They are too young to be away from their mother. Is she available?
...
Slings?
They should still be suckling at one month old. Where’s Mama Kitty?
A small wok. JUST KIDDING.
Now I slink away to play with my Tigger...
http://www.cathelp-online.com/health/kitten1.php
You will also have to help them move their bowels and pass urine. They are not quite old enough to do it on their own. Wet a cotton ball and gently wipe their behinds after every feeding. Try to simulate the mother licking them. Keep them warm, young kittens can chill very easily.
Kitties usually get the hang of the litter box by themselves okay. Sometimes you can catch them just before they're getting ready to go and put them in the box.
Should be able to get a kitten bottle and some kitten formula at any pet store. Not as good as momma but better than nothing if mom isn’t available. Kittens probably aren’t quite ready to eat food even if mushy and still want to suckle.
Far as the cat box goes...dunno on that one. Kittens I’ve had seemed to be born cat box trained.
Warm, damp washcloth vaguely over the ears, eyes, nose, and then rub their butts like a mommy cat would lick to remove the waste.
Remove what is eliminated.
I hate that part of raising feral kittens.
/johnny
go to your vet and get some kitten formula & ask for a few bottles to bottle feed the kittens. make a little litter box nearby so they don’t have to walk too far and after feeding put them in the litter box (if they haven’t fallen asleep from feeding) and take one of their front paws in your hand gently making a swiping motion in the litter.
Also, go to ToysRUs and get a traditional style baby buggy & line it so it’s soft and comfy & quiet for them , with the baby buggy you have the advantage of them all being together keeping warm and w/you . Don’t forget night feedings,too, because that’s part of it.
Our family went thru this one time and this kitten slept by my bedside in the baby buggy when i turned in... she turned out fabulous and she had a very differant personality than most of our other cats. We were literally her mother. We named her Cindy(Cinderella).
Don’t give them kitten food just yet either mushed up crunchies or can stuff. They are way too young & can’t digest that stuff.
First, keep them with the mom as much as possible. Whatever she can feed them (even if less than before) is still very helpful. Her milk has antibodies, etc. in it that will help keep them from getting sick. Second, go to a large pet store and get some KMR kitten milk replacement formula (or some other brand if that’s what they have, but KMR is best known and works very well). KMR comes in canned or dried; dried is easy to mix up (just follow instructions on the can) and cheaper. At four weeks, they may be able to drink the KMR out of a saucer (that’s what I would do first; try it in a saucer). Do NOT give them cow’s milk or goat milk or what-have-you unless Mama cat is not feeding them at all. The cow’s milk can give them galloping diarrhea, which can kill small kittens. And I wouldn’t feed them from a bottle unless Mama is really not feeding them at all. It is easy to force-feed little kittens too much with a bottle. Just offer it to them in a saucer. They will probably get right in the saucer to drink it, but Mama can clean them up afterward. :)
At four weeks, *many* kittens are able to eat canned food and use a litter box, but some are not. If Mama cat has not been feeding them as much as they quite need, they may be a little delayed. It sounds to me more like they are behaving like three week old kittens. I would offer them the KMR in a saucer three times a day (preferably *after* Mama cat has nursed them, not before), and forget about the litter box for another week. Mama cat will wash their little bottoms and take care of that issue for at least a few more days, so you don’t have to.
Good luck! Thanks for worrying about the babies and making sure they are well taken care-of.
sounds like worms, they need milk and not mushy food.
put some in a bowl and worm them soon.
They are really young, hopefully they will be ok without mommy
As people have noted, use a warm, wet washcloth after they eat to stimulate them to poop .... have a very shallow "cat box" available with just a little litter at first (cookie sheets work really well ... but use an old one since you won't want to bake later.)
www.kittencare.com is an excellent resource.
Once they have their wee wee in the box, they will be more likely to use it. KMR in the powdered form is loved by every kitten I’ve helped and it’s been a few dozen. I think it’s 2 parts of very warm water to 1 part powder. You may have to use a bottle for a couple of more weeks.
Don’t let them get chilled. I used swisspers cotton pads run under very warm water and squeezed to give them a rub down like their mom would after eating, then hold them over sink and gently use another warm swissper to gently stimulate their privates so they can wee and pookie. It can take a long time—several minutes sometimes. They must be able to pookie and peekie or need to go to vet so they can help.
Holding them by your heart while using the bottle is comforting as they hear your heartbeat. Make sure they don’t get milk down their airway!. Either hold upright wrapped in a blankie or lay them on their tummy like they drink from mom.
KMR makes a powder called 2nd step that is a thicker consistency for when they transition from the KMR milk. Try mixing that powder with the KMR milk substitute and they will like it better than plain water alone. The kitten food by Royal Canon is the best I believe once they start eating dry food.
I feel for you because I have worried when some mothers stopped nursing too early. Sometimes they just cannot make enough milk. You can help the mother by feeding her a bowl of the KMR milk substitute a couple of times a day. They need alot of calories to keep up the nursing. My hardest challenge was 5 three day old kittens that everyone thought would die. I literally didn’t sleep but one or two hours for several days because once I got all fed,bathed, and pooped or peekied it was time to start again. They are still with me many years later. If the mom still has full nipples you should be able to get her to feed more by giving her kitten food and the KMR to boost her calorie intake. Good luck!!
Pet stores sell kitten formula. They also sell syringes for vet purposes of feeding (no needles, just the syringe. They sell them for pediatric meds too.)
For can formula simply keep refrigerated and then warm up the syringe full in a coffee cup of hot water until slightly warmer than room temp and squirt it into their mouths.
It’s how we had to do it with our first abandoned barn kitten. She’s now 14 years old.
You can feed them goat’s milk, either fresh or canned, with an animal nursing bottle,a medicine dropper or a syringe w/o the needle, of course. Goat’s milk can be used with any orphaned animal. We always use it at the animal shelter that I’m on the board of directors of. If they are around four weeks, they should start eating food soon if they are otherwise healthy. Check if they have any teeth yet. If they don’t have teeth yet, they are less than four weeks. Try canned food with goat’s milk added to it. Wean them gradually off the milk to just canned food.DoNOT use cow’s milk, cats are lactose intolerant,cow’s milk will cause diarrhea,probably kill them.
You HAVE to wipe their bums with a wet cloth so they will go. They cannot physically potty on their own without that...
Also they may want to be bottle fed formula until they are about 6 weeks old.
I just went through this several months ago. I foster kitties for a local rescue organization. I had 4 tiny baby kittens turned in to me. I was told they were about 4 weeks old. They were so young that they could barely walk and their eye site wasn’t fully developed. I ended up getting some KMR powder formula and a bottle from the petstore (petsmart) and bottle fed them throughout the day and night. I kept them in a room to themselves and put lots of towels and blankets down and they would do their business on that. Fortunately a few days later I got a mama cat and she eventually took those kittens on as her own and nursed them. They have all been adopted to their new forever homes! It was a lot of work but very rewarding.