When my queen 'OB' had her second litter, she developed complications and had to have surgery, which resulted in
a hysterectomy. Her kittens were only 48 hours old. She had no interest in them and no milk.
We found ourselves becoming mother to this new litter. With my nursing knowledge, and a lot of "you can do this" from my veterinarin, I gathered
my "tools" to feed kittens at home. I decided on the "tube feeding" method in stead of trying to bottle feed them.
You don´t have to burp them and it doesn´t take as long, especially when you have four of them wanting to eat.
It requires two different sizes of feeding tubes; #5 and # 8. I used two different syringes; 3 cc and 10 cc. I bought this
kit thru my vet. To replace the kittens source of heat, I bought a heating pad to keep their body temperature at a steady rate.
I also used a small kitchen scale to weigh them.
To measure for proper placement of the feeding tube, you go to the kitten´s last rib, measure from there to the kitten´s mouth, and
place a piece of tape around the tube. This will be your reminder how far to go each time you feed. As they grow you will need to
keep checking the tube and make sure the length is still correct.
Inserting the tube is actually the easies part. I taught my husband and our 12 year old daughter. I warmed the formula to body temperature,
moistened the tip with formula, and placed this in the kitten´s mouth. They would suck and this helped the tube go down.
If you meet any resistance, stop, pull back a little and then proceed. It was amazing how quickly they learned this meant food and
accepted insertion. When they were 14 days old, I began using the larger tube. The smaller tube is now too small and will
slip into the lung. If you´re unsure at first of placement, put the end of the tube the syringe is connected to in a glass of water. If no bubbles appear with
respirations, you´re in the stomach.
As the teeth develop, you must monitor chewing on the tube. They will chew thru the tube. We had this happen
I held he kitten upside down and shook her till I could grab the tube with fingers and pull it out. My heart was beating fast and she was very angry with me.
I used KMR replacement formula to feed the babies. I mixed one can with one can of water. I used ice cube trays to freeze the formula and then just microwave what I needed.
I diluted the formula to prevent diarrhea. At the time I began to ween the babies, they were getting one can of formula to a third of a can of water. Monitor their stools. You can tell by the color and form
if they are being fed properly. Loose yellow stool indicates mild degree of over feeding. Greenish stool is moderate over feeding. If your kitten develops this, use
2-3 drops of kaopectate every 4 hour and cut back the strength of your formula and everything should be back to normal.
If the loose stool is persistent, your kitten is not getting enough nourishment and will dehydrate rapidly. I never had to try this, but try giving 3 drops of kaopectate per ounce (28 grams) of body weight every three hours .
Give one half cc per ounce body weight per hour of pedialyte. Notify your vet.
I checked the kitten´s weight every other day. I followed this formula: A kitten needs 8 cc per ounce body weight daily. If a kitten weighs 4 ounces, it
needs 32 cc of formula per day. I feed the kittens 6 times a day at first, so they got 5-6 cc per feeding. As they got older, I decreased the number of times they were fed, increased
the the amount they recieved.
The above kittens are now 5 years old. They never had any health problems as babies and grew up to be beautiful cats.
Here is another formula that you can use, too: