What can I do!?!?

Question

Mama just had ONE kitten on Oct. 7th. It opened its eyes on Oct. 15th, and it started walking (kinda) on Oct. 26th. It can now climb out of its box. Mama also had a litter on May 20th, and she and her first litter were strays (but the Oct. 7th baby was born in our garage). We built Mama, Shadow (5 month female from Mama's 1st litter), and the new baby two cages that can be easily joined and seperated. We keep them in at night. Mama wont nurse he baby! Do I bottle feed it? Am I just being overprotective? How do I make sure that the baby is getting enough nurishment?

And don't just say, "Let nature take its corse."

Answer 1

"We just got a new kitten. We were a little shocked that the owner of the litter brought him to us at only 4 wks old!! Veterinary advice was to give evaporated milk or kitten milk and softened food. How often should we be feeding him and how much?

Weaning often begins at about 4 weeks and some kittens are completely weaned by six weeks of age. Once weaning begins, the kitten should be offered an appropriate diet such as Purina ONE Healthy Kitten Formula moistened with water. As they get bigger, the liquid can be decreased and finally the food only fed dry. Kittens often cannot digest cow's milk, which should be avoided. They can be offered feline milk replacer that often can be obtained at a pet store"

I copied that from a purina one website. Try that, and if you can afford it please spay and neuter mom and kids to prevent more babies. Some humane societies offer low cost spay and neuter clinics

Answer 2

Check the mother to see if her breasts have milk in them. If they feel hard and swollen and the mother acts like they hurt, have her checked by a vet to make sure she doesn't have a breast infection.

Clip the kitten's claw tips because sometimes a mother will do this because the baby's sharp claws hurt her. Make sure the mother is healthy.

At the age this kitten is, you should be able to get the kitten to start lapping a bit of solid food. I mix vanilla yogurt (cats like the taste, yogurt is nutritious and also gives the kitten valuable digestive enzymes) with canned cat food (usually a strong smelling flavor, a fish mixture or tuna, works best.) Do not use canned food that comes in chunks or pieces, make sure its the kind that has been ground up. You can also add a little milk and mix the canned food, yogurt, and milk to where it is like a thick soup. You want the mixture warm, not hot, not cold. Give the kitten a little bit of the mix in a saucer. Then gently take the kitten's head and just barely push the kittens head down until his mouth touches the mix. That usually makes the kitten taste the food and they usually will reach out with their tongue to lick it off their lips and when you dip their mouth into it two or three times in a row this way, they will start lapping. You don't hold the kittens head down, you just dip it til the mouth goes into the food and then let go. If this doesn't work, you can try wiping a bit of the food on the kittens mouth to get him to taste it and start learning to lick it from your finger.

Its possible that the mother nurses the kitten when you aren't around too. A well fed kitten will have a ounded belly that feels full, right after it has eaten. (and if the kitten has a hard round belly and the belly feels swollen and hard all the time, then you will want the vet to check for roundworms).

A kitten who isn't getting enough to eat will be skinny and frantically hungry, and can even become weak and staggery due to hypoglycemia. A nursing kitten who isn't getting anything at all to eat, will also dehydrate, and when you pull the skin on the back of the neck upward, the skin will stay up or slowly go down, instead of going right back down against the body like it should.

An excellent book that has a great chapter on kittens, handraising, etc, as well as tons of information on all sorts of cat health issues, is the Cat Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook by Carlson and Giffin. Its thorough enough to be helpful, but written simply enough to be easily understood and also has good clear illustrations.

Answer 3

You should step in and take over if the mother won't. Also call a vet!!!!!!!!!!! Ask them for some advise!! You could also try your local Human Society for help. You will need to nurse the baby every 2 to 3 hours. You can buy special bottles at the vets or pet supply store. You will also need to buy special formula for it as well!! Cows milk is not the right thing to give a growing kitten!! If the kitten is 19-20 days old. It must be getting it's nourishment from somewhere. Are you sure the mother is not feeding it?? I really don't believe that it would have lived this long if the mother had rejected it. Like I said, try the Human Socity or your vet!! They will help you! Good luck.

Answer 4

If you are sure she is not ursing her baby then You should take over duties. Thoigh it might be a good idea to get the kitty checked by a vet. Sometimes cat's won't nurse thier young because they intinctly feel that there is something not right with them. But that of course doesn't need to be the case.

But of course once you decide there is no way to convince Mama to feed the child hersewlf you have to take over. And here a big warning - don't give a little cat cow milk. Ever. Cat's have trouble with digesting cow lactose and for a tiny kittien the results may be fatal. Goat milk is said to be a bit safer, I wouldn't want to have my kitty check that first hand though. But in any case cat milk is the best choice. You can buy it powdered in most pet shops, two or three kinds depending on the age of the kitty.

Good luck!

Answer 5

That would make the new kitten about 3 weeks old today, definitely too young to be weaned off his mom.

Yes, you will have to take to bottle feeding him. Call your vet, explain the situation and ask what kind of formula he recommends. Maybe they have some and bottles they can give you. It's very easy, I've bottle fed kittens before. It's just like with a human baby, they suck the milk out of the bottle.

Call your vet, he'll tell you what to do.

Good Luck.

Answer 6

Have you taken Mama to the vet to get checked out? As for the baby, you can bottle feed him yourself. I used to take in abandoned kittens as a teen and because I cannot afford a fancy kitten bottle, I improvised. I took a ziploc baggie and put some kitten milk in it. Puncture a little hole in the tip of one of the corners so that the milk drips steadily and fed the kittens that way. They adapted very well to this makeshift teat. Get the kitten checked out at the vet, too. Alot of times animals reject their newborns because they can tell if it is born with a defect so it won't waste it's energy on weaning a baby that has a slim chance of surviving but will concentrate on it's healthy babies and itself to recover after birth. Good luck!

Answer 7

My moma cat had kittens in April. I never seen her feeding her babies, but they are still with me today. It got so bad that the kittens were foaming at the mouth needing something. I bought a bottle and sub. milk but the kittens would not take it no matter how I tried. Perhaps she feeding the little one when no one is around. Give it some time. If your overly worried buy a mail weigh scale at the post office ( about $15) and weigh the little one every day. If it is gaining, don't worry about it.

Answer 8

First off, in my opinion. Take mama kitty to the vet.
if she can be spayed at this point in her development i recommend you do so. If it is not a good time for her health-wise, please do so before she gets another litter. You are not responsible for the toms that have provided this challenge, even so you've taken on yourself a grave responsibility. I think the respondent with the longest answer immediately following your query was on target. You may have to chose between the earlier kitten and the later kitten but if you care for them all (mother,
Eldest, youngest,) you can have an enjoyable cat family for years to come.

Answer 9

you should try to bottle feed the baby sometimes that makes mommy want to feed her babies. sometimes when mom is so young she doesnt know what to do. you can try to lay mom down while petting and put the kitten near her nipples. but if that does not work then yes bottle feed the baby. you can get kitten milk in a can from petsmart or other animal supply stores. I also hear that goats milk works just as good or condensed milk if you dilute it w/ water. but dont give the kitten regular cow milk its not good for them due to lack of vitamins they need.

Answer 10

you can bottle feed but ONLY with proper Kitten Milk Replacement forumla (KMR) which is VERY costly...
I would be wondering if shadow is an unneutered male and possibly the fatherof the kitten? if so maybe mama knows something is genetically wrong with it?

either that or she is just sick and tied of being "mama"

I would feed her kitten food so she gets extra nutrition to help her milk production.. but I would STRONGLY urge you to spay her... there are millions of kittens euthanized every year becuase so many kittens are born and every kitten who does find a home means another who does not...