When ready, mom WILL be spayed once she’s finished raising these little ones. Being an inexperienced mother, she needed help keeping her kittens warm. A very short while later, she gave birth to a litter of 6 kittens! (Definitely an OOPS on someone’s part!) Mom and fluff balls are doing well, with help from staff and our incubator. We had just rescued this adult female cat (pictured above), who actually arrived with a certificate showing that she’d been spayed. Our Founder, Lynea, usually cares for the difficult case kittens or adults and being only one person, it makes a huge difference having an incubator to help keep kittens at the right temperature, while Lynea attends to other kittens needs, etc. This also helps when we have many critical needs kittens all at the same time. We do also have new or young mother cats that need help with their first litter of kittens. Incubators and other forms of heat are important for the work we do because we don’t always receive newborn kittens with their mothers. We have many newborn kittens that come in during the summer “kitten flood” and they cannot regulate their own body temperature when they are so young. Below is the response we got from Beth in public relations: We donated a TLC unit to them in the past to help with their work, and we recently reached out to them for more information on just how important an incubator is for what they do. Any older than this and you can start weaning them, which means feeding two to three times a day with a wet food/formula mixture.Ĭat House on the Kings is a no-cage, no-kill sanctuary for feral and abandoned cats and kittens. From two and a half up to four weeks old, every five to six hours. From 11 days to two and a half weeks you can feed them every three to four hours. Kittens usually stop eating when they are full, and for kittens up to 10 days old they should be fed every two hours around the clock. Tube feeding may be necessary if the kitten is too sick to bottle feed, and you should consult with a veterinarian before attempting this if you are inexperienced with tube feeding. As a reminder, do not feed kittens until they are warmed up properly. Arch the bottle so that less air gets in and always warm up the formula (warm, not hot) before feeding the kitten. You can hold or place the kitten on its stomach when feeding, never on its back. Wash your hands before and after handling the kittens for feeding. Follow the directions that come with the bottle when preparing it, and always sterilize the bottle before using. Pet supply stores and vet usually carry kitten formula, and you can feed kittens with a bottle that is designed specifically for this purpose. TV shows and movies might lead you to believe that kittens will do just fine on cow’s milk, but this can cause diarrhea which leads to dehydration. If you do not have a nursing mother available, the only safe food for kittens is kitten formula. If they need to be cleaned you can use a moist towel and gently blow-dry them afterward. Wet kittens are cold kittens, and this can be very dangerous for them. If you don’t have a heat source like an incubator you can always use your own body heat by gently rubbing the cold kitten.Ĭlean up messes and accidents in their bedding as necessary, but do not bathe a neonatal kitten. Warming up a kitten is the first real step in the care process, because you should never bottle feed a kitten until they have warmed up. A chilled kitten will be lethargic and cool to the touch. They should always be able to get away from the heat if necessary, but it is very important that they do not chill. We have more information below on how to estimate a kitten’s age so you know the best type of care to give them.įor young kittens they need to be placed on a heating pad or in an incubator like one of our TLC units. This is true of kittens that are under three weeks old. Babies animals, especially baby mammals, usually have a hard time regulating their own baby temperature until they get a little older.
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