Successfully Fostering Orphaned Kittens
November 18, 2025
Jill E. Sackman, DVM, PhD, Resident, American College of Veterinary Behaviorists
Considerations
There are many reasons kittens may be orphaned or need additional maternal care. A queen provides her kittens with many important resources including heat, humidity, nutrition, immunity, elimination, sanitation, security and socialization. In cases where the queen is unable to care for her kittens, such as poor health, lack of milk, or too large a litter, supplemental or full fostering can be considered.
Options for kittens which need partial fostering care can include allowing two queens to raise two litters together communally, or use of partial hand rearing/fostering. A litter can be divided into groups of kittens based on size and body weight. Hand feeding the kittens in rotation with milk replacer can supplement the queen’s milk. The kittens should be rotated, one group left with the queen and another group hand fed, then the group switched. It has been recommended that the groups are rotated about four times per day to allow each group of kittens the benefit of some of the queen’s milk and her care.
For kittens which are orphaned, it is best to find another queen which will take on the feeding and raising of the orphaned kittens. A foster queen is able to provide the best nutrition, immunity and socialization for an orphan, thereby reducing the possibility of sickness or mortality.
Foster queens should already have a litter, ideally no more than fourteen days older than the orphan kittens; otherwise, the larger, older kittens may force the younger ones out or the younger ones may be rejected by the queen.
Successful foster mothers usually accept and nurse orphans immediately. Caregivers can provide some odor by towel exchange from natural offspring onto the adoptive kitten to facilitate the process. Always monitor the early interaction between the foster queen and adoptive kitten.
Acceptance of Kittens
Queens will accept orphan kittens that are not too much older than their own. Maternal behavior persists much longer in cats than in many other species (such as horses and cattle). A queen whose kittens were removed at birth was demonstrated to actually accept a single kitten several weeks later. However, another study found that three kittens added at this same time period were avoided or actually attacked.
In general, species which produce litters (groups of young) are more willing to accept foster young than are those which produce singletons or twins, probably because the mothers of litters do not discriminate between individual offspring. One rather interesting aspect of cat maternal behavior is the ease with which some queens readily adopt and nurse not only adoptive kittens, but other mammals such as puppies!
It is also not uncommon for several queens who have had litters around the same time, to steal kittens back and forth between each other, even to the point of harassing one queen for the other’s kittens. This situation can even go to the extreme where the kittens end up in a single pile and the mothers trade off care for the entire group. An interesting variation of this behavior occurred in a spayed female that stole the kittens of a queen in the household. This case indicates that maternal behavior is not driven by hormones alone.
Few problems of maternal behavior occur in cats. Very occasionally a queen will reject a litter, but this happens much less frequently than in other species.
Infanticide
Tomcats may kill kittens, but it is very rare. Infanticide and cannibalism by queens, although infrequent, does occur, usually at time of birth or shortly thereafter. One kitten may be killed and eaten, and the queen will continue to attend to the other kittens normally. While there may be no precipitating event, infanticide can be associated with particularly large litters and where there are offspring that are ill or deformed.
Hand Fostering
If a queen is not available for fostering, hand raising may be undertaken. Orphaned kittens should be kept in a quiet area. Hygiene is very important. Cardboard boxes should be replaced regularly when soiled and other materials should be kept clean. Caregivers should wash their hands before handling the kittens. The orphans should be cleaned with a moistened cloth several times per week.
Neonatal kittens are unable to regulate their body temperature until after four weeks of age, which is why kittens huddle together. Hypothermia is a common cause of illness in young orphan kittens. The temperature of the immediate environment where kittens are located during the first week of life should be in the range of 90-93 degrees F.
Until about three weeks of age kittens cannot voluntarily eliminate feces and urine. Caretakers must stimulate the urogenital reflex after feeding by gently swabbing the perineal area with a warm cloth.
Socialization
Nutritional development of orphan kittens will be adequate if hand reared. Social development is a separate issue. Because cats socialize with one another almost exclusively as kittens, orphans should be placed with a litter of a lactating queen if at all possible.
Kittens that have been separated from their mother much earlier than normal (i.e. two weeks or earlier) have been shown to subsequently develop a variety of behavioral, emotional and physical abnormalities. They can become fearful and aggressive towards other cats and people, show significant random and undirected motor activity and have poor learning abilities. The importance of social relationships in the behavioral development of cats has considerable effect on their individual personalities.
Willingness to try new foods and preferences for particular types of food appear to be strongly influenced by the queen. Young cats are clearly well adapted to learning from their mother and show a strong ability and interest in learning from other cats; this is referred to as social learning.
The opportunity to experience and learn from social and environmental stimuli is important to prevent fears, anxieties and behavior problems. The primary window of socialization opportunity in cats is between 3-9 weeks of age. Regular brief social stimuli such as handling by humans (men, women and children) should be provide before seven weeks of age. Handling should also include basic procedures such as nail trimming, bathing, examining ears, eyes and teeth.
Conclusion
It is always better to find a nursing queen to accept orphaned kittens if possible. Queens can provide not only better nutrition, immunity and care; they are also capable of providing the socialization that is essential to a behaviorally healthy cat. Lucky for us, most queens are very accepting of orphans and make good mothers!
Resources:
Katherine A. Houpt, VMD, PhD, DACVB, Domestic Animal Behavior for Veterinarians and Animal Scientists. 5th edition, 2011.
Benjamin L. Hart and Lynnette Hart, “Normal and problematic reproductive behavior in the domestic cat. In: The Domestic Cat. The Biology of its Behavior, 3rd edition. Turner, DC and Bateson P (eds). 2014.