Bottle Feeding Newborn Kittens

Never feed a kitten cow s milk or other dairy products dairy alternatives or human baby formula as this can be dangerous or even fatal to the kitten.

Bottle feeding newborn kittens.

Never feed a kitten on her back like a human baby would eat as this can cause the kitten to inhale fluid into the lungs. For a particularly small kitten you may want to use a syringe or dropper to feed it instead. To feed a baby kitten without a mother feed it a kitten milk replacement formula using a sterilized feeding bottle. How do i feed a newborn kitten.

You re going to need to purchase kitten formula you cannot feed kittens the milk that is in your fridge. This resource provides instructions for caring for bottle feeding kittens bottle babies very young kittens who have been abandoned or orphaned. The kittens wouldn t latch on the pet store nipples and by the time these miracle nipples arrived we were basically force feeding them with the syringe. Kitten bottle feeding and stomach capacity chart estimated kitten age weeks kitten weight lbs oz kitten weight grams daily caloric requirement amount of formula per day ml amount per feeding ml approximate number of feedings per day 1 week 2 oz 57 g 11 kcal 15 ml 2 ml 7 3 oz 85 g 17 kcal 23 ml 3 ml 7 4 oz 113 g 23 kcal 31 ml.

To feed a newborn kitten start by purchasing a kitten milk replacement formula at your local pet store. It includes information on feeding weaning medical care developmental milestones and more. A mother cat s milk provides everything a kitten needs during the first four weeks of life. Always bottle feed in a natural belly down posture the kitten should be comfortably lying or seated with her belly toward the floor.

Feed kittens using a safe posture. In order to bottle feed the kitten you will need to gather a few supplies. Table of contents 1 warmth and bedding 2 feeding 3 weaning 4 weight and hydration 5. This is very time consuming for someone who is bottle feeding a newborn kitten so if at all possible you will want to try to keep the kitten with its mother or a surrogate lactating cat who can nurse it.

You should feed the kitten for 5 10 minutes every 2 hours and never go longer than 4 hours in between feedings. Regular human baby bottles will likely be too big but most pet stores have newborn kitten bottles and nipples as well as a commercial formula specifically designed for kittens. Next use a bottle and teat set specifically designed for kittens or use a syringe to drip the milk into your kitten s mouth.