How to Care for an Orphaned Kitten
Finding and taking care of orphaned kittens often requires a different approach to looking after your own cats or kittens. For one thing, you will need to be patient and make sure that the animal starts to eat again as quickly as you can.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
The first thing to do is to make sure that the orphaned kitten starts taking in nutrition again as quickly as possible. Small kittens won't be able to handle solid food just yet, although warming up saucer of kitten milk in the microwave is usually well received. Regular milk is often not well tolerated by kittens, so specialized kitten milk, that can be purchased from most pet stores, is a better option.
-
2
Next, if you have any other cats in the house, introduce them to the new kitten. There are three ways this can go, depending on the personality of the cats you have. Males will tend to be cordial, but otherwise uninterested in new kittens, and will usually let the kittens sleep with them and follow them around without being bothered. Female cats that have had kittens recently will often take the kitten as their own, as well as recently fixed females who don't actually have any kittens of their own. If they are producing milk, then the kitten will essentially have a new parent, and can be treated the same as any other cat. Some female cats, such as those who are pregnant, or otherwise intolerant of strangers might hiss and swipe at unfamiliar kittens near them. They won't generally attack to cause damage, but will keep the kitten well away from them.
-
-
3
Make sure that the kitten has a warm place to sleep, particularly if it doesn't have any other cats which it can sleep next to. Naturally, kittens sleep in a pile with their brothers, sisters and mother, which helps them to stay warm. If they are alone, however, they will often get sick from being too cold during the night. The easiest way to keep a kitten warm is to put an old towel on a couch for them and to sit with the kitten before you go to bed to keep it warm. It should fall asleep there readily, and cats return to warm places to sleep once they have found them.
-
4
When the kitten is a little bigger, it will be time to introduce it to solid food. If it has been taken under the wing of a larger cat, then this will usually happen naturally, as they will follow what they see the other cat doing. If there are no other cats around for role models, then you might have to introduce the kitten to food yourself. This is easiest done with canned food, as it is stronger smelling and better tasting to most cats. Simply dip the kitten's nose into the food for a second, and when it licks its face to clean itself, it will taste the food. From here it should want to eat by itself.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
If you found the kitten, keep an eye out in case the mother is looking for it.
References
- Photo Credit Martin Poole/Digital Vision/Getty Images
