Expert: Norman Auspitz - 6/24/2011

Question
Our cat has just given birth to 4 kittens. The kittens are between 12 and 18 hours old, born last night while I was asleep. The mother has suddenly left them. I have put her back with the kittens but she is not happy. Mewing, not giving them milk, restless, wanting to go outside. I will not let her go outside. But how should I care for the kitttens if the mother does not? I am very unprepared!

Answer
Ali,

I am afraid they may have to be hand raised until they can be weaned (about 3-4 weeks of age). new born kittens are not very good at regulating their body temperature yet, so the most important thing is to keep them warm. You should keep them in a warm draft free part of the household with no access by other pets or young children.  They will do well in a good sized cardboard box with old toweling or sheeting.

To see if the kittens are doing well when you hand raise them, we like a digital postal scale for weighing kittens. Newborns should gain about 1 oz (30 g) in the first week and nearly 2 oz (50 g.) in each subsequent week until weaning.  A good feeding regimen for kittens is 4 times a day (e.g. midnight, 7:00 AM, 1:00 PM, 7:00 PM).  

You can get good kitten milk replacer products, e.g. Justborn or KMR.  Until they get their strength, you may want to add a bit of unflavored Pedialyte to the formula (about one part formula to one part Pedialyte for the first couple of days).

If the kittens will nurse from a pet nurser, this is preferable.  Otherwise you will have to tube feed, and your vet can show you how.

If you are tube feeding, the kitten should take about .3 oz (8-10 mL) of formula for every 4 oz (100 g) of body weight.  Divide this by 4 to get an idea of how much to feed each time. Before you feed each kitten, make sure you push enough formula through the tube so that there is no air in the tube when you begin feeding. If the mixture is too rich or the kitten is being overfed, they can get diarrhea.  

If the kittens are taking formula from a pet nurser they should take what you would tube feed on their own. If any of them do not seem to drink enough, wait a few minutes and try again.

Whether you are tube or pet nurser feeding, make sure the formula is warm on the back of your hand before giving it to the baby. In both cases watch out for over feeding.  This can cause diarrhea and, worse, if a baby regurgitates it can aspirate the formula leading to pneumonia!

Once each baby has been fed, you can potty it.  It should pee each time and poop once a day. To potty the kitten get a soft tissue or cloth and gently stimulate the genital area, it will potty.  You can burp each baby by holding it upright and gently tapping on its back.  With tube feeding, it should not get much air, so you may not hear any burp.

Please get back to me if you have more questions and let me know how the little tyke is doing.  Hand reared kittens are always a challenge and it does not always work out.

Best regards... Norm.