Orphaned kitten care

Kittens that don’t have mothers to care for them perhaps need the most human interaction of any type of kitten. They need to be loved and cared for perhaps more so than other kittens.

If you find yourself in a position in which you must care for a young kitten only a few days or weeks old, you should help it by constructing an incubator box that can simulate a kitten’s mother. Any shoe box could work. You need to find a lightbulb or heating pad that can keep the temperature inside that box between 80 and 90 degrees. You need to pay special attention to the temperature. Temperatures too warm could harm the kitten, and temperatures too cool may not do any good. As the kitten gets older you can decrease the temperature.

If you are responsible for taking care of more than one orphaned kitten, you should separate them in different boxes or cages if you can. You don’t want to get into a situation in which the kittens are sucking on each others’ tails (some orphaned kittens do this emulating the sucking of a mother’s nipple). Separating them also helps you monitor their health more easily. Make sure each kitten has a soft padded place they can go to rest.

Grooming is critical when it comes to the health and maintenance of young kittens. You should brush the kitten’s fur gently on a daily basis to keep it free from tangles. You should clean its eyes daily with a salt-and-water mix to keep them healthy. You can clean their eyes using a cotton swab. You should also make sure you keep the kitten’s skin well hydrated. Heat tends to dry out skin. Rubbing baby oil may help remedy this.

You want to make sure the orphaned kittens are getting enough to eat. Kittens should be pleasantly plump in size. If they’re too thin, they aren’t getting enough to eat. You need to make sure they have a fat, healthy belly.