The most important thing is to remember: treat newborn kittens like human newborn babies. Be sure to keep it clean. I always wash my hands with disinfectant soap before and after feeding my kittens, change their blankets every morning and wash them with hot water soap-in order to prevent the growth and spread of germs.
The second important thing is to remember that newborn kittens need to keep warm and have enough water and nutrition. You can keep them warm in different ways. My favorite way is to put a heating lamp on their nest and make a nest for them with a soft blanket. Another way is to use a small electric blanket, set it at a low level, cover it with a towel, cover it with a blanket, and then put the kitten on the blanket. Don't be too hot, just keep warm. Remember to keep the corners of the nest cool. If the kitten is too hot, it can climb there.
By observation, you can probably know the age of the kitten. If they still have umbilical cord, it is about 1-3 days; If their eyes haven't been opened, it will be about 1- 10 days, and by the tenth day, they should have almost opened their eyes. Gently open their mouths and touch the teeth inside. If a deciduous tooth has a sharp point, it is about 2 weeks old. If they try to stand up, they are about 2-3 weeks old If they start playing, they will be four weeks old.
Don't feed the newborn kitten milk, feed the cat milk powder. There are several brands of milk powder, such as K.M.R? Nutritious. I like milk powder products. After the cat's milk is washed, the temperature should be similar to the body temperature. Don't feed the kitten cold milk. When feeding a kitten with a cat bottle, just open the kitten's mouth and put the pacifier in. Sometimes it may be necessary to squeeze the bottle first to let the milk flow out. Don't hold the baby cat like a human. Be sure to let the kitten lie on your lap and feed it all the time. Kittens should suck by themselves. Be sure to feed the kitten in a prone position. If not, you are likely to feed milk to its lungs.
Don't feed the hypothermia kitten right away, put it next to your body to warm up first. Feed it with Pedialyte (a kind of glucose water for babies with diarrhea): feed it every 12 body weight 1 cc once an hour, and slowly heat the kitten until it is warm and squirming. When it is warm, you can feed it cat milk powder. A kitten with hypothermia stops working because of its small intestine and stomach. If it is fed with cat milk powder before it warms up, it will not be digested.
The renal function of newborn kittens is only 25% of that of adults, so they can't concentrate urine and need to excrete a lot of diluted urine. Kittens will be dehydrated soon if they don't eat, so if they lose weight, they should consider dehydration. Dehydrated kittens have dry mouth, bright pink tongue or mucus in their mouths. You can pull up the skin on the back of the kitten's neck. If the skin does not return to its original state, but keeps pulling up, it is dehydrated. In addition, if the kitten's urine is unclear, but it is obviously yellow, it is also a sign of dehydration. Everyone who feeds newborn kittens should have sub-Q solution and injections. Injecting sub-Q solution saved many kittens. Weigh the kitten every day to see if it grows normally and healthily. I have a special notebook to record the kitten's weight, age and vaccination. ?
The third thing to remember is that kittens don't know how to behave. Ideally, they want their mother cat to help them defecate and clean up. But we don't have this condition. I heard many people say that they should gently wipe the kitten's ass with a warm cotton pad and let it defecate. However, mom's tongue feels like sandpaper. I wipe my ass with a paper towel (a big paper towel used in the kitchen, which is rough in texture, not the kind used to wipe my face) under warm tap water. Remember that they must defecate. Urine should be clear and stool should be shaped (below: wipe PP with wet cotton ball to stimulate defecation).
Don't be afraid to give your kitten a bath. You can use disinfectant soap in the first few weeks (be careful not to get it in your eyes), and then slowly transition to cat shampoo. Dry well and blow dry with the low temperature block of the hair dryer. Dry them and put them in the cat's nest as soon as possible. The main reason why I use disinfectant soap is because I don't know their previous living environment, so I'd better be careful to avoid catching any diseases.
When kittens are four weeks old, they can be taught to use the litter box. Use shallow pots and ordinary cat litter (non-caking soil or sand). Never let such a small cat use caked cat litter, because they will play in the cat litter basin and eat the cat litter. When they use the dustbin for the first time, you will be proud of them. Put them in and let them go to the toilet every time they drink milk. Generally, they naturally like to use cat litter. If you are lucky enough to have more than one kitten, you will find that one likes to use cat litter, and the others are all around. If there is, remove the troublemaker first and let the kitten who wants to use cat litter to go to the toilet concentrate. Many newborn kittens think that the cat sand basin is just a big sand table, so they like to play in it and pile sand everywhere. They are very happy.