How Long Can 2 Week Old Kittens Go Without Feeding

Healthy cats can survive for a week or more without food and three days without water.

How long can 2 week old kittens go without feeding. Not only do they need the warmth that their mother provides they also need the nutrition and antibodies found in their mother s milk. A sick cat should never go without food for more than 48 hours or 24 hours without water. Some individual variations in frequency and amounts for each kitten may occur. Weeks two and three feeding schedules.

Feed kittens less than 2 weeks of age at least every 2 hours. Neonatal kittens can t control their own body temperature until they are at least three weeks old and get cold easily which can be life threatening. Feeding the wrong sort of milk such as cow s milk can have short term and long term effects including diarrhea dehydration nutritional deficiencies and long term health problems due to poor growth. Feed weak kittens or ones not eating enough more frequently.

A 2 to 3 week old kitten will still need to be fed every 2 3 hours and it should consume at least 1 2 tablespoon of formula or milk during each meal. A newborn kitten can only digest milk and more specifically the milk from a female cat. Kittens 2 to 4 weeks of age should eat every 3 4 hours. If they are sleeping for longer periods during the night do not wake them to feed.

However a sick cat s body is already weakened and the effect will be magnified further by starvation or dehydration. Encourage eating and hydration if your cat doesn t eat for 24 hours and or doesn t drink for 12 hours. By a week old our kittens were feeding roughly every 2 5 3hrs and mama started leaving the nest more often to have abit of time to herself but often near by by still. A 2 week old kitten needs to be fed at least 10 14 mls of formula and water combination every 3 4 hours even at night.

For now you need to get used to actually feeding the kittens. Yes i know the idea of waking up every 3 4 hours to feed the kitten sounds exhausting but it is what they need in order to get the nutrients to grow.