Keeping a kitten alive

[alexp08]

This morning he weighed somewhere between 380-400.

Im not sure if hes going on his own. I havnt gotten a little litter box set up yet (will today) the litter box for mom actually has a small front limp on it and he would be able to get in it.

Neither 4 health or taste of the wild have a kitten forumla just an ALS forumla. I cant seem to find a reasonably priced grain free kitten food, so ill swing by walmart and pick up purina kitten here in a bit.

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[catpack]

Check out Chewy.com. Food prices for each brand are very reasonable (compared to in store.)

https://www.chewy.com/s?query=kitten&rh=c:325,c:387,c:388,SpecialDiet:Grain-Free

Merrick, Earthborn and Fromm are all good and decently priced. Plus, the kibble is small, so easier for kitten mouths

 

[Willowy]

I like Purina ONE kitten food for dry, and Fancy Feast kitten for canned. I've had better success with Purina ONE than regular Kitten Chow. It's not top-quality but it's decent and easily found at just about any store.

 

[foxxycat]

my cats love 4Health at tractor supply. the only down side is it has potatoes and peas but it must be ok because my old kitty isn't throwing up on it. and anything that stays down is good in my book. they are pellet sized so not too big. Fromm has smaller pellets than 4Health but very expensive. The problem with expensive foods are sometimes they are too rich-we tried Orijen and floey had a very hard time digesting it-so what I did to use it up is mix 25% of it into 4Health. I often mix two types together so its 50/50. You can always supplement feeding with high quality so you don't have to foot an expensive food bill every month. Orijen sells a smaller $4 bag of food that I mix into that 5 lb bag of 4Health. The down side is you need good quality big ziplock bags to keep it fresh-I used to put it in a plastic container with lid until the cats would get fussy at the last 1/4 bin of food=it was going stale. So now I use 3 bags gallon size for each 5lb bag of 4Health-it stays fresher longer-the more you open and close the more air hits it. Summer is coming and we have issues with humidity keeping food fresh.

4Health dry food is $8 here-a bag for my 3 cats lasts 3 to 4 weeks but we also feed wet food in the morning-fancy feast classic style=they love the liver ones more than any other flavor. I have yet to find it cheaper than $.55 a can and we tried friskeys wet but the texture is much more coarse and harder to mash into mush.

Hope this info helps in deciding what food to feed after the kitten chow.

By the way Jasper is adorable-and I agree with spaying momcat-maybe you can set up a shelter on the porch for her for the summer and the winter when we get super cold weather she can bunk with you for a few nights. Sometimes they just get along and not make it hard. I heard that ferals are used to living with other cats-usually they pay attention to body language-you would be surprised how well they get along-as I have learned from following Taming Gracie's Feral Cat Care on Facebook. She has kept us up to date on her furry horde and how to read body language from them. I have learned more from her than any other place. She explains things so well and helps to dispel the myth that feral cats are unadoptable.

 

[alexp08]

Are potatoes and peas bad for cats?

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[ginny]

Maybe not bad, per se, but definitely not species appropriate and not part of a low carb diet.  You find those ingredients a lot in grain-free food used as fillers.  

 

[StefanZ]

Are potatoes and peas bad for cats?

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It depends on what you mean.  As I understand, tasting some isnt harmful. Especielly potatoes is surely OK (just be sure the potato hasnt got green - this is poisonous to all).    but its no good as a steadily diet.

Both are often used as filler in dry cat food, so i cant imagine its poisonous.  Even if there was something about peas, for cats, but I cant remember what.

 

[red top rescue]

It never used to be an issue, but many manufacturers who want to capitalize on the "grain free" trend have stopped using corn, wheat and soy, but rather than provide more MEAT protein, they have substituted vegetables, like peas and potatoes, so you see many foods containing these things in large quantities now.  Face it, vegetables are cheaper than meat, so they add vegetables but vegetable protein is incomplete protein, and cats as obligate carnivores need MEAT protein.  Unlike dogs and humans, their bodies can't manufacture whole proteins out of plant proteins.  To balance this, some manufacturers include the amino acids that are essential to cats growth, such as methionine and L-carnitine, to make up for the missing meat.  Also, these changes don't address the fact that diets high in carbohydrate tend to make a cat's urine more alkaline, and struvite crystals can form in alkaline urine but dissolve in slightly acid urine.  A diet that consists of ANIMAL protein, moderate (not high) fat and low carbohydrates is what their bodies are designed to thrive on.  When man messes with this balance, cats develop illnesses.  Most cat food cans do not list the amount of carbohydrates, so you need to figure them out from the ingredients. 

 

[alexp08]

Well that got more complicated than i thought it would lol well ill take this to another thread about possibly switching my cats kibble. Thanks for the response, it definitely gave me something to think about.

Back to jasper. I got purina one kitten and set up a little litter box. I put some kitten chow down (didnt expect him to eat it, but i figured id leave it out just in case) and ehat happens, momma runs over to it and starts eating it -_- she never eats kibble only canned and weve been feeding her more canned food lately cause she needed the extra amount for jasper. Lol oh well maybe he'll learn from watching momma and he'll start to eat it.

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[Mamanyt1953]

You are probably right about learning from Mama.  That's what they do, and they watch everything.

LOVED the photos!  I've had my kitten tail fix, so I'm going to go eat supper now!

 

[Sarthur2]

Yep, mama cats love kitten chow! It's good for moms too, and yes, eventually Jasper will get curious enough to try what mama is eating. Purina kitten chow is just fine. [emoji]128522[/emoji]

 

[mazie]

You know, I agree with Kitten Chow.   It can get maddening dissecting the various ingredients in a kibble that you can drive yourself crazy over which food is best!!  You can't go wrong with Purina Kitten Chow, Jasper will not only thrive but like the taste, I assure you, and you can put that decision to rest. 

 

[alexp08]

Thanks guys!

So he weighed 397g this morning.

And him and momma were out for some pictures.

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[Sarthur2]

WooHoo! 14 ounces! Almost a pound. That's great! I see he's enjoying his time with mama. What a cute little guy he is! [emoji]128522[/emoji]

 

[mazie]

What a sweet picture!!

 

[jcat]

Purina Kitten Chow isn't a highly rated food. The ingredients are listed here, and the main one is Chicken by-product meal, followed by lots of grain. We've had a couple of threads on the topic with suggestions of better food:

[thread="94153"][/thread]

[thread="135011"][/thread]

 

[alexp08]

Purina Kitten Chow isn't a highly rated food. The ingredients are listed here, and the main one is Chicken by-product meal, followed by lots of grain. We've had a couple of threads on the topic with suggestions of better food:

[thread="94153"][/thread]

[thread="135011"][/thread]

Thanks for the input! But i think itll do fine for know. Ive already given myself one migraine looking at ingredients of cat foods, im going to take a couple days before i go at it again lol

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[Mamanyt1953]

It can get confusing.  And there are better foods out there.  That said, for YEARS it was the best in the business.  It hasn't gotten worse, we've learned more.  Millions of cats lived, and live, happy, healthy lived on Purina cat foods.  Do the best you can, and that's all that you can do

 

[alexp08]

So i did a little meet and great for about 2 mins today lol

It went well for the most part. The black/grey cat did his normal stand offish attitude, the white one was a little for curious. She was good untill jasper meowed. The she ran back like 5 feet. That was my cue to take jasper back to his momma

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[alexp08]

Oh the little brown things on the floor are treats

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