foster kittens and food!! help

i'll fill you all in on these guys later (2 boys both black and whites)

but right now i need advice on one of them- he is the "sicker" of the two, they both have colds- one is almost over it but the other still has runny eyes and seems to be stuffed up,

and now he has loose poops and the loudest rumblings in his tummy i've ever heard!!

i'm afraid i switched the food too quickly- they came with some Iams dry and i mixed it with anohter dry food

bad mistake, i'm seeing....

i'm gonna run out and get a bag of Iams kitten food,

but i've also given them both canned food- i put it on my fingers and let them eat it off them

i want them to associate my hands with good things, you know?


my question is, do you think i should hold off on the canned food for the guy with the upset stomach?

in my experience with *adult* cats, canned food is less likely to cause digestive upset than dry

for now the boy with the upset tummy will get the Iams he is used to and chicken baby food (he needs the most coaxing, is the most scared/shy, so i planned to do this anyway)


but what do you think about the canned food? is there a brand/flavor that is better for kittens?
i've got Friskies, FF and Proplan
so far they seem to prefer the Friskies (poultry platter)


and how much canned vs dry should i be giving them esp the one with the upset tummy?

as far as i know, they've only had dry food up til now

they both LOVE the canned


thanks in advance for any ideas

It sounds he needs so called mild, lenient, gentle (whatever it is in english) food.
Im not a specialist. But I will try.
They are kittens?
With grown ups you start with 24 hours with no food but of course water. With kittens 12 hours. And restart with diet-food:

Cooked "white fish" ie cod or its relatives.
Well cooked rice. Cooked till they are really soft
Well cooked minced / cut carrots. Cooked till they are really soft
Well cooked mashed potatoes with some butter in it.
After it, minced meat when he begins to eat. Or possibly simultaneusly.

Dont use commercial kitten food before he is stabile in his stomach.

Water to drink, its safer with no milk. If you do give milk or cream, use such with low laktose-sugar. Many cats dont stand the laktose sugar in milk.
If you dont have low laktose milk - do cook the milk. It is a little easier then to digest for the cats.

Friskies and Fancy Feast are both low quality foods. I would try to get them to eat a kitten formula of the better brands. I don't recall all the names but if you do a search on this forum you'll find Sharky's recommendations. She is our resident guru.

StephanZ is also correct in that you don't want to give them any cow's milk - most cats are lactose intolerant. If you can get some KMR (kitten milk replacement) or similar at the pet store that would be good. Also goat's milk is OK.

If you can get them to eat some canned pumpkin (not the pie filling kind, just the plain pumpkin usually found with canned veggies at the market), mix some in with the food. That should help with the diarrhea.

Have the kittens been wormed yet? That could also be part of the problem - just guessing here. I assume they've been seen by a vet and if so they probably were wormed unless they are still too young.

Where do you get pet food??

Grocery/ walmart

petco / petsmart/ pet valu

small mom and pop??