Under weight kitten

Just after Christmas my husband and I agreed to bring my daughter's 6-month-old male, tiger-striped kitten to our home. She had taken him in, even though he put her 1 over the allowed 2 cats in her apt.

Fig, is an active, happy, healthy, intelligent little creature. After a week or so of hissing and spitting on the part of our 5 cats he has adjusted well to the move. He detests kitten chow however and was smart enough to lick off the canned food our daughter was mixing with it to get him to eat it. As a result he is underweight for his age and bone structure. Our vetenarian is delaying neutering him for at least 4 weeks, hoping he will gain weight.(he is in perfect health except for being underweight). He suggested I continue my present feeding schedule which is to mix Friskies canned food thoroughly with Purina Kitten chow and feed him the mixture 3 times per day. After inhaling food for the first couple of weeks, he has now settled down and is satisfied with the 3 feedings.

He gained some weight but still needs to gain more. My question is: Is there a brand/brands of kitten chow in the more expensive brands that has a higher protein and fat content than Purina does? Is there a canned, catfood either made especially for kittens and/or with a higher fat and protein content than the Friskies? I would appreciate any help anyone could give me. Thanks. In peace, Hannah

I am sure others on the board can help you with your question. However, my suggestion is to feed him kitten glop to help him bulk up. The recipe is a stick in the Health and Nutrition Forum.
Also try to free feed him buffet style so he can also nibble whenever he is hungry and not just during meal times.

Good luck

You should go to a pet store or a Co-Op and get like Nutro, Science Diet Kidden food - they have both moist and crunchies! It's way better for them and more fat content than the store bought! :tounge2:

That is a good idea. I would definately recommend a more natural food. I feed mine Nutro Max Naturals. I also hear good stuff about Innova. Fresh made food is the best, and there are a lot of recipes online and in books.

Purina and the other grocery store brands are really just a giant marketing scheme by large corporations. They have a lot of ingredients that your kitty cannot actually digest. These corporations make a lot of stuff and use parts that they can't use in anything else, so they put it in pet food, but these parts can't be fully digested. A lot of the brands at pet food stores are the same stuff, same company, just with a nicer bag and higher price!

It doesn't seem like he likes the dry food much. Try a brand with a smaller kibble maybe, or break it up. I also wouldn't try so hard to mix the wet and dry. I feed my kitten wet food morning and night. I mix it with supplements such as egg, peanut butter, olive oil, cat viamins, brewer's yeast, garlic (not all at once, and only a little bit) with hot water to make a warm kitty soup. It makes it more palatable for the kitten. Then I leave dry food out all day. Maybe he'd snack on it?

If you are worried about getting him addicted to people food, you can try some nutri-cal. It's a paste that's packed with nutrients and fats. Most cats enjoy eating the paste, it has fish oil in it.