Need Advice on a 3 week old kitten not eating

If a kitten is too cold or too hungry, they can’t eat. Make sure the baby is warm by giving her a heating pad but only under part of her bedding so she can get to a cooler spot if she needs it. To make sure she has enough energy to eat, put a little bit of light Karo syrup (not the dark molasses type) on your finger and rub it on her gums. If you don’t have Karo, a little bit of sugar water will do the trick.

The milk should be warm but not hot. Do the same as you would for a human baby and test it on your wrist. 3 weeks is a little bit young to eat solid food but you may be able to mush some up in the milk.

Has she seen the vet yet? Some vets will do a first visit, especially for a rescue kitty, for free. If she’s not eating by tomorrow, you should call a vet.

Here are some sites we find the most useful for hand raising kittens.

http://www.messybeast.com/handrear.htm

http://www.kittenrescue.org/pages.php?pageid=15

http://www.fanciers.com/cat-faqs/orphans.shtml

http://www.feralcat.com/raising.html

You can also try her on canned goats milk (in the baking aisle at Walmart), she may like that better than formula. You could also try kitten glop (click the pink tag, top right hand side of the page, for recipes). Are you feeding her feet to the floor? don’t hold her like a human baby, she needs to nurse upright. The last website that CBM gave you, wwwferalcat.com has a feeding chart and some good advice on feeding and burping her. And this blogspot has pix and more good basic advice: http://feral-kitten-rescue.blogspot.com/2008/10/feral-kitten-how-to-story.html

Good luck!

… I haven’t seen anything on here about you stimulating this kitten. Have you been helping her go?? Kittens cannot potty on their own until they’re about 4-5 weeks old. You have to stimulate her little bottom like her mother would by wetting a cotton ball or rough paper towel and gently rubbing her genital area with it. She will most likely pee right away but it might take a little more rubbing to get her to poop. She’s going to have to if she hasn’t gone in a couple days. When I first got Mollie she hadn’t pooped and I had to hold her over the sink with running warm water and rub her bum a little extra- she pooped more than I’ve ever seen come out of a cat! So… first time you do it, I suggest you do it over a sink!!

PLEASE stimulate this kitten ASAP! She’s probably not eating because her little body is full and blocked up with food. Don’t force feed her- you’re only making it worse! Get her to a vet ASAP please.

Dawn, I’m not sure what you mean by a CST. Is their mother still with them? If so, you need to get mum and the last kitten to the vet asap. It sounds like mum could have a virus but really only the vet can diagnose the problem. It is very sad but often when you begin to lose a litter, you could lose them all but I am worried you could also lose mum. They need the vet asap.