Rough Start - Need Nutrition Recommendations

Hank and Dean are finally home and much healthier. I wrote two weeks ago because Hank was vomiting with diarrhea. After a Panleukopenia scare - hospitalization/IV’s/antibiotics and going down to 1.9#, he’s home, playful as all get out and up to 2.56#. Then Dean started having diarrhea too. They just put him on metronidazole and he’s doing great. Of course, Hank is always hungry. But so is Dean - they are growing kittens after all. During their recovery, they are both on Royal Canin High Energy GI food (wet and dry). We’re going to remain on it for another 10 days or so and then it’s time to move onto regular kitten food.

While they were in foster care they were in foster care they were fed grain free Merrick’s dry (vet didn’t like it) and Fancy Feast. We’ve now been told to put them on Royal Canin, Proplan, or IAMS kitten food (wet). There are pros and cons to all but would love to hear your experience with any or all of these foods.

Thanks for your help.

Personally, if I had a new kitten, I'd be feeding Nutro Kitten for wet food. Did your Vet suggest you not feed any dry at all? That's the route I'd go, but if you aren't home for several hours during the day, that might not work out for you with small kittens at home. They do need to eat pretty regular

I raised my young cats on nature’s variety kitten. Kittens are obligate carnivore’s and vets know little about nutrition. Royal Canin, Iams, and purina are all packed with carbs that cats have no use for. My cats have done and still do great on high protein low carb dry, wet, and frozen raw. Free feed til a year then cut back to schedule feedings. The key would be low carb high fat and high protein. Especially for kittens.

cheesycats said:

I raised my young cats on nature’s variety kitten. Kittens are obligate carnivore’s and vets know little about nutrition. Royal Canin, Iams, and purina are all packed with carbs that cats have no use for. My cats have done and still do great on high protein low carb dry, wet, and frozen raw. Free feed til a year then cut back to schedule feedings. The key would be low carb high fat and high protein. Especially for kittens.

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I so agree many vets are clueless when it come to nutrition. I would leave a high quality dry for them to snack on but would feed them a high quality canned food this is a great site to check out the quality of the food CatFoodDB - Cat Food Reviews to help you find the best cat food for your cat

That CatFoodDB was an excellent resource for me. But, it's not all up to date. Don't necessarily discount a good food found in that DB because of an objectionable or concerning ingredient without first checking the food manufacturers website to see if the recipe has been changed. That works the other way as well. Check to make sure nothing objectionable or concerning has been added to a food that looks good in the DB.