Rasing kittens 3 weeks old?

Question

On this comming friday August 17. I am getting 3 male seal point kittens but they are only 3 weeks old. I read in many articles that you should bottle feed them every four hours and some say 2-3 hours but I am not sure. If anyone Breeds cats can they give me the complete rundown on how they care for there felines?

Answer 1

Hello,
I am confused why you are getting kittens so young?
Sorry to answer your ? with a ?...
I am pet lover and did a search hope this might be of some help to you.
Best of luck and purrs your way,
Laura
=^^=

What to expect:

To be placed in human hands before its natural weaning age means that a kitten has lost its mother. A human taking over for a kitten's natural mother must accept absolutely every aspect of raising it until it is adopted. This life and death responsibility for another creature is not something to be taken lightly. Everyone raising kittens on a regular basis eventually experiences the pain of losing a kitten to disease or accident.

found information here:

http://www.leblink.com/~wescom/handrase.htm


another good site here:
http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/kittens2.html

also information from here:
If kittens are under five weeks of age and unable to eat solid food, bottle feed them with kitten formula (KMR, Similac or Just Born) obtained from veterinary clinics or pet supply stores. Cow’s milk does not contain enough fat or protein for kittens. Very young kittens should be kept in a box lined with absorbent paper towels. Keep the box warm (around 90 degrees F.) during the first two weeks of life, using a heating pad covered with a towel, or an infrared lamp. For three-week-old kittens decrease the temperature to around 80 degrees F. If a kitten is too weak to drink from a bottle, feed her from an eye dropper. Massage the belly to stimulate digestion, and use a cotton ball or paper towel to stimulate elimination of urine and feces after each feeding. Moist cotton balls can be used to clean the area afterwards. Rub Vaseline on the anal area. The mother usually cleans the babies during the first few weeks so you will have to take on this task. Begin weaning from three to four weeks old. Mix canned kitten food with kitten formula and hand feed until the kittens are accustomed to eating on their own, then gradually change over completely to canned food.

***and also this was in highlighted print:

If you do not have kitten formula on hand (KMR –Kitten Milk Replacement available at your local petstore) use the following formula for temporary feeding only (12-24 hours). Add one egg yolk to eight ounces of cow’s milk for short term feeding. Feed kittens two tablespoons per four ounces of body weight daily. Divide total amount into equal feedings. Small weak kittens should be fed every three to four hours.

One of the most important things to remember is to keep the orphan kitten warm.
found information here:

http://www.catsunlimited.org/kittens.htm


more information:
http://www.catvet.homestead.com/Raising_Healthy_Kittens_2004.pdf

more information here:
http://216.109.125.130/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=raising+three+week+old+kittens&fr=ush1-mail&u=www.animalalliancepa.org/docs/raising_kittens.pdf&w=raising+three+week+old+kittens+kitten&d=FgLe3-ljPGnQ&icp=1&.intl=us

Answer 2

I have raised many tiny kittens and what I found best was:

make sure they are kept in a very warm place. The mother usually keeps them warm but with out that they will die.

bottle feed them every 2-3 hours

only use cats mother milk replacer (KMR works quite well)

The kittens might not be able to go to the bathroom in there litter box yet. ( the mother helps them do that) You need to take a washcloth and make it damp with warm water. Then gently rub the wash cloth on the kitten's butox.

Also when the kittens are that tiny try to keep them confined in a cage. A dog cage is good so you can fit plenty of bedding and the littler box.

Make sure there is nothing the kittens could hurt themselfs on. Cords wires anything.

Make sure the sides of the litter box dont come up to high so the kitten cant get in.

Never use scoopable little the kitten might get it on his paws andput his foot in the water and it would make cement on his paw.

keep water and dry kitten food in the cage at all times.

After a week or two the kittens will probably be able to eat smushes up wet food. Put some of the milk replacer in the wet food. It might not sound good to you but the kitten will love it. give that to them twice a day

Soon the kitten will eat dry food also.


Kittens will smell but never turn a fan on the kittens will get to chilled.

If the kitten is breathing funny or is sneezing a lot take it to a vet because it might have upper respatory which is very common in kittens.

Answer 3

How awful and sad to hear that you will be getting 3-week old kittens. I assume their mother must have died and they are orphans as no one would take such tiny babies away from their mother while they still depended on her for their health.

Certainly you do need to feed every 2 hours around the clock at first, so say goodbye to sleep! But you can leave longer gaps as they get older so you should be able to manage with 3 or 4 hours during the night and 2 or 3 hours during the day now that they are 3 weeks old. Weigh them daily at the same time to ensure they are gaining weight. You will need the correct equipment and kitten milk formula to feed them.

When they start being able to lap milk for themselves and eat some food you will be able to let them go for longer between feeds until you phase them out completely.

You may need to keep them out of contact with other cats until they are vaccinated as they will missout on the valuable immunity offered from the mother's milk's antibodies.

Good luck with the challenges ahead. The worst risk of death is diarrhoea as it can dehydrate them and they are very vulnerable at such a small size. Try to avoid this by keeping everything very clean and adding a pinch of cat probiotic to the feed. Use a brand like benebac or entrodex.

Answer 4

At 3 weeks this little kitten should still be with it's mum. So you need to be a really good replacement. If the kitten was content it would curl up and have a sleep. Its meowing means it wants something (Milk is the obvious guess). You need to make sure that you keep it nice a warm and you need to feed it a good milk replacer from the vet or pet shop if you can, not the supermarket. Take it to the vet on Monday and get it checked out and get some advice. Good luck.

Answer 5

hi...

i found the articles listed below for you by doing a search for BOTTLE FEEDING KITTENS.

they do make forumlas for kittens, and you can get these at most pet supply stores.

perhaps the website information will be helpful.. you can find answers to most any question by doing a search, either using Yahoo or Google Search engine.

i was wondering if the kittens were orphaned or if their mother had too many to handle? it's usually best for the kittens' health to be left with the mother... emotional problems (i'm not kidding) and weird behaviors are sometimes the result of hand-rearing kittens who otherwise lost their mother, or were taken from her before they were weaned.

take care.

Answer 6

Three weeks old is way too young for them to be leaving their mother. They should be with her until they are atleast 6-8 weeks old. The need to be bottle fed every two hours. Only use cat milk replacer, cow and goat milk is too rich for kittens.

Answer 7

3 weeks old is very young. you will need to bottle feed them for at least 2 weeks. every 4 hours, or when they get restless.

Answer 8

the kittens will cry when they are hungry. it is best to feed them every 4 hours. then you need to take a warm damp cloth and wipe thier bottoms to make sure thet go to the bathroom, because they cant go on thier own.

Answer 9

i would say it would be best to feed every 2-3 hours. that is what the majority of breeders say.