A few years ago I had a disaster and was left with the option of hand rearing or allowing a litter to die...I didnt have a surrogate. I chose to try hand rearing and in the long run it was well worth the effort as the kittens grew to be big and strong and lived for over 2 years which was amazing when I think back to how they were at the beginning. I had to write everything down as I was so tired I couldnt remember who had eaten what and done what at a previous feed!! I wrote an article for pro rat a about my experience (Jan 1999, issue 109)
Although the picture is a bit blurred you can see just how small and frail the little pinkie is under the watchful gaze of Tizzi.
Surviving Against The Odds
Day 23 and Missy, my agouti Berkshire doe, produced five pink, demanding babies. As we have a personality clash I left her alone and covered the cage with a towel to give her total peace. Everything was going well until I was cleaning her food area on day four and got called away when the phone rang. As most of my cages are always open I didnt automatically close hers and when I returned ten minutes later she was gone. I searched high and low before finding her behind the fridge. This wasnt quite as good a situation as it sounds because she would run behind the base units when the fridge was moved. I put the cage containing her kittens on the floor near the fridge and left well alone thinking that she would return. Four hours later and she still hadnt fed them adn they were becoming cold. I poked and prodded them hopting that the squeaking would stir her maternal instincts - wrong! So seven hours later I decided it was down to me and the long process of hand rearing began.
Firstly I marked the babies 1 - 4 and G for the girl in bright pink marker pen so that I could keep a list of who had done what. I mixed up some SMA baby milk and evaporated milk (all that I had at midnight) and tried to feed them with a syringe. Three would take nothing but they all urinated when massaged. All night I tried at three hourly intervals and began to have some success although more went out that in!!
The next morning I rang Joan Branton and she gave me her recipe which I mixed up wrong and therefore fed them a weak mixture for the first week. By the second day the babies had got the hang of the syringe and were fit to burst. They would sleep soundly until I opened the show tank when a mass of movement would begin.
The kittens were fed every 3-4 hours and had to come with me if I needed to go out incase I was delayed at all. I would put them in my pocket after making sure my hand was warm and would keep my hand in there all the time to keep them warm. Kittens are surprisingly hardy when you consider that they were getting a weak mixture for the first week and at 9 days old I dropped one about three feet into a jug of water and at 11 days old one was left out on the cold floorboards for about 5 hours as the sleepless nights started to take their toll!!
They were kept on a heat mat which was covered by a tea towel and they were covered with a tea towel as well.
After feeding it is very important to take the role of mother as the kittens cant wee or use their bowels without stimulation. A bit of cotton wool and some warm water help this situation and after a feed you need to gently massage around the urethra and anus to help them.
By about 3 weeks they had been introduced to bread and milk and baby rice and soon after started to eat solid by way of rat food. They were very small and also lost all their fur but by the age of 12 weeks they were big strong healthy kittens.
Kittens aged almost 3 weeks
The Mixture
You need to mix up the milk and then keep it in the fridge, warming a little each time to blood temperature. I made a fresh batch each morning.
Half pint of SMA made according to instructions Quarter pint of full cream evaporated milk Quarter pint of plain Complan made according to instrucions.
I tried various ways of giving the milk to the kittens including the small bottles for sale in pet shops and dolly bottles but in the end I settled on a plain syringe and the kittens drink it per drop and as they get bigger just increase the flow a little or buy a bigger syringe.
When they are old enough to not need feeding anymore they will let you know. I gave them some mixture with bread to start off with before they were fed as any other kitten by about 5 weeks.
At 4 weeks old the kittens were full of life and eating everything in sight. They all stayed with family/friends and were called.....Sassy, Shadow, Charlie, Pickle and Rascal.
