Adorable as they are, caring for a newborn kitten is hard work. Just like human infants, kittens are nearly helpless at birth, and require constant monitoring.
Think carefully before you commit to fostering a newborn kitten or kittens, if you can't give them the care they need, a local veterinarian or animal shelter may be able to help you find someone who can.
If you do choose to be a foster kitty-mom, good on you! Animal shelters are often overwhelmed with homeless animals, and need all the help they can get.
Before feeding
If you've found a litter of kittens, it's important to make sure that they really are abandoned before you take them home. If they look clean and plump, they probably have a mother who looks after them. If they kittens are crying and dirty, it's a safe bet that they need your help.
Think carefully before you commit to fostering a newborn kitten or kittens, if you can't give them the care they need, a local veterinarian or animal shelter may be able to help you find someone who can.
If you do choose to be a foster kitty-mom, good on you! Animal shelters are often overwhelmed with homeless animals, and need all the help they can get.
Before feeding
If you've found a litter of kittens, it's important to make sure that they really are abandoned before you take them home. If they look clean and plump, they probably have a mother who looks after them. If they kittens are crying and dirty, it's a safe bet that they need your help.
Although this is an article on feeding, there are a few important things to keep in mind before you feed a newborn kitten. Kittens under three weeks of age cannot control their own body temperature or eliminate body waste on their own.
Before you feed the kitten, help the kitten eliminate by rubbing it gently on the lower abdomen and bottom, holding it over the sink or a litter box. You can use a cotton ball, cotton pad, or wad of tissues dampened with warm water.
Once you've taken care of that, provide warmth with a heating pad set on the lowest temperature or a hot water bottle at about 100 degrees. Wrap the heat source in two layers of towel and place the kitten on or next to it. Once the kitten is warm, you can feed it.
Feeding the kitten
Kittens do not start eating solid food until they are about four weeks old. If your kitten is younger than that, it will need a replacement for milk. The most convenient is probably powdered kitten formula, available in pet stores and most veterinary clinics.
Several recipes for kitten formula can be found online if you would rather make your own. Don't give the kitten cow's milk; despite popular myth, cow's milk is not very good for kitties.
It does not contain enough nutrition for them, and causes diarrhea, which is extremely dangerous for kittens. In an emergency, powdered goat's milk can be used.
Before you feed the kitten, help the kitten eliminate by rubbing it gently on the lower abdomen and bottom, holding it over the sink or a litter box. You can use a cotton ball, cotton pad, or wad of tissues dampened with warm water.
Once you've taken care of that, provide warmth with a heating pad set on the lowest temperature or a hot water bottle at about 100 degrees. Wrap the heat source in two layers of towel and place the kitten on or next to it. Once the kitten is warm, you can feed it.
Feeding the kitten
Kittens do not start eating solid food until they are about four weeks old. If your kitten is younger than that, it will need a replacement for milk. The most convenient is probably powdered kitten formula, available in pet stores and most veterinary clinics.
It does not contain enough nutrition for them, and causes diarrhea, which is extremely dangerous for kittens. In an emergency, powdered goat's milk can be used.
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