Kitten Care for First Three Weeks

Sometimes it will become necessary for us to step in a take care of a newborn kitten. Some of the reasons could include the mother cat has died or became to ill to take care of her young ones. It could be that the mother cat had too many kittens to care for or even that the kitten health was bad or sick and the mother cat would not care for it. And then of course there are the people that just do not take care of their cat and it has kittens that the owner does not want. Hopefully, the owner has turned them over to the humane society but sometimes they will just be dumped on a street corner.

Re-guard-less if you obtain the kitten for the shelter, the street corner or one of the kitten adoption agencies, the little fellow has to be taken care of. One of the first and most important things is to provide a dry, warm place for the newborn kitten. A chilled kitten will die quickly. The use of clean, dried old towels or rags in a cardboard box will work just fine. Be careful with the use of the heat lamps and heating pads as the kitten will overheat. Make sure the kitten can crawl away from direct heat if they need to.

The first few weeks of development will determine the kittens overall personally, character and the kittens health. Week one should see a incredible growth rate of almost double the birth weight. Week two will see the kitten, still growing but beginning to open the eyes. Most kittens are born with blue eyes that will stay blue for several weeks. They will have blurred vision because the pupils will not dilate and contract. It is very important to protect the kittens from bright light. With their sense of smell developing, it is not uncommon for the little kitten to hiss at some of the unfamiliar orders they are encountering. At this point the sex of the kitten is still hard to determine even by most veterinarians. Week three will have the ear canals completely open. The kittens will start to socializing with the other kittens in their litter and even some humans.

If the mother cat is not there, it will be left to you to bottle feed a kitten and bath the kitten. Using re-placement milk from the pet store or you your veterinarian, the first three weeks is sort of like having a human baby around. They eat around the clock and you will have to bath them. After each feeding it is very important to use a warm cloth the stimulate the urogenital reflex, like the mother cat does, because the newborn kitten can not voluntary eliminate urine or feces. This will only last around three weeks, then the little kitten will just be one of the family.