How to Feed a Small Kitten

However, there is no need to panic; it is better to calmly figure out what to offer the baby, how often, and how to deliver the food to the stomach. Look at the photo—a newborn, a month-old, a two-month-old, and a three-month-old cat are very different. Of course, their diet also changes from day to day. We know how to properly introduce a new type of complementary food, so we generously share this knowledge with you.

What to feed newborn kittens

A mother for kittens is a whole encyclopedia of life. She will teach you the basic rules of dealing with yourself and the world. But the main thing for us is that the cat feeds the kittens. The nutrition issue only arises if everything goes according to plan.

What to feed a small kitten will sound acute and alarming if the tiny animal becomes lonely in the “nutritive” sense of the word. If your cat is in trouble or has a significant attack of postpartum depression, that’s not a reason to starve!

The purrs here are similar to our children’s because they, too, first find a wet nurse and then begin to comprehend the science of baby feeding.

How to feed a kitten without a cat? First, don’t panic; this case is far from the first in history, which means the answer has long been available. Let’s get down to business:

• Feedings will be frequent, with a break of 2-3 hours. Moreover, this process does not stop at night.
• In the third week, the regimen remains the same, with only one night of feeding.

The nipple will not fit into the tiny mouth, so the kitten will receive its first food from a syringe without a needle. Could you do this very carefully? It is unacceptable for the liquid to enter the respiratory tract due to the high risk of developing pneumonia. But then, feel free to arm yourself with a nipple on the bottle. In this case, the sucking instinct will be satisfied.

In a bottle with a pacifier, you can pour either a factory formula for newborn kittens or one you prepare yourself.

Since there are many feedings, stock up on formula for future use. But remember that this volume should be no more than a day, it should be stored in the refrigerator, and before use, it should be heated to 38 degrees.

After feedings, be sure to stroke and warm the tummy so that the kitten, who does not know how to do many things, does not have problems with bowel movements.

We carefully monitor the weight of the animal. Both overeating and undereating are equally harmful to the baby.

These are the options for preparing the mixture:

• Separate the raw yolk from the egg and add it to 500 ml of milk;
• Mix half a raw yolk with 50 grams of full-fat milk and one teaspoon of corn oil;
• In raw whole milk (50 g), dilute milk powder (15 g) and dry yeast (2.5 g);
• Combine low-fat cream (10%) diluted twice with boiled water with a raw egg and sweeten with sugar.

Video: how to feed a kitten without a cat

Maintaining nutritional balance

A newborn kitten is weak in every way. Its food can both nourish, energize, give a feeling of satiety, and cause harm to the stomach and intestines. Maintaining a balance of proteins, fats and carbohydrates at this stage is a matter of survival. Therefore, it will not be superfluous to know that:

• in cat milk: proteins – 7%, fats – 4.8%, water – 82.4%.
• The usual cow’s milk has the following indicators: protein – 3.2%, fat – 3.8%, water – 87.4%.
• But there is equal amounts of lactose in both versions.

Remember that in the end we strive to replace the baby’s mother’s milk!

What to feed a 1 month old kitten

What makes everyone happy is that time does not stand still. The kitten is growing up, it no longer looks so helpless, and its nutrition is becoming more distinct. The animal sleeps almost all night, so the owner knows exactly how many times to feed the kitten. If he is fed with mother’s milk, then the nurse will regulate this issue herself, but for a lonely baby the daily frequency is still the same (every 3 hours), and only one night feeding.

However, in both cases, the time has come for the kitten to start adult complementary foods. Of course, so far this process only sounds loud, but in reality the first portions look very minimalistic. But they are the ones who begin the procedure of weaning the baby from the cat. Therefore, all events should proceed smoothly.

Let’s move on directly to determining what to feed a one-month-old kitten. At this age, you can begin to move a saucer of milk towards the mustachioed muzzle. Yes, not with simple, but enriched, for example, cottage cheese. Let him learn to lap from the saucer and start chewing. Gradually, the amount of cottage cheese can be increased and the amount of milk reduced.

What to feed a 2 month old kitten

The two-month-old baby with soft fur is quite ready to move away from his mother. In this case, from now on the problem of how many times to feed the kitten will be decided by its owner. Let him know that this event must be carried out 6-7 times a day, and at night the ventricle should be allowed to rest.

By this age, kittens have 26 baby teeth! This indicator also indicates the animal’s readiness to switch to eating solid food. In this sense, eating dry food allows the animal to train its teeth and jaws. Thanks to its relative hardness, the jaw apparatus is developed and the replacement of milk teeth with permanent teeth proceeds according to schedule.

What to feed a 3 month old kitten

A three-month-old kitten is very active, so he has to constantly replenish his energy reserves. Meanwhile, the number of feedings is not so large (6 times), which means the energy quality of the food consumed (250 grams per day) needs to be increased.

This is what the composition of food for a 3 month old kitten looks like:

• Low-fat meats are the best treat for a kitten during this period. Feel free to include this component in up to 80% of your total daily food intake.
• Milk is also no less important for a kitten. More precisely, fermented milk products, and necessarily low fat content.

If you think that vegetables are not an interesting product for your kitten, then try putting them in his bowl. Raw vegetables, due to their hardness, will help in the proper formation of teeth. Or boil them in meat broth and thereby attract his interest with the smell. The stomach also needs fiber.

By the way, there is a lot of fiber in porridge for kittens. It also contains protein. And considering that cats are carnivorous animals that urgently need a large amount of protein food, porridge is very suitable for them, but in small quantities.

Fish is a quickly digestible protein component that includes healthy Omega fatty acids. When offering sea fish to a three-month-old animal, do not forget to boil it and remove all the bones.

You can diversify the menu using:

• offal, but only 2 times a week;
• brewer’s yeast in small quantities;
• vegetable oil;
• some types of fruit (apples), but in very small doses;
• yolk of chicken eggs or whole quail, at the rate of once a week.

What should you not to give to a kitten

If you are still haunted by doubts about the serving size for a kitten, then it can be calculated using a simple formula: everything eaten per day should have a weight equal to 10% of the animal’s own weight.

It would be useful to indicate a list of prohibited products:

• freshwater fish;
• any salt;
• cow’s milk for a kitten over 3 months old;
• sausage products;
• potatoes (due to the presence of starchy substances in them);
• porridges and decoctions from legumes (peas, chickpeas, beans and others);
• pork and lamb meat;
• hard cheese;
• bakery products;
• foods rich in sugar.

We hope that you now have enough knowledge to understand when, how much and what to feed kittens. Regardless of fame or high cost cat breeds, any kitten really needs your care in the first months of life. If you pay a lot of attention and patience when feeding your fluffy cat, then a healthy and happy cat will live in your home for a long time.

Video: Types of Food for Cats

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjZocY9fJ-g