Newborn Kitten Care
The mother and kittens should be left strictly alone for the first two or three days. Nursing kittens are very delicate, so avoid unnecessary handling. Caution children not to pick up the baby cats.
During the first ten days of life, the physical activities of the new-born kittens are very limited. They cannot see or hear; their legs aretoo weak to support their bodies and they must get around by crawlingon their abdomens with a swimming motion. Baby cats will cry whenthey are hungry and sometimes stray from the warmth of theirmother’s body. Provide some barricade to prevent the kittens fromgetting too far from the mother.
Watch the kittens closely for the first week to make certain they aregetting enough to eat. The mother’s rear breasts contain the most milkand the more vigorous kittens will monopolise them. Keep rotating thekittens on the rear breasts, so that all get enough nourishment. Youcan tie different coloured ribbons to one leg of each kitten as identification markers to help you keep track of which kittens havebeen fed on the rear breasts.
Excessive leanness, weakness and constant crying are signs that akitten is not getting enough milk. Such kittens quickly become de-hydrated. You can check for dehydration by pinching the skin at theback of the kitten’s neck with your thumb and forefinger and quicklyreleasing it. If the kitten is dehydrated, the skin will not snap back to itsformer position, but will remain pinched.
Inspite of good prenatal care, the mother may not have enough milkto feed all her kittens, especially when the litter is very large. Occasionally a mother cat dies while the kittens are still nursing. If either ofthese situations arises, you will have to bottlefeed the kittens.
BOTTLE FEEDING
You should have little difficulty in getting the kittens to feed from abottle or eyedropper. Kittens have a natural urge to suck. Use an eye-dropper or baby doll bottle for the first few days, and later switch to alarger bottle. Two- or three-day-old kittens do not consume much milkat a feeding, even though they seem to be eating all the time. Theactual quantity that an average newborn kitten drinks at a feeding isfrom about five to twenty-five drops.
Newborn kittens should be fed five times a day. Your best gauge asto whether the kittens are getting enough to eat is to apply the dehydration test.
If the kittens are dehydrated, increase the amount of food for eachkitten. You may make your own recipe or use one of the commercialpreparations.
This is a stock supply and should be kept in the refrigerator; warmany portion you feed to the kittens, If you use a commercial preparation, follow the directions of the manufacturer. Clean and sterilise allutensils and bottles after each feeding.