Book of Proceedings I PetFeeding

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should be clearly recorded to avoid malnourishment. Determining the exact amounts consumed
when fed with bottles is difficult as gradation on bottles is not in small increments and printed
milliliter lines easily fade after a couple of washes. Getting the weight of the bottle or the baby
before and after on a kitchen scale (1 g is about 0.97 ml of milk) or using a large syringe to
measure consumption is best.
Some babies do not have adequate suckling reflex soon enough or are too malnourished to
ingest adequate quantities of formula. The tube feeding via orogastric tube can be safely and
easily done to replace a few feedings until the neonate is strong enough to sustain suckling. The
tube should be measured from the last rib to the tip of the nose with the head extended and
marked at this point. Inserting the tube at this length, with the head now flexed, ensures it is in
the stomach and not the lungs or the esophagus, but instilling a few milliliters of water first,
before administering formula is a good habit. Kink the tubing to avoid introducing air if using
several syringes to administer formula and when removing the tube to avoid aspiration.
It is easier for the first feedings to keep the neonate in sternal recumbency at caretaker’s
chest level on the table, for example, onto and covered with a soft blanket, for ease of
observation so proper technique can be learned. The head can be cradled in the palm of the hand
and slightly elevated, but neck should be flexed, not overextended. The nipple placed straight
into baby’s mouth, so the air is not sucked in with the milk. Caution should be exercised to
prevent neonate from getting too cold during the feeding, especially if milk is spilled over his
chest and front paws. Until 3 weeks of age, the neonates should be stimulated to defecate and
urinate after each feeding by gently touching a piece of damp (warm water) cotton wool to their
perineum. The general steps of the feeding process are preparing the formula and supplies,
elimination, weighing, feeding, burping, weighing and perhaps another feeding and elimination.
Check genital area for diarrhea or evidence of suckling by siblings. Daily record of neonates
weight should be kept. As a rough estimate, they should gain their birth weight every week until
weaning or 2.5 -5 gm per kg of anticipated adult weight each day.
If baby has aspirated, the milk will come through his nostrils. Immediately, all milk has to
be aspirated out of the nostrils with a human baby nose aspirator. Ideally, the neonates head
should be below his body to help gravity keep the milk out of his lungs. Aspirated baby needs
close monitoring over the next 24 hours. If clicking noise is heard upon respiration (well in
advance of labored breathing), the intensive medical therapy for aspiration pneumonia should
be initiated immediately.
Puppy or kitten food can be introduced at 3 to 4 weeks of age, by offering a gruel of food
mixed with milk replacer in a flat dish (for easy access and to prevent drowning). Water should
also be offered. Smearing a bit of food onto neonates’s lips can entice them to lick the food.
Neonates chin or front paw can be gently nudged into the gruel for the first taste, taking care
not to get any food around the nostrils. By the age of 6 weeks orphan kitten and puppies can be
completely weaned. Change in texture, bulk of the ingesta, exposure to new protein,
carbohydrate and fat sources are stressful for the GI. Rapid introduction of solid food can
negatively affect the microbial population or lead to dehydration.
The first litter box for kittens should contain litter safe to ingest, so no clumping litter! The