A Kitten Conversation

RACHEL: Hi, Tracie. I was listening to your podcast episode about giving our animals probiotics and I was hoping you could recommend a particular brand? Its super helpful to hear what brands of food, supplements, etc you and the doctors you interview suggest since there’s soo much misinformation out there. It’s for my two newly rescued kittens! Thank you!

TRACIE: Thanks so much for asking! I always welcome a chance to call out great products from companies I respect and trust. Earth Animal (which is a sponsor of my NPR show Dog Talk® (and Kitties, Too!) has a wonderful daily digestive support called HEALTHY DIGESTION (https://bit.ly/3ghiUim) — I’m sure it will keep your little ones in the pink of health. But PUH-LEEZE feed them only wet food! No dry food for cats, who are obligate carnivores and should not be eating carbohydrates. Start them off right on any of Weruva’s delicious recipes in cans or pouches (https://bit.ly/3cPm9LM). Kittens require twice as much protein as adult cats, so be generous (and three or four feedings a daily is preferable to the 2 meals a grown cat would get). And thank you for your loving adoption — I wish you decades of happiness with them.

RACHEL: Thank you so much for the information!!! It’s my first time being the mama (we grew up with kitties but my parents were in charge) so it’s all new to me. Yes, I do not want any dry food in the house. I’m just starting to learn about the raw/wet food diet. Thank you so much for the brand recommendations!! Have you heard of the brand Stella  & Chewys as well? I am gathering a few brands In case kitties turn up their noses to one.

kitten carrier

We found them under our neighbors AC unit! So we got the three kittens and their mama in our bathroom. We are working on taming the mom and she’s really coming around to us! We are honored to have been able to help them.

I have one more question and then I promise I’ll leave you alone. What shots/treatments would you say is critical to get for these kittens and mama? Kittens are about 8 weeks old and mom is 9 months to a year old. I tend to air in the side of not wanting to over-vaccinate/treat but I don’t know much about what protection cats need. Thank you!

TRACIE: Choose a vet with whom you can communicate and trust and then get every single vaccination recommended. Kittens are vulnerable to multiple life-threatening diseases and skipping any vaccinations is just plain dangerous. The mama cat, too, needs vaccinations and boosters on the exact schedule your vet recommends. My book The Cat Bible has it all laid out. Please do not play Russian roulette with the “anti-vax” idea for these pussy cats (or for people in your life, either — this is no time to roll the dice by avoiding flu shots!) From everything I have read and researched. being “against vaccinations” is an idea that circulates as a rumor, or an ideology. But that’s because people have not seen puppies and kittens die horrible deaths from the illnesses they are prone to — and are protected from by vaccines.  Thank you for your intellectual curiosity about doing the right thing by these kitties — and for everything you are doing right already by saving them.

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Weruva and Earth Animal are sponsors on Radio Pet Lady Network, by our invitation.