Found newborn puppies or kittens? Read this before you move them
Rescue guide · Last reviewed
Short answer
This is the animal equivalent of the fallen-fledgling problem, and it causes the same well-meant harm. Mother dogs and cats leave their litters for hours at a time to feed, and a street mother often moves her litter one pup at a time, which means a single puppy alone on a path is frequently a litter mid-move rather than an abandoned one.
Hand-rearing a newborn is round-the-clock work with a real failure rate, and no substitute for a mother who is still in the picture. So the most valuable thing this guide can tell you is how to check properly before you pick anything up — and, if they genuinely are orphaned, the two mistakes that kill most hand-reared litters.
How to check whether puppies or kittens actually need rescuing
You will need: Somewhere to watch from, out of sight and out of scent range · A phone, to photograph the spot and time your watch · A cardboard box and a towel, only if they must be moved
- 1
Do not touch them yet
Handling a litter leaves human scent, can draw dogs and crows to the spot, and in a few cases makes a nervous street mother abandon or move them again. Look, count them, and step well back before deciding anything.
- 2
Watch from a distance and out of sight, for three to four hours
Watch from inside a doorway, from a balcony, or from a parked vehicle — not standing over the litter, because a street mother will not come back while a person is near her pups. Nearly all mothers return within a few hours. If you cannot stay, check back every hour.
- 3
Judge them on warmth, weight and noise
Puppies and kittens being fed are warm to the touch, rounded rather than bony, and mostly silent — they sleep in a heap and squirm. Ones that are cold, limp, thin with visible ribs, or crying continuously have not been fed for a long time and do need help. Cold is the most reliable single sign.
- 4
Leave the healthy ones exactly where they are
If they are warm, plump and quiet, the mother is working. Leave them. Move a litter out of immediate danger only — a road, a drain about to flood, a building site — and then only a short distance to the nearest sheltered spot, so the mother can still find them.
- 5
Keep dogs, children and crows away
The most useful thing you can do for a litter whose mother is returning is to keep the spot quiet and undisturbed. Ask neighbours and children not to handle them, and keep pet dogs on a lead past the area.
- 6
If they are genuinely orphaned, keep them warm first
Warmth comes before food, always. A chilled newborn cannot digest anything and feeding it can kill it. Put them in a box lined with a towel, with a covered warm-water bottle or a well-wrapped warm object to one side so they can move away from it. Warm them for an hour before anything else.
- 7
Call a rescue group or a vet before you feed anything
Newborns need a species-appropriate milk replacer, fed at the right temperature, at the right frequency, with the pup lying on its front. Ask the helpline or the vet what to use and how before you offer anything at all — the wrong feed and the wrong position both kill.
Do
- Watch for three to four hours from out of sight before deciding they are orphans.
- Check warmth first — a warm, round, quiet newborn is being fed.
- Keep the litter together. Siblings share heat and do much better as a group.
- Warm a chilled newborn before offering it anything to eat.
- Note the exact spot. A mother reunited with her litter is by far the best outcome.
- Ask the rescue group which milk replacer to use, and how often.
Do not
- Never give cow's milk, buffalo milk, or milk from a packet. It causes fatal diarrhoea and dehydration in newborns.
- Do not feed a newborn that is cold. Warm it first — a chilled pup cannot digest and will die of the feed.
- Do not feed a puppy or kitten lying on its back like a human baby. Milk goes into the lungs. They feed lying on their front.
- Do not use a syringe to squirt milk into the mouth. It is the commonest cause of fatal pneumonia in hand-reared litters.
- Do not separate a litter between different homes.
- Do not bathe a newborn.
Why cow's milk kills puppies and kittens
Dog and cat milk is far richer in protein and fat than cow's milk and much lower in lactose. A newborn fed cow's milk gets too little of what it needs and a sugar load it cannot digest, and the result is diarrhoea. In an animal that small, diarrhoea means dehydration, and dehydration kills within a day or two.
The correct feed is a proper puppy or kitten milk replacer, sold at clinics and pet shops. If none is available in the next few hours, ask the vet what to do in the meantime rather than reaching for the fridge — the answer is often to keep the pups warm and hydrated and wait, not to feed.
The position mistake that drowns newborns
Puppies and kittens nurse lying on their front with the head slightly raised, and they cannot swallow safely in any other position. Held on its back like a human baby, or with milk pushed in with a syringe, a newborn inhales the liquid into its lungs.
The resulting pneumonia is usually fatal and often shows up a day later, once everyone has concluded the feeding went well. Feed on the front, let the pup suck at its own pace from a bottle, and never squeeze or squirt.
How old are they, roughly?
- Eyes closed, ears folded, unable to stand, moving by squirming: under about 10 days. Entirely dependent, needs feeding every two to three hours including at night.
- Eyes open, wobbling on its legs, some teeth coming: around two to three weeks. Still needs milk feeds and warmth.
- Walking and playing, biting at solid food, using a corner to relieve itself: around four to five weeks. Beginning to be weanable, and much easier to hand-rear.
- Fully mobile, eating solids confidently: six weeks or more. Needs food, safety and deworming rather than bottle feeding.
If the mother is there but injured or ill
Tell the rescue group that there is a nursing mother with a litter. It changes the whole plan — a mother and litter are almost always treated and kept together where it is at all possible, because she does the hard part far better than any human can.
Do not remove the pups to a separate place while she is treated unless the team asks you to.
Need a rescuer right now?
Mumbai bird and animal rescue helpline numbers, listed area by area.
Open the rescue helplineFrequently asked
I found newborn puppies alone. Should I take them home?
Usually not. Mother dogs leave a litter for hours to feed, and often move pups one at a time, so puppies alone are frequently not abandoned. Watch from out of sight for three to four hours. If they are warm, rounded and quiet, the mother is feeding them — leave them where they are.
How do I know whether a litter has really been abandoned?
Judge warmth, weight and noise. Newborns being fed are warm to the touch, plump and mostly silent, sleeping in a heap. Ones that are cold, limp, visibly bony, or crying continuously for hours have not been fed and need help. Cold is the most reliable single sign.
What can I feed a newborn puppy or kitten?
Only a proper puppy or kitten milk replacer, from a clinic or pet shop. Never cow's, buffalo or packet milk — the lactose causes diarrhoea and fatal dehydration. Ask a vet or rescue group what to use and how often before offering anything, and warm a chilled newborn before feeding it at all.
Can I give kittens cow's milk just until I get proper milk?
No. Even one or two feeds of cow's milk can start diarrhoea, and a newborn with diarrhoea dehydrates within a day. If a milk replacer is hours away, ask a vet what to do in the interim — keeping the litter warm and asking about a rehydration solution is usually safer than feeding the wrong thing.
How do I hold a puppy while bottle feeding it?
On its front, with the head slightly raised, exactly as it would nurse from its mother — never on its back like a human baby, and never with milk pushed in using a syringe. Both cause milk to enter the lungs, and the resulting pneumonia is usually fatal and often only shows a day later.
The puppies are in a dangerous place. Can I move them?
Move them the shortest distance that makes them safe — out of a road or a flooding drain to the nearest sheltered spot — and leave them together where the mother can still find them. Do not take them to another building or neighbourhood, which ends any chance of reuniting them with her.
How often do newborn puppies and kittens need feeding?
Under about ten days old they need feeding every two to three hours, through the night as well, plus warmth and help relieving themselves. It is genuinely demanding work with a real failure rate, which is the main reason leaving a fed litter with its mother is always the better outcome.
This guide covers containment and transport first aid only — the same advice rescue groups give over the phone. It is not veterinary treatment and does not replace a vet. Any injured, sick or orphaned wild animal should be handed to a registered rescue group or a veterinarian as soon as possible.