What is the best infant formula to feed a kitten. Baby food in the diet for cats. Is it possible to give baby food to cats

Many cat owners sooner or later give birth to offspring, but, like some women, cats who give birth sometimes do not have or do not have enough milk to feed the babies that have just been born. But a natural question arises: is it possible to feed a kitten with baby food? According to the laws of nature and the requirements of veterinary medicine, a kitten up to four weeks must be fed only with milk. Where can a man get milk to feed a little blind kitten? The first thing that comes to the mind of the owner: powdered infant formula.

Feeding

The newborn period in kittens is called "sucking". Babies are born undeveloped and blind, mother's milk helps them get stronger, open their eyes. Veterinarians do not advise switching to milk formulas designed for children. There are mixtures that replace cat's milk. The mixture is stored for a long time, it is the best nutritional option for the baby. If there is an excess of infant formula in the house, it can also be used. Just breed it in a ratio of one to one. Milk mixtures designed for children are fatter, richer in microelements, which in excess will be harmful to a newly born kitten.

Features of formula feeding

To raise a fully developed newborn kitten, you must follow a few rules:

feed three, four times a day;
the intervals between meals are chosen by observing the baby;
the kitten will be on artificial nutrition for one and a half months;
for feeding use a bottle with a small nipple;
a bottle filled with a mixture is heated to the kitten's body temperature;
you need to wrap the baby in a warm towel.

Newborns are not able to independently regulate their body temperature. His self-regulation will begin at the age of ten.

Other reasons

If a kitten develops an allergy to baby food for kittens, which is designed specifically for him, then you can use baby food. Only one condition: it is necessary to examine the baby if he has itching and flaky skin.

If the baby was given cooked infant formula as food, you need to watch him. If the kitten fell asleep calmly, woke up cheerful, his stool is normal and nothing bothers him, he feels good, then the food is suitable. You can safely give such a mixture not only once a day.

Other rules for feeding kittens

Kittens have just been born, it is difficult for their digestive system to adjust, adapt to the harsh conditions of a new life. A month or two will pass, and a two-month-old baby will learn to regulate his body temperature, get used to the food that his owner offered him. If you give a kitten baby food, then you should wait a little to accustom him to raw foods from childhood.

natural instinct

The kitten is a future predator, he needs to hunt himself. Sooner or later he will catch the mouse and eat it. There is nothing wrong with that, nature requires it. In order for a full-fledged healthy cat to grow out of a kitten, you need to take care of its proper baby food. You should listen to nature and veterinarians who recommend including the following products in the diet of kittens, cats and cats if they are fed on infant formula:

liver,
beef meat (not duck, goose, or pork),
Carrots, cabbage,
buckwheat and oatmeal, rice,
cottage cheese, kefir, yogurt (rarely give milk),
raw water.

Whatever food option the owner chooses, you need to monitor the condition of your pet. It is not recommended to constantly add infant formula to the diet.

An unexpected discovery of a newborn kitten on the street or a mother cat who abandoned offspring is a reason for panic not only for beginners, but also for experienced pet owners. How to take care of the baby, how to save? There are a lot of opinions and advice on this matter, but the main stumbling block is proper feeding. Let's see if it is possible to feed a kitten with baby food and what can be done to keep the crumbs healthy.

Let us immediately determine that a blind kitten on the street, even if it is in a box and covered with a cloth, is a non-resident. If you find a similar find, the decision is up to you! Feeding kittens is a big responsibility and literally sleepless nights.

The only chance to save a newborn kitten that is not fed by a cat is a person. Even if you've made the decision that you can't help your baby, there are a few things you can do:

Try to find someone who can pay attention to feeding, taking a kitten for a while.
Going to a clinic where the kitten will be euthanized - perhaps it seems cruel to you, but is a slow, starvation death more humane?

The next important point is the chances of survival. If you are taking care of babies who were rejected by the cat, that is, they were warm, not injured, etc. - the chances of survival are higher. Having found a blind kitten on the street, you should be prepared for the fact that he may die due to:

Hypothermia.
Too long hunger.
Injuries received.

Note! Cats are very good mothers and they rarely abandon their offspring, but if this happens, the kids need to be shown to the doctor.

The fact is that a cat can leave offspring if it is not viable, for example, prematurely. In this case, if you decide to feed orphans, all the risks and scenarios will be known to you in advance.

The chances are very small for kittens that did not develop a sucking reflex or there was a stop in the digestive process. A stop can happen for two reasons:

The kitten has been starving for too long.
The kitten has never sucked milk, in fact, in this case, digestion has not yet started and the chances of survival are higher.

The absence of an oral reflex is almost always tantamount to doom. The kitten may refuse to suckle milk if the reflex is not yet developed (prematurity) or if it is too weak (pre-lumpy or lethargic).

Tip: In the early stages of lethargy, a kitten can be revived by warming up and vigorously (but gently) rubbing the body from the limbs to the heart.

So, you have a newborn kitten, what to do first? Decide what and how to feed. We will talk about the choice of the type of feeding below, there are several answers to the question of what to feed:

Syringe without needle- not the most convenient way, but as a temporary solution it will do.
Pipette- also not the most convenient way, since the kitten knows how to suck, and not lick.
Syringe with rubber tip- an elastic band from a pipette, a piece of tube from a dropper or a rubber catheter is put on the hard nozzle of the syringe. The kitten will be able to suck a rubber nozzle, and with the help of a piston it will be convenient for you to control the flow of milk. Only one caveat - make sure that the kitten does not suck the nozzle, it must hold securely.
Drop bottle for nose and ears etc. - the tube must be thoroughly rinsed, poured over with boiling water and make sure that there are no foreign odors left in it.
Special bottle for feeding kittens- like a baby bottle, with a pacifier, only much smaller.

Important! The kitten must suck, that is, make an effort to get milk. If you just pour the formula into your baby's mouth, he may lose his sucking reflex.

Rules and frequency of feeding kittens

Do not be alarmed if the baby sucks weakly during the first feedings, he may be exhausted. If everything goes well, you will be convinced of the assertiveness of the baby, you don’t even have to put pressure on the plunger of the syringe or the bottle, the kitten will suck everything out by itself, and very quickly. However, here we are talking about a monthly kitten, in the first day and even weeks, such progress should not be expected.

Let's talk about the general rules that must be followed, despite the age and condition of the ward:

Kittens are fed only in prone position(natural) or holding upright (with a weakened sucking reflex). If you lay the baby on his back, there is a risk of suffocation.
Strictly control the gradual intake of the mixture, as the kitten may inhale excess liquid.
The bottle should be held at a comfortable angle for the kitten, but not vertically or horizontally.
Never force feed leftover formula, even if you think your baby hasn't eaten enough. It is better to take a break and offer the pacifier again after 30-40 minutes.
After feeding massage your belly and the genital area of the kitten with a wet sponge - if you skip this step, the baby will not be able to go to the toilet, will suffer from intoxication and will most likely die.

Important! A formula-fed kitten has a weak immune system! Keep the litter, nipple and bottle clean, the freshness of the mixture, the temperature and the absence of drafts.

Now let's look at the frequency of feeding. We will determine in advance that the kitten eats until it is full and falls asleep. For a daily baby, eating takes about 5 minutes, the older the kitten becomes, the faster he will cope with the nipple. We didn’t joke about sleepless nights above, a newborn kitten eats every 2-3 hours, a week-old kitten eats every 4 hours ... day and night.

You will understand whether the baby has enough food and nutrients if you weigh the ward. Until about 3 weeks of age, the baby should gain 10-15 grams every day.

Age	Recommendations and frequency of feeding
1 week (1–7 days)	Feeding every 2-3 hours. From the fifth day, if the kitten does not wake up by itself, the frequency of night feeding is increased to 1 time in 3 hours.
2 weeks (7–14 days)	Feeding every 4 hours. From the tenth day, if the kitten does not wake up by itself, the frequency of night feeding is increased to 1 time in 5 hours.
3 weeks (14–21 days)	Feeding every 5-6 hours. Physically strong kittens from 15–20 days should be taught to lap from a saucer.
4 weeks (21–28 days)	Feeding every 5-6 hours. From 23–25 days, you need to try to introduce complementary foods and strictly monitor the reaction of the digestive system. If necessary, you need to use drugs to eliminate colic.

Note! By the fifth week, the kitten should be able to lap from the saucer. From the fifth week, you need to expand the diet - give boiled minced meat, broths, sour-milk products.

How to mix baby formula for a kitten

Owner's instructions:

Water needs to be prepared. It must be boiled and defended. But in the ideal case, it is better to pass boiled water through a filter (an ordinary jug will do). This will rid the liquid of scale particles. You can also use bottled water for children from 0 to 3 years old. Before use, it is heated to 37°C.

After that, the dry mixture is poured into the water in a thin stream and mixed thoroughly, ensuring that there are no lumps in the resulting "milk".

Mixtures should be taken 2 times less than indicated in the instructions. For example, if you rely on 50 ml of water to take 10 grams, then for a kitten you need to breed only 5 grams. All figures are approximate, you need to read the instructions for a specific mixture!

What to feed a kitten?

It's time to figure out what to feed the kitten. Naturally, the best option is to find a lactating cat that will accept an orphan. Before the invention of cat's milk substitutes, newborn kittens (and puppies) were fed cow's or goat's milk.

Goat milk was considered the best option because it contains more lactobacilli.
Cow's milk never recognized as a good means of rearing, but there were no special alternatives. Today, cow's milk is categorically not recommended for feeding kittens, and goat's milk is urged to be diluted with water in a 1:1 ratio.

Note! If you feed a kitten with cow's or goat's milk, monitor the condition of his skin and stool. The fact is that the baby may be allergic to lactose in foreign milk, and it is very difficult to notice it.

Infant milk formulas successfully used for feeding newborn kittens, but:

Make sure there is no sugar in the mixture.
Choose a formula "from scratch", that is, for newborns, and not for two-, three-month-old children.
If you could not buy a mixture "from scratch", make sure that the selected product does not contain additives (berries, honey, cereals).
Dilute any infant formula with twice as much water as directed on the instructions.
Store the mixture in the refrigerator only.
Do not use formula that is more than 24 hours old for feeding.

The best choice would be a special mixture - a substitute for cat's milk. This powder must be diluted according to the instructions and dosed according to the recommendations on the package. The use of a cat's milk substitute significantly reduces the risk of allergies, although it does not eliminate it.

Note! Grown up kittens can be fed with meat baby food, without the addition of fruits, sugar, potatoes, broccoli and other unnatural for a cat's diet.

Each owner, before getting a cat at home, will think many times about how to feed him. To help him, there will be forums of breeders, advice from experienced veterinarians, but all the same, the nutrition of a pet will depend on the financial condition of the owner, on the preferences of the cat itself and their living conditions.

Kittens eating baby food

There are times when kittens are left without a mother - a cat, and then all the care for their nutrition falls on the owner. For the first month, kittens must be given a special mixture for newborns, similar in composition to cat's milk. Further, to replace the mother's cat's milk, you can use cow or infant formula. To do this, you need to dilute them with water in the ratio 1:1 .

Drinking babies, of course, is a painstaking task and you need to be patient in order to feed the kittens at least 3-4 times a day for 1.5 months. You can use a pipette as a nipple, or you can just drink from a syringe, slowly putting the liquid into the kitten's mouth.

Consumption of baby food due to cat illness

It is not uncommon for cats to be allergic to special foods, and it is sometimes difficult to find the right food. Symptoms such as itching, flaky skin, hair loss indicate that the pet is not suitable for his food. You can try to give baby food in this case. Need to give no more than once a day and carefully watch the reaction of the pet. If the stool is normal, without a strong odor, if the cat feels normal (plays, eats, sleeps peacefully), then you can safely continue such complementary foods.

Only at the beginning of the process should you choose products with a minimum salt content and without dry ground onions in the composition, since the digestive system will not be able to cope with the processing of such food. No wonder they somehow managed without special feeds before. Most likely, such feed was invented to simplify the life of breeders. Yes, it is very convenient, satisfying and healthy, but it is not at all necessary to feed the cat only with cat food.

How did our mothers and grandmothers take care of their furry pets? That's right, many people remember that basically the cat got food that people ate. In addition to the diet was fish, meat, dairy products. Someone specially cooked porridge, supplementing it with goodies such as chicken liver, boiled fish, stewed vegetables, and kept it in the refrigerator. After all, cats ate, and rarely got sick. True, if you give a cat raw meat, you need to regularly treat it for helminthiasis.

You can read about milk in general that it is poison for a cat. But how in the past did the cats wait for the mistress who milked the cow so that she poured some fresh milk into the bowl? Cats could not have evolved so quickly and changed their entire digestive system, which accepts only balanced feline branded food. This humanity has accustomed animals, depriving them of taste preferences, to feed.

Cats are predators, do not forget about it. If a pet asks for a piece of raw meat, it is important to remember that earlier (and even now, if we are talking about village Vaska), the cat's diet consists of mice by 70-80%. You can't get away from nature, and no matter how cat food manufacturers try to balance the diet, enriching it with vitamins and minerals, nothing can replace the taste of fresh meat. Just remember that giving raw meat or fish is enough once a week to avoid salmonellosis. Same with baby food. you can't feed them fluffy all the time. Let it be as a food supplement, a quick solution to the problem if there is nothing else at hand or there is little time to prepare food for the cat.

Some veterinarians believe that Is it better to feed your cat with cat food?. Baby food is best suited for human babies, cats and children have different nutritional needs and different digestive systems. Onions and garlic, which are part of canned meat, should not be given to cats, because only some manufacturers do not add these ingredients.

Also salt. Usually it is present in baby food in small quantities. Manufacturers of the Agusha trademark, for example, do not add salt to canned meat for children. Here are some factors to consider when feeding your cat baby food:

The liver should be in the cat's diet no more than 2 times a month.
Beef and heart can be given to a pet at least every day. It is strictly forbidden to give duck, goose, pork to a cat, since fatty foods affect the liver for a cat.
Cats do not digest the skin of birds, so when choosing canned food or when eating at home, you need to remove the skin from the composition of the food.
From vegetables, cats prefer to eat carrots, white cabbage or cauliflower.
Cereals can be given such: buckwheat, oatmeal, rice.
From dairy products, you can give these: non-fat kefir, yogurt, cottage cheese. Milk has a bad effect on peristalsis.
Drinking water can be raw, boiled water can be given, but rarely, or purified.

In conclusion, we can add that the owner himself decides how and what to feed his own cat, based on the preferences of the animal and the opportunity. If the pet does not complain about the state of health, does not scream in pain, but calmly goes to the toilet on the tray, plays, sleeps in moderation and at the same time sometimes eats baby food, you can safely continue in the same spirit.

A newborn or a small kitten left without a mother-cat turned out to be in your care. If you do not know how and what to feed a kitten at home. Then, the advice collected in the article from owners and breeders who have successfully fed many kittens from birth to a year. They will help you to ensure the correct development and rapid growth of the kitten.

With such a tiny kitten, you need to be careful in nutrition.

Kitten and baby food

A newborn, one-month-old kitten can be fed diluted infant formula and baby meat puree, but it is better to purchase a cat's milk substitute at the pet store.

A newborn kitten is best fed with a pipette or syringe tip without a needle. At a month and a half, kittens can lap and eat small pieces, and you can put a bowl for them. Read more in the article, which contains the rules and secrets of feeding from 1 week to a year.

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Kitten and Whiskas

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Kittens and milk

For kittens up to three months of age, milk is vital, but for cats older than six months, it can upset digestion. The best milk for kittens is cow's milk, which for them needs to be bred twice.

Choosing fish for a kitten

We cook porridge for the kitten

Breeders recommend diversifying the menu of a month-old or 3-week-old kitten with cereals. They are cooked in milk without added sugar and salt. It is better to use chopped buckwheat or rice and offer from three weeks of age.

fatal food

Do not give the kitten sausages, sausage, sugar, salt, avoid feeding from your table. Food from our table is dangerous for kittens.

Mixture for a newborn kitten

If a cat milk replacer is not available for you, then you can make a similar one yourself. Take weakly diluted infant formula or halved cow's milk, add egg white in a ratio of 4 to 1 and shake.

Menu from month to year

A one-month-old kitten can be given porridge with milk, from a month and a half a kitten can eat porridge with meat broth, a 2-month-old kitten is ready to eat boiled chicken and mashed meat. Offer dry food soaked in water to a three-month-old. By six months, the kitten can eat raw minced meat and fish, and by the year it is ready to switch to dry food or raw meat in pieces.

Feeding kittens of exotic breeds

British and Scottish fold breeders exclude carrots from the menu of kittens, it harms their color. need more protein. The owner of a small exotic should not offer thick cereals to his pet.

Feeding a one-month-old kitten without a cat or artificial feeding

Regardless of the breed, a kitten at the age of one month is a crumb, but it is already ready for feeding. Even if the baby is still suckling a cat, you can introduce solid food into his diet.. She will become a component of feeding for kittens who were left without a mother.

Little cat needs milk, necessarily diluted with water in a ratio of 2:5. Milk can be goat or cow. Also, veterinarians are allowed to give cream, low-fat.
Need to provide water. If the tiny pet still does not drink well on its own, you can drink it from the pacifier.
Pet food manufacturers offer for babies who need to be fed without a cat, special milk formulas. They are available, sold at the pet store, and will help feed a newborn cat or pet 2 months of age or older.
When choosing dairy products that are safe for feeding kittens, you can consider such as kefir, curdled milk, low-fat sour cream.

Liquid dairy products are easily digested by the baby's stomach, they give his body many elements that are useful for growth, development, and immunity.

IMPORTANT! All dairy products that are introduced into the diet of newborn, monthly kittens must be very fresh.

Veterinarians will tell you the amount of the product required for one feeding. If feeding
With professional advice, your pet will grow up quickly and in good health.

Week baby 30 ml per 100 grams of its weight is enough.
Kitten two to three weeks old you need to give food in a volume of up to 48 ml per 100 grams of weight.
Per month norm up to 53 ml.

Gradually, the assortment of food is replenished with solid products. It can be liquid porridge, boiled in a little diluted milk. The best option is milk semolina without sugar. Among the allowed products are low-fat cottage cheese, hard-boiled egg yolk.

ATTENTION! The yolk is considered a light and safe product, but it can only be given twice a week.

Fluffy little kittens you can feed with high-quality canned food for children, which includes fish, meat. Already at 3 months (or a little earlier for some breeds), such a product can be gradually replaced with ordinary meat, finely chopped, boiled or scalded. You can feed a growing cat tasty and useful lean beef, rabbit, chicken. When the cat grows up and reaches, for example, 5 months, the meat is supplemented with fish (sea and boiled).

Those who have to feed a monthly cat, you need to know the diet, the number of receptions. From a month to four, top dressing is given after 4 hours, in small portions. The pet's stomach is small, you can not overfeed it.

How to properly feed a monthly cat with natural products

If kittens are left without a mother after birth, this is a big stress for them.. It is difficult for babies to survive, get used to artificial feeding.

Great responsibility in such conditions lies with the owner of the kitten. If competent specialists take care of newborns in the nursery, at home the animal relies only on the kindness and care of a person.

A monthly baby is not yet strong, he is exposed to many dangers from the outside world. It is important to monitor the quality and freshness of complementary foods, the cleanliness of the bowl, the presence of water.

You should also observe the amount of complementary foods, do not bring the baby to obesity.

You can feed at 3 weeks or immediately after birth with diluted low-fat milk.. For feeding, a special horn is used, which is bought at a pet store. If there is no such device, a small syringe will do.
When a one-month-old cat can already be accustomed to porridge, he may not accept solid food. In this case, you can take the porridge a little on your finger, inviting the animal to lick it. This option also works when the muzzle is slightly anointed with food.
Easier is feeding 3 months cats, grown up, wiser. But such cats can eat too much food, which is bad for their health. Even the most healthy homemade food is given in a strictly limited amount.

You can feed a cat with many products, but you can’t introduce them all into the diet at once. The baby gradually gets used to one or another type of food., and the owner observes the reaction of the animal's body to a new product.

Both dairy products and meat, fish, yolk can cause allergies in a cat.. If you expand the diet gradually, it is easy to identify the cause of an allergic reaction. Another problem that can occur after eating is bloating. The baby cannot empty the bladder in time, the intestines do not work well. To avoid the problem, you should give the kitten a tummy massage for 15 minutes.

ATTENTION! If the kitten does not want to accept either milk or solid food, despite following all the recommendations, you need to urgently take him to a veterinary clinic. This behavior may be indicative of major health problems.

Ready mixes for monthly kittens

Cat food manufacturers offer an excellent selection of products for artificial feeding of kittens.

Such food is made for different breeds of cats what to consider when buying.

The instructions for the product give the norms for feeding by months, the mode and volume of the serving are indicated.

The finished mixture can be stored only for a day, for storage you need to find a cold place.
The baby should be placed on its back during feeding.. If he is very small and only learning to eat from the nipple, you can stroke him a little on the back. The bottle is at an angle of forty-five degrees.
Food must be warm you can warm it up in the microwave. It is important to always check the temperature of the food so that the animal does not burn the hot mixture.
You can wean a kitten from a pacifier after a month, from this age he can already lap.

The choice of food depending on the breed

It is necessary to organize artificial feeding taking into account the breed of the kitten. If up to a month kittens eat mainly diluted milk, then after this period, other products are introduced into their diet.

Toddlers british or love meat. They should be given boiled and lean beef, chicken. Fatty foods are harmful to their body. It is important to feed them vegetables, either raw or cooked.

Persian kittens be sure to give porridge with vegetable oil, this is the need of their body. Lop-eared Scots do without fish but they need good meat. Chicken or beef is first given only boiled, and then it can be raw (previously scalded).

It is easy to choose a ready-made kitten food based on the breed, since manufacturers can indicate such information in the product description.

What mistakes should not be made in feeding a monthly cat?

Cat health depends on proper nutrition. But it is also important to educate the pet during this process.

In dishes for people often there are spices, a large amount of salt. These substances are not safe for a small cat.

Kittens have a cute, touching look. And so I want to feed them something tasty, sweet. But in the cat's diet there is a strict taboo on sweets, chocolate. These foods are very harmful.

You can not give a small kitten, like an adult, fatty meat, river fish. These products can not only cause infection with worms, but also lead to infectious diseases.

Even for humans, salted, peppered, fried foods are considered harmful. And even more so, they are harmful to the body of monthly kittens. Feeding such food will lead to a metabolic disorder, to a disorder in the functioning of the organs of the gastrointestinal tract.

Attention! Poor quality prepared feed is also prohibited.

Useful video

The touching moment of feeding a kitten 1-9 days: