Turn the kitten side to side every 5 minutes. To stimulate blood flow, you may, ever so gently, massage the kitten with hand-rubbing. If the kitten does not respond within 20 to 30 minutes, contact your medical staff immediately. Only feed your kittens an approved kitten formula. Hoskins, a homemade formula, is ideal.
You may also use KMR, a powdered commercial formula. The recipe for Hoskins and instructions for mixing KMR are below. If the formula has been left out of the refrigerator for more than 2 hours, it must be discarded.
Formula that has been in the refrigerator must be warmed to just above room temperature. Place the bottle in a bowl of shallow water, then heat in the microwave for 10 seconds. Or you may place the bottle in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes.
If mixing up fresh KMR powder formula, use warm water. Before feeding the kittens, always test the temperature of the formula by placing a few drops on your inner wrist to be sure it is not too hot.
Always wash your hands well with soap and water before and after feeding the kittens. Bottles should be cleaned thoroughly before each use. When bottle nipples are brand new, you will need to cut a hole in the top. Cut an X in the tip of the nipple using small, sharp scissors. Or you can burn a hole in the nipple using a large needle. Heat the needle with a match, then poke it through the nipple tip. It may take a few attempts to make the hole the correct size. Once the hole is made, test it by placing the nipple on a bottle of formula and turning the bottle upside down.
The formula should drip slowly out of the hole. You may also wear gloves if you wish, and remember to always wash your hands well before and after feeding your bottle babies. Never feed a kitten on his back. The kitten should be on his stomach in a position similar to how he would lay next to his mother to nurse.
You may try holding the kitten upright swaddled in a warm towel or have the kitten lay on a towel in your lap. Experiment with what position works best for you and the kitten. Turn the bottle upside down and allow a drop of formula to come out.
This movement should encourage the kitten to start eating. Usually the kitten will latch on and begin to suckle. Allow the kitten to suckle at his own pace. Do not attempt to feed a kitten who is chilled because it can have serious health consequences. Try warming the kitten as described above. If you are unable to warm the kitten, contact your medical staff immediately. A kitten should eat about 8 milliliters mls of formula per ounce of body weight per day. For example, a kitten who weighs 4 ounces should eat about 32 mls of formula per day.
To determine how much to give at each feeding, divide the total amount of formula per day by the number of feedings. Please note that some bottles use ml for measurement, some use cubic centimeters cc.
Using a kitchen or small postal scale, weigh the kittens daily to calculate the amount of formula they need. Keep a log listing daily weights and amount of formula consumed at each feeding. Newborn kittens, up to 1 week old, should be fed every hours; by 2 weeks old, every hours.
Once they are 3 weeks old, they can be fed every 4 to 6 hours. Continue to follow the rule of 8 mls of formula per ounce of body weight per day, as described above, to determine the amount of food the kitten should be eating.
If you are feeding multiple kittens, feed the first kitten until he stops nursing, then begin feeding the next kitten, and so on. Once you have fed all the kittens, feed the first kitten again and repeat with all the kittens. Usually one to three nursing turns will suffice.
Do not overfeed the kittens because it can cause loose stools and diarrhea. Smaller or weaker kittens may eat less per feeding and will need to be fed more often.
Kittens need to be burped, just like human babies. Lay the kitten on his stomach, on your shoulder or in your lap, and very gently pat his back until you hear a little burp. You may need to burp a couple times per feeding. Here are some kitten formula recipes you can make using ingredients available at most grocery stores.
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. Remove from heat. Mix in remaining ingredients and refrigerate. It will keep up to one week. Heat until the formula is nearly warm, check the temperature, then test a few drops of milk on your wrist first.
To do this, stand far away from the kittens — 35 feet or more. If you stand too close, the mom will not approach her kittens. You might need to go away completely before the mother cat will return to attend to the kittens. It might be several hours before the mother cat returns — until she no longer senses the presence of humans hovering near her litter. If you need to leave before the mother cat comes back, carefully evaluate whether the kittens are in immediate danger: Is it raining or snowing?
Are dogs or wild animals that might harm the kittens running loose in the neighborhood? Does the neighborhood have kids or adults who are likely to harm the kittens? Are the kittens located in an area with heavy foot or car traffic? To help with your decision, it is important to know that it might take several hours for the mother cat to return, and healthy kittens can survive this period without food as long as they are warm.
Neonatal kittens are much more at risk of hypothermia than they are of starvation. During spring and summer months, waiting a longer time to see if mom will come back is much safer than during frigid winter months. Remove the kittens only if they are in immediate, grave danger.
The mother cat offers her newborn kittens their best chance for survival, so wait and watch as long as you safely can for her to return before removing them. If the mother cat returns…. If mom returns and the area is relatively safe, leave the kittens alone with mom until they are weaned. You can offer a shelter and regular food to mom, but keep the food and shelter at a distance from each other.
Mom will find the food but will not accept your shelter if the food is nearby, because she will not want to attract other cats to food located near her nest. Learn how to socialize kittens and how to successfully trap a mom and her kittens. If the mother cat does not return….
If you discover that mom has been hit by a car, or if for any reason it appears that she is not coming back, then you should remove the kittens.
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