Kitten at four weeks.
A newborn, or neonatal, kitten is an around-the-clock job. If at all possible, kittens should stay with their mother or a willing surrogate until they are at least six weeks old, ideally eight weeks. However, if the mother cat has abandoned her litter or died, you can adopt and care for newborn kittens. You will need formula, a heating pad and plenty of love and patience.
Warming Your Kittens
Make sure your kittens are kept warm. If they feel cold and appear listless, they need to be warmed up. Hold them to your body and gently massage them to get their body temperatures back up to normal. To keep them at a healthy body temperature, put them in a cardboard box or plastic cat or dog crate and place a heating pad on low under half of the box or crate. Do not put the heating pad under the entire box or crate to insure that the kittens have a space to move to should they become over-heated.
A large box or crate is perfect for keeping newborn kittens in. You do not want them running loose in a room where they could get lost or hurt. When they are four weeks and older, you will need to gradually give them more space.
Feeding Your Kittens
Kittens under four weeks of age--kittens this young are still wobbly on their feet--are completely dependent on their mother's milk. If you are now acting as their mother, you can buy kitten formula at most pet supply stores or at a veterinarian's office. If your kittens are under 36 hours old--kittens this young will have tightly shut eyes and ears, will be pinkish in color, will be unable to walk and will still have part of the umbilical cord attached--get a formula that has colostrum to supply your kittens with the antibodies needed to stay healthy. Do not feed your kittens cow's milk, it will give them diarrhea because your kittens will not be able to digest it.
You can also find bottles for newborn kittens at pet stores. Another option is to use an oral syringe that has measurements for easy calculations of how much to feed your kittens. With the bottle, you need to poke holes in the nipple. With the oral syringe, you just slowly drip it into the kittens' mouth.
Keep records of how much your kittens are eating to determine if they are getting enough or too much food. An underfed kitten will be restless and cry a lot. An overfed kitten will be lethargic and have grayish stools. Both of these conditions are dangerous for newborn kittens. If the instructions on the formula you buy do not include how much to feed a kitten follow these guidelines. Joan E. Bush on CarePets.com instructs that a one week old kitten should get a little more than five cc (cc or cubic centimeter is a medical measurement that equals one milliliter) of kitten formula six times a day for a total of 32cc a day; a two week old kitten should get 14cc four times a day for a total of 56cc; a three week old kitten should get a little over 26cc three times a day for a total of 80cc; a four week old kitten should get a little over 34cc three times a day for a total of 104cc and a five week old kitten should get a little over 42cc three times a day for a total of 128cc a day. Samantha Brandt of Animaler.net recommends that an unweaned kitten never be fed less than four times a day and up to six times a day to avoid low blood sugar.
For kittens two weeks and younger, you will need to get up during the night and feed them. They cannot be left for more than a few hours without eating. At four weeks of age you can offer them soft cat food food mixed with formula to create a gruel in addition to their regular formula feedings. At six to eight weeks of age your kittens can be weaned.
Grooming Your Kittens
A mother cat stimulates her kittens to urinate and defecate by licking their genitals. With kittens three weeks and under, groom them after you feed them. Using a soft damp cloth or cotton ball, gently stroke your kittens' genitals until they urinate and defecate. This is extremely important. Your newborn kittens cannot do this on their own. Around the age of four weeks old you can introduce a litter box with low sides over which the kittens can maneuver. Continue to monitor the kittens to make sure they are eliminating on their own.
Many newborn, abandoned kittens come with fleas. If your kittens have fleas, gently wash them with a mild soap and comb the fleas off of them. Fleas are very dangerous and can cause anemia in newborn kittens. Make sure you do not let your kittens become chilled while bathing them; keep the room at 85 degrees and dry them immediately, rubbing them lightly for stimulation. Kitten lice can be removed in the same way as fleas.
Visits to the Vet
If you notice consistent diarrhea or see parasites in your kittens' feces, take a stool sample to your veterinarian so she can prescribe a medicine for them. Other health obstacles for kittens are upper respiratory infections (URIs) which are highly contagious from kitten to kitten and can escalate into other health problems. If you notice your kittens having snotty noses, sneezing or goopy eyes, get them to a veterinarian for medication. Ringworm is another common health problem in kittens. Ringworm is a fungus that causes the kitten to lose fur in circular patterns. This can be transmitted from kitten to person, so be sure to wash up well after handling a kitten you suspect has ringworm.
By the time your kittens are eight weeks old, get them to your veterinarian for a regular check-up and to have their blood tested to make sure they do not have a serious diseases such as feline leukemia.
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