Hi

I have two 8.5 week old kittens that I am currently feeding Hi-Life kitten pouches with occasional Iams biscuits to. My problem is that one of them (I can never find out which!) has the odd vomit but they both have extremely offensive smelling poo which is soft, not completely formed but not diarrhoea or watery at all. They are both lively healthy and not I'll in any way. They have been wormed and are due 1st vaccs this Thurs.
I was wondering if the Hi-Life might be too rich due to it's higher fat content and was considering just giving them the Iams for a few days but I've read that dry food on it's own is not a good thing to do.
The other thing to consider is to feed adult food instead?
Any advice anyone has would be very much appreciated I don't mind the smell too much per se but I do feel it's not quite right

Cheers

How long have you had them and what were they eating where you got them from?

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They came to me on the 29th of August and were living in horrible conditions, which is why I took them. The woman that was getting rid of them (her words, not mine) couldnt tell me when they were born and it was obvious they werent with Mum. She was feeding them adult supermarket food and although they were reasonable weights when I took them to the vets to get them checked over and wormed (750g and 800g), they were not very well socialised at all. They did get the hang of the litter tray although we have had the odd little accident, I was expecting worse to be honest. And yes, she has been reported.
They eat voraciously as kittens do, getting through 4-5 pouches a day of Hi-Life and some Iams on top. I'm aware that Meg (female) and Mog (male) were most probably separated from Mum way too early, I dread to think. The vet advised to err on the side of caution and to assume an age of 6 weeks, hence vaccs due this Thurs at 9 weeks (estimated).
In all other areas development wise they are doing fabulously considering and are visibly gaining weight. Like I say, I have no concerns about their health in general at all, they eat, play, sleep and are generally behaving exactly as I'd expect them to, its just the food/poo issue. I may be unnecessarily worried - maybe its a just the change in diet and all will settle, but if that is the case - am I on the right track with the food, or are there better options out their for these two?

Cheers for your help

Oh the poor little loves, how lucky they are to have found you.

I don't think Hi-Life kitten is too rich - I feed my kitten that as well as Natures Menu and Hi-life adult and she's fine (I've fed her these since she was about 7 weeks). The only time her poo is very stinky is when she's eaten a lot of dry food (I give her Applaws). I wonder if it could be the Iams as it has a lot of filler?

There are loads of other foods you can try, lots of people here feed Grau, Smilla, Bozita etc from Zooplus.

I think very stinky poo can be a sign of illness, but if they are fine in every other way, then maybe just try cutting down the Iams for now and see if that makes a difference? But maybe also have a word with the vet?

They should probably be wormed again. Every two weeks for 2 or 3 cycles is what our vet recommends. Sometimes you don't get all of them with the first round of worming, as the wormer only kills adult worms, so if there is larvae or eggs, they would remain in the system, and you'd get them the next go around when they've grown. Foul smelling poo is usually an indication of some kind of parasites.

As for the food, as long as you change them slowly, then a higher meat content food should the best thing for both of them. I think most people on here recommend Animonda, Grau and Smilla (I'm in the states, so there are different brands here, so I'm going on memory for brand names).

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Hi-life 'should' be fine for them - it's a good food. Personally I'd firstly cut out the biscuits - they contain lots of grains and cats can't digest grains and so they might be a little sensitive to them. Also dry dehydrates and with sloppy poos they will already be dehydrated so you don't want to make that worse. Dehydration kills young kittens very quickly.

Secondly I'd do a week of just cooked chicken only (no rice) - boil some chicken until cooked in water only and cut into small pieces - use the cooled broth with the chicken at meal times. Don't buy cooked chicken - buy raw and cook it yourself - that way you know it is completely unadulterated. DO this for at least 3/4 days you should see a vast improvement in their poos quite quickly - go for a full week if you have to. ANd then very slowly reintroduce the hi-life - one flavour at a time and see how they react. You will soon find out if it is the Hi-life causing it. SOme cats just don't like certain brands - I know my lot stank to hell when on Natures Menu!

The vomiting could just be eating too quick, especially with the dry as it expands in the stomach after eating and in a tiny kittens tummy this can make them feel too full and so they regurgitate.

If you want to feed dry look into the grain free ones - Orijen, Acan are I believe not sure about Applaws but have an inkling it might be. And if you can bare it look at Pet Supplies, Pet Food, Dog Food, Cat Food and Pet Accessories at Zooplus and look at their high quality cat food Smilla, Aminonda, and Bozita are good to try. Free p&p if you spend £19 and if you go through topcashback or the like another 5% off.

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I'm going through exactly the same with one of my two kittens.

He's 13 weeks old now. I think it's the change of diet as I am unable to get the stuff that the breeder was feeding him on.

He had a runny bottom and it stunk to high heaven. After a trip to the vets, a course of antibiotics and a few days of plain boiled chicken or plain white fish and the runs have stopped. I'm now trying to incorporate some adult wet food (vet suggested this) into the chicken/fish but now he is being sick (bottom is still fine!). I think it's just going to be a case of trial and error until I find something which doesn't upset him. He's having a few Royal Canin kitten biscuits but I'm sure it's the wet food that's the problem. I'm going to try him on some wet kitten food next and see how that works. I'm aware that kitten food can sometimes be too rich but the adult food isn't working so it's next on the list. If that doesn't work I'll just have to keep on trying different things.

I would try the plain chicken and white fish route first to clear it up (it worked for me!) and then just experiment with different things.

My other kitten is fine on anything I give him. I guess they're all different just like us humans!

I hope all goes well.

Debbie

Every two weeks seems a lot? My vet recommends once every three months for cats and kittens. My kitten is just over 6 months and has only been wormed twice.

Absolutely brilliant, thank you so much everyone.
I'll try the boiled chicken for a few days, until we see the vet Thurs and I'll ask her then about worming although she normally recommends monthly for the first 6 months but I'll have a chat to her.
I'll then re-introduce the Hi-Life slowly and see how we go, and try without the biscuits for now. I'll also check out Zooplus.
spid - I think youre right about the vomiting being caused by eating too quickly - its practically undigested!

Thanks so much - I'll let you know how we get on

Karen

Debbie, what brand of food are you feeding apart from the RC? The majority of supermarket available foodstuff (AND the stuff by Royal Canin) have grain-based fillers in them and MANY cats have problems digesting this. It's even in the kitten food I'm afraid....

If you look at the foodstuffs recommended in Spids post above, on Zooplus, you will get EXCELLENT, top quality food, with no grain fillers, for the same price as the kitten food from Tescos etc.

I think it depends on the circumstances of the kittens early weeks. Yours may have come from a good healthy home where any worms they had would have been a mild dose. The OP's, on the other hand, were not so lucky. They had a terrible start and had a heavy infestation hence the need for more vigorous worming.

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