Hi there,

Just wondering whether you can put kittens through too much too soon with regards to vacs, worming etc. etc?

We're on the verge of solving Hunter and Hermione's upset stomach problems and they are eating much more wet food now and seem to enjoy it. However, we are still weaning them onto the foods and taking it steady.

Got their worming tablets from the vet who weighed them - he was 1.73kg and she was 1.26kg (they are just over 4 months old now). Temperature was fine and vet said they looked well, even though Hermione is a bit of a tiddler.

We are worming them tomorrow and then on Tuesday they are due to be spayed/neutered (Hunter jumps on Herm's back a lot and bites her neck, becoming a bit aggressive). I've heard these are pretty invasive procedures, especially for Hermione.

We just wondered whether it was a good idea to get them done now, when they are just getting over their upset stomachs? Hunter had his booster only last week as well.

Any thoughts? Thanks, Caroline and Mark.

p.s. Vet suggested dry-food only diet to sort out their stomachs (Royal Canin).....didn't really listen to that bit.

Hey there! Firstly well done with persevering with the wet food and good to hear that their stomachs seem to be settling down.

Personally, and I am sure other people will come on with different views, I wouldn't worm them just now if you don't think that the iffy tum is the result of worms. Wormers are actually quite harsh on the gut - often giving cats a runny tum. Well, think about it, they are effectively chemobombs to kill parasites - that isn't going to be kind to a digestive system. I personally would wait until a couple of weeks after they have been neutered; once everything has hopefully calmed down.

But as I said, other people will have other views.

^^ agree, i know when my little one was wormed he had dodgy tummy for a day or two. Their poor bodies wil have enough work too do healung up from op's so as suggested i would leave the worming. Glad their tummies are better, which wet food are you using? i have'nt found one thats 100% right for my little boy, just curious in case he does'nt take to raw feeding

Thanks - that sounds a good plan so we'll hold off worming for a week or so.

With regards to type of wet food. We tried Tescos Just Nature but it ran straight through Hunter (not Hermione). We tried Feline Fayre Simply Chicken and Ham and this was a hit, but went to buy a few more pouches and it was sold out plus a bit concerned about nutritional content. Had a tin of Hi-Life petitpate and put a bit of that in with the last of the feline fayre and it ran through Hermione.

So, next onto Hi-Life pouches, 60% meat. Hermione wolfed far too much down last night and had a bit of an upset stomach, but Hunter doesn't seem too bad. They both like it, and we combine it with Hills dry for sensitive stomachs.

We have also got some Natures Menu pouches waiting in the wings. Once we are happy with one type of wet, we'll slowly wean them off the dry, but at the moment, the dry gives them a consistent element of the same food every day, which works whilst we work out the best wet. A zooplus order of Bozita will be on the cards eventually.

One thing is for sure, the introduction of wet (the ones agreeable to their stomachs) definitely sorts out the stool softness, which was the main problem when they were on dry only.

JenFunFur - which wets have you tried?

They can get upset stomachs from the anaesthetic. On another thread I've mentioned that my rule is to always have a clear week between any treatments. This way you know what's upset them if they react in any way. In my opinion if you worm them to close to an op you may get upset tummies but not know why. Far better to keep procedures separate so you can monitor reactions and deal accordingly.

when he came to us he was on felix
since then he's been on Purely (which was'nt that great) & now on hi-life, i'm hoping the raw feeding will continue well but if not i'll be onto Zooplus. So annoying when one cat is fine & the other is'nt such a delicate balancing act.

Hope all goes well with op's etc x

It certainly is a balancing act. The next challenge is to increase the amount of food - at 3 months they were on 1 pouch between them and dry, we then moved them to dry, had the problems and now back to wet. However, currently we are still only feeding them 1 pouch between them plus the dry three times a day. Sometimes they finish it, sometimes they don't.

Do you reckon we should be increasing it to a pouch each plus dry? Some of the other posts suggest as much as 300g a day......which is way more than H and H are having. They are both putting on weight though but I don't want to give them a lot of the wet if its going to upset them.

Thanks all.

When my cats has a runny tum, a move to a 100% wet diet sorted them out completely. I dont know the history of your cats I am afraid but it is often the fillers and junk in dry which can contribute.

And my boys eat 400g+ wet a day.

(as for neutering being invasive, for girls yes, but for boys it really isnt)

__________________

Hi,

Just an update - our kits have now had their neutering and haven't been too bad. However, Hunter has continued to have a bit of an upset stomach.

We went back for a post-op check - both were fine, but the vet gave us some pro-kolin to give them to try and settle them down. This hasn't worked at all and whilst Hermione isn't too bad, Hunter's have been very loose and yellowy.

We've yet to do their worming but now we're not sure whether we should give Hunter his tablet in case it is a worms issue? We are feeding them the same Natures Menu -trying to keep consistency. Neither would touch the bit of boiled chicken we gave them on Saturday morning.

To make matters worse, the vet said that Hunter's cataracts are quite bad, so he can't see much out of his left eye. He seems a lot more jumpy now, sleeps a lot and just looks sorry for himself.

We don't know what to do for the best. Any ideas anyone?

Did you cut out the dry food yet or are they still having a mixed diet?

Our 21 week old kitten has a grain intolerance and really cannot tolerate dry food. The Hills dry food had him using his tray upto 5 times a day at one point.

If transferring him onto only wet food doesn't help after a day or two then for every 80g of wet food that you feed, mix in around 20g of mashed up pumpkin (you can buy it in cans from most supermarkets). Pumpkin helps to firm up runny tums. Mix in a little water with his food as well, just to make sure he's getting enough.

If you suspect worms then examine the poo as you can often see them, if you suspect worms then treat it right away, no reason to wait on giving the tablet. As an alternative to the tablet, you could ask your vet for some Advocate spot-on and do Worms, Fleas and Ear mites in one go.

__________________