Mother nature is astonishing; every mother, either a human or an animal, has an in-built instinctive quality to feed her children. As soon as a mother gives birth, all it cares about is the baby, starts feeding the baby, starts taking care of the baby, does anything and everything for the baby. In certain situations, the mother of the kitten or puppy refuses to feed its child and rejects it completely. In such situations, it becomes a duty of humans to take care of the turned-down baby. However, there also comes a situation when the mother of the kitten or puppy is placed on such medications after giving birth that is harmful to the kitten or puppy; thereby, it is prohibited for the mother to feed its child. Whatever situations come in by chance, you must know how to tackle them for the sake of saving a life. We have prepared a basic guide for you that will help you in doing so.
Guidelines for Bottle-Feeding Puppies or Kittens:
· It is important to get a good pet feeder; it will make the process so much easier. The amount of milk that needs to be given to the baby matters the most. You do not want to risk the baby’s health by feeding them less or more than the standard need for its age. How can you know if the baby’s stomach is full? Once the tummy of the baby starts to expand, that’s when you need to stop; it should only be expanded and not stretched. However, you can also search for feeding amounts for babies of different ages and fill the feeder accordingly.
· The position of the baby at the time of feeding matters a lot; if the baby is not in its right position, then problems like choking, suffocation, and aspiration can happen. The best feeding positions for a kitten or puppy are to hold them upright from their sternum and to let them rest on their stomach. These are the two best positions; kitten and puppy are not humans, so do not try to feed them by placing them on their back. This is the worst feeding for a kitten or puppy and can kill the baby in the blink of an eye.
· It is not recommended to use cold or hot milk for feeding a kitten or puppy; you must always boil the milk 5 to 10 minutes before feeding so that in the meantime, the milk can reach an optimum medium temperature that is neither hot nor cold. Even after putting the hot milk aside for some minutes, you must still check its temperate by dropping a few drops on your wrist. If it feels hot, let it get a little cooler, and if it is cooler than the medium temperature, perhaps you will have to heat it again.
· Feeding the kitten or puppy isn’t enough, as they are at such tender age that they can not do anything by themselves; therefore, after feeding them, it is also your responsibility to stimulate them to urinate and defecate. You can stimulate a kitten or puppy by massaging their anal area with a damp cotton cloth, and this would do the thing.
· The catch is to go with the flow of the kitten or puppy; the entire feeding process might seem very slow, but, in any case, you do not squeeze the bottle to increase the pressure and supply of the milk. It is going to be very dangerous for the kitten or puppy; kittens especially lose their appetite by force-feeding them and can die if not eaten on time. Similarly, do not even try to make the bottle’s nipple’s hole bigger than usual; it will also increase the pressure and supply of milk that is very life-threatening for the puppy or kitten.
· To nurture the baby properly for its health, cleaning the baby is also very important. Once the baby has been out of its mom for 24 hours, it is bath time. However, you are not going to put the baby in water directly at this age; you will have to give them a warm washcloth bath twice a day.
· As the puppy or kitten is not feeding onto its mother, it is not getting enough colostrum and probiotics as they are present abundantly in mother’s milk compared to formula milk. Perhaps it is suggested to give colostrum and probiotic substitute to them so that they can develop like any other puppy and kitten.
Final Word:
Animals are not lesser than humans; every life on earth matters the same; therefore, we should also see everyone as equal and care for everyone equally. Like a human baby that comes into this world doesn’t know what to do, and their mother does it all from feeding to cleaning everything, but if a mother is unable to do so, then there are people for help, but animals don’t have that privilege at all. Therefore, it becomes our natural duty to understand the nurturing of these animals and execute them properly. It seems a bit of a task only until the baby is not able to do anything for itself, once the baby reaches its learning age, you can train them, and they will do half of the work all by themselves like eating from a bowl, defecating and urinating by themselves in their assigned place, etc.
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