Caring for 2 day old kittens

Recently, a mother cat has abandoned her kittens close to my house and the kittens are starving. I have a cat myself but she's been spayed years ago now so I'm wondering if there's a possibility she can lactate? She never comes into contact with cats before (other than recently, street cats) so is there any chance my cat can be a foster mother to these poor kittens? My feeling is that my cat may just reject the kittens because they're not her own or they're too foreign for her! But is there a slight chance her maternal instincts will kick in causing her to produce milk?

Any advice on how to proceed this will be much appreciated; out of the 4 kittens one passed away due to hunger. I can't sit back and watch the others pass away too.

The best is if you are giving them food, and are ready to do all that others.  It is not easy, and takes much time the first 3 weeks, but it can be done.

Keep them warm, if they are too cold they wont eat. Be also sure they have enough of fluids, being dehydraded takes force from them, and again, they wont eat.

Give them food on their tummy, head up, like they do when they nurse on mom.  NOT like you would do with a human infant, on its back.

Where are you living?  What sort of kitten mothermilk replacement do you have at your place?  Goat milk is OK for giving them, cow milk is not good.

About your female: with a little luck she may adopt them, and do most of the everyday nursing, thus making much of your work easier.  But the lactacing coming on?  Theoretically it is possible, but I wouldnt count on this.

There is another problem here:  We dont know why the mom abandoned them.  If the mom felt they are sick, she often abandon them.

So many rescuers dont take any risks, they do handraise them themselves.

Three good sites for care of orphans:

www.kitten-rescue.com

http://www.fabcats.org/owners/kittens/handrearing.html

http://www.messybeast.com/handrear.htm

Welcome to our Forums!

Good luck!

Thanks a lot for your advice! You see the kittens are located in my neighbor's backyard whom I'm not too close with. I live in Thailand and right now it's not cold but instead it's hot (not scorching).

I'm a loss of what to do since the longer I wait I'm afraid more of them will pass away. My only hope is letting my cat take care of them but then my cat's 7 years old... she got spayed when she was 1. But the thing is when my cat is downstairs, she responds to the kittens' cries so I hope she would take them if I can get the kittens myself. Also the closest vets around my place are close; if I do get the kittens then I should place them in a place where it's warm, correct?

I believe the kittens were abandoned since the mom is a first time mom. I think I've seen the mom around before but she's young... like under a year young. So I think she abandoned them simply for the fact that she's not sure what to do with the kittens or what not.....

Do cats adopt kittens even if the kittens don't belong to them? I'm really at a loss here.

But I can't thank you enough for your kind words and advice! I'm really sorry for all these questions; I want the kittens to survive so they can be adopted to loving homes.

kabegami said:

You see the kittens are located in my neighbor's backyard whom I'm not too close with. I live in Thailand and right now it's not cold but instead it's hot (not scorching).

I'm a loss of what to do since the longer I wait I'm afraid more of them will pass away. t not.....

Do cats adopt kittens even if the kittens don't belong to them?

Click to expand...

Whatever you do, you cant wait. Time is running like a madman now.

Take them to your place, and hope your female will adopt them.

Otherwise, you must do it all yourself.

As said, goat milk is entirely OK, if you cant get good kitten mothermilk replacement.

As it is warm climate at your place, you dont need overdo holding them warm.  It may even be the other way around...

Most vets dont take care of kittens orphans and do the handraising.  They can help you with medical problem, perhaps inject fluids into them if they seems dehydrated, give you some advices, but the hard job of hanraising must be done by the rescuer.

Some vets know the art of feeding kittens by a tube into the stomach.  But I had notices many vets dont know how to do it. And tube feeding into the stomach is too difficult, and too dangerous, to try on your own.

Good luck!

A spayed cat cannot produce milk, and it is very unlikely that any cat would unless she had recently had kittens of her own. Depending on the personality of the cat, she might care for them in other ways, washing, cuddling etc. So it will be up to you to feed these little ones if you can get them inside. If you can get kitten replacement milk where you are, form a pharmacist or vet, that is good, plus a feeding bottle or syringe with no needle attached. Or, as Stefan said, goat milk is a good alternative - I have used it several times to save orphan kittens. Is there any chance of the mother coming back? Do you ever see her? If you can get her inside with the kittens there is more likelihood that she will concnetrate on them, and it gives them a much better chance of survival.

Thank you very much everybody for the responses The kittens have found a loving home now and they're being cared for

In theory, any cat can lactate.  Even males have mammary glands which could lactate with the right hormones.  It's unlikely this could be achieved without drug therapy, although it's possible for the presence of kittens and the stimulation of suckling to create the necessary hormone response.  This would take considerable amounts of time and even if lactation is achieved, there's no guarantee the surrogate will produce enough to meet their needs.  

Really, you just need to feed them yourself.  Anything is better than nothing.  If the only thing you have access to is cow's milk, even that gives them a chance.  There are some recipes for kitten replacement milk that use simple ingredients, although I honestly don't know what would be readily available in Thailand.