So, roughly 2 weeks back I have taken in two baby kittens that were dropped of in a box in front of pet smart.
I am assuming that they are now somewhere near 5 weeks old - I could be wrong tho. Their eyes are just starting to fade from blue to grey, they have some crazy sharp teeth and they are still a little clumsy on their feet. (will attach photo)
Prettymuch for the whole duration of them being with me, they have been having diarrhea. Since then they have been to the vet 2x and I was assured that they are fine, still well hydrated and
have no parasites. (the kittens were at first being fostered by my vet, but she had no time for them so I wanted to help.) They have been tested for parasites (results were negative)
and given preventive medications as well. Through all of this they have shown no signs of illness besides their runs. They are sweet, playful and super perky and spend the
majority of the day gnawing on my bunny slippers and fooling around on my bed.
I have thus concluded that it has to be the diet. I still bottle feed KMR formula, and for a little while I would make a batch containing just a little bit of plain organic yoghurt. (I have done so in the past with other bottle-fosters and it worked great). Thinking these babies just might be extremely lactose intolerant I have stopped the yoghurt thing about 5 days ago. - No signs of improvement.
Also, about 6 days ago I started introducing wet kitten food. ( I assumed that they were ready as they have started biting the living sh*t out of the bottle and my fingers ) The wet food is probably around 30% of their daily meal, and KMR is the remainder.
- For the first three days of the wet food introduction I used the Hills Science Diet Chiken pate for kittens. (Again this was based on previous success with other fosters). They obviously loved it and licked the plate clean really quick... Nothing really changed though. Plus the food looked partially undigested. When I would take them to the bathroom there were a few little chunky bits in their diarrhea. I thought they were just adjusting to it so I kept doing it for the next three days. Still nothing.
- So for the past two days I have switched to Blue grain free chicken kitten wet food. Again they seem to absolutely love it, have a great petite and everything. The results were the same as before.
So the only non-variable appears to be KMR? I have some trouble with the brands here as well. (last time I fostered was 5 years ago when I still lived in Europe)
Is there any difference between the KMR brands at all? It's all new to me.. I used to just do plain goat milk with a pinch of yoghurt and had great results - But I was advised not to do that...
So what is good KMR? Are there brands to avoid?
ANY help on solving this diet crisis would be tremendously appreciated!
Love,
J.
I am assuming that they are now somewhere near 5 weeks old - I could be wrong tho. Their eyes are just starting to fade from blue to grey, they have some crazy sharp teeth and they are still a little clumsy on their feet. (will attach photo)
Prettymuch for the whole duration of them being with me, they have been having diarrhea. Since then they have been to the vet 2x and I was assured that they are fine, still well hydrated and
have no parasites. (the kittens were at first being fostered by my vet, but she had no time for them so I wanted to help.) They have been tested for parasites (results were negative)
and given preventive medications as well. Through all of this they have shown no signs of illness besides their runs. They are sweet, playful and super perky and spend the
majority of the day gnawing on my bunny slippers and fooling around on my bed.
I have thus concluded that it has to be the diet. I still bottle feed KMR formula, and for a little while I would make a batch containing just a little bit of plain organic yoghurt. (I have done so in the past with other bottle-fosters and it worked great). Thinking these babies just might be extremely lactose intolerant I have stopped the yoghurt thing about 5 days ago. - No signs of improvement.
Also, about 6 days ago I started introducing wet kitten food. ( I assumed that they were ready as they have started biting the living sh*t out of the bottle and my fingers ) The wet food is probably around 30% of their daily meal, and KMR is the remainder.
- For the first three days of the wet food introduction I used the Hills Science Diet Chiken pate for kittens. (Again this was based on previous success with other fosters). They obviously loved it and licked the plate clean really quick... Nothing really changed though. Plus the food looked partially undigested. When I would take them to the bathroom there were a few little chunky bits in their diarrhea. I thought they were just adjusting to it so I kept doing it for the next three days. Still nothing.
- So for the past two days I have switched to Blue grain free chicken kitten wet food. Again they seem to absolutely love it, have a great petite and everything. The results were the same as before.
So the only non-variable appears to be KMR? I have some trouble with the brands here as well. (last time I fostered was 5 years ago when I still lived in Europe)
Is there any difference between the KMR brands at all? It's all new to me.. I used to just do plain goat milk with a pinch of yoghurt and had great results - But I was advised not to do that...
So what is good KMR? Are there brands to avoid?
ANY help on solving this diet crisis would be tremendously appreciated!
Love,
J.