Hand-Rearing Kittens

I have realized that many people reading this article will be working in less-than-ideal conditions and will have no access to certain equipment of supplies. I have tried to write in plain English, explaining common veterinary/medical terms as I go.

Reasons for Hand-Rearing Kittens

Newborn kittens are tiny and helpless. They are deaf, blind and totally dependent on their mother for food, warmth and protection. Normally they are cared for by their mother. She is on hand 24/7 to care for them and her milk changes as they grow. When confronted with orphaned kittens first try to find a surrogate feline mother. A local rescue organization or local vets may know of a lactating mother cat that may take the kittens. Only if this is not possible should you attempt to hand-rear kittens.

The task of hand-rearing kittens can be daunting - they need constant care and will put great demands on your time and energy. At first they need to be fed every couple of hours so you will not be getting much sleep.

Do not raise kittens simply because you feel sorry for them. Only attempt to rear them if you plan to keep them, or they have a decent chance of finding homes and they have a good quality of life. Even if they present no actual problems to a hand-rearer, the overpopulation situation or local attitudes to cat care may make it more humane to euthanize abandoned (probably unwanted by mother cat's owner) kittens. It is far more cruel to hand-rear a kitten and then to abandon it; hand-reared kittens are even less able to adapt to a feral life than are kittens raised by their natural mother.

There are various reasons for hand-rearing kittens either from birth or during development. Sometimes you need to assist a mother in rearing her kittens i.e. supplementary feeding only. Other reasons include:

• abandoned/orphaned kittens
• death, illness or incapacitation of the mother cat
• mother has no milk or proven to be a poor mother
• mother temporarily unable to care for kittens e.g. surgery required, short-term illness, milk not yet dropped (more common if labor is premature)
• mother rejects some or all kittens
• mother has produced more kittens than she can care for unaided
• an owner has insisted on aborting near-term kittens and veterinary staff have given the kittens a chance