How to Get Newborn Kittens to Nurse
- 1). Provide an environment conducive to nursing, including a barricade to keep the kittens close to their mother. Newborn kittens are not very mobile, but they sometimes crawl out of reach of their mother. A towel-lined or blanket-lined box, crate or cat bed with high sides will suffice as a nesting box to contain the queen and kittens.
- 2). Monitor the nursing queen’s health. She should be eating about double the amount of her pre-pregnancy consumption. A malnourished queen will not have enough milk to offer her kittens, preventing effective nursing. Provide a constant supply of fresh water and high-quality kitten food for the queen.
- 3). Rotate which kittens have access to the queen’s rear teats at each feeding. The rear teats have the most milk, so all kittens should have access to those; otherwise, only the strongest kittens will get the most milk.
- 4). Observe the kittens nursing. Kittens should begin nursing soon after birth. Kittens that are consuming enough milk have rounded stomachs and sleep contentedly after feeding. A consistent weight gain of 7 to 10 grams daily is evidence of healthy nursing and growth.
