Can You Give Kittens Human Baby Formula

In a kitten who is already weak dehydration can be potentially fatal.

Can you give kittens human baby formula. I wouldn t advise giving the 2 month old human formula either it should be eating kitten solid food now. Human formula for emergency use. The cornell book of cats says that human baby formula can be used if made up to double the normal strength although human baby formula is. If you have to give your kitten human formula for any reason choose one that is iron free to avoid an overdose of iron.

While a newborn kitten can digest lactose which is also found in a mother cat s milk kittens lose that ability shortly after they are weaned. Kitten milk does not have the vitamins and nutrients that formula for kittens has. They can cause diarrhea which can lead to dehydration. If constipation occurs add one drop of vegetable oil to each kitten s formula no more than once daily until the problem is resolved.

You will need to buy formula. However even after she has weaned your kitten should still not consume human baby formula even as a treat. It is more of a treat minus the lactose so cats and kittens can digest it. Also you will need a small kitten size bottle to feed it with so you will need to take a trip to the pet store anyway.

Use this until you can get to your vet or a pet store for the real deal. Human formulas are created to fill the needs of human infants and the ratio of nutrients is different from a kitten s needs. Human formula can be dangerous for medically fragile kittens. If you can t find a bunny nursing bottle at your local pet store purchase a nursing bottle with nipples designed for newborn kittens.

Human formula made with cow s milk contains lactose puppies are unable to digest this and it can give them diarrhea diarrhea in puppies can quickly lead to dehydration and death. Depending on what you have in your pantry or can find in a grocery store open late you can even use human infant formula as a substitute for kitten formula. No don t give the newborn kitten human baby formula the pet shops all sell the kitten formula. Significant differences exist between formula made for human babies and puppy formula.

We do not recommend using the other formulas for long term bottle feeding but they can be useful should you need to feed your kittens and can t find the ingredients for the homemade goat s milk formula. In an emergency you may be able to use powdered or concentrated human baby formula to sustain an orphaned kitten until you can get some regular feline milk replacer. Because human baby formula is made from cow s milk it is high in lactose. Plan to be up every 2 hours or so to feed them just like a baby.