3 week old kittens without mother cat

Question
An outside cat adopted us a few months ago.  She had a litter of kittens 3 weeks ago.  I've been watching the kittens grow.  The mother cat has been missing for 2 days.  The kittens are meowing because she is gone and they are hungry.  What do I do?  How do I feed them?  What do I feed them?

Answer
You need to feed them immediately. They require a mothers milk replacement which is like a baby formula made for kittens. You can get it in any good pet supply store. They will also have small bottles. You will feed the kittens from the bottle at least every three hours until they are 5 weeks old. Usually its only til 4 weeks that this is needed but you have kittens which have been debilitated by this abandonment. AFter that you can spread the feeding times out wider and later, graduate them first to kitten formula second stage food - like the other one but for older kits - and then at about six weeks on to canned food. Even if the mom returns, you may want to supplement her feeding to make the kittens stronger by adding bottle feedings daily.