What To Feed Newborn Kittens By Hand
Bottle feed the kitten.
What to feed newborn kittens by hand. Some breeders tube feed kittens routinely but there are several dangers in this. For malnourished or orphaned kittens. The energy requirements of the kitten are estimated to about. Newborn kittens have a delicate stomach and won t be able to digest average milk.
Kmr milk replacer a commercial formula comes in both liquid and powdered varieties for hand feeding newborn kittens. Therefore you will need to purchase kitten milk replacement kmr formulas to feed the baby kitten. Kitten puppy milk from the supermarket is not suitable. Queen s milk is highly digestible and very calorie dense.
What to feed your kittens newborn kittens need artificial milk formula specifically for kittens. A 2 to 3 week old kitten will still need to be fed every 2 3 hours and it should consume at least 1 2 tablespoon of formula or milk during each meal. 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. Compared to cow s milk queen s milk contains more than twice as much protein which helps explain why cow s milk is not ideal for feeding orphaned kittens.
Tube feeding is perhaps the cleanest and most efficient method of hand feeding. How to bottle feed your newborn kittens. The liquid is more convenient and less prone to clumping but it is less economical than powdered formula since an opened can has a very short lifespan and must be thrown out within days. The natural composition of the milk of the mother cat changes.
However it requires proper equipment and technical skill. Preparing to bottle feed your kitten. Depending on its size and condition your newborn kitten will need approximately nine to 12 daily feedings. Artificial milk should be the food that best meets a kitten s needs.
Commercial kitten milk replacers are recommended as they are superior to cow s milk and home made mixtures. This is available from most vets and reputable pet shops. If a kitten is nursing from its mother you ll have to depend on how much the kitten weighs to know whether or not it is consuming enough food. Some of the best kitten milk replacement formulas are nutri vet hartz just born nurturall c and pet lac.