Expert: Norman Auspitz - 3/14/2009

Question
My cat just had her first litter today and I felt her tummy to see if she was lactating and she isnt. Is there anything special I need to do for her and/or the baby. Please help!

Answer
Kara,

I am sorry I am just getting to this as I was out of town all day Friday and Saturday.  Some mamas do not lactate until the kittens begin suckling.  If the kittens are not screaming and getting fat, then mama is lactating. If you weight the kittens (I like a postal digital scale)and they are gaining weight (see below for amounts), then they are getting milk from mama.  Also, their little bellies should feel full and become roly poly.

However, if mama is not lactating and the kittens do not seem to be gaining weight, the newborns will probably have to be tube fed, although if their suckling is really working well, you may be able bottle feed them.  To learn how to tube feed, you need to see your vet.

At this stage, warmth is just as important as proper feeding.  If mama is taking care of them, you need not worry about this.  If mama will not stay with the kittens, then the newborns must be kept in a warm, draft free area, with a warming pad set on very, very low so the babies do not get too hot.  Heating pads at the lowest setting may be too warm.  I would put the babies in a shoe box lined with old toweling or sheeting and keep that on a warming pad (an electric blanket set very low or a mattress warmer set very low are often pretty good).  Newborns cannot regulate their body temperature yet, so depend on mama's body warmth to keep them warm.  So, you may have to substitute for mama's body heat as best you can.  If you pick up the kitten, it should not be cold to the touch!

Feeding: As I said before you may have to go to your vet to learn how to tube feed (it really is not difficult, especially once you get the hang of it).  I like to use Justborn kitten milk replacer, although KMR is also a good product.  I like to cut the milk replacer 1-to-1 with unflavored Pedialyte for the first week.

A good time schedule for kitten feeding is 7:00 AM, 1:00 PM, 7:00 PM, midnight.

The daily intake for a kitten should be about .3 oz (8-10ml) of formula for every 4 oz (100g) of body weight.  I find a digital postal scale is a good device to weigh the kitten. Make sure the formula is blood heat (a couple of drops should feel warm but not hot on the back of your hand).  Also, the biggest danger in tube feeding is that the kitten will vomit up some formula and then aspirate it leading to pneumonia.  So, you must be careful.

Each kitten should gain about an oz (30g) during the first week and then 2 oz (50g) in subsequent weeks.  Once the kittens hits 3-4 weeks, they can be weaned.

After feeding, the kitten should be "pottied" (use a cotton ball and gently massage the genital areas). It will pee at each feeding and poop, maybe once a day.  Also, you need to burp the kitten. Just hold the kitten at your shoulder, head elevated and gently tap its back until it burps.  It is more likely to get air bottle feeding then tube feeding.

A good reference is:  "Hand-Raising the Orphaned Kitten", by M.L. Papurt, DVM; Barron's Educational Series, Hauppauge, NY; 1999.

Please come back to me if there are any more questions.

Good luck and best regards... Norm.