What is your preferred brand of kitten milk replacement?

I am asking because we have been having a lot of digestive and diarrhea issues in our rescue with bottle babies, way more than normal. It seems to be hitting around 3-4 weeks. Our vets cannot figure out what is causing it- it is not parasite related, not coccidia, giardia, etc.  Most of the fosters are using the GNC brand kitten milk (powder) from Petsmart. I prefer Pet-Lac milk replacement, and have not had any diarrhea issues, but another foster tried Pet-Lac and hers did not do well on it. I personally think the GNC brand smells weird, but I would like some other opinions.

We don't use the homemade formulas simply because there seems to be an issue with newer fosters making it incorrectly, or it just being to time consuming for people who are fostering multiple babies. The powder is just easier.

Not sure if this should go in this forum or the cat nutrition forum, but since it is bottle baby related I posted here.

Hands down KMR.  GNC has issues IMO.  I also got a bad container so that made me think that even more. If you have tons of kittens may be worth it to order the 5lb bag keep it in fridge and hand it out to fosters with a notecard of how to mix it.

Unfortunately for your situation, my best results far and away have been with canned goat milk made with Hissy's recipe found at www.kitten-rescue.org.  Since my disabled daughter keeps laying hens as pets, I also use 2-3 egg yolks per batch since the cost of eggs isn't an issue for me.  I do NOT use yogurt but use a probiotic capsule instead.

One important consideration for either homemade or powdered formula: the water should be either good well water or bottled.  Boiling works for germs, but tap water will contain harmful chemicals that are too harsh for kittens' vulnerable kidneys.

The best powder that I have used is Ultra24 by MilkProductsLLC and is sold at feed stores as a multi-species milk replacer (don't let the good price scare you off - it did me, cuz I was thinking "you get what you pay for". only after nothing else was available on a Sunday, I bought a small bag and found success).  their website is www.savacalf.com but I don't know if they sell retail or not.

The KMR also tend to give diarrhea but if it is watered down, sometimes that helps. Kittens also really go for the Vetscription by Sargents.

Another problem that I have encountered with especially tiny kittens is when they "crash" - cold & unconscious. I have managed to save most by immediately stimulating them to pee then giving warm, homemade pedialyte (with a little extra UNBLEACHED sugar* for the first batch to help bring up the kitten's blood sugar) drop by drop, every couple of minutes (also, keep them heated up in a warm rice-sock or gel pack, but be careful not to overheat). If they are really out of it, keep massaging their limp extremeties and change their positions, so the blood doesn't pool in their extremities.  these kittens will need very frequent feedings until they get strong again, but I have some very strong, healthy cats that were just like that years ago.  So far, that hasn't happened with any of my goat-milk-formula babies.

*  I used Mescla "Moreno" sugar - it isn't bleached and is usually much cheaper than the white sugar. I get the best price at SmartNFinal and also at the local Mexican store.

FYI, @catsknowme, both the links you noted above are not working for me, either by clicking it or typing the address into my browser.  You may want to check them.  Maybe it's me, maybe it's not.   As for the brand of formula we have had the best success with here, the powdered form of KMR is by far the best.  I keep it in the freezer and mix with boiled water (making sure the water is sterile).  We have found that the liquid KMR in cans DOES cause diarrhea more often than not, even when you dilute it.  One of our group who does nothing BUT bottle babies even called the company about it.  They insist the liquid and the powder are exactly the same, and did not want to believe her that there was a difference.  Oh well.  We vote with our money and we buy the powdered form.  Goats milk is great also and readily available here.

The fact that the diarrhea is happening at 3-4 weeks does make me wonder if the fosters know that the formula has to be watered down considerably as the kittens get bigger.  The original directions are for newborns, but older kittens eat more and thus the concentration is too rich and should be cut down, which happens with mother cat's milk naturally.  The other thing I would warn against is using the "second stage" formula as that sounds like it should be adjusted for older kittens but it really isn't and it often upsets their digestion. 

Be sure all the fosters know that the powder needs to be refrigerated.  We had one that didn't read the label and we didn't mention it because we assumed (wrongly) that everyone KNEW it had to be refrigerated just like the liquid does.  When I went to her house to see what was wrong with her kittens, there sat the can of powdered KMR on her counter!  I asked if she refrigerated it and she said, "No, was I supposed to?"  Throwing out that container and getting a new one solved the kittens problems in a couple of days. 

The only other thing that could be suspect is that the fosters are not sterilizing the bottles and nipples, so that over time they may get some growth of bacteria.  The first thing I would suggest is to just get new bottles and nipples after a couple of weeks and see if that helps.  Let us know if any of these suggestions make a difference, and good luck with all your babies.

I use KMR also. The canned KMR has always caused diarrhea, so I use the powder exclusively, always watered down more than the directions say.

I also find people don't adjust the flow of the nipple for the age of the kitten. At first it needs to be slow to prevent choking and aspiration, but if they are 4 weeks old and still using a nipple set up for a newbie, they could be taking in a lot of air from unproductive sucking. They'll just suck and suck and suck, then take a big gulp of air, then suck and suck again. The flow really does need to match their ability to suck.