How to raise kittens? A must-read for noobs: A guide to raising kittens!

Jan 14,2024
12Min

Kittens are different from adult cats in that their resistance is relatively weak, so care needs to be taken in feeding them. For many novices, they don’t know how to raise kittens. Now I will take you through how to raise kittens.

1. Pick up the cat

1. Health examination

Before bringing a cat back, you should first confirm whether the cat is healthy and whether it has been dewormed.

2. Choose appropriate cat picking tools

You can choose a pet air box or a small iron cage of appropriate size (with an air-permeable cloth cover on the outside to prevent the cat from being frightened by the unfamiliar environment). Try not to use cardboard boxes for big cats to prevent them from escaping when frightened.

3. Give the cat a quiet and free environment

When your cat gets home, don’t rush to hug or kiss it. Families with children should pay special attention to not letting children tease the cat first. Cats are notoriously sensitive and slow-warming animals. In order to prevent the cat from being frightened, try to give it time to get familiar with the new environment. It is recommended to put the kitten in a room first and not disturb it.

4. Do a good job in protection

Kittens, like children, like to jump around and rub around. So put away knives, glass products and other fragile things at home, as well as anything that cats can’t touch, and seal the windows.

2. Essentials for raising a cat

It is recommended to prepare the kittens before they arrive at their new home~

1. Goat milk powder

We recommend KMR cat milk powder. Meow parents with limited conditions can purchase infant milk powder section 1, or Shuhua milk, cat milk bottles, or ordinary syringes with the needle removed (available in general pet hospitals), very important!!

2. Canned milk cake

First of all, you need to prepare two food bowls for cats. One is for water and the other is for food. If you have more than one cat at home, each cat should have its own food bowl.

3. Sand + cat litter box

The cat litter box is also equipped with a cat toilet for each cat. This is to prevent more than one cat from being disgusted with each other and pulling around when they are in the same room.

4. Travel equipment

Flight box, iron cage, soft cat bag (also very important!!!) Every owner should prepare a strong and durable cat cage. Cat cages are so useful. For example, if there are guests at home or the small animals are afraid of the cat, or the cat needs to be taken to the animal hospital for sterilization, or the cat needs to be sent home for foster care during the New Year, it is very useful.

5. Toys

Cat scratching post (most cats like it), cat teasing sticks, mice, catnip, and cat climbing frames

3. Three steps for feeding kittens

0-2 months

The milk liquid feeding stage is generally for kittens under 2 months old. It would be best if you can buy quality-assured cat milk powder in a pet store. Secondly, goat milk is closest to breast milk, so it is recommended to feed with goat milk.

If limited by objective conditions, you can also use low-lactose milk such as Shuhua milk instead. Do not feed high-lactose milk such as cow's milk. It is best to feed the cat with a bottle specially designed for cats, and try to let it suck on its own. The concentration is appropriate. Feed once every 2 to 3 hours, about 5 ml each time. Do not feed leftover food that has been cooled or reheated. Milk is prone to spoilage in summer, which can lead to diarrhea and other problems.

The temperature should be slightly hot for the back of the hand. Let the kitten lie down and feed the kitten at a slight angle, not more than 30 degrees. If it doesn't eat, don't force it and feed it again at the next time period. Some individual kittens are picky about the taste of milk, so you can consider changing milk. If you can't buy a special bottle for cats, you can feed it with a syringe.

1.5-3 months

The food adaptation stage is generally between one and a half months to three months old kittens. The digestive system of kittens at this stage is still very weak, so it is suitable to feed some softened food. The kitten food can be soaked in low-lactose milk and fed softly. Be careful to soak it thoroughly, otherwise it will be soft on the outside and hard on the inside, which is not conducive to digestion.

Some first-generation kittens don’t know what they can eat and only recognize the taste of milk. Feed kitten food soaked in milk, firstly, to attract food with the fragrance of milk, and secondly, to facilitate digestion and absorption. The nutritional value of milk is very high, and it is still best to absorb the nutrition of milk at this stage.

Kitten food soaked in goat's milk should also not be fed cold leftovers. Kitten food is used as a supplement for kittens to adapt to food, so it is not recommended to feed kitten food soaked in water. Kittens can only eat and drink eight times full at each meal, and the principle is to eat less and more meals. It is recommended to feed kittens at this stage about six times a day. The amount of food can be flexibly adjusted according to growth conditions. If your dog’s belly bulges like a small rubber ball after eating, it is definitely an overdose.

3-6 months

The normal eating stage is generally for kittens from more than three months to less than six months old. Kittens at this stage can start to be fed kitten food directly or make cat meals according to the recipe. Although they can eat normally at this stage, their digestive system is not yet fully developed. Therefore, attention should still be paid to food intake and food quality.

IV. About kitten excretion

If the kitten cannot take care of itself, you should use a moist cotton swab or towel with a suitable temperature to gently wipe the excretory system 3 to 4 times every day, 5 to 8 times each time, to stimulate the kitten to urinate and defecate, otherwise the kitten will Death due to inability to excrete.

In addition, not every time a milk cat is stimulated, it will immediatelyExcretion, but continues every day regardless of whether it urinates or defecates. Milk cats defecate less frequently and may not even defecate for three days. As long as it can keep peeing, the excretory system can be said to be normal, at least in theory.

5. About kitten sleep

Kittens are more likely to wake up at night than adult cats. This is related to the nature of cats to hunt at night in the wild. After the kitten is 7-8 weeks old, you can play with it to increase its activity during the day and increase its fatigue.

Provide an appropriate sleeping place for kittens. Whether it's on your bed or a cat nest in another room, you need to prepare a quiet and safe place for your kitten to rest, so that your kitten won't be disturbed while resting. Unless the kitten is suspected of being injured or sick, it is not recommended to get out of bed immediately after being woken up by the kitten to prevent the kitten from developing a fixed cognition.

If dinner is served more than a few hours before going to bed, kittens will most likely wake up hungry in the middle of the night. Therefore, it is recommended to arrange the last feeding before the kitten goes to bed, and leave a small amount of food for the nighttime "snack".

6. About kitten milk moss

The skin of newborn kittens has poor resistance. If the dirt on the kitten is not cleaned in time, it is easy for fungi to breed, and milk moss is the most common.

The symptoms of pancreatitis are that the skin starts to become red first, and then hair begins to fall out in the red area. After the hair falls, black scabs form, and regional alopecia areata begins to appear on the body. In most cases, this process occurs within three days.

Milk ringworm is completely recoverable. Generally, cats over six months old will recover on their own as their immune systems mature and when they are older and can go to a ventilated and sunny environment. So owners don’t need to panic.

7. About vaccination of kittens

Healthy cats can be vaccinated when they are about 2 months old. In the first year of vaccination, 3 doses of cat triplex and 1 dose of rabies vaccine are required. The time between injections should be about 4 weeks.

After being vaccinated for the first time, cats only need to be vaccinated once a year. It is recommended to vaccinate one or two months earlier than the previous year, so that the preventive effect will be better.

Need to pay attention to:

The vaccine may have certain side effects. The cat may have a low fever, loss of appetite, etc. within 1-2 days.

Never bathe your cat within a week after vaccination, and do not take your cat out frequently, because the cat’s resistance is weak at this time.

8. About deworming kittens

Inside the cat’s body,External deworming should start from an early age, as soon as the cat is weaned. Of course, the methods of deworming inside the body and outside the body are different, and there are also some differences in the deworming cycle:

For internal deworming of cats, cats should take internal deworming medicine once at the 6th, 8th and 12th weeks, and then every three months. Adult cats (6 months and above) can take internal anthelmintics every three months.

Cats should be dewormed externally, at least once every three months, and it is recommended to deworm them once a month.

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