10 week old kittens - best food and sloppy poo worries

[hazeyjane]

2 rescue kittens came to us yesterday, 10 weeks old. We are feeding them Whiskas kitten pouches as this was their food at the rescue centre, but want to know if this is the best thing for them. The girl cat has done very sloppy poo since she came. She has been great about going in the litter tray, but has just done one under the stairs tucked away,which makes me worry she is ill....although she is playing happily and looks ok, so maybe it is the food.

In a bit of a new kitten panic!

Hills Science Plan was recommended by my vet for our kitten.

Thankyou, I'll look at that. Looking at old threads I'm completely overwhelmed by dry food v wet food, mix of dry food and wet, a millionty different brands.......

Another sloppy poo this morning.

It might just be the stress of readjustment. If she's eating well and got regular water, seems full of beans and happy then I'd just keep an eye on her. If it continues for the week then either call the rescue centre or your local vets to see what they say.

Many cats only eat Whiskas... some can't stand it. It's not the best of cat foods but it is not awful either. Choosing cat food is 95% based on what the feckers agree to eat and 5% on their humans' preferences.

One of mine is on Old Bastard food (12+ Royal Canin) and the other is on Princess food (Sensitive Royal Canin). I use Royal Canin as it's best for their specific needs... Madam (on Princess) isn't very fussed about wet food so she mainly eats dry with a spoon of wet in the morning. Old Bastard loves wet food but we're trying to get him to put on weight so feeding him mainly dry as it has more calories. Cats are find on just dry food, but 99% like a nice smelly wet food each day also!

For now, stick with what food they're used to. Cats are very sensitive to changes in environment and the sloppy poo is almost certainly the result of an anxious upset tummy, rather than the food. The poo under the stairs is quite normal behaviour for a nervous kitten too. Doesn't necessarily mean she's ill.
If she's still having trouble with poos in a week or so, then consider switch to another brand (but make a gradual change, mixing old and new and slowly increasing the amount of new and decreasing the old). I've got 16-week old rescue kittens (and one had the same issues as yours when they first arrived home at 9 weeks) and our rescue centre says that wet kitten food is quite rich and upsets a lot of kittens, so they feed dry kitten food (James Wellbeloved) and wet adult Felix. This works well for ours.

My two rescue kittens were like this when we first got them in January. I used a special spray on the runny poos that missed the tray, I'll find the link as it works and is non toxic for cats.

They grew out of it over time but I found that one of mine was very sensitive to what they eat and the typical whiskas/ Felix type food. We settled on encore dry food and their complimentary wet food. Mainly because it's easy to get in supermarkets. They love it but they're super fussy over what they eat now .

Zooplus is very good and do trial packs of foods. Changing can upset their tummies so a very gradual change is best. They have a kitten food section. I also really like Fetch, both websites should have vouchers for new customers.

I give my cat Hills Science plan, I was advised to go for the best quality food you can afford with a high meat content.

If you look at Felix and Whiskas there is very little meat compared to something like Applaws or James Wellbeloved.

They are pricey though and you've got two!

I second Zooplus, great prices and excellent advice. Can we have a pic of your new furry friends!

Thankyou, I have just called the rescue centre and she said it is probably the change of environment and missing her other siblings. She said to give it a couple if days and call the vet if she hasn't settled down.

Apparently they ate well at the centre but, they seem to be mostly licking the jelly off and leaving the lumps. I'm putting a half a punch down for each so it doesn't sit around for too long. I don't want to change food unnecessarily, too often or too suddenly, as I know this can upset them.

I have utter kitten neuroses! This is almost as bad as when I came home with a poorly newborn ds!!

Here are the pusses.....