My 40-day-old kitten's mother is gone. Will she return home?

Poor Kittens. You can try to clean them up and take them to her with the rest of the kittens. If she still rejects them then I would try to start bottle feeding them with KMR kitten formula. You would need to feed them every 2-3 hours. You can use a syringe or a kitten bottle. You will also need to stimulate their rear ends using a damp warm cloths after each feeding to help the pee and poop. Just be forewarned that kittens that are bottle fed from day 1 take a lot of nurturing and sometimes do not survive. I hope this helps!

I recommend using a bottle with a small nipple - you can find kits for newborns at most pet supply stores. A commercial milk replacer like KMR is best, and you should feed the kitten every 2-3 hours. The kitten should be taking about 25 ml of milk per day and you should offer the bottle with the kitten laying on its stomach, not held on its back like a baby. You will also need to stimulate the kitten to urinate and defecate after eating by rubbing a warm washcloth on the genital and anal openings - neonatal kittens cannot urinate or defecate on their own. If the kitten is not interested in the bottle you may need to tube feed and should see your veterinarian for a demonstration.

Hello. It is difficult to say if Lady is just being an inattentive mom, or not. You can certainly try supplementing the kittens with KMR ( kitten milk replacer ). I use very soft makeup sponges cut into small wedges. Soak the clean sponge in the milk & most kittens, if hungry, will klatch on. Most kittens can also start on a soft, mushy diet at about 3 weeks of age. Mixing the pate type canned cat food with a little KMR will be easy for them to lap up, although they will spend more time crawling through it initially. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

She may need to eat or use the litter box, causing her to leave them for a bit. She may have been planning on coming back. It could be that Oya is rejecting her kittens, which can happen. Some cats are poor mothers and will reject their kittens, while others will reject a kitten because they know it's sick and not going to make it. It can take time for a mother kitten attend to their kitten, and I would leave her and her kittens alone for 30 minutes in a room. Come back and see if she has groomed them, and/or started to feed them. If she has started bonding with them, then it's fine. If there is no evidence that she has started taking care of them, then you will have to feed them yourself. This requires a kitten formula and bottles. You can get kitten formula from a pet store or a grocery store. I will put a link below on how to care for newborn kittens. Best of luck, I hope this helps! https://www.2ndchance.info/orphankitten.htm

Oh no. That isn't good. Cats are very unpredictable; therefore, I would air on he side of caution and feed the kittens if need be. If the kittens are less than 2 weeks of age you want to make sure they are also kept warm (but don't overheart) and I would recommend wearing gloves when handling them to avoid masking their scent, which can lead to mama cat rejecting them when she returns. It is a foreign place for her so she has an increased likelihood of getting lost or injured while outdoors. You can try to go searching for the Mama cat as well. Take a can of tuna with you to see if you can entice her to return. Also leave a way for mama cat to easily enter the house, if you can, just in case she returns and no one notices. I hope she does come back. Wishing you all the best!

If you choose to care for them, your primary goal will be to keep them warm, stimulate their bowels / urinary tract, and feed them up to every 2-3 hours at first. The use of a blanket and heating pads may be required for warmth. If you do not have a heating pad, I would recommend going out to obtain one in the morning. As for stimulation, you need to rub their bellies and behinds to get them to go to the bathroom after each time they eat. As for feedings, you will need to obtain kitten milk replacer and a bottle. The kittens should be fed in an upright position as to avoid aspiration of the liquid. It is a tiring job and they still may not make it, so do not take it personally if things do not work out. You can certainly try to keep the kitten with mom if you think she isn't going to hurt them, but I would monitor them extremely carefully. If there is any indication of aggression remove them entirely. Hope this helps.

Consider having it physically examined by your veterinarian. A mother's instinct is strong and the kitten may be sick or injured. If the exam is clear, it may be a case of abandonment and you will need to hand raise the kitten yourself. A kitten milk replacement, such as KMR, can be bottle fed for the next week or so and then you can begin weaning to solid food. This is done my mixing kitten food with KMR to make a gruel slurry. Gradually decrease the amount of liquid over the next several weeks until the kitten is eating canned food by 8-10 weeks of age.