How to present an orphaned kitten to a foster mother
Have you ever been faced with the daunting task of presenting an orphaned kitten to a foster mother? It’s not the easiest task in the world, but it’s still doable with a lot of time and commitment on your part. In this article you will find a proven way to do this, as I have had success with this method three times with three different mother cats and kittens.
A foster mother is only required to feed the kitten if it has not yet been weaned or is too small or weak to eat on its own. You need to make sure that the mother cat has her own kittens that are still feeding on her milk. You should also make sure that she is healthy enough to feed another kitten before trying to get her to adopt the orphan. It is also best if she has more than one kitten, as she will tend to notice the new addition much less if her litter is more than one. However, this method has worked well for me even with cats that only have one kitten with them.
First you need to make sure that the mother cat has a safe and comfortable place to feed her kittens. While she feeds her kittens. It is also good to introduce an object that has the smell of the new orphan and let him smell it. When she has settled in to feed her kittens, it is good to introduce her to the orphan to nurse from her. She may need someone to guide the orphan to nurse, while she calms the cat down if she starts to get agitated. Don’t use her force on her, but you should proceed to calm her down by rubbing her head or the underside of her chin. This will calm her down.
If she does move though, don’t worry, she’ll be back to feeding her kittens soon. You will have to be here every time it happens. If the kitten isn’t getting much milk, you should feed her some kitten formula or even baby formula if that’s all you can get. I have used a pipet to do this with one of my kitties.
Little by little you will realize that the mother cat will start to lick the kitten. Sometimes she may hiss and spit at him. When this happens, she removes the kitten to prevent it from getting hurt. She reintroduces him later so he has another chance. Eventually, the mother cat will get up the nerve to lick it and before long she won’t be able to tell it apart from her own litter.
This can take two or three days maximum, even with the proudest mother cats and the most capricious kittens. All you need is a little patience and time to achieve success. So the next time you find an orphaned cat, don’t panic, you can follow the steps above and have a foster mother adopt it as your own.