Teething, A Word of Caution: Sometimes during play or teething the nipple of the Comfort Toy can become perforated.  When this happens it allows air to be sucked into the stomach and like any baby the air can cause a tummy ache.  So always ensure the nipple is intact and replace the toy as needed.

•  Free Cat Quilt Pattern

• Free Downloadable Emergency Cat Care PDF

• Pet First Aid and Emergency Care

• Cat Help On Line

• Cat Health News

• Holistic Diets

• Is commercial cat food is killing your cat

• Raising Cats Naturally http://www.raisingcatsnaturally.com

• Cool Cat Stuff

• Cat Fanciers Magazine "Basic Health Care for Cats"

• For motherless kittens, spring’s a desperate time

• Healthy cat foods  

Caring For Queens

A Quote From:

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=1&cat=1388&articleid=906

The queen should be allowed easy access to food, water, and a litter box. Place everything she needs close by, but out of reach of the kittens. Monitor that she is eating, drinking, and using the litter box.

Within 2-3 days, the queen's appetite will about double from her pre-pregnancy intake. She will need a near constant supply of a high quality kitten food and water to maintain her weight and health while feeding the kittens. She should still have her supplements of vitamin and mineral tablets. She should not look gaunt or thin if her weight is maintained. Ideally, she should weigh the same at weaning as she did when she was bred.

And

Kitten Birth

Dealing With New Borns and Neo Natal Care

Kitten Weight

A Quote From

http://maxshouse.com/kitten_care.htm 

Constant crying, kittens squirming around the nest box, and restlessness of the queen are signs of trouble. Young kittens have a normal rectal temperature of about 96°, which may rise to about 100° (35.5°C to about 38°C) during the first week, after which the kittens develop the ability to shiver. Umbilical cords drop off at two to three days, and ears and eyes open at around six to twelve days.

Kittens weigh about 100 grams (3-5 ounces) at birth and gain approximately 7 to 15 grams per day (a quarter to over half an ounce). Thus, they will double their birth weight by seven days and triple it by twenty-one days (males gaining even faster). Large quantities of breast milk are needed, and this is stressful for the lactating mother. if a supplemental food source (e.g., milk replacer) can be provided by three weeks of age, it will lessen the need for milk production and may shorten the time to weaning.

A Quote From

http://maxshouse.com/kitten_care.htm

Kittens should be weighed at birth on a gram scale (newborns usually weigh between 90 and 110 grams [3.15 and 3.85 ounces), and then on a daily basis for the first two weeks. When properly fed, they will usually double their weight within the first week.

In addition to food, warmth is essential to the well-being of newborn kittens. A consistent environmental temperature of 90° to 94°F (approximately 32° to 34-5°C) is recommended for the first two weeks, then 75° to 80° (approximately 24° to 26.5°C) for the third week. A temporary incubator, using a standard household sixty-watt bulb placed approximately two and a half feet above the kittens, should maintain the desired temperature.

A Quote

Raising Orphan Kittens

From http://www.feralcat.com/raising.html

If possible, take the kitten to a veterinarian to be checked out for dehydration and general condition. Kittens can become dehydrated very quickly without a mom and may need fluids under the skin. Kittens that are dehydrated from lack of fluids or diarrhea will have very little energy or appetite, so this is important to take care of immediately. Stools should be checked for worms and parasites. The vet can supply a lot of advice on hand raising kittens as well as needed supplies so don't skip this step.

When you get the kitten home you must continue to provide warmth. Find a place in your home that is warm, draft-free and isolated.

Feeding can be done with an eyedropper or a nursing bottle (available at the vet). If using the eyedropper be careful not to force feed the kitten. Let the baby suck the fluid at its own pace, otherwise you can fill the baby's lungs with milk and cause pneumonia.

Neo Natal Care

Best Value? Buy Used Books At Amazon.com

Please Visit http://www.kittenbaby.com/

An Excellant Site Lots of How To Photos

A Quote From: 

 http://www.feralcat.com/raising.html

                Feeding Guide

Kitten feeding - KMR

Never Cows Milk

Kitten Bottle and Kitten Bottle Feeding

Always choose a small kitten nipple over a larger human or puppy nipple!!!!

Photo Credits: from http://www.kittenbaby.com

Caution! Very young kittens cannot void (urinate) without stimulation from mama... This can make them extremly ill and even kill them... A warm (not hot!) soft wash cloth or cotten ball gently wiped over the genitals will allow the kitten to void and eleminate waste (bowel movement)

Photo Credits: from http://www.kittenbaby.com

Quote From

http://maxshouse.com/kitten_care.htm

Feeding

Intake is limited by the size of the stomach, and excessive fluid intake must be avoided because a newborn kitten's kidneys are functionally immature and have a very limited capacity. Numerous feedings throughout the day, usually every four hours, will prevent overloading the digestive system and kidneys. The number of feedings can be decreased, and the intake per feeding can be increased accordingly, as the kitten matures.

The daily intake of food is based on the kitten's energy requirement. Caloric requirements for the newborn kitten are approximately 420 kilocalories per kilogram at birth, and by five to six weeks of age it needs only 240 to 275 kilocalories per kilogram. (A kilogram is 1000 grams, or 2.2 pounds. A kilocalorie, a term often shortened to calorie by the nonscientific community, is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water one degree Celsius.) To calculate the daily amount of milk replacer required for the newborn follow these steps:

1. Divide the kitten's weight in grams by 1000 to determine the weight in kilograms.
    
2. Multiply the answer from step I by 420 (kilocalories). The result provides you with the number of kilocalories needed daily to sustain the newborn kitten.
    
3. Find the caloric concentration of the formula on the label. Divide the amount needed by the kitten by the caloric concentration of the milk replacer. Multiply the answer by the quantity of formula (in milliliters) that supplies the specified caloric concentration.
    
4. Take the total for the day and divide it by the number of feedings per day.
    

Some milk replacers provide a feeding chart, which eliminates the need to do any calculations. If KMR is used, do not exceed five milliliters (one teaspoon) of formula per feeding of newborn kittens for the first week. Thereafter, slowly increase the amount per feeding.

Formula should not be fed to a weak and hypothermic kitten. instead, a dilute (5 percent) dextrose solution (sugar water) and lactated Ringer's solution (a sterile, saltwater solution for injection) should be given orally as directed by a veterinarian. Also, the kitten's body temperature should be gradually increased in a warm environment (85° to 90°F). Formula can be fed after the kitten's rectal temperature is over 94°F

When preparing formula, make up only enough for a forty-eight-hour period and divide it into individual feeding portions. These portions can be stored in the refrigerator. Before feeding, warm the formula to about 100° While warming the formula, sterilize the feeding utensils in boiling water for fifteen minutes to destroy harmful bacteria or viruses. All handlers should wash their hands before feeding or handling the kittens.

Kittens that did not receive colostrum (first milk from the mother) should be vaccinated against rhinotracheitis, calicivirus, and panleukopenia at four weeks of age.

Special animal-feeding bottles are available at pet stores. These bottles have been designed to meet the needs of nursing kittens, but sometimes the nipple openings are too small.  So, if the liquid doesn't drip slowly from the nipple, enlarge the hole slightly. Never force formula by squeezing the bottle while the nipple is in the kitten's mouth. The liquid may be aspirated (inhaled into the lungs), causing aspiration pneumonia, which could be fatal. A medicine dropper can also be used, although the volume will be greatly reduced, making feedings more tedious and time consuming.

The kitten should be fed in an upright position to avoid its aspirating any fluid into its lungs. Bottle-fed kittens must be burped after feeding because of the air they inhale during feeding. Stomach-tube feeding eliminates this step; however, other problems are associated with tube feeding, especially the danger of choking if fluid is directly dispensed into the lungs. Despite the drawbacks, tube feeding is considered the most reliable method for feeding kittens unable to suckle or needing immediate nourishment. Tube-fed kittens should be housed in separate compartments to prevent them from sucking on each other's tails, ears, and feet. A small catheter (premature infant size or 5 French) and syringe work well for tube feeding. The catheter can be purchased in most drugstores and the syringe can be obtained from a veterinarian. Before passing the tube down the kitten's esophagus, carefully mark the tube for the proper length. This is done by measuring the tube from the last rib, behind which the stomach is located, to the opening of the mouth. Tape can be used to mark the section of catheter that reaches to the mouth. This mark indicates the point at which the tube reaches the correct position in the kitten's stomach. Lubricate the tube with warm water or formula before inserting it into the kitten's throat. while the kitten is in an upright position, with its head tilted slightly up, insert the tube along the roof of the mouth. if the kitten begins to gag or you feel resistance, remove the tube and try again. Continue to pass the tube until you reach the mark on the tube. After administering a small amount of warm water to make sure the tube is in the right location, slowly administer the formula over a two-minute period. Each week, remeasure the distance from the last rib to the tip of the mouth and re-mark the tube; the length will increase as the kitten grows.

A kitten has received an adequate supply of food when its abdomen feels full, but not distended. Within three weeks, kittens can learn to drink fluid from a dish. The weaning process can be started when they are three to four weeks old by adding small amounts of commercial cat food to the formula.

Feeding problems usually encountered by inexperienced handlers are overfeeding or underfeeding. A sure sign of overfeeding is diarrhea. The intensity of the problem is indicated by the color and consistency of the stool. The color can range from yellowish to grayish. A grayish diarrheic stool indicates a more severe problem and may signal impending dehydration. Failure to gain weight, excessive crying, listlessness, and shivering occur when a kitten is underfed. The best criteria by which to determine if the kitten is being properly fed are a steady weight gain of ten grams, or one-third of an ounce, per day-and a normal stool (firm and yellowish). The number of stools is usually the same as the number of feedings per day.

I have found weaning easier and less messy if I begin gradually mixing the kitten food with the KMR.  I then slowly over a period of weeks introduce them to solid foods with KMR formula lightly poured over the canned baby food.  Seems to work well.

 for Cats & Kittens

.

A Quote From:

http://www.paw-rescue.org/CATS/kitten_care.html

Deworming. Kittens will need to be dewormed at least once and probably twice. The "worms" are typically roundworms or pin worms. They are passed to the kitten through the mother's milk. Your vet can give your kitten a dose of medication such as Strongit to kill these parasites when the kitten is 6 weeks old or so. This should be followed 2 weeks later either by a second dose of medication or a fecal test to insure that all the worms have been killed.

If after deworming, your kitten's stools are mushy, have mucus or blood in them, be sure to see your vet. There are other kinds of intestinal parasites, such as coccidia, that can infect kittens. These require different treatments depending on the parasites.

Schedule may vary based on location and veternarian.

Best Cat Litter I have found is Johnny Cat.

Then sprinkle  Arm And Hammer Room Deoderizer "Pet Freshner"  in the bottom of the pan and each time you change the box !!!

Amazing Results...

Photo Credits
http://www.thepetcenter.com/exa/fd.html