Kitten Nutrition and Dewormer

crazy-cat-lover

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The kittens are 5 weeks old! They are all eating, drinking and using the litter box! I am feeding them Royal Canin Babycat 34. I want to start supplementing them with vitamins, just as an energy booster. I have seen a high-quality vitamin and trace mineral powder supplement from Dr. Goodpet. It's called Optimum Growth and just weaned kittens can take it. Has anyone ever tried this?

The kittens need to be dewormed soon, is there a dewormer I can buy at the vet's office? I have heard that some people buy Drontal at the vet. I have a Pharmasave near me that sells vaccinations, wormers and everything else a vet would need. The public can buy all of the things at the vet pharmasave! Should I wait until the babies are 6 weeks old before worming them? They don't have worms, but I don't want them to ever get them!
 

hissy

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Tasha,

Just a note of caution to not go overboard in their care.It is commendable that you want to do so much for them, but unless a vet directs you to, I wouldn't put them on any type of supplement unless they are quite sickly. If they are growing, have high energy and using the bathroom on a somewhat normal level, I would just keep feeding them babycat. If they show signs of worms- diarrhea, poor coat, dull and lifeless, then I would take them to the vet and have him tell you if they have worms or not. But if they don't have these symptoms and are normal- I wouldn't worm them. Remember worming pills are poison- that's why they kill intestinal parasites. Worming a healthy kitten could compromise the health of that kitten quickly and even (God forbid) cause it to die.
 
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crazy-cat-lover

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Thanks Hissy! So many people say it is recommended that they be dewormed at 6 weeks. The kittens are extremely healthy! Their coats are shiny and soft, their stools are normal and they play ALL night! I supplement the kittens mother, Mimi, with a vitamin for nursing queens. I would love to give them some natural foods, like squash, rice and cooked chicken. I give my adult cats a food I made up, here's what I put in it!

1/4 cup Squash

1/2 cup Rice

1/4 cup Beans

2 lbs Regular Ground Beef (or Ground Turkey, Ground Chicken)

1 tsp Garlic

1 tsp Parsley

1/4 cup Sweet Potato

1/4 cup Banana

2 tbs Kelp

I mix all the stuff together and freeze it. When I serve it to them, I add warm water. They get it a couple of times a month, it keeps them healthy. They eat Solid Gold dry food and Nutro wet food as well. I basically use it as a supplement. Can the kittens eat it?
 

hissy

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I wouldn't feed it to the kittens-they are getting all they need and then some from the Royal Canin food they are getting now.
 
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crazy-cat-lover

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I wait until their older to feed it to them! Thanks Hissy!
 

xastion

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Curious...do vets occassionally treat kittens for worms even though there are no signs of worms?
 

cind11

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I used to work for a vet. I can't think of a time the vet I worked for ever treated a cat for worms unless it had something show up in a stool specimen. The only thing that sometimes doesn't show up (they're looking for eggs) are tapeworms. Then a vet has to rely on the owner to actually see the segments (look like little grains of rice) in the stool or on the cat.
 

xastion

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That's not entirely encouraging. The vet I went to treated Isis for worms without looking at any samples. He said that because she was from a breeder he suspected that she may have worms and that should be treated for it right away.
 

cind11

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I don't quite understand that-MOST cats from breeders do NOT have worms. It's not like they were outside. I have now had 7 purebred cats and had stool specimens checked on all of them more for the heck of it, and not one ever had worms.
 

princess purr

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my vet treated granet for worms with out a stool sample but he was an outside feral baby. He goes back on 6/5 for his second check up and they wanted me to bring a stool sample. I hope I can touch him by that visit!
 

cind11

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Well that makes sense. A feral probably would be a good bet to have worms. I hope you can touch him too!
 

xastion

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The vet I went to seemed very against breeders. He cautioned that Isis might have all sorts of problems being from a breeder. He said that there might be unknown cats going in and out at all times. That kittens from catteries are full of illness and bacteria.

I dunno. Besides having a upper respitory infection Isis appears to be very healthy and happy. I wish there was a way to tell if a vet was good or not without going through all the aggravation dealing with them one at a time.
 
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