I also need kitten advise

[avebury]

Sunday night I discovered that one of the neighborhood cats had a litter of kittens by my back porch. It was a shock to find 3 kittens (2-3 weeks old perhaps) exploring my porch. I don't think that my dog will harm them but she now has supervised outside time.

I am leaving out food and water for the momma cat so that she doesn't have to go too far from her babies. At what age do kittens start to eat kitten chow? Should I get them canned kitten chow or will a hard kitten chow work?

The kittens have started to scatter when momma does. I am hoping that I will be able to socialize them so that I can eventually get them to a rescue for adoption. I may have to borrow a trap to get momma someplace to be spayed so there will be no more kittens.

[TDale313]

1. At about four weeks they will begin eating

Gruel is suggested- which is mixing dry kitten food with kitten replacement formula to soften it. If that’s not easily available maybe wet kitten food?

[JayhawkSD]

2. By all means please get mama cat spayed.

Once kittens are weaned and adopted out, trap mama cat and have her spayed and vaccinated.

[ginnyinWI]

3. wet food can begin at four weeks.

Dry food at around six weeks when their baby teeth are all in. Don't be tempted to put water on dry food, unless you are willing to toss it out within 20 minutes or so, because bacteria can grow in it quickly.

They should be handled as soon as possible, especially by four to six weeks, so that they are socialized to humans.If you are going to trap, I'd recommend trying to get the mama first, otherwise when the kittens are trapped she could simply run away. If she is a neighboring cat and being fed at your door, shouldn't be too difficult. Good luck!

There are spay/neuter programs all over at discount. Contact your local shelter before resorting to a vet.

[grantcart]

4. Contact your local shelter

Ours will come out and trap them for free. They will spay mom and release her and adopt the kids out for free.

[iscooterliberally]

5. Go to a pet store and get some KMR.

It's powered kitten milk replacement and the babies will love it. You can give them wet and dry food too. I rescued a bunch of feral kittens last year and this is what we did. We eventually trapped the mom and several roaming males in the neighborhood to keep this from happening again. In the county where I live they have a voucher program so you can bring in trapped strays and they'll fix them, give them their rabies shots and ear tip them for free. You should check your county and city to see if they have any programs like that. Good luck and thanks for rescuing!