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26 May Taking Care of an Abandoned Kitten
Unfortunately, there are many situations in which a kitten may become abandoned. You may have found the kittens in the city, victims of a stray cat being hit by a car shortly after giving birth. Or, perhaps your own cat had kittens and didn’t survive long enough to care for them for some reason.
Whatever the situation, you’ll need to learn how to care for the abandoned kitten – and quickly. How difficult this will be will depend on the age of the kitten. If the kitten is under two weeks old, you’ll have to bottle feed her and clean her – and essentially become her mother. You can determine if the kitten is two weeks or younger by whether or not she has any teeth.
For these younger kittens, you’ll need to purchase a pet bottle and kitten formula from your local pet store. Don’t give the kitten cow’s milk, as this is far too rich. It may take a day or two to get the kitten to drink from the bottle. To start, hold her close to your chest so that she feels like she’s nuzzling up to her mother.
After the kitten has been fed, you’ll need to clean her. Use a warm, soft washcloth and wash the kitten in short strokes from nose to tail. This will not only keep the kitten clean, but also teach her how to wash herself as she gets older. You’ll also need to wash the kitten’s lower regions to help stimulate her to get rid of waste, as she won’t instinctively do this until she’s two to three weeks old.
If the kitten has teeth, you can begin feeding her soft, canned kitten food. You may need to grind it up a bit and water it down to make it easier for the kitten to chew as she gets used to eating. Again, it may take a day or two to get the kitten to eat this new food. If, after two days, the kitten still hasn’t eaten, you may need to go back to bottle feeding for a few days and then try again. At this point, you’ll also need to give the kitten a separate source of water.
Shortly after taking in the kitten, youll want to visit a vet to get a cat vaccination. This is a vital step in ensuring the health and well-being of your new friend.
Kittens older than three weeks can be litter trained. This is also fairly simple to do if you stick with it. This is especially true if you’ve been washing the kitten as soon as she’s finished eating. Each time the kitten finishes eating, place her in the litter box and dig her paws into the litter. This will help the kitten know what to do. Usually, litter training only takes a few days if you’re consistent and start as soon as the kitten is old enough to do so.
Really, caring for an abandoned kitten isn’t that difficult – as long as you know what to do. In addition, the process of taking care of a tiny, helpless being can be very rewarding. However, keep in mind that when you care for an abandoned kitten, it may be very difficult to give her up. Before you begin taking care of the kitten, make sure you want to keep her for good – or find someone else who will.