Few things are as crucial in the care of neonatal kittens as keeping them warm. Normally, their mothers take care of that task, but how can shelters and foster homes safely regulate the temperatures of orphaned kittens?
As a follow-up to her recent Maddie’s InstituteSM webcast Critical Care of the Sick Neonatal Kitten, Dr. Elizabeth J. Thomovsky, a veterinarian and board-certified specialist in emergency and critical care at the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine, answered audience questions in an expert Q&A. On the subject of thermoregulation:
Q: Do you have any suggestions for a safe way of providing consistent heat without an actual incubator?
A: Putting in warm or hot water bottles under blankets, covering the kittens, and raising the ambient room temperature into the mid – 80s are all ways to increase the temperature of the kitten . Also, the warm water blankets, where water is heated in an attached unit and pumped into a rubber or plastic blanket/mat, provide consistent temperatures.
Q: Since kittens lack significant cornified cells does this make them more prone to injury from warming methods? What is best?
A: Kittens might be more at risk from burns from electric heating units. They are definitely more at risk from dehydration when heated too much. Always provide a way for the k itten to get away from the heat source.
View the other questions and answers here, and watch the presentation on-demand here.