I adopted a 6-week old kitten and previous owners didn't tell me what food she was eating.. What sho

I always hear that if a new kitten is adopted they should have their old food mixed with the new food less and less until they can eat the new food on their own. But the previous owners didn't tell me what she used to eat, so now I'm stumped on the best way to let her eat without causing a tummy upset. Ideas?

Foureyes,

Welcome to TCS.  You're right, it is a good idea to keep the same food, at least at first.  But that's not always possible.

Assuming you can't contact the previous owners (um, why?), I'd give her some wet food, try different flavors, as high quality as you can afford.  Chicken is generally well tolerated.  If she has a reaction to one food (good or bad!), then that will tell you which flavor to avoid or get in a different brand.

How old is the kitten?

The kitten is 6 weeks old. Right now I have her on a milk replacement formula and I feed her every 3 hours and I keep dry food out (Iam's kitten formula) all day for her. Her previous owners "don't know" what food they fed the kittens (I took the last one and they threw the rest of their food out without knowing what brand it is. It seemed like they really wanted the kittens gone.)

It sounds like the people would have fed some cheap food, especially considering they threw it out(??? why not just give it to poor mommy).   I have found Royal Canin to be helpful(they have two formulas-baby cat for the younger kittens and kitten for 4 months and older.  The baby cat is tiny little pieces and seems to not upset the stomaches of the kittens I have had.  This is a pet store only brand but easy enough to find.

Also, six weeks is REALLY young to be separated from the mother cat.  It is the same cat as in your avatar--adorable!

I'd look in the Pregnant Cats and Kitten forum for help, too.

First, please give me address to those folks.

I will gladly send them 200$ to get both their cats fixed.  They sound like the typical "Oh I cant mutilate my cat/dog" "Oh my pet has udders, they wont get cancer" or "Oh they're pregnant, what a miracle of god" 

The upside if it werent for people like that, there would not be as many kittens at the SPCA, the downside is if that were the case, less adults would be condemned to death.

At this point, I would be far less worried about what junk they fed, your not going to find out, so continue to feed milk replacement and the dry you have now.

I would certainly use wet as he is so young and its real tough for a cat of any age to digest, least a kitten who still needs his mother. (I must admit, I am not a fan of dry at all, its better than nothing).

I and others are of the mind that its better to feed friskies wet, then a middle to premium price dry.  Friskies wet is 45 cents a can at walmart.

Also get him to a vet ASAP, get his vitals checked and get their advice on his transition from fake mom milk to commercial food.

Also be warry of his behavior, being seperated that young can make him very aggressive, and not know boundries.

This can last a long time, so post here and get tips.

My brothers cat is disturbed, so much we wanted to put her on kitty valium, but valium doesnt work the same for cats.  Knowing what I know now, its probably because he got her at 8 weeks from a newspaper add.   Funny how the folks had the NERVE to ask for 25$.

(If I ever become governor of my state, I will impose breeding license that is 300 a year, violators will get 10K fine, oh how I dream).

I knew a family that did the same thing, litter after litter, my friend who had a cat from them, every season would say "Why dont you take a cat from them" My answer was "if they take them to the SPCA and process them correct, I will adopt it from there"

So please get him to the vet, he will need to go anyways for his first distemper shot (get that asap if you want him to live), and he will be fixed in 3 months.  So you will have plenty of vet visits for the checkup and shots and booster shots (lucky they dont charge you visit fees past the first one)

Good luck and god bless for saving the cat.