Breeding is not always straight-forward and does not always progress as hoped. Litters can be neglected, attacked, scattered, trampled, strangled, torn or simply fail to thrive and, in order to save them, it's down to you to play 'mum' and hand rear them.
If the mother is alive and has plenty milk, the best option is to feed the babies from her. Lay her on her back and cradle her in your arms. Then introduce the babies onto her belly and guide them to her nipples to suckle.
If the babies are orphaned then they can be fostered by another mother with a litter of approximately the same age - providing the total number of babies is not going to be too large for the mother to rear. If this is likely, then you could foster some babies and hand-rear the rest.
We have successfully hand-reared many litters, right from 20 minutes after birth - so it IS worth doing!
Experience has shown us that Kitten milk replacement formula such as CIMICAT is one of the best options. This should be made up to its maximum strength - about 33% using boiled, cooled water and fed using sterilised syringes, or a dropper for newborn babies.
Always aim the syringe to the SIDE of the mouth and NEVER towards the back of the throat since this can lead to fatal aspiration of the syringe's contents.
Feed until the belly looks full. We do this every 4-6 hours day AND NIGHT. It's time consuming but it does give the best results.
After any feed, always stimulate the genital area to encourage urination and defecation. Formula milk can be sticky so it's best to gently wipe any dribbles immediately using a piece of cotton wool dampened in warm water. Then replace the babies into their nest and check regularly to ensure there are no strays.
A probiotic will benefit their digestive systems and we find adding a few teaspoons of natural live yogurt to a cup of formula milk is the easiest way. If you have a healthy adult then adding a mushed-up caecotroph is beneficial to help develop gut bacteria after 3 weeks of age.
Once the babies start to nibble on solid food, ensure there is a good supply of clean, fresh hay together with quality, nutritious pellets such as Burgess Excel available.
When the babies reach 4-5 weeks, the regular syringe feeds can be gradually reduced, starting with the larger babies first, so that by 6 weeks of age they are eating only solid food.
Now, feel proud and admire the results of your hard work and dedication!!!
A word of warning - you probably won't be able to part with any of the litter!
