What do I feed a baby kitten?

Question

I have an aboned, i don't know how old, kitten wandering around my computer desk looking for food. It's eyes are open but it dosn't have very many teeth. I don't think it can eat kitten food. I have heard not to feed it normal human milk, but I do not know for sure wither it is true. Any suggestions on what to feed it?

Answer 1

You must get the KMR replacement milk from a pet store and not give the kitten ANY cow's milk for now. Sounds as if it about four-five weeks old. It might need a bottle for a week more and then you can mush up the replacement milk with some good canned food (Natural Balance, Innova, Blue, Lick Your Chops etc.) - no Whiskas, Friskies, Science Diet or Fancy Feast.

A young kitten such as you describe needs food about four to five times a day right now so that little tyke is definitely ready for a feeding. Please don't resort to canned human tuna or any other human meat you may have around. Even a few days on baby food (meat only - no ONION or garlic) - chicken and turkey are easiest to digest is fine. Not too long on that as cats and kittens need taurine in their food and there is none in the baby food.

You can add a teaspoon of filtered water to that to make it soupy and see if he knows how to get it in him.

Answer 2

Hi! I am a Vet tech at a feline only hospital. The only thing to give the kitten if she is too young for solid food is KMR. Do not feed it cow milk or goat milk and especially not soy milk. Kittens do not have the digestive enzymes to get the nutrients they need from anything but KMR.

After you try the KMR, Since you aren't sure how old the kitten is, you may also want to try a wet canned food. Try something very stinky like Fancy Fish Ocean Whitefish. Thats a sure way to tell if the kitten is old enough to transition away from formula.

If your kitten is old enough to transfer off of KMR then, switch to a High quality cat food such as Science Diet .

Good Luck! And enjoy!

Answer 3

9 months ago I found two two week old kittens inside a trash compactor. I went to petco and got a kitten sized bottle. I also got KMR milk. This is a very good brand to get. I warmed it by putting it into the bottle and then outting the bottle in a cup of hot water. This heated the milk more evenly than microwaving which can cause spots to be too cold or too hot. warming the food is very important! do not feed the kitten cold milk! it will chill the kitten and get it sick. Now i do not remeber the exact amount of food i fed them, but i remember by three weeks they were fed more than 2 hours apart. It is better to SLIGHTLY under feed the kitten than over feed it, as it will cause it to get diarrhea, however if you notice the kitten is constipated ad a little bit of water to the milk to hydrate the kitten. do an online search to know when the soonest is you can switch the kitten to wet food. you do not want to keep the kitten on the milk for any longer than it has to be. I know when they feed from their mother they are weened around 8 weeks, but i weened mine at 5 weeks on the advice from a vet that the longer the kitten is on the milk the more likely the kitten will die from not getting enough nutrients. when you do ween it then feed it a high quility canned food specificly for kittens to make sure it is getting the proper nutriants. Make sure you keep the kitten warm and dry!

Answer 4

You'll have to pick up some special kitten milk from the vet. You may be able to find it at a pet store, but I'm not positive. No, it's definitely not a good idea to feed the kitten milk that we would normally consume. And yes, the kitten sounds way too young to be able to eat even wet food. The best idea would be to contact your veterinarian just to ask. The should be able to give you some information via the telephone.

Answer 5

Go to walmart and get something called "KMR" It stands for Kitten Milk Replacement.
Feed the kitten every 6 hours with a bottle you can also get at walmart.
This part is VERY IMPORTANT!!!!! **when the kitten is done eating, take a warm damp washcloth or cotton ball and gently rub it butt. Meaning its butthole. This simulates the mothers licking behaviour and that is the ONLY way the kitten will poop and pee. If you dont do this, the kitten will die. Its not that gross and you can always wash your hands! If you cant handle doing that, get it to an animal shelter today!
Check out this website for more info on bottlefeeding kittens. Is gives all you need to know.
http://www.kitten-rescue.com/bottle_feeding_kitten.html

Answer 6

When a stray cat that adopted us had kittens, my daughter and I took it over to grannys and she fed the kitten with a syringe similar to how you give newborns medicine, I have also seen kittens fed by baby bottles. And as for "milk" I have seen at Walmart a formula that is for kittens.

Answer 7

Go to your nearest Wal-Mart. In the pet section, they sell liquid and powdered formula for kittens (and Puppies) along with bottles. The instructions for feeding are on the label.

Answer 8

If they are still nursing replacement milk you can get at the feed store. If they have teeth canned food and or dry food that has been softened with water.

Answer 9

If you are near the NH/MA line and would like help with bottle-feeding let me know, I'd be happy to help out. I have lots of experience bottle-feeding and socailizing kittens.

Answer 10

They can drink milk. Its best to buy kitten food and some wet food b/c the dry food is made smaller so the kitten can chew the food. Too much wet food is bad for the bowels, they get stinky poop.