Kittens should be put in a warm nest where the wind can't blow. You can use paper boxes, disinfection cat cages, laundry baskets, etc. Put a towel or blanket on it, and you need a heat source to keep the kitten warm, because the kitten can't adjust the temperature by itself until it is 4 weeks old. This heat source can be an electric blanket, a thermos bottle or an electric lamp for heating. Don't let the heat source be too close to the kittens to avoid scalding them, and the heat source should be in a corner of the cat's nest, so that the kittens can move to a cooler place in the nest when it is too hot. The temperature in the cat's nest will change from 32-34℃ (the hottest place) to 24-27℃ on the other side. When kittens are 4 weeks old, the external environment can be kept at about 24℃. If there are several kittens in a litter, it may not be necessary to make the litter as hot as when there are only one or two kittens, because they can snuggle together to keep warm.

The humidity is about 50% to prevent dehydration. If it is too dry, you can spray some water outside the cat's nest or put an air humidifier.

Kittens under 3 weeks old had better not be exposed to the sun directly.

2. Basic nursing care

If the kitten eats some of its mother's milk, it will have a higher chance of survival because it gains some immunity from colostrum. If kittens have not eaten colostrum, they are more likely to get sick and die. It is particularly important to maintain hygiene.

Health-related preventive measures

1) Don't let cats touch other pets (even if they are immunized). Kittens should be isolated for at least 14 days, and there is not enough fatal infectious disease after inspection. Cats are likely to carry all kinds of germs and parasites.

2) Don't keep several kittens together.

3) Cleaning and disinfection of feeding utensils, cat nest pads and cat towels with boiling water.

4) Wash your hands well with disinfectant soap before and after touching kittens.

5) Cooked cat milk should not be stored for more than 24 hours. Cat milk that is not used for the time being should be stored in the refrigerator.

6) Cat milk stored at room temperature should not exceed 1 hour, and kittens should not be fed after exceeding 1 hour.

7) Heat the amount to be fed only once, and heat it with hot water. It is best not to use the microwave oven (if you use the microwave oven, shake the heated milk for a while to let some hot milk in the milk disperse).

Step 3: Feed.

frequency

Kittens of 0-2 weeks old are fed every 2-3 hours and once at night.

2-3-week-old kittens are fed every 4 hours, not at night, but the feeding interval should not exceed 6 hours.

4-6-week-old kittens are fed every 6 hours and don't need to be fed at night. They can persist for 8- 10 hours without feeding, and eat some cat food themselves. You can offer them cat food in public.

Often feeding kittens can prevent them from hypothermia, but if they are fed too often, the milk in their stomachs will never be emptied, which will cause flatulence because of milk fermentation, which is also bad.

Cat milk powder

Use the recommended cat milk substitute-cat milk powder. These cat milk powders are prepared according to the energy required for the normal growth of kittens, and the required amount should be fed according to the instructions of the milk powder. All brewed milk should be heated to 35-38℃ in hot water before feeding it to kittens (if microwave oven is used, shake the bottle after heating, because uneven heating in microwave oven will produce hot spots, and kittens will burn after drinking hot milk). If you want to know whether the temperature of milk is appropriate, you can drop a drop on the inside of your wrist. If you don't feel or feel warm, the temperature is appropriate.

If you can't buy cat milk powder for a while, you can temporarily use the following formula milk powder substitutes:

180ml whole milk (goat milk is better)

2 egg yolks (no egg whites)

1/2 teaspoons of vegetable oil

1 drop of children's vitamins

Stir well and heat to 35-38℃ with hot water.

cat food

Cats must breastfeed until they are four weeks old. Starting from the fourth week, you can mix cat milk and a little canned cat food in a shallow dish and heat it to a slight temperature (if it is heated in a microwave oven, it will only take a few seconds, and it will be stirred evenly after heating, because the microwave oven is not evenly heated), so that they can try and get used to the taste of canned cat, and slowly they will eat it from the basin. Gradually reduce cat milk and increase cat cans. After a week, you can add soft and dry baby cat food to the basin, and gradually stop adding cat milk to the bowl and reduce the cat milk in the bottle until there is none. When the kitten is six weeks old, it should eat its own kitten food and drink the water in the bowl. This process should be gradual, don't be too anxious. Don't use too big a cat food basin for kittens. Experience has proved that kittens often use too large a cat food basin as a cat toilet, defecate or urinate in it, or stand directly in the cat food basin to eat. )

Drink the water in the basin

When the kitten is four or five weeks old, it should be able to drink the water in the basin by itself. Provide them with a short and heavy plate so that the kitten can stand in it without being knocked over. Try to put the plate in the corner and keep a distance from the basin. At first, you can dip your fingers in water and apply it to its nose, leading it to the place where you put the basin. Because it has started to eat from the basin at this time, it should soon learn to drink from the basin.

Feeding mode

No matter which feeding method, the most important thing is not to let the milk flow into the kitten's lungs. Hold the kitten's stomach with your hands, let it lie prone and raise its head a little.

1) Eat with a spoon

This is a slow and patient way. Pour the milk in the spoon slowly into the kitten's mouth every time, not too fast, so as to avoid the milk flowing to the kitten.

In the lungs. Don't hold the kitten's head too high, or it will be fed to the lungs. Newborn kittens don't develop well, and there will be no sadness and cough when they are fed to their lungs. Suitable for weak kittens who can't suck by themselves.

2) drip milk with an injection needle tube

Similar to spoon feeding, it is suitable for weak kittens who can't suck by themselves, but it is cleaner and faster. Put a certain amount of kitten milk in the needle tube and put it in the cat's mouth, one drop at a time, so that the kitten can swallow it calmly instead of choking. Write down the amount of each feeding. If the kitten knows that the milk comes from here, it may start to wash and suck the needle tip to suck out the milk. At this time, you'd better use a bottle instead of feeding it.

3) Feeding with a bottle

Healthy, nursing kittens like to use bottles, which is also a more natural way to feed. Kittens will eat by themselves until they are full. The size of the hole in the nipple is very important. You need to cut a hole yourself. The size of this hole is such that the bottle is turned upside down and only one drop of milk drops at a time. If the hole is too big, milk will flow out of the hole one after another, which will make the kitten breathe into the lungs. If you need to squeeze the bottle to let the milk flow out, the hole is too small, which will make the kitten eat very hard and not enough.

4) Eating through the esophagus

This is the simplest, cleanest and fastest method, but it requires the right tools and skilled skills to avoid pouring milk into the lungs. If the kitten is weak, sometimes it can only be fed like this.

After each feeding, it is best to wipe the kitten's mouth with a warm wet tissue to wipe off the leaked milk. Don't feed too much at once, especially at the beginning. After feeding, massage the kitten's whole body by imitating the licking action of the cat's mother with hands or dry towels, or pat and massage the kitten's side until it burps.

weight

A food scale accurate to "grams" is very useful. It can be used to weigh kittens every day to ensure their healthy growth. The birth weight of kittens is about 90- 120g, which should be increased to twice the birth weight in the first week 1 ~ 2, and to three times the birth weight in the third to fourth weeks. You should gain weight10-13g every day.

You can refer to this:

The ideal age, ambient temperature (Celsius), daily feeding times, daily feeding amount and ideal weight of the kitten.

0- 1 week 29.4-32.2 6 hello13-15ml 90-120g per100g (at birth).

1-2 weeks 26.7-29.4 5 feed15-18ml170-230g per 100g body weight (one week).

2-3 weeks 23.9-26.7 4 Feed 300-350g 20ml per 100g body weight.

3-4 weeks 2 1. 1-23.9 3 Feed 20ML per 100g body weight and start eating 350-400g cat food.

For more than 4 weeks, 2 1. 1.3 mainly eats cat food, and some cats eat more than 400 grams of cat food.

4, defecation kittens need to stimulate defecation. Use a soft cloth, cotton ball or facial tissue dipped in warm water to imitate the licking action of the cat's mother and gently wipe the defecation part of the kitten. Many times, kittens urinate first and then defecate. Every time after feeding, the kitten has to urinate every time. There may not always be stool, if there is, the amount and texture of stool discharged each time should be recorded (normal stool should be toothpaste-like, yellow-green like mustard). Be sure to stimulate the kitten to defecate and avoid constipation. (If possible, it can be stimulated to defecate once before feeding and once again 15 minutes after feeding).

Stimulate defecation, keep the kitten 3-4 weeks old, and then let it learn to use the litter box. At first, they didn't know the purpose of the cat litter box. You can stimulate them to defecate at the top of the basin, and put them in the basin when they see the start of excretion, so that the feces can be discharged into the sand basin. Many times, kittens naturally realize it and learn to use cat litter by themselves. After each feeding 15 minutes, put the kitten in the sand basin to remind it to go to the toilet. Don't start with a trash can over an inch. 5CM) is convenient for kittens to get in and out. Caked cat litter can't be used, because kittens will eat it indiscriminately. Caked cat litter contains ingredients similar to cement, which may block the intestines and cause big problems.

Before the kitten learns to use the litter box, it is best to keep the kitten on the floor that is easy to clean. If you find that kittens always go to the toilet in a fixed place, clean it up and put a small pot of cat litter on it, which may speed up the training, because they are used to going to the toilet in that place, and cat litter will trigger their nature. When they get used to using that small sand basin, you can slowly move it to the place where you want them to use the big cat sand basin and put it in the big basin.

If the kitten makes a mistake and goes to the toilet outside the cat's sand basin, put its stool in the sand basin and bury it shallowly to remind it that this is a toilet. When you start training, you can put a newspaper in the kitten's activity place, just in case.

5. Possible problems during feeding.

The common diseases of newborn kittens are hypoglycemia, dehydration and hypothermia. These diseases will kill kittens. The common signs of a kitten's illness are: it keeps barking, growing up and becoming listless and soft. Kittens seldom bark. If they bark often, it means they are uncomfortable: too cold, hungry, sick and so on.

dehydrate

Insufficient water intake, diarrhea, too high ambient temperature or too dry environment may dehydrate kittens. If this happens, it should be found and treated as soon as possible. Kittens die easily from dehydration.

There are two ways to diagnose whether a kitten is dehydrated:

1) Pick up the skin at the back of the kitten's neck, pinch it and let it go. If the skin recovers quickly, there is no problem. If the skin slowly returns to its original position, or keeps your pinched shape, it is dehydrated.

2) Touch the cat's mouth. If it is wet, there is no problem, but if the mouth feels sticky or dry, it is dehydrated.

It is best to keep the ambient humidity at 55-65%. If a kitten is very small and weak, it may need 85%-90% humidity, but please note that if it is very humid, the ambient temperature should not exceed 90 F (32.2 C). 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius) and 95% humidity can cause breathing problems.

hypothermia

Hypothermia killed many kittens. Kittens need to rely on external heat sources to maintain normal body temperature. Normal body temperature measured from anus is:

Week 1: 95-99 degrees Fahrenheit (35-37.2 degrees Celsius)

Second/third week: 97- 100 degrees Fahrenheit (36. 1-37.7 degrees Celsius)

By the fourth week, it is the temperature of normal adult cats: (100-102f; 37.7 to 38.9 degrees Celsius)

If the body temperature drops below 94 F (34.4 C), the metabolism will drop to a dangerous level, and measures should be taken immediately to keep the kitten warm. Healthy kittens can generally be saved if they are warmed up slowly. If you warm up too fast, the kitten will die. The best way is to stick to your body and warm it with your body temperature.

In the first four days, the ambient temperature should be kept at 85-90 degrees Fahrenheit (29.4-32.2 degrees Celsius). Thereafter, it can be gradually reduced to 80 F (26.7 C) from the 7th day to 10 day, and then to 72 F (22.2 C) at the end of the fourth week. If there are several kittens in a nest, the temperature doesn't need to be that high, because they will snuggle together to keep warm.

hypoglycemia

Symptoms are weakness, convulsions and coma. If there is, feed the kitten with glucose. A drop of syrup (or honey) on your tongue may bring it back to life.

constipation

Cats fed with cat milk powder are more prone to constipation, so sometimes it is necessary to feed some white water, or melt a little ointment in warm water to feed kittens, which can soften their stools. If you don't defecate for a long time, the wall of the large intestine will expand excessively, and even if you defecate eventually, the large intestine will still not work normally.

diarrhea

Kittens may die of diarrhea. When the stool is smelly, watery, bloody, or accompanied by vomiting, you should see a doctor in time. Kittens will dehydrate quickly. It is necessary to replenish water by subcutaneous injection and feed water containing electrolyte nutrition. Diarrhea may also need to be treated with anti-inflammatory drugs

6. Social environment

Kittens need a social environment to grow into friendly and outgoing cats. If kittens are not given social opportunities, they may develop some abnormal behaviors and become suspicious and aggressive adult cats.

Feeding kittens artificially may suck other kittens and hurt their skin. At this time, you need to feed them alone and play together only under your supervision. Most kittens stop sucking other kittens when they grow up.

After three weeks, you should give the kitten a space to move, but if it is safe, easy to clean and not a lot of space, you can't let it run around the house at the beginning.