Safe to give adult cat kitten milk replacer?

runekeeper

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I am still looking for ways in which to help my cat gain some much needed weight, and someone suggested kitten milk replacer to me...which I did not know even existed. But it makes sense; I've seen success with feeding an adult cat kitten chow, and assuming Kip will actually drink the stuff, I wonder if it would be okay for him to have. Anything milk-related has been hit and miss with him; he would not touch goat milk and he dry heaved with heavy cream, but he likes skim milk, of all things. Surprisingly, he does not get an upset stomach and bowel distress from dairy.

Just two questions: Is it okay to feed a grown cat kitten milk replacer, and, if so, is there a particular brand you would recommend? Preferably one that is not prescription? I have heard very bad things about Hartz brand milk, but good things about something called KMR. Unfortunately, I also don't have a Petco or Petsmart in my area, so I'm pretty much limited to WalMart and grocery stores.
 

maewkaew

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raintyger

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An employee at Centinela Feed told me it is very common to feed adult cats KMR if there are health issues affecting appetite.
 

Willowy

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Ensure (and related products) are basically just baby formula marketed for adults :tongue2:. So, yeah, it can work for cats too. Personally, I would go with the homemade kitten glop recipes, if he likes them, because I'm not a fan of the hydrogenated oils and corn syrup solids in the prepared products.
 
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StefanZ

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Another alternative is to give goat milk, if you can get it. Full fat if possible.  

True, not all experts are convinced "of the evangelium of goat milk" as it is, but  look:  some of the best brands of   kmr and home made kitten glop, are based on goat milk as the basic ingredience.

Also, if salomonella in eggs is no problem at your place, raw egg yolk together with this kmr or goat milk, or even ktten glop, is verry nourishing.
 
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runekeeper

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I wish I could give goat milk, but Kip would absolutely not even try it. Also have tried raw egg yolk, both by itself and mixed into food. No luck. I'm really hoping he will like kitten milk because he's, unfortunately, off his food again. He was eating Fancy Feast for a while (the kind that's mostly gravy), but I made the error of giving him some deli turkey as a little treat and now he will only eat turkey. The dogs have eaten the last three cans of catfood I've tried to give him because he wants nothing to do with it.

Now I'm concerned that he might not want the kitten milk either if it's based on goat milk. I swear this cat eats the strangest things. He won't eat cat food, but he loves things like corn chips and egg rolls. But I'm at least glad to know it's safe to feed him kitten milk...or Ensure, even. At this point, I just want him to eat something and gain a couple pounds, so if he wants to subsist on milk for the rest of his life, I'll do that. I wish he would at least take whole milk, but he won't even do that! Of course he wants the diet milk that's mostly water! I swear it's like he wants to stay anorexic.
 

peaches08

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I know it's not ideal, but are there cheap foods he likes? Meow Mix, whatever? I'd rather cut my hand off than feed garbage but I've been there with an anorexic cat before...hope you find something to help!
 

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Royal canine make a pate called recovery. As the name says it's for cats in distress. I had to give it to my lotto the last few weeks of his life and hand feed him. It's very smooth. Has a lot of liquid in it and is very digestible. I wonder if you can get it in America. Sometimes things are made for export but one coulf always phone the company in the USA if you can't find it. I think it's wonderful.
 
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runekeeper

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He was eating solid kibbles for a bit - Purina and Dad's, but then he went off them. Had him eating Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers for about a week and he was eating 1-3 cans a day. Now he will not touch catfood at all, but eats turkey. He pesters me all day long for food, but then won't eat a darn thing I feed him. None of the local stores had KMR, so I settled for Hartz. He wouldn't even go near it. I tried putting a drop on his nose and sticking his paw in the bowl. Nothing. He ran from it like it was toxic waste.

I love my cat, but some days I just want to throw him across the room. Why the eff does he whine for food and not eat anything?! He can't be that hungry if he can be so picky. I used to be able to roll the kibbles around in my hands and he'd eat then, but not anymore. He's pretty much only been eating turkey and milk the last few days because that's all he'll eat. The dogs eat more catfood than he does because I don't want to throw it away when he refuses to eat it. I can't force feed him because then he'll go off his water and act depressed. I had to quit giving him milk thistle, even, because he'd get depressed just from me sticking a syringe in his mouth a couple times a day. Heck, when I was syringe feeding him A/D, he actually lost weight. I think because he quit drinking. That's how bad he stresses out.

I don't know, maybe he's trying to tell me he's done living. He won't eat 95% of what I feed him, he acts like it's the worst thing in the world to be syringe fed, he stops drinking when he's too depressed. He's happy and not in any pain, but it's like he does not want to get better and as selfish as it sounds, it is a major source of stress for me. I have a lot of patience with animals, but it's frustrating trying to figure out what he will and will not eat on a given day. I try my best to not be mad at him because I know he can't help feeling unwell, but he makes me want to scream.
 

maewkaew

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 Many cats seem to be tempted by  Fancy Feast .    The paté style ones  ( the FF "Classic") are pretty decent in terms of the balance of animal protein  fat and  carbs .   Cats are not made to get nutrition from  plants.  Their natural diet would have  just like 2 or  3% of calories coming from carbohydrate.   Those paté style Fancy Feasts are not much more than that.  Kip ideally needs food that is high in animal protein ,  to help re-build muscle.  

Actually another TCS member  with a cat they are having trouble getting to eat ,  just recently wrote that he has decided he likes Fancy Feast Tender Liver and Chicken.   That's the favorite of my dad's very picky cat. 

You  may not be able to find the below foods locally,   maybe not even Royal Canin  unless there is a vet clinic that sells it,   but  you can order them online. 

  Wellness Chicken or Wellness Turkey -    just the basic canned paté style Wellness -  are both very high calorie,  high protein,  high fat and low carb foods.   In fact they are a bit higher in calories than Hill's a/d ,  veterinary food  often prescribed for cats who are debilitated and need to put weight on.  The Wellness is higher quality meat and usually less expensive.

Nature's Variety Instinct  is also high calorie canned    it is a paté but a bit less smooth than the Wellness. 

Royal Canin Babycat is another one that is good for putting weight on.   both the canned and dry versions.  

Also the grain free dry cat foods for all life stages are usually  high in calories  for example Natures Variety Instinct ,  Wellness Core,  Orijen etc.,    ( I would not want to feed any  dry food as the majority of the diet,  though. ) 
 
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runekeeper

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He was eating Fancy Feast for a bit, but it was the Gravy Lovers kind, which is basically just some chunks of food floating in a can of gravy. Kip loved the gravy and would often leave the actual food. Last week I took the leftover food bits he didn't eat and stuck them in the refrigerator. The next day, I mixed them into a new can of the gravy Fancy Feast. He absolutely would not touch it because there was too much food and not enough liquid. I wound up feeding it to the dogs. Then I opened a new can of the exact same flavor and he ate almost all of it. I love Kip, but boy did I ever want to smack him for that. I am so sick of buying cat food and proceeding to give it to the dogs; I'd throw it outside, but I live in the middle of nowhere and I really do not want to attract raccoons and possums and the like to the yard.

Thankfully he's not off food...he's just decided he wants to go back to eating tuna, as he ate almost an entire can earlier. A couple weeks ago, he would not touch tuna, wouldn't give it so much as a sniff or a lick, but he would devour Fancy Feast. Now he's flip flopped again and wants fish. I don't know why he'll love one particular thing for a week and then want nothing to do with it the next week. I will see if I can find the foods you suggested; anything fancier than Fancy Feast I will likely not find in a local store because there are absolutely no pet stores around here. If I can order maybe one or two cans of certain brands rather than a whole box, I'll see what he likes. I wish he would eat something that is high-calorie; he wouldn't even go near the A/D; even the dogs wouldn't touch it at first, and here I was told that the Hill's foods were specifically made to be extra tasty. When my mother's dogs won't eat something - especially the fat one - that means it's right nasty.
 

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I know this is an old post. I found it looking up cat milk; but have you tried baby food? I was told by a foster that sometimes she uses organic chicken baby food. Idk if that's a thing but check with your vet, or maybe someone else can shed some light on baby food use.
 

StefanZ

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Yes, baby food is an excellent advice by Toddypu.  Gerber stage one is often mentioned by our USA based forumites, the chicken and turkey flavors especially.  Nourishing enough, and tasty enough to get even a holy eremite to break up his hunger session.
 

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Baby food can be used, but you have to make sure the baby food contains no onions or other ingredients toxic to cats.
 

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I know it's not ideal, but are there cheap foods he likes? Meow Mix, whatever? I'd rather cut my hand off than feed garbage but I've been there with an anorexic cat before...hope you find something to help!
What are the best tinned food for our kitties?
 

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There is a gel called Nutri-cal which is a high-calorie supplement for cats.  You just have to stick a glob on his tongue or on his foot (so he'll lick it off).  It's specifically made for this purpose.  Search on google, you can buy it online all over the place.  You can find the KMR online as well, just search in google.  However, seems you might find it less work to use the nutria-cal.

I'd avoid the cow's milk.  Even though he's not showing signs of being sick from it, cats are lactose intolerant, which means he's not even digesting it, so the calories and nutrients are being wasted and he's filling up without getting much nutrients.  And its possible it is making him feel queasy, adding to him not wanting to eat.

I'd definitely try meat-only baby food.

That being said, my experience has been that although many cats will eat the same thing all the time, many seem to want variety, and will seem to love something, but still will only eat it a certain number of times in a row. Changing off daily on the things you find he does like instead of sticking with only one thing might help.  Also, throwing in a new food or flavor  here and there might get him to eat the new flavor (although maybe only once).

If you are putting food in the fridge and giving it to him again, that could be part of the problem.  Some cats simply don't like older, reheated leftovers.  Especially since it probably picks up flavors from the fridge. 

I have also had the same problem with the gravy-type foods.  They love the gravy, not the food.  You could try mashing it up as much as you an so he can't help but get some solid pieces, or even throw it in the blender. I've met a lot of people who have had the same problem.  I've always thought the cat food companies would clean up if they put out cans of gravy only cat food.  Really!

Just keep in mind that by feeding him things like turkey he's going to want that and not want the cat food, so you might go back to feeding him cat food again and get him used to it again.

Just curious, didn't see why he's so thin, was he ill?  If not, have you seen a vet about the fact he's lost weight and not eating?
 
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appm

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Hi, Run.....I know it has been a few years, but did the KMR work?  I am having to administer it to one of my senior kids....You may have to use a syringe, ask your vet for a 20-35cc syringe, et feed it to Kip.....They typically do not take to it well, if sick or elderly......Thanks, et I hope Kip is ok......
 

Shelley A.

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Hi,
I hope your kitty is doing better. If u still need some advise on the kitten replacement milk, I would love to highly suggest trying Whiskas kitten milk, its a great product. I have been giving it to my cats for over a decade now. They are 9 yrs old and 10 yrs old, they still get a carton of Whiskas kitten milk often. They love it and prefer it over many other kitten milk brands. U can buy it online like on Chewy.com or on Amazon.com. In stores, u can find it at Walmart and Kmart. It comes in cartons a 3-pack, the container is mostly purple.
 
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