hi I'm Dr Marsha Martin and we're here
at Safe Harbor Animal Rescue in Jupiter
Florida to talk about Animal Health Care
this segment we're going to talk about
caring for kittens raising a kitten is
really a lot of fun it's also a lot of
work so the first thing you need to do
when you find that little kitten is kind
of determine how old he is because then
you're going to know just how hard you
have to work with him the first thing
roll him over and look at that belly if
you see a little tiny cord coming out of
his belly button he's less than three
days old their eyes should open around
10 days teeth start coming through the
gum line at about 2 weeks you need to
build a nest for your kittens to keep
them warm the easiest way to do that is
with either a crate or a cardboard box
you need the bottom of your of your nest
to be bigger than an average sized
heating heating pad put your heating pad
set on low never any higher than low
into the bottom of your little Nest
cover it with a blanket and then put
your kittens inside you need to make
make sure that there's room around that
heating pad for the kittens to kind of
scooch off if they get too hot they can
regulate their body temperature that way
by getting onto the warm area and moving
off of it kitten milk replacer is
important never never never feed a
kitten cow's
milk now this is where it gets hard
because feeding kittens it's just like
feeding a newborn baby when they're less
than a week old you're going to be up
and down with feedings you need to feed
them maybe eight times a day about four
ounces for that first week now two weeks
things get a little easier you're down
to four feedings of maybe 12 ounces and
by 3 weeks it's three feedings in about
27 ounces at a time by four weeks you
can start them on some kitten food
generally I don't like kibble start them
with a good canned diet preferably a
grain-free canned diet introduce it by
putting it on their paws leaving it in a
little low bowl that they can kind of
roll around in and they'll figure out
pretty quick that that's food and that
will give you a break from the feeding
process now when they're little they
don't urinate and defecate on their own
and this is really important because a
lot of people don't know that they need
help to do that so you need to stimulate
the mother as she stimulates them to
urinate and defecate by taking a warm
washcloth with warm water and just kind
of rubbing it around their little gental
region and usually they'll go ahead and
pass urine and stool for you the urine
should be clearer the stool should be
formed if it's not you probably need to
take your kitten to the vet which is a
good idea anyways when you find a little
kitten you need to take it to the vet
let it be checked for intestinal
parasites and fleas and any other
infectious disease that may need to be
treated with
medication uh once you've got that done
then you're on your way to raising your
kitten