The order matters more than anything else here. Warmth comes before food, and food before almost everything else — feeding a cold newborn can kill it. Work down the list rather than jumping to the part that feels most urgent.
Usually not straight away. Mother cats leave their litters regularly to hunt and can be gone for hours, and kittens taken from a mother who was coming back are far worse off with you than they were where they lay. Unless there is immediate danger, watch from a distance — well away, since she will not return while you are visible — for several hours before deciding they are truly orphaned. A nest of clean, plump, quiet kittens is usually a nest with a mother; cold, thin, constantly crying kittens are the ones in trouble.
What is the first thing to do with a cold newborn kitten?
Warm them, gradually, and do not feed them until they are fully warm. A hypothermic neonate cannot digest — circulation slows and the gut effectively stops — so feeding a cold kitten risks regurgitation and aspiration and can be fatal. Warming should take one to three hours; rushing it causes its own problems. Use a heating pad on low under two layers of towel, a warmed rice sock, or a covered warm water bottle, always with an unheated area they can move to.
How do I tell how old a kitten is?
Use development rather than weight, since an underfed kitten weighs less than its true age suggests. An umbilical cord still attached means under about three days. Eyes closed means under roughly eight days; eyes usually open between 8 and 14 days and ear canals between 5 and 8. Wobbly walking starts around three weeks, and baby teeth start coming through around then too. Weight is a useful cross-check — roughly 100 g at birth and about 100 g gained per week — but it is the least reliable indicator on its own.
How do I check if a kitten is dehydrated?
Gently lift the loose skin at the scruff and let go. On a hydrated kitten it drops back immediately; if it stays tented or returns slowly, the kitten is dehydrated. Tacky or dry gums point the same way. Dehydration in a neonate is a veterinary matter rather than something to fix with extra formula — they may need subcutaneous fluids, and diarrhoea in an animal this small can become dangerous within hours.
Do I really have to make the kitten pee?
Yes, until roughly three to four weeks of age. Neonates cannot urinate or defecate without stimulation — the mother triggers it by licking, and hand-rearers replace that with a warm, damp cloth or cotton pad on the genital area after every feed, continuing until they go. It is the step first-time fosters most often do not know about, and skipping it causes a genuine and entirely avoidable emergency.
When does a found kitten need a vet immediately?
Go now rather than tomorrow for: unresponsiveness or limpness, a temperature so low it does not register, gasping or laboured breathing, pale white or bluish gums, no suckle reflex once warm, ongoing diarrhoea, visible injury, or any weight loss. Every orphaned neonate should be seen within 24 hours regardless — for a weight check, parasite and infection assessment, and confirmation of the age estimate that the whole feeding plan is built on.