how much should a 3-4 week old orphaned kitten drink? When can they start eating canned food?

Question

I sent my female cat to the vet to be spayed at 6am this morning. To my surprise she had a kitten we did not find til 1pm. When my cat was at the vet we found out she had feline lukemia and they euthanized her. Now I have her kitten I took it to the vet he said it looked to be 3-4 weeks old. I purchased milk supplement and a bottle for it but it hasn't took much. It does have teeth ive tried to get it to drink out of a bowl it bites the side but won't drink. This is my first time trying to care for an orphaned kitten this young any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

I'm so sorry, how awful!
The kitten is used to nursing off mama. It will take a little while for her to get the hang of a bottle and eating out of a dish.
It hasn't been that long so give her maybe 12 hours to get the hang of it. You should be able to get a little something into her by then.
Offer a full bottle of formula warmed by floating it in a mug of hot water, (never microwave formula, no matter what kind of baby you are feeding), until you get a good idea of how much she wants, about every 2 hours.
Mix a little canned cat food, like barely a fingertip full, into a tablespoon of warm formula and put it onto the back of your smallest Tupperware lid. Smear a drop of the mix onto her mouth when she licks at it, quickly put the lid of food up to her tongue. It will take awhile and be a little messy, but she should get the hang of it pretty quickly.
Make sure she goes to the bathroom after every feeding, you may need to rub her bottom to stimulate her.
Good luck and be glad it isn't a newborn!

Answer 2

I have fostered many orphaned kittens, from birth! Usually at 3-4 weeks I start to introduce a high quality canned food mixed with the kitten formula! They will make a huge mess and sit in it before they will eat it, but eventually they will get it! You can still offer the bottle, but you must be careful, it can't come out of the nipple to fast or slow, the kitten will resist if it is too slow, but if two fast you run the risk that the kitten with aspirate the formula and get a pneumonia! Keep the kitten warm, although by this age it has the ability to regulate it's own temperature, it may get cold easily being the only kitten and not having its mothers warmth. A cold kitten will not eat! It's very hard to measure if the kitten is getting adequate nutrition, I would just be sure that they are gaining weight! I would also make sure as soon as the kitten is 6 weeks old to take it to your vet to be tested for feline leukemia. If the kitten comes back neg or positive I would recommend you retest in 6 weeks, if the kitten was positive at 6 weeks their is a chance that the infection will go away and if they are negative at the 6 week point you can be pretty sure they are disease free! However, cats with feline leukemia can live long and happy lives... with special care and attention! You just have to be sure not to introduce other cats into the situation that have not been exposed to the disease or vaccinated!

Answer 3

Make sure the formula is lukewarm and keep trying. He/she needs to eat every couple of hours!!!
Is this the ONLY kitten she had? Normally they don't have just one! I'd imagine there are others.
Get some canned kitten food and mix with the formula so that it's soupy and try that. Normally they like that really well. You can get some on the tip of your finger and get some into it's mouth to get it started. Maybe TINY bits of the solid food put IN it's mouth to get started. It takes them a little while to get the hang of it.. They just don't really know how yet. There are lots of websites you can find with a simple search to give you more information on raising orphan babies, and stay in touch with your vet.

When you're bottle feeding, be very careful that the kitten is taking it okay and not too much is going in at once, because a tiny kitten can literally drown that way. And watch his little ears -- when they start "bobbing" while he's nursing, it means he's had almost enough and will be ready to stop eating for that round in a few moments. (and it's about the cutest thing you've ever seen, too).

Answer 4

I've raised several litters of orphan kittens and I usually start them with kitten milk replacer and a syringe, which is much easier to control than a bottle or an eye dropper. This kitten should be old enough to eat baby food (try Gerber baby meats in lamb or turkey) on your finger, slightly warmed. Use a flat plate rather than a bowl for the milk (KMR) and baby food. Usually a gruel works best at first.

Here are a couple of web sites that I use when raising kittens (I do foster for the Humane Society and take only orphans). One trick...... when you are holding the kitten, do NOT hold it tummy up as you would a human baby.. feed it with it on it's tummy. To control them, I usually wrap them in a wash cloth right up to the chin. That way, the little nails won't be scratching you and you won't be tempted to hold it too tightly.

http://www.kittenrescue.org/handbook.htm#Orphan

http://www.acfacats.com/orphan_kittens.htm

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=1&cat=1388&articleid=912

Answer 5

So very sorry to hear about your kitty. A 3-4 week old kitten should be able to eat canned food now. If your kitten turns out to have FeLV too, you don't necessarlily have to have it put to sleep. There are lots of cats who live with the disease.

Answer 6

You need a small baby bottle sold at most pet stores SLIGHTLY warm the mixture and hold it like a baby and repeat this process all day and all night. Good Luck. I used to do it at least every 35 minutes but you only have about a week to go and the cat will start eating canned or moistened dry food. If you cant do this type feeding schedule call a local feline rescue and ask for help.

Answer 7

Start by feeding canned food and feed 4 small meals a day for another 2 months. Cats cannot hold enough food to sustain them at this age with only 2 feedings a day as the stomach is so small. a canned food will be easier to digest and help the bowels move, along with using the warm damp cloth for stimulation. Instead of litter at this age, you may want to use shredded newspaper for a few weeks. The paper holds the oder longer and stronger and she will get the message. In about 2 weeks, change to litter.

Answer 8

The kitten should be given canned food at about 4-5 weeks.If it won't eat any thing ,a good idea is to blend up the food to liquid and use an eyedropper to feed it.Preferably opening it's mouth and putting the food in.I would also look into getting a vitamin supplement.

Answer 9

At 3-4 weeks try an eye dropper or a kitten bottle. They shouldn't have wet food till they're 6-8 weeks old, but if it's refusing to take the milk, you could try it.

Answer 10

The kitten has to get use to the bottle( I hope you got a small one from the pet store), just keep trying. it is to young to drink from a bowl. When the kitten is about 6 weeks you can start with moist food, at about 8 weeks start mixing the can food with dry food. Dry food will help their teeth.