It is a sad fact that many newborn kittens face life without their mother, either through abandonment or by being orphaned. So what should you do if you find yourself needing to be a surrogate mother to a small and fragile orphaned kitten?

Surprisingly, it is fairly straightforward to care for your orphaned or abandoned kitten successfully. The most burdensome aspect of the whole process is the amount of time you will need to invest in the care of this newborn bundle of fur. Also, you will need to equip yourself with seven essential pieces of kit that will be required to help you with your task. First, you will need to find a suitably sized cardboard box, then:

A hot water bottle.

Suitable nesting material.

A small eye dropper.

2ml hypodermic syringe fitted with 5cm plastic tubing.

Sterilizing solution for a baby bottle.

A spare towel.

These items will enable you to provide your orphaned kitten with the basics of life - warmth and nourishment.

A kitten's mother keeps her offspring warm with her own body heat but you will need to place your kitten's box near a radiator to keep it warm. Newborn kittens can become chilled very quickly and they need a temperature of 30-35 degrees centigrade in their first week of life, with 25 degrees thereafter.

As an alternative, a hot water bottle placed under one corner of their box will provide the warmth needed and your kitten will have the choice of moving to a cooler area of its home if it chooses.

When selecting a suitable a nursery box, make sure that your kitten is unable to climb out of it unaided. If your kitten manages to escape its warm home it will rapidly become chilled once outside its secure environment. Be certain to check that the box is big enough for the kitten to move around in freely with enough room to play in, whilst remaining enclosed enough to provide security and retain sufficient warmth. Partially covering the box with an old towel will help retain heat.

As you are acting as 'mother cat', it will be your job to keep your kitten's bedding clean. Old newspaper is great to use as bedding material as it can be easily removed and disposed of when soiled.

Feeding is a priority once warmth and security have been dealt with.

Here, patience and persistence are what is required as you learn to effectively administer each milk feed via an eye dropper or, as your kitten grows, a hypodermic syringe fitted with an appropriately sized tube attached in place of a needle. Your vet will have kitten formula milk and will also be able to supply you with the equipment necessary to administer it with. Alternatively, good pet stores will sell specialist feeding bottles for use with orphaned or abandoned kittens. Always make sure that the feeding equipment is sterilized after each use, just as you would for a baby's feeding bottle.

Using an old towel, place it and your kitten on your lap or if preferred, on a firm surface. Gently hold the kitten around the back of its head to steady it and gently introduce a couple of drops of milk into the kitten's mouth. With a little luck and much patience, your orphaned kitten will begin to suckle. You will need to make sure that the teat is always filled with milk and that you maintain a gentle pressure to match the strength of the kitten's sucking.

Your vet will advise you on the amount of milk to feed your kitten and always be aware of your kitten's general health and demeanour. If your orphan gives you any cause for concern, please do call in your vet straight away - small kittens can deteriorate in health very quickly.

The sense of parental pride you will feel as you see your orphaned kitten grow and develop will be amazing. Your intervention, care and dedication, given with love, to this tiny and helpless creature has secured a happy and healthy future for a kitten that would otherwise have perished at birth.

So you definitely can save an orphaned kitten's life. However, to succeed, you will need to have the best information and guidence to help you in your task. It will be your responsibility to find out all you need to know and then to use that knowledge to ensure that your kitten recieves the very best care you can give. Your time and trouble will not go unrewarded though - your healthy, playful kitten will return your love many times over!