I just found my 3 week old kittens and i think theres 2 3 or 4 of them. their eyes are open. WHAT SHOULD I DO?

Question

are they old enough to eat kitty food?
are they old enough to drink milk (regular)?

the mother gave birth to them and i thought she abandoned them but i found them! and they do meow and everything. i put human milk out to lure them into the room.

Answer 1

Dont give them cows milk, they have to have special milk for cats, and try really really mushy food.

Answer 2

Never give a kitten or cat human milk, you will have a mess, very watery stools and sick kittens. Take them to the vet, you can get kitten formula and a special bottle to feed them with. I adopted a (we were told he was 8 weeks old) who was only 3 1/2 weeks old (big cat for the age) he would not drink or eat by himself. The vet helped me and he passed away in 2005 he developed cancer in his back legs. But he drank from bottle for 2 week and when he ate his first soft food I cried. He weighted 12 lbs and was a quite a funny cat, he hated men for some strange reason. I had one litter of kittens who's eyes were open at 3 week. Water is better than milk. good luck

Answer 3

Cats should never drink regular cow's milk, they are lactose intolerant. There is a product at most pet stores in cans called "KMR" or kitten milk replacer. They may lap it up on their own, but if not, you may need a tiny syringe without the needle to give it to them. Just gently put it in the corner of it's mouth and put a couple drops in and then it should acquire a taste for it. You need to feed them every 3-4 hours. As far as solid food, they may eat it, but it's doubtful. You can try to soak some in KMR (use a super-premium brand, like Eukanuba or Science Diet) until it's soft, and try to feed it off the tip of your (clean) hand. Their eyes should be open by now. If they get goopy, you can gently clean them with a damp cotton ball. If it persists, see a vet for some Erythromycin eye ointment. Good luck, they are old enough that they should be OK. DO NOT give them away until they are at least 10 weeks old. They need lots of care until then. And be sure to get them to a vet before 6 weeks of age for their first vaccinations.

Answer 4

Take that human milk right away from them! It can cause worms and other very nasty issues. Cats cannot digest lactose, which is in milk. (Don't try soy milk, either; that raises a whole new set of issues.)

At this age, feed them "cat milk" from an eyedropper. (if you call a local grocery store, they may stock it; a pet store almost certainly will. When I need it, I get mine from the local Giant Eagle.) Put them in a box lined with soft towels, and maybe a warm hot-water bottle BENEATH the towels (to simulate Mama Cat's heat; don't make it too hot, you'll scald them).

Around six weeks, start feeding them this mixture:

1 part cat milk
1 part moist cat food (if it's unavailable due to the recall, soak dry food in cat milk until it's moist)
Any vitamins the vet recommends to you after seeing the kittens, but don't add any without his/her approval

Mash it together, and serve in a saucer or on a plate - NOT in a bowl. It should be kind of soupy-looking, but not to the extent that it's pure liquid. It's going to look kind of gross, but trust me, at this age that's a good thing.

The kind of moist food you want is the stuff that looks a bit like tinned beef - no fancy "giblets" or "cutlets," just that kind of spongy stuff. Friskies Moist is great for this. Giblets and cutlets are very hard to mash, and the odds are good that the kittens won't be able to eat them whole. As the kittens get older, make the mixture progressively less liquid. Observe their eating habits; if they're having trouble eating it, add some cat milk. Don't rush them; they'll move on when they're ready.

After about one to two weeks, start mixing moist cat food with dry cat food and just a little of the cat milk (again, if the moist is unavailable, make your own moist by soaking dry food in just enough cat milk to saturate it, then mashing with a fork). By now it should be mostly solid, but soft. And around twelve to fourteen weeks, they should be mostly on dry. When you start offering solid-but-soft food, don't forget to put down a saucer of water, too!

If they don't progress this quickly, don't panic. As long as they're getting their nutrients, growing at a decent rate, playing, and so on, they should be fine. One litter I raised was five months old before the kittens were on all-dry food (with water on the side), but all the kittens survived - and thrived. Work in tandem with your vet to ensure they're healthy, but keep in mind that every litter is different, and yours may progress more quickly - or more slowly - than the ones I've raised.

Good luck!

Answer 5

Get kitten replacement milk at a pet store and small bottles. Don't use regular milk. They are not old enough for kitty food yet.

Answer 6

Water is better than milk. I've had 6 kittens born in my house and when there 3 weeks try watering down some food. Or feed them the wet cat food.

Answer 7

Human milk will make them sick. Don't give that to them! You can get a formula for them from any vet. Put out some kitten chow dry food and see if they eat. If they do not, take them to the vet for advice.

Answer 8

do not feed it cows milk, that is relatively undesirable for cats, quite kittens, because of the fact they might't digest it. flow to the keep, and purchase kitten formula, or goats milk, for cats. they arrive in little containers, and that they are low priced. you should attempt to look after it your self, and have a gorgeous little kitty around to be your better half, or you should flow away it with a vet, if it survives, it has possibly a 20-30% hazard of being accompanied. in any different case... dying :P yet that's what occurs while cats have kittens. :(

Answer 9

The vet will tell you what to do. Are they soo cute? We used to have some kittens that were abandoned by their moma kitty and we had to bottlefeed them and keep them in a box untill they were old enough to meow around.

Answer 10

Get rid of them quick. Take them to the pound. The same thing happened to me about 18 years ago. Now I have an 18 year old cat. I'm not crazy about cats but I couldn't stand to watch them starve. So I feed them, took them to the vet got their shots. One died the one that survived damaged its ACL about 4 years ago. That vet bill was $400.00 and the cat lives on. It still runs around a plays like a kitten, so I'm concerned it may live to 30 or more.

Think about this, taking care of the cats may be a longer commitment than you realize. I thought cats only lived about 6 or 7 years. Well live and learn.

Answer 11

i just found two 5-wk old kitties today. the vet said to give soft food. NO COW MILK. you would need to get kitten formula at a pet store. then take them to the vet first chance you get. they need to be tested for kitty diseases.