8 week old runt

Hi, last week I went and looked at a litter of 7 kittens that were 7 weeks old. I adopted the runt, She is feisty and sweet. I took her to the vet and she has a  URI and is anemic, has fleas and weighs 0.9 of a pound. She is eating canned food but seems to eat just tiny amounts and then wants more an hour later..never eats much..she drinks water fine. Such a tiny, skinny kitten. Not gaining weight. Vet put her on Albon ( I think that is the name if it)..anyway, I asked of I should supplement her a couple of times a day with bottle since she seems to want to nurse on my 80 pound dog...Vet said No but I am thinking after 5 days since we saw him, I should go ahead and do it anyway..What do you all think? It is not going to hurt her, right? Thank you

Kittens can be conceived at different times of the heat cycle, so it's possible that she is a week younger than the siblings chronologically and thus only 6 weeks old. She may be skinny because the others all got most of the milk, and obviously she's going through some sudden weaning trauma if she's trying to nurse on the dog.  She may not take to a bottle unless she was bottle raised to begin with, but you could try, using either goat's milk or KMR formula (but get the powdered kind, NOT the liquid in cans as that tends to cause diarrhea in kittens).  You could also try mixing up the KMR formula and see if she will drink it from the dish, as many kittens still crave that milk and KMR has all the vitamins and minerals a kitten needs.   Albon is good, it will kill coccidia which many kittens have, and it should improve her appetite in just a few days if that's the case.  Finish whatever course of Albon the vet recommended, but also add KMR supplements -- your vet was maybe against the bottle idea but probably would have no problem with KMR supplements.  Mix twice as much water as the can recommends because you are feeding an older kitten, not a newborn, and the newborn concentration is too strong for a larger kitten.

I bought some kitten formula powder made my 21st Century..says on can that it is vet approved. Got the nursing kit and she wants nothing to do with it at all...so I used the syringe that I use for the Albon and gave her 2 syringes of the formula mixture...Is that the KMR? What does that stand for? I will try the mixture in a bowl for her to drink as well but it is ok to give her 2 syringes (medicine syringes) of formula a couple of times a day or is that force feeding not a good idea? Thank you so much

KMR is "Kitten Milk Replacer" made by PetAg (division of Lambert Kay, well known manufacturer of pet products for many, many years.).  All natural, no preservatives, made in the USA. A complete food source for orphaned or rejected kittens or those nursing, but needing supplemental feeding. Also recommended for growing kittens or adult cats that are stressed and require a source of highly digestible nutrients. KMR is a complete diet for kittens fortified with vitamins and minerals. KMR's life saving formula closely matches queen's milk in protein and energy and also contains taurine. Powder formula is easy to mix with water.

It's available at most good pet stores such as Petco, and also at most farm supply & feed stores like Tractor Supply.  I don't know if PetSmart still carries it as they were not carrying the KMR the last time I was in there, they had the GNC brand  -- The GNC brand has the exact same ingredients as KMR, but I like to stick to the brands I've used for years, so I shop at he two stores just mentioned. KMR is also available on Amazon, so it's available to almost every country, which is a good thing as not every country has the same pet supply stores as the USA does.


I've never used the "21st Century" formula so I can't judge it one way or the other. I looked up the formula and compared to the KMR formula, and the main difference is that the 21st Century is primarily a WHEY formula whereas the KMR formula is casein based, but also includes dried skim milk and whey.  Whey and casein are dairy proteins found in milk – casein is the “curds” in “curds and whey” (think: cottage cheese). Whey is considered a “fast” protein, because it is rapidly digested in as little as an hour, whereas casein is a “slow” protein that is digested over several hours. Most food sources of protein are also “slow” proteins (eg, eggs, steak, fish).  The protein to fat ratio is the same for both.  The calorie content depends on how you mix it.  The KMR contains probiotics, and I don't see that listed in the 21st century formula ingredients, so you may want to get some kitty probiotics and add those to your mix also.

Addendum - be sure to keep the powder in the refiigerator or freezer because it DOES spoil!  I thought everyone knew this but had one foster mom who called me because her bottle babies all started throwing up, and when I got there I saw the KMR can sitting on the counter and asked her if she refrigerated, and she said, "No, was I supposed to?"  DUH!  But not everyone reads the labels evidently. We had to throw out that can and get her a new can and the kittens were fine after that.  It should have REFRIGERATE AFTER OPENING in large letters on the can but it doesn't.  If you read the info under STORAGE, it's very clear, but otherwise there's no indication.  Also, they did have some problems with KMR powder spoiling from being left on hot trucks back in 2009-2010, but they improved the formula and hopefully the shipping as well and I've seen no new complaints at all, and no complaints about the 21st Century formula either.

Red Top Rescue said:

 
KMR is "Kitten Milk Replacer" made by PetAg (division of Lambert Kay, well known manufacturer of pet products for many, many years.). 

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I want to add, here we do have some little twists.

kmr, written with small letters, is  any  kitten milk replacer,  there are many brands,  for example this 21 Century,   Royal Canins baby milk, and this KMR-brand mentioned here

There are othes too.   Some good, some perhaps not so good.

Dont  mix it with "kitten milk" which is essentially  just a low lactose cow milk.  Sold as a treat in your everyday shop on their shelf for cats.   Often made by Whiskas. This is an OK treat yes, but NOT   supposed to be a kmr...

KMR written in big letters is the brand of kmr mentioned by Red Top Rescue, and its perhaps the best of them all.

It comes in two variations which are supposed to be similiar, but they are not.

One variation is in powder, you must to add water to it.  This is the big favorite of many rescuers.  

Another variation of KMR is ready made liquid.  This is not so good; many kittens tend to get diarrhea from it.

Royal Canin´s brand is good too, but probanbly more common in Europe.    Royal Canins baby kitten dry food is a very good dry food made for kittens and moms. Very appreciated even by people who otherwise arent very happy with Royal Canins dry food for adult cats...

Last.   If you cant get any good kmr - there is perhaps none such in your country -  goat milk is useful as kmr, if you dont have any good kmr.

Fresh is best, but bottled is OK too.

In any case, much better tha in pure desperation try with cow milk...

As luck has it, in countries where there is scarce and long between from good kmr and ready made cat food, in the same countries you can usually easily get hold on goat milk.

So goat milk is my tip in many situations - and it has saved the day for many of our formists, both abroad and in USA.  

Red Top Rescue said:

 
Addendum - be sure to keep the powder in the refiigerator or freezer because it DOES spoil!  I thought everyone knew this but had one foster mom who called me because her bottle babies all started throwing up, and when I got there I saw the KMR can sitting on the counter and asked her if she refrigerated, and she said, "No, was I supposed to?"  DUH!  But not everyone reads the labels evidently. We had to throw out that can and get her a new can and the kittens were fine after that.  It should have REFRIGERATE AFTER OPENING in large letters on the can but it doesn't.  If you read the info under STORAGE, it's very clear, but otherwise there's no indication.  Also, they did have some problems with KMR powder spoiling from being left on hot trucks back in 2009-2010, but they improved the formula and hopefully the shipping as well and I've seen no new complaints at all, and no complaints about the 21st Century formula either.

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Very true.   Another point is you do tempere is to body temperature, when you shall use it to kittens.    Exactly like you would do with your own human babies.  Warm up the bottle in a water bath, its propably easiest.

Both  any kmr you may use,  additional water you will give, and home made pedialye, if you use it by any reason.   Body temperature.  Room temperature is better than directly from refrigerator, but not enough.