What To Feed Orphaned 4 Week Old Kittens
Never give kittens cow s milk since it doesn t have the nutrients they need and can cause diarrhea.
What to feed orphaned 4 week old kittens. By the time they are 4 week old then they would already eat gruel as their primary food. By six weeks of age a kitten should be eating the gruel four times a day and nursing less. Get a kitten formula and nursing kit in a pet store. You ll be able to tell a kitten is hungry if she cries and wiggles around like she s hunting for a nipple.
To make one by yourself you can easily mix the kitten food both dried and wet with water or milk. Until she has weaned naturally don t switch her over completely to solid foods. However as the day goes by and now that they are in the fourth week of their lives things may finally start to feel a tad bit easier for you. Feed the kittens frequently.
Small breed kittens should be limited to 10 15ml per feeding during the first week of life in order to prevent diarrhea. Orphaned kittens should be fed on a strict schedule preferably every 2 4 hours. Make sure you keep a fresh supply and not too much at one time. After three weeks old and until they are weaned kittens should be fed every 6 8 hours.
Raising an abandoned or orphaned 4 week old kitten may feel like an exhausting full time job more so in the beginning when they must be frequently fed throughout the day. Said nursing kit consists of two types of nipples and a few extras if you are confused as to which type of nipple to use you may go for the short one. 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.
Kittens under one week old should be fed every 2 3 hours. Not only do they not need to be fed as often as in the first two weeks they have. Four week old kittens are not ready for solid food. Kitten that still has their mother will be encouraged to eat other kind of food even when they are still 3 week old.
If you are bottle feeding an orphaned 4 week old kitten you can start weaning her gradually from the bottle to soft solids over the next few weeks. Before you feed them make sure the kitten isn t feeling cold as kittens cannot properly digest in such condition. At two weeks old they can be fed every 4 6 hours. Divide their needed daily intake by the number of required daily feedings and you ll know how much they should eat each time.
Mix the wet food with water until it achieves a soupy consistency and consider warming the mixture before serving. Each day feed 8 cc of formula per ounce of body weight spreading this out over four feedings. At the end of week six decrease meal times to only three times a day. It s best to use a kitten feeding bottle that has a specially designed kitten teat made by catac.