Hand Raising Kittens

By

PookaRina

Our son raised 3 little ones when their mom left them on our front porch, and never returned. She
brought them up to our porch one at the time, and
as far as we ever knew, that was all of them. We
really never knew, and we didn't know why she
never returned either.

The little guys hadn't opened their eyes yet, and
we waited all night before taking matters into our own hands and rescuing the very hungry and yowling little mites. They were cold and so hungry.

We used diluted baby formula, and it worked. They
grew and thrived. Their little claws were like needles
though, and finally (in self defense) our son learned to cut the tops off old mateless socks and put each
little kitty in the cut off sock in order to keep them from scratching his hands and wrists. The socks also helped to keep them from getting soaked with formula as they were fed.

As someone else mentioned, it's necessary to keep them clean
and make sure their elimination systems are working properly.

Keep them warm, and until they are old enough to eat and drink on their own, they should be fed about every 2-3 hours. Not too much at the time either.
You can feel when their little tummies are full, but
not uncomfortably tight. We all learned a lot from
that experience.

The kitties grew amazingly fast, and were so precious it was very difficult to give any of them up. After all, we had all nurtured these little ones just as you would a child and we all became very attached to them. Our son worked so hard for those little kittens, and they were the cutest little fuzzy balls.
He was really good about getting up in the middle of the night to feed them.

God Blesses every person who cares enough to do something so humane. I have an idea if
the situation were reversed, the animals would be taking care of us without even blinking an eye.

Good for you Robyn. Stories like yours renews our faith in the human race.

Julia in Boca Raton, FL

By Brittany Sliger from Ft. Wayne, IN (Guest Post)

give them lots of love

By Susan (Guest Post)

There is a product called KMR (Kitten Milk Replacement), that has all the nutrients required by kittens. I raised an orphaned litter on this with great success. For elimination, gently stroke the anal area with a cotton ball lightly moistened with mineral oil to simulate the mother's licking.