Underweight fussy mum cat with sensitive stomach, weaning kittens, how to organise

[AintNobodyHereButUsKittens]

I have a practical problem and would like some advice.

We’re currently fostering a mother cat and 5 kittens for a rescue charity in our spare room. Mum is lovely but too skinny (admittedly my own cats are a bit porky so my judgement is skewed) so I’m keen to feed her up. However she is really
A) fussy and prefers posh food, especially kitten food, and lots of variety (if it were my cats I’d shrug and say “like it or lump it” but I’m more paranoid about making sure this one eats enough)
B) given to bouts of diarrhoea when she eats a variety of rich food, especially wet kitten food.

We’ve had her on a diet of plain ready cooked chicken and turkey and dry kitten food for the past couple of days which has sorted out her stomach but she’s getting bored of it and starting to go on hunger strike again. We can put her back on a diet of Sheba and hope for the best, but the kittens want to start eating solid food and if we put any wet food down for them she will scarf it.

Any advice? We can’t feed any of them in different rooms because they have to be kept separate from our own cats.

[viccat]

You might already have tried this but when my foster kittens had tummy problems, Felix As It Good As It Looks in jelly (kitten version) was the only thing that sorted it out! In general jelly is better than gravy for sensitive tummies.

Otherwise, Grau grain free cans from ZooPlus are great for sensitive tummies. As they are such good quality food, the kittens could eat it too.

[viccat]

P.S. Has she been dewormed?

[AintNobodyHereButUsKittens]

I’m not sure she’s been dewormed, but the diarrhoea clears up completely when we she’s been put on a restrictive diet (it happened at the rescue before she came to us as well) so I’m pretty sure it’s food-related and not an underlying problem.

Interesting tip about the Felix. We’ve got a couple of boxes in because we’ve always found it goes down a bomb with previous batches of kittens but haven’t put any out yet: the stuff which she’s eaten and which had the dodgy effect was Iams in gravy. So we could try the Felix, thanks.

[AintNobodyHereButUsKittens]

Also. Look at their little faces!

[viccat]

Oh my! Last time I fostered tortie and b&w kittens I ended up keeping a pair.