Kitten care and Nutrition is a process that requires care and attention.
Developmental stages; kittens reach 2 times their birth weight by the end of the first week. Eyes open on the 8th-12th day. The eyes are blue at first, but the actual eye color will become apparent in the 3rd month. When they are two weeks old, their adherent ears open and they start to react to sounds. At three weeks of age, they will start to walk, and at 4 weeks of age, their baby teeth will start to erupt and they will start to play. A healthy kitten has a healthy appetite, is active outside of sleeping hours and goes to the toilet regularly. Contact your veterinarian immediately if you notice problems such as burrs in the kitten’s eyes, discharge from the eyes or nose, diarrhea or constipation, a sunken mite, skin that does not return to its original shape when you grab and release it, weakness, difficulty breathing.
When should the kitten be separated from the mother?
The ideal time for a kitten to be separated from its mother is at 8 weeks of age. Breast milk contains vital nutrients for the kitten‘s development, as well as antibodies to protect it from infectious diseases in the first weeks. Therefore, kittens separated from their mother early are vulnerable to many disease agents. However, sometimes the mother does not accept the puppies or the mother abandons the puppies for many different reasons and we must take over their care.
If the puppies are older than 4 weeks, care is a little easier. For puppies under 4 weeks old, we should always try to find a wet nurse first. If we can’t find one, it is up to us to give the puppy a chance to survive.
Warming; a motherless kitten must first be protected from getting cold. Therefore, immediately put it in your clothes and protect it with your body heat and take it to the veterinary clinic. Do not skip this step, no matter how experienced you are in cat care, as only a veterinarian can understand the problems that occur during the time of separation from the mother and intervene correctly.
Nutrition in kittens
Nutrition; attention should be paid to nutrition in line with the information you receive from your veterinarian. The kitten should be fed every 3-4 hours. Your veterinarian should determine the food to be used. Using the wrong food can cause physiological disorders that are difficult to treat in puppies. After feeding, the kitten is burped in accordance with the physician’s description and urinated and left in the warm environment created.
The best food to offer a newborn kitten that has been separated from its mother is baby pudding, cat milk powders and kitten food. Kitten food should be given in small bites. You can cook lean meat from turkey, venison, beef or chicken and give it to a 1-month-old kitten
If you have a kitten without a mother, prepare the food in small quantities at a time and do not reuse the leftovers, throw them away. The food should be at room temperature, neither hot nor cold. The puppy should be fed every 3-4 hours. To feed the puppy, spread a towel on your lap and place the puppy on the towel on its stomach.
You can give the kitten water when it is 4 weeks old. It’s time to have clean water nearby that he can easily reach and drink. Make sure to put the water in a container made of a healthy material that is not too high on the sides and that the kitten will not have difficulty reaching with its small size.
Kitten toilet training
Toilet; after each feeding, the mother cat makes the kittens go to the toilet by licking their tummy and genital areas. You should massage these areas with a cotton ball moistened with warm water after each feeding, like the mother cat, by drawing small circles without pressing too hard and make the kittens defecate.
Kittens are unable to defecate on their own until they are 3 weeks old. At this stage, the mother cat helps the kittens to defecate by licking and rubbing the anus. After 3 weeks of age, kittens can start to go to the toilet on their own. Toilet training of cats can start when they are 1 month old.
How to toilet train a kitten?
This training is very simple: Immediately pick up your kitten and take it to the tray when you notice that it wants to go. You can also help by taking him to the tray early in the morning, at night before bedtime and after every meal.
Put the Toilet Bowl in the Right Place
Before you start toilet training your kitten, you should strategically locate the litter box. The litter box should not be placed too close to the food and water bowl you bought for your kitten. The location of the litter box should be easily accessible and on the kitten’s route.