Caring For An Orphaned Kitten
Cats are often stereotyped as proud and solitary animals, but that certainly isn’t the case with kittens. These fragile little furballs require careful and nearly constant care in their first few months of life. Without their mother to feed, warm, clean, and protect them, kittens can find themselves in a perilous situation.
Luckily, humans can make great stand-in mothers if they know how to care for kittens properly. The most crucial part of kitten care is knowledge, so let’s explore some information that is required for successful orphan kitten care.
How do you know if a kitten has been orphaned?
An orphaned kitten is any kitten without a mother. Normally this brings stray kittens to mind. Stray kittens may lose their mother to an accident or can be abandoned by their mother for a variety of reasons. Kittens born from an indoor cat can also become orphaned if the mother is unable to provide adequate milk or neglects to care for them.
An orphaned kitten can usually be distinguished from a well-cared-for kitten. Orphaned kittens are far more likely to be cold, dirty, skinny, lethargic, injured, and ill than a kitten with an attentive mother. Even if the mother may still be present, kittens that are injured or in an otherwise dangerous scenario will likely need more help than their mother can provide.
This is when caring people have the opportunity to be stand-in mothers for kittens in need.
What medical care does an orphaned kitten need?
Even if an orphaned kitten looks relatively healthy, visiting a veterinarian is very important. A professional assessment and basic tests can help catch concerns before they become too serious.
Typical concerns include parasitic infections, contagious diseases, injuries that are not healing well, and issues with development. A veterinarian is also a great resource for estimating an orphaned kitten’s age so you can properly plan out events that are necessary for certain life stages, like weening and vaccines.
If you are a first-time orphaned kitten parent, your veterinarian can help you learn to track your kitten’s growth for early disease detection. Good record keeping can identify issues very early on, and having your kitten established at a trusted clinic makes it easier to seek help in emergency situations.
How to feed an orphaned kitten
Kittens still have to develop a lot from when they are born to when they become self-sufficient. It takes months for most of their natural functions to work properly, and this includes their immune system. Nature has come up with a clever way to bolster a kitten’s immune system and support physical development, which is their mother’s milk.
Feline milk production has evolved to specifically support the needs of a growing kitten. The first few days after giving birth, mother cats produce antibody-rich milk known as colostrum. This kick-starts a kitten’s ill-equipped immune system so they can better protect themselves from disease. After colostrum production, mother cats produce protein-rich milk that support’s their kitten’s rapid growth until they are weaned.
Orphaned kittens don’t have access to this rich nutrient source, and many orphaned kittens may not receive colostrum depending on when they were orphaned. This puts orphaned kittens at a severe disadvantage, and milk from any other mammal will not suffice. An improper balance of nutrients can be fatal for a kitten, so the best option is a feline milk replacer.
Most commercial feline milk formulas will have instructions for preparation and feeding on the packaging, but there are a few crucial points to remember. First, any powdered formula that is prepared should be warmed to around 100℉ and tested on your wrist before use. A cold formula can make kittens sick and if it is too hot it can burn them.
Only prepare as much formula as you need, because it can not be used after being at room temperature for more than an hour. Milk replacer is a great growth medium for bacteria, which can be severely detrimental to kittens with underdeveloped immune systems. Always store and clean all feeding equipment properly to avoid contamination.
Bottle feeding is the closest thing to natural suckling for young kittens, but bottles can be tricky. The hole in the nipple has to be just right to ensure kittens don’t choke on excess milk or get exhausted suckling hard for small droplets. A well-sized nipple should only release one drop at a time if flipped upside down and squeezed lightly.
During the first two weeks of a kitten’s life, they tend to nurse every 2 to 4 hours and should always be fed with their head in a neutral position. By the third and fourth weeks, feedings are every 3 to 4 hours until they are weened around the fourth week. This feeding schedule is very rigorous and should also entail some record keeping, so prepare yourself for a pretty serious month-long commitment when it comes to feeding orphaned kittens.
How to house an orphaned kitten
Feeding may be the most labor-intensive part of caring for orphaned kittens, but providing kittens with a suitable environment is also important. Kittens need a heat source that they can cuddle up with and move away from as needed, so they can regulate their own body temperature.
Their environment should be clean and safe, which means the kittens need to be clean as well. Kittens under the age of 3 weeks will need to be cleaned with a warm damp washcloth to properly eliminate. At such a young age, they can not go to the bathroom on their own and must be stimulated. Once they are old enough to go to the bathroom on their own you can start litterbox training but will still have to clean their sleeping area regularly.
Interactions are an important part of social development in kittens, but these interactions should be managed in a way that does not risk their physical health. Hold kittens carefully and with clean hands. You should also only allow them to interact with other cats if you know they are healthy and if the kittens have already been vaccinated.
Orphaned kitten care is no small task. Raising healthy kittens takes months and is not without its expenses, but it is a deeply fulfilling experience. If you are lucky, you may even raise your perfect companion.