Taking care of kittens 101

Hi I am Cha and today I will be talking about bottle feeding. Bottle feeding can be used for kittens that are 10 days old until when a kitten is weaning for wet food. From newborn to 10 days old you might have to feed them with a syringe but I will talk about that in other blog posts. Supplies For supplies you will be needing a rubber nipple and a kitten bottle. Most rubber nipples are come not pre-cut so you have to cut them yourself. You can do a cross, a slit, a hole or cutting it diagonally. It’s fine as long as the milk is flowing in droplets. You may want to buy extra rubber nipples because you need to test the flow of the milk which you can test it by putting the bottle upside down on your hand. If you don’t want to go through all those troubles, you can buy a pre-cut nipple online and they come in different sizes so you can choose the most suitable one for your kitten. Preparing your bottle For this you will be needing a kitten milk formula. Remember to never give a kitten cow’s milk, condensed milk, soy milk, human baby’s milk, or even cat’s milk since cat’s milk is for adult cats. NEVER FEED THE KITTENS DAIRY PRODUCTS because they cannot digest it well. You will need a kitten milk formula like for example KMR. Kitten milk formula is packed with nutrients, minerals, vitamins, probiotics and caloric pattern which is similar to mother cat’s milk. How to feed them To feed the kitten you’ll have to make them lay on their stomach just like how they lay when they drink from their mother. NEVER PUT THE KITTEN ON IT’S BACK, this can be very dangerous. Also never squeeze the bottle into the kitten’s mouth since that can cause aspiration. Here are the steps from http://www.kittenlady.org/bottlefeeding

• Be sure you’re holding the head and body stable to guide her. Kittens don’t necessarily understand what you’re trying to do, so it’s up to you to hold them steady and show them.
• Take a look at your bottle and nipple, and make sure there are no issues such as a nipple that is cut too big or too small, or clumps in the formula that may be causing a blockage.
• Wrap the kitten in a small baby blanket if need be to help her feel focused and swaddled; just make sure she is still in a proper belly-down position.
• Rubbing the face with a cloth or toothbrush can simulate a mother’s tongue and help them feel prepared to eat.

Here is a picture of when and how much you should feed your kitten according to it’s weight and age.

After feeding After feeding you want to make sure that they are going to the toilet. Their mother would actually lick the area around their little butts to stimulate them to poop and pee but if your kitten if an orphan you’ll need to help them. To do so you will need soft tissues and some organic scent free baby wipes to clean them after they have gone to the toilet. REMEMBER TO NOT USE HARSH TISSUES LIKE PAPER TOWELS. You will gently rub the area and then a few seconds later you will see their waste coming out. After that, you can use the baby wipe to clean them up and done! This process only takes about 1 minute so is not that hard. It’s really important to let the kitten digestive system flow normally. So that is it for today’s blog post! If you have any suggestions for my next blog post you can leave in the comments below. Don’t forget to like this if u do and follow me for more kittens related stuff. Bye!