What Can I Give A Newborn Kitten To Drink
During his first few weeks a kitten must be raised on milk.
What can i give a newborn kitten to drink. The cornell book of cats says that human baby formula can be used if made up to double the normal strength although human baby formula is normally not nutritious enough for kittens. Feeding the wrong sort of milk such as cow s milk can have short term and long term effects including diarrhea dehydration nutritional deficiencies and long term health problems due to poor growth. A kitten should stay with their mother and drink their milk up to 8 weeks after birth even 10 weeks before being adopted. This applies only to mom s milk though as cow s milk can often lead to tummy distress and diarrhea troubles in kittens so be careful and keep it away from them.
Nothing replaces their mother to give them the nutrients they need and the care that will allow them to have the best socialization and a good immune system development. To give newborn kittens away wait until they re at least 8 weeks old since they ll be better off staying with their mother for as long as possible. A newborn kitten can only digest milk and more specifically the milk from a female cat. Newborn kittens may nurse about every 1 2 hours.
Preferably the mother cat will provide the kitten with her own milk. Then after 8 weeks try to find friends family members coworkers or neighbors who are interested in adopting a kitten. At about three to four weeks old they can be offered milk replacer from a bowl and then small amounts of moistened kitten food four to six times a. One of the biggest mistakes that people make is giving a newborn kitten water.
The aspca states that this milk provides all of a kitten s required nourishment. Kittens orphaned prior to 4 weeks old need to drink a kitten milk replacement formula. Colostrum the first milk that newborn kittens receive in their first day or so after whelping is responsible not only for providing nutrition but also for the transfer of crucial maternal. In the meantime make sure you get the kittens vaccinated and spayed or neutered so they re healthy when you give them away.
These formulas come in either canned liquid or powdered form.