Friday, June 25, 2010

Really...... how Do you burp a cat?


This adventure has been a sweet accomplishment and a privilege to be apart of. On April 13th our farm cat had her first litter of kittens, two black ones, just like their mama and three white ones, just like their papa. (in this picture, one is camera shy).

On April 30th our mama cat disappeared (not her fault, she was a great mama!) and my daughter, husband and I became adopted parents to five furry little bodies. I had no idea what was in store for us and I thought I would share our adventure in installments on my blog.

The kittens were 17 days old, and I didn't have the first clue about taking care of them. All our previous attempts to save little ones didn't end in a happy story.

From the research on-line and a local trip to our vet to purchase baby bottles, I picked up some interesting tips.
When feeding babies you keep them level with the ground or you might get their lungs infected with the baby formula that you are feeding them. You want the formula to get to their tummies.
You've got to keep them warm, so have a heating pad available and set on low. Provide space for the kittens to get off of the heating pad if they get too warm.

Altabella Cattery's Kitten Glop http://www.hdw-inc.com/glop.htm has an excellent formula recipe for kittens and we used it for 4 weeks with great results! (Thanks my husband for finding this recipe!)
And to wrap up this entry: the vet told me that I would need to get the kittens to burp.....
I can only wonder about the look on my face as he relayed this information. My only reference to burping anything was with my own children, and a couple of them were not easy to burp!
The vet just told me to keep the kittens as level as possible, so I couldn't possibly burp them the way I did my kids. (one practically had to be on her head to produce a burp and another child needed her hiney softly patted).
So how do you burp a kitten?

Really it's quite simple. You just pet them. The motion of your hand stroking them encourages little burps. At first you won't quite recognize them as burps, especially if you've been used to hearing grown-up burps for quite awhile (good food ma!). But it doesn't take long to understand that you've accomplished a baby animal burp. You can feel it too. After they burp, they settle down for a nice long nap, which is important if you happen to be on night duty with them!
Stay tuned for what the vet said next!









3 comments:

  1. Ha! Next you rub their tummies and bottoms to get them to pee and poop, right? Been there, done that!
    Anna Belle

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  2. What a sweet story. I've been there, too, and loved every minute of raising a litter. Looking forward to more installments of this adventure.

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  3. Awww! I love baby kittens! Well all babies really. There's just something so adorable about miniature sized things! I hope they all continue to thrive!

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