Expert: Jessica - 11/8/2010

Question
I have rescued 3 baby kittens from a dumpster at work they are a little over 1 week old (eyes aren't open yet)  I love animals however I don't have the time during the day to feed them every 2 hours.  Since I can't seem to get any shelter or foster parent to take them I will keep them and try to raise them.  However I can only get home during lunch to feed and potty them during the day. So they are fed and pottied at 6:00am  11:00am and 4:00 pm then at night i feed them every 2 hours or so.  Is this going to kill the kittens because they are not feeding enough during the day?  i work full time and just can't leave every 2 hours to go home hopefully you can help me?

Answer
Hi Rebecca,

It isn't an ideal schedule, as you are aware.  However, with it being your only option, I would say continue to work with it.  I couldn't make any guarantees as to how the kittens will fare, but some will pull through okay, even when a feeding schedule is irregular.  When I was feeding my babies every 4 hours, I had about a 50% success rate.

Fortunately, if the kittens eat a decent meal (do not attempt to over-feed, however), a 5-hour stretch should not usually be so long that the kittens go hypoglycemic, which is the biggest threat.  The thing that will be most worrisome is stomach upset.  Kittens who go so long between meals tend to overeat when they do finally get fed, and that can lead to digestive problems like diarrhea, constipation and gas.  Then the kittens end up not wanting to eat later, because their bellies ache.  But if you get through the first couple of weeks okay, stretching for 4-5 hours between meals won't be such a big deal.

Best of luck!

Jessica