Caring for a newborn kitten can be a very exciting time. You may have a lot of questions in regards to the do’s and don’ts of nursing a kitten. In this article, we hope to explain the whole process of nursing of a kitten, and what type of milk they can drink.

How does a mother nurse a kitten?

A mother usually begins nursing its kittens around 2 hours after the kitten is born. Out of all milks, the mother cat’s milk is by far the best milk for a newborn kitten. It has a high concentration of protein and other nutrients that is essential for the kitten’s development. Most of the time, a cat will nurse its kitten until it has around 5 weeks of age. During this time, the kitten doesn’t eat any solid food. Sometimes, a kitten will be nursed for a longer period of time if it is underdeveloped or too small. 

Can you feed a newborn kitten goat’s milk?

It is possible to feed a newborn kitten goat’s milk, but we only recommend doing this if there is no alternative. Feeding a newborn kitten goat milk for an extended period of time can be detrimental to its development. This is because goat’s milk has far fewer nutrients than a cat’s milk, and especially has a lot less protein and fat.

Can you feed a newborn kitten cow milk?

We do not recommend feeding a newborn kitten cow milk. Cow milk has a very high concentration of lactose. This is very troublesome for kittens, because their digestive system lacks the adequate enzymes to break down the lactose.

Alternative milk for newborn kittens

The best alternative milk for newborn kittens is definitely milk replacer. It is synthetically formulated to have all the important nutrients that a cat’s natural milk contains. You can buy this from just about any pet store, and milk replacement can be easily mixed into warm water.