How and what to feed a week-old kitten

A week-old kitten can be challenging to care for, particularly when it comes to feeding. Kittens at this stage are solely dependent on milk for sustenance, so giving them the proper care is crucial to their development.

The mother of the kitten will naturally supply all of the kitten’s nutritional needs if she is present. However, knowing what to feed an orphaned kitten and how to do so becomes essential when providing care for them. Giving them cow’s milk alone won’t do—it can cause serious health problems and upset their stomach.

This post will discuss the best ways to feed a week-old kitten, including how to make sure they get the nutrition they require to grow, and whether to use a special formula or other options.

Arrangement of a house for a week-old kitten

Taking care of a small, noisy lump in the absence of a mother can be a very difficult task. A baby’s developing thermoregulation system makes cold weather just as harmful as infections and starvation. Hypothermia impairs the condition of all organ systems and slows down metabolic processes, specifically:

• the kitten becomes apathetic, its body goes limp, muscles lose tone;
• breathing and heartbeat slow down;
• blood vessels narrow, brain and body cells experience oxygen starvation;
• peristalsis of the stomach and intestines stops, digestive juices are practically not produced, absorption of nutrients from food does not occur.

Guidelines for home arrangement. A baby’s home should be set up according to several guidelines recommended by veterinarians and felinologists to ensure healthy and active development:

1. A week-old kitten should be kept in a warm place, without drafts, at an ambient temperature of +27-30 ° C. When the baby is 2 weeks old, the temperature is reduced to +26-28 ° C, and by the age of 3 weeks, the baby feels comfortable at +24 ° C.
2. The ideal solution would be to purchase a special incubator for keeping a baby kitten, equipped with an infrared emitter for heating.
3. An alternative to an incubator would be a small cozy house made of thick cardboard, covered with woolen fabric or artificial fur imitating the shaggy side of the mother.
4. An absorbent diaper is placed on the bottom of the "den" and changed as it gets dirty.
5. To maintain the desired temperature in the house, use a heating pad or a plastic bottle filled with hot water. The heating pad is placed under the bedding, and the bottle is placed near the wall of the "den".
6. To prevent the baby from being lonely, you can put small plush toys in the box.

Menu for a week-old kitten

Mother’s milk is a kitten’s natural diet. However, in the case of artificial feeding, it is imperative to choose a replacement that is as similar in terms of digestibility and composition as feasible.

Pet stores sell alternatives to milk for cats. Manufacturers of pet food provide specialty dry mixes meant to be fed to orphan kittens in a diluted form. These products have carefully chosen ingredients, and reliable testing is done on the taste characteristics. Portioned food for small pets is prepared in accordance with the comprehensive instructions included in a package or jar containing dry mixture. As a solvent, warm, boiled water is utilized.

Well-known brands’ products have shown to be the greatest:

• Royal Canin Babycat Milk;
• Beaphar Kitty-Milk;
• Nutri-Vet Kitten Milk;
• Kittenmilch.

Milk formulas made naturally. Natural nutrition enthusiasts can cook meals for a newborn at home.

It should be kept in mind that cow’s milk has three times less protein and 2.5 times less fat than mother cat milk, making it unsuitable for feeding week-old kittens.

There are numerous recipes available for making nourishing concoctions for young kittens:

1. Add 2 chicken egg whites and 150 g of goat milk to 150 g of cow"s milk, then mix thoroughly until the lumps dissolve and a uniform consistency is obtained.
2. To 200 ml of milk (goat) add 1 h.l. corn oil (only refined is allowed) and chicken egg yolk (raw), mix well until completely dissolved.
3. Pour 1/25 tsp into 250 ml of cow"s milk (necessarily heated).l. fresh bone meal, pour in 50 ml of milk, condensed natural, without sugar and 25 ml of pre-boiled water. Strain the mixture and cool slightly (so that it is not hot).
4. Add a couple of drops of liquid vitamins to 200 ml of cream with a fat content of about 9-10% (the veterinarian will tell you which ones).
5. Dilute dry milk in a pre-prepared fennel broth to get a consistency like sour cream. Pour in ¼ of the natural cream.
6. Combine 100 g of whole (cow) milk and 30 g of dry milk, add 5 g of dry yeast, 2 beaten chicken yolks, ½ tsp.l. Refined sunflower oil and 8 g of grape sugar.

Features for Feeding:

1. Serving size for each meal for a week-old kitten is 5-7 ml.
2. The daily norm is 76 ml of mixture per 200 g of live weight.
3. Ready-made homemade mixtures are stored in the refrigerator for no more than 2 days, and a fresh portion is prepared from dry powder each time.
4. It is forbidden to feed the kitten cold food: the temperature of the mixture should be within +33-36°C.
5. It is necessary to regularly weigh the baby on accurate electronic scales. Actively growing kittens gain about 15 g per day. If the weight is stable or decreases, then it is necessary to urgently review the diet and feeding rates.

Giving a week-old kitten the proper nourishment is essential for promoting healthy growth. This age of kittens cannot digest solid food, so they require specialized kitten formula instead of ordinary milk, which can upset their stomach and deplete them of essential nutrients. Every two to three hours, feeding should be done with a tiny bottle or syringe. To prevent choking, make sure the formula is warm and the kitten is positioned correctly. Sustaining their development during these crucial early stages requires proper feeding.

Rules of artificial feeding

The baby needs to follow the feeding schedule and technique exactly, in addition to receiving food that has been carefully chosen. When a kitten is one week old and being fed artificially, it is imperative that you adhere to the advice of experts:

1. The break between feedings during the day should be 2 hours. The night break should not exceed 5 hours. At the age of 2 weeks, the kitten is fed at 3-hour intervals.
2. The nutritional mixture is given from a special cat bottle with a narrow nipple or from a pipette. Some owners drip it into the mouth directly from a syringe with the needle removed beforehand. A catheter is inserted directly into the stomach of weakened kittens, but its installation requires appropriate experience.
3. During feeding, the bottle is held at an angle of 45°, and the kitten lies on its tummy at this time. Feeding on the back is fraught with the possibility of choking.
4. The hole in the nipple should not be too large, and "drip feeding" from a syringe should not be too fast, so that the mixture does not get into the respiratory tract.
5. You can understand that the baby is hungry by how loudly it squeaks and restlessly crawls in search of food, and, having found human fingers, tries to suck them.
6. The kitten"s feeding time is about 5 minutes. As the baby gets full, it stops sucking and soon pushes out the nipple or turns away from the syringe and eventually falls asleep.
7. After eating, the baby should be stroked on the tummy with gentle circular movements, stimulating peristalsis.
8. Bottles, syringes and nipples are thoroughly washed and dried after each feeding.

Also read:

• what to feed kittens at two weeks;
• what to feed three-week-old kittens;
• how to raise a kitten.

A week-old kitten needs to be fed carefully, which calls for the appropriate technique and patience. It’s critical to make sure newborn kittens receive the proper nutrients for healthy growth because they are completely dependent on their mother’s milk or a suitable milk substitute. The best option in case the mother is unavailable is premium kitten formula.

Always warm the formula to a safe temperature before offering it to the kitten, and use a bottle or syringe meant for small animals. Frequent feedings, every two to three hours, are necessary to replicate the natural feeding pattern a kitten would have with its mother.

The feeding schedule will alter as the kitten gets bigger, but during the first week, their nutritional requirements are unique and need to be closely attended to. At this crucial stage of development, it is important to provide the kitten with a safe, warm environment and to keep a close eye on their health.

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