fostering 4 week old kittens

It’s hard feeding such little ones. The best way to clean them I think would be to buy some unscented baby wipes and clean them with those. A warm washcloth would work but they must be kept warm after the cleaning . They must be kept warm in a nice box with a soft towel or blanket and even a stuffed toy. Feed them a mother’s milk replacer made for kittens such as KMR or Just Born, available at any pet supply store. They are probably ready for weaning formula as well. You can try canned kitten food watered down with KMR.. Sometimes human baby food works, try chicken flavor..

Good luck with these little ones and keep us posted.

Alicia, you could try to start them on wet food now, with a layer of kitten milk replacer across the top. But it’s really up to you. Mama kitties usually start weaning their kittens when they start getting pretty mobile. (This is also usually about the time their little teeth start getting pretty sharp.)

Also, I thought I’d mention… you can bathe them. I’d recommend bathing them in a kitchen sink (with a sprayer attachment, if you have one). No standing water, just water poured or sprayed over them. A little tiny dab of people shampoo (not baby shampoo), and rinse, rinse, rinse, until there are absolutely no bubbles coming off the rinse water anymore. Cuddle up the kitten in a towel and massage all over; after that’s saturated, switch the kitten to a dry towel and massage & cuddle some more. Make sure the kitten remains warm & draft-free until completely dry, since he or she doesn’t have a lot of ability to regulate body temperature yet.

Bathing the kittens at least once a week will help tremendously with your husband’s allergies.

Oh, one quick mention… don’t worry about the 4 kittens who still try to suck on your fingers. When some of the other kittens start lapping up the kitten milk replacer, and the wet food, the rest will usually get the idea pretty quickly.

For wet food for 7 kittens, I’d recommend getting a dinner plate, and arranging the wet food in a ring. Then pour a little kitten milk replacer along the outside edge of that ring. That way, they all have a chance to ‘belly up to the bar’ without having to wade into the food, and the first thing they’ll encounter has a familiar taste – the kitten milk replacer.

It usually helps with the initial sloppiness of learning how to eat from a plate, if you go ahead and put a bed sheet or towel of some sort on the floor, underneath the plate. That way, when they inevitably wade into the food a bit (which they will do), the worst gloppiness will come off when they take their first several steps on the towel/sheet.

It never hurts to have the vet take a quick look. You already have the de-wormer. I’d just keep a close eye on their eating, elimination, sleeping & play habits, since deviation from the norm in these matters is often one of the earliest signs of illness.

Oh, and the lovely lady who adopted three orange littermates from me this spring? She bathes all three of them every couple of weeks. She has asthma, and it’s the very best way for her to keep it under control. Funny thing is, the cats now enjoy being bathed! (It’s the cuddling and treats afterwards that do the trick.)

Your’e doing such a kind thing Alicia! I and one of my sister’s did a kitty “time-share” around this time last year, with a little 3 1/2 week kitten she’d found (another sister subsequently adopted him, after all the hard work was over!!) This little guy ate a mush we made of KMR and canned wellness kitten food..altho for the first week or so, he would only eat it off our fingers and only after we had microwaved it( for like only 8 seconds) I brought him to a vet to get checked the 3rd day we’d had him, cuz I knew he needed worm medicine..plus he had calicivirus..and they did a “snap” test for Felv and fiv (altho they recommended a second test when he got a bit older) When the vet heard that he was an orphan, he cut the bill in half and gave us a bunch of free food, plus gave him his first round of shots for free…Maybe if you tell the vet you’re hand raising a bunch of them, he/she could help you out a bit bill-wise? If not, it may be worth it to just take the little runt in, just to save you any second-guessing?

7 kittens!!!! That’s a labor of love! 1 little guy was a challenge for me, and I had my sister helping!!!

oh you poor thing! Your idea about the Humane Society is a great one..I’m hoping someone sees all the time and love you’ve put into these little guys and does some ‘pro bono’ cat care….it never hurts to ask, esp since you have so many of them..

Sending you hugs and positive thoughts; you’re doing such a great thing Alicia