Expert: Ali - 10/20/2010

Question
My boyfriend's cat just had a small litter of "surprise" kittens (two to be exact).  Shes an indoor/outdoor cat who recently had previous kitten.  We had no idea she was pregnant again.  She just had the kittens yesterday and shes only cuddling one.  the other is a good 4 inches from her and still looks...sticky, for lack of a better word.  They're in the garage where it's chilly and behind a motor so, they aren't easy to reach.   I don't want to bother the kittens or mom but it looks like she doesn't want the one.  How long should I wait to know if she really doesn't want it?  I read one of your previous answers and you stated that as long as the mum is around it shouldn't be a problem but, as I stated, the one has barely been cleaned.  Should I even be worried?  I'm just scared it might die on the cold floor.

Answer
Steph,

This is a situation where you should pull the rejected kitten immediately because it sounds like mom has shown no interest at all in this baby to the point of allowing him/her to dry naturally after being born which is completely abnormal. It's important to be aware that this baby may have some congenital defect that we can't see that's causing mom to reject him, but he deserves a chance which means that it's time to take him indoors, set him up in a cardboard box or cat carrier lined with a warm blanket (you can add a hot water bottle so long as this baby can move away from the heat source easily since kittens aren't able to regulate their own body temperatures at this stage of development and you don't want him to get overheated).

If this baby feels cold to the touch DO NOT feed him immediately, you can give him tiny amounts of warm plain pedialyte that's been diluted by half just to keep his interest up in terms of sucking. Do this with extreme caution because he may be weak enough that he can't swallow properly so giving this baby some rehydration solution that's warmed to body temperature a tiny drop at a time until he seems satisfied will allow his system to begin recovering from the shock of being rejected. When this baby's body is warm to the touch (as it should be) and his core temperature is within the normal range which is roughly 97 F then you can consider feeding him small amounts of powdered KMR mixed with diluted plain Pedialyte every 1 1/2 hours or so (if this kitten wants to eat smaller amounts more frequently then let him do that). Gradually you can work up to just making the formula with distilled water over the course of a day or two so long as this baby is tolerating his feeds with no vomiting or diarrea.

This baby should weigh in somewhere around 100 grams, it's a good idea to weigh him after he's been cleaned up somewhat with an old damp facecloth or all natural unscented baby, dried off and cuddled warm. This baby's best chance of survival is going to be if you keep him close and allow him to absorb as much body heat as possible since he's a singleton that's been rejected by his mom and he won't be able to hang out in a pile of littermates or cuddle with mom to keep warm. I've found that these single rejected babies do better if you're able to devote plenty of cuddle time to them where they can snuggle in skin to skin next to a heartbeat. Be forewarned at this stage this baby may not survive and it may not be anything to do with the care that you give him - there may be some sort of congenital issue that his mom is instinctively aware of that we just can't see (some vets feel that moms will reject kittens they know don't have the resources to survive).

In this case since this baby's about 24 hours old or so and he hasn't been getting much if any care from his mom in my experience there's a pretty good chance he's gotten little if any nutrition from mom so I really think it would be in his interests to be seen by a vet as he may need to be tube fed initially if he's weak enough to have difficulty swallowing his feedings. A vet can also tell you if there's any obvious defects that aren't easily spotted by a layperson - if this is the case then you'll have to make some very difficult decisions about this baby's future and I would strongly encourage you to remember quality of life over quantity of life if there are any serious defects present.

If you need to know more about raising orphaned kittens I have answered a number of questions about this issue as an expert on this site so please feel free to check those answers out. If after reading up on caring for this little orphan you have any questions or concerns I'd be more than happy to answer them.