Orphan kittens

Yesterday I took in 2 11-day old orphan kittens. I'm bottle feeding them every two hours or less and they are pooing and peeing fine. My 7 and 9 year old daughters are helping me.
They also purr like crazy which surprised me. My question is, at what point should they start weeing and pooing on their own. One of them has already weed on us twice on her own, just wondering when we can stop stimulating them to wee and poo.

Thanks )

P.S. Any tips for coping with this on my own this weekend while my kids will be out of town? I'm scared, LOL. I already feel like I havn't slept in forever. Oh, also I was wondering what the survival rate? They got milk from their mother for the first 9 days.

They usually can't eliminate on their own until they are about 3 weeks old. Are you sure they're currently only 11 days old?

Originally Posted by RobertM

They usually can't eliminate on their own until they are about 3 weeks old. Are you sure they're currently only 11 days old?

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Yes, I'm positive about their age.

Heres a pic.
The females eyes aren't all the way open yet.
They can crawl but they are very shakey when they do.

Piper and Poppy started peeing on their own at about 2 weeks. They didn't poo on their own until about 4, but that being said they were badly constipated (seems to be a problem in bottle fed kittens.)

Although I can't answer your questions, I wanted to say, they're so cute!! bless you for taking them in!

When Tubee was two weeks old he was able to pee on his own, but we still stimulated him to make sure. He did not start to poop on his own for a couple weeks after that so probably around 4/5 weeks old.

Manda

This site rescued "ME" many times in taking care of my orphans. I had two about the same age as yours. http://www.kitten-rescue.com/

I never had a cat in my life before and there I was with orphaned kittens. I learned in a hurry .

My boys are now 9 months old. One of mine matured at a faster pace than the other. You are doing a wonderful thing for them. It gets better.

The best tip I remember getting was on keeping them warm with a rice sock. They would snuggle next to the warmth. Take a sock, fill it with uncooked rice and tie the end. Place this in a second sock for extra insulation. Microwave about 2 minutes. Cover rice sock with a towel and place next to kittens. Keep several made so you can have a fresh warm one ready to switch. Best of luck to you and your babies

Thanks for that site, the tip I like off of there is adding yogurt to the first bottle everyday, I'm going to get some yogurt tomorrow and start doing that. Their digestion is really the only thing I'm concerned about right now (not that there is any reason to be concerned, I'm just a worrier about things like that) so this is relief to me to have something available that will help with that.

They are doing great though, they are eating about every four hours and peeing and pooping well. My favorite part about the feeding routine is hearing them burp afterward The girl's eyes are finally opened today

Its great that you're taking care of them! They are both absolutely adorable, isn't it great(although exausting) to be a kitten "meowmy"? I'm raising four orphans right now, three from the same litter I've raised since they were a few hours old, the other since she was four weeks. Now the litter is 4 weeks and the one I found at four weeks is six weeks. They are all healthy and active! So I think unless they get some unknown sickness,(Fading Kitten Sydrome, etc) the survival rate is pretty good. The litter started urinating and defecating on their own at about 23 days. Good luck with your little orphans!

Hi, I hope a lot of people are reading this thread because I need some major prayers right now. I had to give the orphans to someone else to finish feeding them.

My ex-husband has stolen my daughter and all my time is being consumed in trying to get her back. He is making all kinds of accusations about me being an unfit mother. He brought my younger daughter home but kept my older daughter, she is 9. He got a restraining order so I can't even speak to her. It's been a week since I've seen her. This is very hard on her little sister and me. If anyone reading this is Christian please pray for us. If this can be posted anywhere else on this site for everyone to read, please do so. I thank you all for any prayers.

So sorry you are experiencing this.
How awful! Extra prayers coming your way.

We had court today and the judge ordered for my daughter to be returned to me. We still have to go to court again because my ex-husband is still sueing me for custody for her. Please continue to pray for us.

THANK YOU !

More and prayers from across the seas.