it without it getting too uncomfortable for the kitten. Make sure you can put atleast an ounce of pressure on it. When it is time for them to switch to solids food, give them half of the milk then make a mixure of kitten fod with water and milk. Not too liquidy or too crunchy.do this for about two weeks, then increase the food alittle bit more and decrease the milk. Do this alittle bit more each week until they are weaned from milk and then try putting them on hard foods. You do thid by increasing the solidity level and depleting the liquids level until you get hard. Got it? lol
For sleeping arrangments, get a small card board box with high sides. Put a towel, then a soft, absorbent blanket on the bottom (wool works best) and then a soft comfy blanket on that. If they are not sleepig at night try feeding them every two hours or change the blankets.It is a good idea to have spares laying around. Try this if they still won’t sleep. Get a hot water bottle and fill it with luke warm water, Rap a towel behind it. Now grab a clock and lay iut inside the box (this is if you get a big enough box). Now lay the bottle overit. This will resemble a mama cat. The water bottle will resemble a water bottle and the clock a heart beat. If this doesn’t work, then your screwed, lol. Bye