Will the baby kitten know how to nurse?

Answer 1

The simple answer is yes. It is a very basic instinct for newborn kittens to suckle from their mothers. Without it there would be no cats! Mother cats have their own unique way of encouraging their kittens to nurture their instincts, so you can be assured that she will be doing things right, even if you cant see how she is doing it! In some unfortunate instances, one or more kittens in a litter will have a birth defect. Such defects are not usually apparent to us as observers, since they are often internal, however, in cases like these the mother cat may reject the kitten completely or even kill it herself. You must be very carefull in determining whether a kitten has been rejected by its mother, so do not sit there waiting to see signs of it, because chances are you will see what you expect to see. If you take a kitten away from its mother unnecessarily she may consider her brood threatened and may kill them all. The best way is to trust in nature... it's older than we are and it knows what it's doing. Only intervene as an absolute last resort, and only if you are certain.