Last Updated on July 27, 2022 by
You may wonder why you can’t get one baby kitten to raise from birth. The reason is that kittens are best left with their mother and littermates for at least eight to 12 weeks. After this period they can wean from their mother’s milk safely.
If you do somehow end up with a tiny kitten under this age, the first thing you’ll need is a veterinarian who can guide you towards rearing them safely.
Kittens are pretty vulnerable and can get sick and even die if they are fed incorrectly or not kept warm enough. It would help if you had someone to advise you on even the most basic kitten rearing chores. The following actions to care for your kitten will probably be recommended by your veterinarian, but this list is by no means exhaustive:
- When your kitten opens their eyes at about two weeks of age and receives its baby teeth, you will have to record all the feeding times and other essential information, such as how much weight your kittens gain. A written log would also be beneficial, to help you and the vet keep track.
- Get the formula for kitten milk substitution. These formulas replace a mother cat’s milk and give significant protein levels to young kittens. Ask your veterinarian for suggestions on the kitten formula.
- Ask your veterinarian to prescribe pet food bottles to ensure that your kittens do not consume too quickly. If consumed in larger quantities, milk can cause pneumonia and other issues in a kitten’s lungs.
- Bring safe feedings into practice. Boil bottles and nipples to sanitise them and do not leave the formula at room temperatures for more than one hour.
- Make sure you get pet health insurance for your cat. Safeguarding your cat with insurance ensures you can make quick, care-based decisions when your cat’s ill. You can buy cat Insurance For Pets Dogstoo. Kitten insurance helps in saving you much of the cost of medical treatment for your cat in case there’s an emergency.
- Keep the kitten warm. Purchase a comfortable bed and ensure that the room temperature is at least 85 degrees Fahrenheit during the first week. You may reduce the temperature to around 79 degrees when they are two and three weeks old and then reduce it to approximately 75 degrees once they are one month old.
- A veterinarian sometimes suggests a kitten nursery. Kitten kindergarten lessons may be useful to assist the kitten in learning about socialising with other cats in particular, and also basic training. This is another reason why it’s important to keep kittens with their littermates and avoid separating them from their family until they are around three months of age.
As you can see, a lot of care is required for rearing a kitten from its early days. Don’t take on the task if there’s an option to leave the kitten where it belongs. If there is no other option, enlist a trustworthy vet to hold your hand through the process.
