Feeding Gruel Babies

So a lot of people ask me what to feed kittens who are weaning off of a milk replacement.

The answer? Gruel!

This is the gruel that I make for my foster babies. They gobble it up quite happily and show excellent weight gain.


Recipe:

2 cans wet kitten food
1 cup dry kitten chow
1 cup milk-replacement (liquid)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 cup water
1/4 cup pumpkin puree

I start by putting the pumpkin puree and wet food in the blender.

 

I use Castor and Pollux organic wet food for my fosters. 

Next I add the dry food. Make sure you blend the mix VERY well! I add the liquid kitten formula to keep it from getting too dry and clogging the blender. (I suggest either Royal Canin kitten or Hill's Science Diet)

I finish off by adding the water and the chicken broth. The final consistency that you're going for is like applesauce. If it's a little thinner that's ok, but you don't want it to be too thick or chunky. The idea is that it should be smooth and easily lapped up. Closer to a liquid than a solid. 

This gruel also works great for sick cats that need to gain weight or elderly cats that have trouble eating solid foods. It is thin enough that it can be used for syringe feedings as well as spooned into a bowl for older kittens.

Final Note: Why pumpkin puree? The pumpkin puree aids in digestion of the gruel and can prevent nausea and diarrhea. That's a great thing for baby cats to have!

Introducing..... Flint!

We got an urgent email from the neonatal program director two weeks ago about an urgent medical case. A foster kitten had been brought in for emergency surgery. His litter-mates had been suckling on his genitalia and the skin had grown over the area, completely blocking the urethra and causing him to be unable to urinate. If this had gone uncorrected, he would have been dead within 48 hours.

As a result of this condition Flint had to be removed from his home. Since he would need constant care for the surgical site and administration of medication I was contacted to take the baby boy in.

Flint was quite healthy aside from the blocked urethra. He was at a normal weight for his age (6 weeks) and ate on his own.

We picked up Flint during one of Elliot's check-ups.


.....They definitely did NOT hit it off. Elliot greeted Flint by growling and hissing. However there was no where else for Flint to go, so we loaded him up in the carrier and brought him home.


Flint had some behavioral issues due to his problems with his own littermates. He was extremely aggressive and attacked and bit just about everything. He would lock his little jaw down when he bit and would break skin and draw blood with every bite. Our first two weeks was dedicated to simply calming the little boy down.

Elliot eventually warmed up to Flint and the two of them ran around and played non-stop. For kittens there are only two speeds: Supernova and Nap!

Introducing.......Elliot!

So, about a month and a half ago our household made the decision to start fostering kittens through Austin Pets Alive!

I filled out the necessary paperwork, completed the phone interview, and scheduled a training session with one of the neonatal program directors. Since I am trained in the medical field I offered to help foster some of the special needs cases.

About a week later we were contacted with our first case: Elliot!

When we went to pick up Elliot we were fully de-briefed on our special little boy; Elliot was almost five weeks old but weighed less than 200 grams (7 1/2 ounces).  That is the weight of a three or four day old kitten. He was SEVERELY underweight due to digestive issues; he threw up everything he ate and was not eating on his own at all. Usually a 5 week old kitten is well on their way to being weaned and gobbles up food as soon as it is provided. Elliot was still being force-fed with a syringe. On top of his weight and digestive issues, he had a severe case of ringworm.

Things were looking pretty dire for little Elliot. The program director was sure that if he was left in the shelter he would fade and die within a few weeks.


We brought Elliot home and prepared for a hard few weeks: feedings every three-to-four hours, injections of fluid and antibiotics daily, and a slew of oral medications.

Within the first week Elliot started eating on his own. By the end of the second week he had tripled in weight! At his first checkup at the end of the two weeks, the prognosis was great! Little Elliot was healthy enough to begin the treatment for his ringworm.

It. Was. Terrible!

Elliot turned out to be extremely allergic to the lime-sulfur dip that is used to treat ringworm in kittens. Within two days of his first treatment almost a quarter of his fur had fallen out.

Poor Baby!

So, the dip-treatment was discontinued and Elliot was again started on antibiotics to combat the nasty skin infection that the treatment had given him. In addition we were given some little kitten sweaters (made from children's socks) to help keep him warm.

                                                   Here's Elliot in his little hipster-kitten gear.

Elliot is now 9 weeks old and almost 2 lbs in weight. He is well on the road to recovery and will soon start an oral treatment for his ringworm.

Diagnosis: Success!