Looking For Help With An Orphaned Newborn Kitten?

The annual Kitten Season (generally March to November), which is when most kittens are born and Rescues/Shelters are filled to capacity with cats and kittens, is also the time concerned animal advocates will find newborn kittens without their moms.

Whether Mom was killed, displaced or somehow permanently separated from her babies, if you find newborn kittens unattended and mom has not returned to care for them within a few hours, your immediate action may be needed.

First, you need to determine if truly the babies ARE orphaned. There are many reasons for a Mother Cat to leave her babies:

Mom may be finding food for herself to stay healthy to continue to be able to feed her babies.
Within a few weeks after birth, Moms will often move their babies to a new location. This instinctual behavior is to safeguard their young by not remaining in one place too long. During this process, 1 or more kittens may be left alone, as she carries each kitten to their new nest.
If a feral (unsocialized) nursing cat is trapped, the kittens need to be found! DO NOT RELEASE MOM, you may NEVER be successful in trapping her again….this IS your opportunity to prevent any more litters from this female.

IF you have searched EVERYWHERE and still cannot locate the babies, take mom to a vet and have her spayed ASAP (make sure the vet is capable of spaying a nursing mother and leaving her mammary glands functional) and release her back to where you found her as soon as she has fully awaken from the sedative so she can return to the nest. Stay out of sight and watch where she goes which is hopefully back to her babies. NEVER release a cat that is still coming out from under the sedative, raccoons and other predators can, and will, kill cats and kittens that cannot defend themselves. The sooner the kittens can be trapped, the more likely they can be socialized and adopted into a loving home.

If the lone kitten(s) appear to be safe where they are, you should observe the nest to see if mom returns within a few hours (the recommended timing is difficult to say as you may not know how long they have been alone; chilling and dehydration are MAJOR concerns for kittens’ well-being).

The goal is to keep kittens with their mom to 1000 give them the best chance of survival. The hand-raising of young, ‘pre-wean’ kittens is an intensive round-the-clock job, with feedings every couple of hours AND the mortality rate for orphaned kittens is much higher than if mom raised her babies.

Always ask yourself, ‘Are these kittens really orphaned’?

There are local Rescuers that can coach you on how to care for the newborns, there may be another mom cat that the rescuer can pair the kittens with or Rescuers that specialize in Fostering only the ‘pre-wean’ kittens to give them that ’round-the-clock’ attention needed (these Bottle Feeding Fosters will expect you or another Rescue to take the kittens back after the kittens are old enough to eat on their own).

By: Anita Barron, Director www.RescueTips.com

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