What Should I Feed An Orphaned Kitten

Split up the daily portion into three equal parts and feed 1 3 at each feeding.

What should i feed an orphaned kitten. At the end of week six decrease meal times to only three times a day. To encourage suckling gently stroke the kitten s throat in a downward motion. Use the feeding guidelines on the food label as a starting point to determine how much to feed your kitten. Remember to keep the kitty on his tummy while you feed him.

Feeds should be every 2 3 hours around the clock. Kittens under three weeks old can t control their body temperature. The gruel should become less and less watery and dry kitten food should be introduced along with a bowl of water. Feed the kitty approximately 8cc or 1 4 ounce of formula per ounce of his weight every 24 hours.

Note that it s not until adulthood that two meals a day for a cat is acceptable. The feeding guidelines provide a starting point but you ll need to monitor your cat s body condition and adjust the feeding amount accordingly. Fresh water is very important although for a newborn kitten you buy kitten milk in a can to be feed by eye dropper or syringe. Small breed kittens should be limited to 10 15ml per feeding during the first week of life in order to prevent diarrhea.

Once they get the hang of it the kittens should consume the milk replacer greedily. But it s also incredibly rewarding and before you know it your kittens will be eating on their own and soon ready to find homes. A kitten aged between six to 10 weeks old needs to be fed six to eight meals a day while a kitten aged 10 weeks to six or seven months needs four meals a day and a kitten up to nine months needs three meals a day. By six weeks of age a kitten should be eating the gruel four times a day and nursing less.

After feeding your kitten formula you may need to burp him. Do not feed a kitten until it is warm since it can t properly digest when cold. It is okay though to syringe feed a few drops of 5 sugar water or to rub a little bit of karo syrup on the kitten s lips. Feeding orphaned kittens can feel like a full time job especially in the beginning when they need to be fed the most.

Many veterinarians have incubators to warm a chilled kitten. You can stop the feeding when the kitten begins to slow down the consumption or becomes disinterested. Orphaned kittens should be fed on a strict schedule preferably every 2 4 hours. When the orphaned kittens reach about 3 weeks of age you can start providing watered down meat based kitten food for them to nibble on.

Kittens up to two weeks old can generally consume their daily intake in 4 5 meals per day. The feeding protocols below are provided by the kitten nursery of salt lake county animal services in partnership with best friends animal.