Kitten Canned Food Question

frappe

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Hello TCS,

We are having a bit of kitten woes at the moment. We found a sickly (conjunctivitis, very underweight and anemic from fleas) kitten early this morning and have since taken him to the vet to get started on antibiotics. He was treated with Advantage and now we are on to food. We have a lot of canned food in the house and before I buy more, I wanted to know if any of these were okay for kittens.

*Evo 95% Chicken/Turkey (NOT the cat and kitten formula)

* Ziwi peak canned

* Nature's Variety Instinct Chicken, Rabbit and beef

* BG Quail and Chicken (Lower calories than the others so probably not the best bet)

* Wellness Grain free turkey

When we found him this morning (at 7 am) I brought him in and fed him the Evo and he scarfed it down. His bowel movement was surprisingly normal. Dark, firm, not runny, no visible worms (although he was wormed at the vet). Is it okay to keep feeding him that? Or should we run out and buy the cat and kitten formula? I'm only hesitant because it agrees well with him.

Also, we don't have any dry in the house. Is it okay to just give him as much canned as he wants or does he NEED dry?

Thanks in advance!
 

eb24

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It sounds like you have some really good brands of food on hand! The majority of these (as far as I know) are all life stages formulas, meaning they are good for both kittens and cats (except the Evo- he needs a feline specific formula). If you want to keep him on one of these you may want to get some of the nutri-cal kitten supplement just to boost his daily caloric intake. Canned food specifically formulated for kittens is going to have more calories but it also has extra fillers that these top of the line brands don't have. Personally I would stick with the good food and supplement with nutri-cal if necessary. 

As far as dry food- I think it partially depends on what the kittens future is. Are you planning to adopt him or are you just giving him an amazing crash pad until he heals up and then re-home him? Either way you have done a great thing by taking him in and he's very lucky you found him. If he's a keeper and you always feed wet only then it's fine to just do that, though he's going to need more frequent, smaller meals throughout the day than an adult would. If your going to re-home him then I probably would start him on dry as well. Mainly, because that's how the majority of people feed their cats and you want him to be used to it. It's stressful being re-homed, especially if your new people keep giving you food that you have never seen before! 

Again, thank you for bringing this little guy in and for getting him to the vet. Hopefully once his infection clears up he will put on more weight and be healthy in no time! 
 
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frappe

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Oh the Evo is for felines, it just says for cats on it and not the cat and kitten (the red can, not the purple). I went ahead and picked up some wellness kitten and some Evo dry food just in case. The plan is not to keep him, but who knows. Lol.

Thanks so much for your help!
 

eb24

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Aaahhh I see. I thought you meant it was a dog formula- my mistake. 


Sounds like you have a good plan with the wet and dry. He will put on more weight that way and it gives you flexibility on whether you will keep him or adopt him out. Every foster knows the plan is to let them go, but sometimes we just can't help ourselves...... 


Keep us posted on how he does and what you decide to do! 
 
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