Helping Baby Kitten to Pee or Poop

When it comes to caring for baby kittens that are rescued you must feed, keep them warm and teach them to pee or poop. Newborn or baby kittens do not go to the bathroom on their own, so if you are the foster kitten mom then caring for them means helping them to go to the bathroom

A mother cat will stimulate the kittens by grooming them, so the best way to replace the roughness of a cats tongue is to use a soft washcloth that is dampened with warm water.  Use a new cloth, and designate this washcloth for kitten use only

After you bottle feed the baby kitten, set the kitten on a towel or small blanket. The kitten should be on their back. Then use a soft cotton cloth that is dampened with warm water and gently massage in a circular motion the kitten’s anus and urinary areas. If the kitten is wiggly you may have to hold him in one hand and use the other hand to stimulate the kitten.

A circular motion with the damp cloth will stimulate the area and enable your kitten to go pee or poop. Wipe the kitten clean with the damp cloth and then put the kitten into their warm box so that they do not get a chill.

When your kitten is older (2-3 weeks) and going to the bathroom on their own you will be able to teach them how to use a litter box. I recommend that you buy a litter box with a covering and natural litter like Feline Pine. There are many natural litters available, choose one that you like.

Learn more about helping your kitten pee or poop by viewing this video

Fostering Baby Cat

This week  I agreed to foster a baby cat that was found in a field that was adjacent to a highway. The cat was skin and bones with eyes clouded over which is a sign that death is soon.  

This baby cat was lucky because his meows were heard by a person who was taking a walk before church service. She found the cat and rushed him to animal emergency care, then returned to search for other kittens. 

All of the littermates had been killed on the highway. These baby cats had been abandoned to an area that had no food water, or shelter and kittens would not survive because the only way to get to a neighborhood meant crossing the highway.

Unfortunately, the rescuer could not foster the kitten and had to surrender to another foster.  The rescuer brought the kitten to my city which is an hour away. She gave the six-weeks old kitten to a foster who was elderly and it was not a good match. I was visiting the elderly woman and saw that both kitten and foster was suffering, so I took the baby cat.

The baby cat has suffered great trauma and must be the runt because it is very small. I am keeping until it puts on weight and can get its booster shots. The kitten will be put up for adoption soon. We would prefer to adopt this kitten to a family with experience with cats that have suffered trauma. A trauma kitten or cat needs a family that will pay attention to it.  

Determining Kitten Age

A few weeks ago I thought I found a  8 week old kitten but after taking cat to the veterinarians I found out that the kitten was older.   The veterinarian examined the cat and asked questions pertaining to the kitten eating habits, feeding schedule, sleeping habits and activity, and then determined an approximate age.

I learned that the kitten was approximately 10 weeks old. The cat was small for its age because it was underdeveloped. As a stray, the kitten did not get the proper nutrition. Know that an orphaned kitten could appear to be small due to their lack of food from queen cat or from being abandoned, left to forage on their own.

Feral kitten with Queen cat

Other ways to Determine Age of Kitten 

1. Determine an approximate age for the kitten by their eating-sleeping habits. 
2. A kitten that is not able to go to the bathroom on their own or needs to be fed a milk replacement by way of bottle is a newborn age three weeks and under.
3. If the kitten is drinking replacement milk from a glass bowl, eating soft kitten food or wellness core kitten formula grain free and no GMO kibble moistened with replacement milk and eats five to six times a day the age is 4 to 8 weeks.
4. Kittens that are age 12 to 24 weeks old are weaned from replacement milk and eating solid foods that is moistened with water or canned kitten food. These kittens generally eat three times a day.
Another way to determine the age of a kitten is by their weight: each pound represents month (example 2 pounds = two months)

*The photographs that you view on this post are of the many kittens I have rescued over the years. 

Feeding Rescued Baby Kitten: 3 to 5 Weeks

baby kitten 3 weeks old

This month my husband and I rescued baby kittens. The kittens were put into a Glad trash bag and thrown out onto the center medium of the road during the night hours when the light was poor and the cars sped by.  These baby kittens were newborns as two of them had just opened their eyes and these two out of the five needed help in going to the bathroom. 

We kept the kittens isolated from our cats and decided that due to the trauma that they just endured that we would care for them until they were four lbs.

At first we fed the kitten replacement milk and then when they were 4 week old we shopped at PetSmart for a quality kitten food.  We looked at Blue Buffalo but decided to buy Wellness Core dry kitten food. This is what we are feeding the kittens, a food that will boost their immune system and help them to grow healthy and strong.  .   

Boosting kitten immune system with Wellness Core kitten food

Feeding Baby Kittens, Hairy, Larry, Dini, Molly, and Sally Replacement milk 

At five weeks we were feeding the kitten’s softened solid food because these babies needed to put on weight. We also continued the replacement milk because it was a good way to boost their immune system.

Larry the rescued kitten 5 weeks old

At six weeks the kittens are weighing in approximately two pounds.   The worst thing that cat owner did was take the baby kittens away from their mom at such a young age and then put them in a bag and throw them out like trash.   I am so glad that my husband and I found the babies.

Sickly but beautiful rescued kittens

  

All kittens will be put up for adoption after they get a wellness checkup at the veterinarian and are tested for cat disease, get their booster shots and are wormed.  If you are interested in learning more about these  kittens please leave me a comment below.

Here are some baby kitten photographs.  

Kittens Hairy, Larry, Molly, and Dini eating wellness core kitten food

Baby Dini Kitten