Kitten Milk

[Essentia]

We will be taking in some kittens in the next few days and I wanted to check with you guys on what the best formula for them is. I have used KMR in the past, but I am seeing a lot of websites that have recipes for kitten milk, and a lot of other ones that say to use goat milk.

To others who have bottle fed kittens, what would you recommend?

 

[Sycamore Chins]

We used KMR, then slowly thickened it up with Hill's A/D then thickened that up with Hill's W/D. Added in kitten dry food when they were the appropriate age. We always had fat and happy (and messy) kittens!

 

[RDZCRanch]

I have always used goat's milk since it's what I regularly have on hand for the chins. The kittens love it and have always grown very well and had little to no gas. I usually get underweight, flea infested kittens and the goat's milk always brings them to a healthy weight within a day or two.

It's basically personal preference and I prefer goat's milk since it's easier on the stomach and I can get it fresh so no trying to mix any powdered formulas. I've also noticed the kittens I've taken in were very gassy and bloated on KMR and that always went away when I switched them to goat's milk. I usually get litters that other people can't handle or can't get to thrive.

 

[3CsMommy]

If I can get good goat's milk, I use it. Otherwise its KMR, and I start letting them 'play with' canned kitten food or ground up and soaked kibble around 4 weeks. (For a litter of 5 I put about 1/2 cup of kitten kibble in a coffee grinder until it's not quite a powder, then mix with a cup of whatever milk they've been on. Disposable pie dishes work well, or if you can get a plastic cafeteria tray that worked well too.) Most of the time they get more on them than in them for the first week, but they seem to like licking it off of each other when they're done. Be prepared for a mess either way. Lots of newspaper on the floor under the food made clean up easier.

 

[BooBoo*TheKiddo*]

I used KMR as well.

Babies did fine on it, but then again I didn't feed them 24/7, they still had their mothers milk. I just helped Mommy out with the runt and a few others.

 

[menagerie]

If you use KMR, get the premixed stuff not the powdered. A bunch of rehabbers have had bad batches of the powdered KMR and Esbilac (puppy version of KMR) and lost animals.

 

[Dusty Foot Prints]

I was finally able to wean our orphan kitten. I gave the KMR until around 5 weeks and then started adding (human) baby rice ceral to the bottles. At about 6 1/2 weeks I started mixing dry kitten food with the KMR to soften it and putting in a bit of beef baby food- make sure you don't get the kind with onion added- to make it extra yummy. This is what my vet said to do. It cried like crazy during the solid food transition and I gave in a few times just because it was so stinking cute. There is a good orphan kitten website, safehaven, or something like that?? Ours gained weight and did very well on what we fed.
I would agree to get the pre-mixed formula instead of the powder version. The powder would never completely dissolve and clog up the nipple of the bottle.
I wish I knew you were going to be taking them in, I just returned 3 cans of the formula. I would have given it to you.

 

[pamszoo]

I have used Just Born for the ones I bottle fed. I only used the premixed stuff. I never had any luck with the powder. The ones I started bottle feeding were only a day old when I got them. Everybody did very well though!

Good luck! Its a tough job but soooo rewarding!!

 

[Essentia]

Well right now they are still with mom and we are trying to go as long as possible with it like that. We had a fairly aggressive stray have kittens in our front bushes. She won't let us come anywhere near her otherwise we would take in all of them. The mom is a very good mom, just not at all a very good pet. We have a make shift little shelter in the bushes for them. We don't want these 5 kittens to add to the stray population in our neighborhood which is why we are taking them in and finding them homes. We hold them daily when mom is off getting food so they at least get some human interaction until we take them in completely. They are just starting to walk, and luckily where they are located there is a low rock wall that they won't be able to get over just yet. The second they start getting really stable on their feet is when we will take them in and start hand feeding. I am worried that when they start to be able to run we will never be able to catch them. I would rather hand feed them for 2-3 weeks then have to go through one of them being hit by a car or worse. We plan on trapping mom and getting her fixed once we have the kittens.

I purchased the powdered KMR, but now that I see what Meanie said I will be returning it. I have a Whole Foods nearby so I will go with goats milk since I have it readily available and it's probably a good amount cheaper anyway.

 

[Essentia]

So for a week I thought I would have no kittens. I came home from work with a half gallon of goat milk (thank you Whole Foods for making the fresh so easy to find!) and the kittens and mom were gone. I was so dissapointed. It had been over a week since I had seen them and I had really searched. Our landlord came today to mow the lawn and opened the locked garage and saw mom and kittens hiding under the couch. Apparently she had moved the kittens in the garage the last time he had it open with was 5 days ago. >.< Mom was super hungry and scarfed down an entire large can of EVO soft food. I grabbed the babies and hand fed them the goat milk and they were also super hungry. They took to the bottle without any struggling at all. They were definitely thinner than I had seen them a week ago, most likely because mom wasn't producing enough milk without any food or water. They are now settling in their cozy fleece filled cage and being hand fed every 4 hours. I tried to grab mom to bring her inside, but she won't let me come anywhere near her, so hand feeding the kittens it will be. I would rather hand feed them and make sure they don't become even more strays, than leave them with mom to make my life easier and have her move them again. I plan on renting a trap and trapping mom to get her fixed in the next week.

Since the babies are right at 4 weeks I decided to mix the EVO kitten soft food with the milk for the last feeding. The kittens LOVED it, so I will be offering them some soft food on a plate tomorrow and see how things go. I'm not expecting anything clean. From now on though I'm going to mix it in with the milk (still bottle feeding) for some added taste and calories since it was so long since they had a good meal.

 

[Cassi]

Thank you so much for taking these kittens in and for getting momma fixed! :heart5:

 

[Essentia]

Here are a couple pictures and videos of the kittens.

The kitten hut, aka jail.

Doors open

The curious ones.

MEOW!

 

[Essentia]

The whole group, though you can't see everyone.

Here are a few videos where you can see all the babies.

Eating soft food, mixed with milk, for the first time.
http://youtu.be/lTZL6o5Ofos

Mew, mew, mew. You might wanna turn down your speakers for this one.
http://youtu.be/7KQF-dd2Gw0

 

[3CsMommy]

OH! That little black one has stolen my heart! I shouldn't have played that, though. My foster cat is now looking all over the bedroom, mrrp-ing at the invisible kittens.