Many good  hearted people find baby kittens in their yards and believe the mother has abandoned them. In most  cases, however, the feral mom without a food source is simply out hunting for food and water.  We always tell folks to monitor and not take kittens inside unless for many hours the mom has not come back but instead to put food and water dishes near the kittens so the mom does not have to leave them

 

Bottle feeding is sometimes the only way to keep babies alive if their mothers have indeed abandoned them or the mom has been killed.  

 

Keep them warm until you find a bottle feeding provider.  Cover and put on a heating pad if you have one. Use an eye dropper to give them some warm water.  Hold them upright while you provide them with the water because cats will aspirate the water into their lungs if laid on their back.

 

Bottle feeding is not an easy  task because the bottles do not feel, smell or taste like mom.  It takes a seasoned experienced person to maneuver the bottles just right so that the babies begin sucking.  If under a week old many times we must begin with a syringe rather than a bottle.

 

Babies normally eat every 2-4 hours and after eating must be manually “peed”.

 

The momma licks the babies’  private parts and that makes the babies urinate and defecate.  We use warm water with a tiny cloth or cotton ball to gently stimulate the area and it works. We place a paper towel under them to make sure they have urinated.

 

Most feral babies come with fleas so the first task is generally giving baths with Dawn detergent which kills them.  

 

Babies are placed in a carrier with a heating pad and many soft clean baby blankets to cover them.  These blankets need to be changed continually.

 

Depending on their ages, most of them survive but unfortunately if they have been without warmth and milk for an extended period of time, it takes great skills to keep them alive.  We all know we can’t save them all.

 

At about 5 weeks we begin introducing food to them which usually ends up all over their little bodies and is so cute to see.  We take dry kitty food mixed with water, milk and a little canned food and make a mush which is microwaved to serve warm.  

 

They are usually done with being bottle fed after 6 weeks.