Kitten Season PSA
As we head into spring in the USA, there will be the customary massive uptick in kitten births, and inevitably, people will either have a nursing mother cat die, or find orphaned kittens that are young enough to need formula. Working in the pet industry for 16 years now and in rescue for longer still, I want to spare compassionate people a lot of heartache, and kittens some terrible suffering: please, please, make sure that if you buy milk replacer, it is actual milk replacer, not "cat milk."
Every year, I encounter numerous people who mistake Whiskas Cat Milk for formula. It is not made for kittens, is not nutritionally complete, cannot be properly digested by kittens that young, and will kill them - usually after a miserable period of bloating and diarrhea. Some stores stock it RIGHT next to the formula, which is dangerously misleading. It is offered at a much lower price point, which makes it seem like a favorable alternative to expensive formulas like KMR, especially if someone is feeding only one kitten or frail kittens that they're not certain will make it. Unfortunately, feeding it will pretty much guarantee the kitten(s) won't make it.
I would say "when in doubt, ask an employee," but unfortunately many pet stores - including the big box chains - do not offer any specific training on pet formulas and other pet health products, so you are at the mercy of an individual employee's personal knowledge - which may be exhaustive or may be minimal. Inaccurate AI has also utterly enshittified most search engines, especially Google. I suggest The National Kitten Coalition, the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Shelter Medicine guidelines, and Kitten Lady as good resources to learn the essentials.
Again: Not formula! There are similar cat milk treat products by other manufacturers as well. Always read the label; these products are specified for adults and/or fully weaned kittens and to be fed as a treat IF you read the fine print.
