Five weeks ago our cat gave birth and within 24 hours rejected the litter. Five out of six kittens died the first night. My daughter, 17, has bottle fed kittens successfully before.

We went to TSC and bought kitten milk replacement formula for newborns and for the past mont she’s fed the kitten every two hours like clockwork.  The kitten responded fantastically, steady weight gain and no issues.

For the past week my daughter has been obsessed with trying a new different brand of generic formula that Tractor Supply stocks. I kept telling her “If it ain’t broke, why fix it?”  We have an amply supply of the kitten formula. She kept bugging me to take her with me when I went to get dog food so she could pick some of this new stuff up.

She wouldn’t let it go. Finally yesterday afternoon I had to go there for the dog food and so she came with me and bought a bag of the new formula. She started feeding the kitten the new stuff around 8 last night.

Woke up to her crying in the kitchen at 6am. Five feedings on the new formula and the kitten was dead when she got up for the morning feed.


Goddamn it.


I TOLD her all week long we didn’t need to switch formulas. But she was on the internet all week researching different types and she insisted on trying this new stuff even though the old stuff worked just fine. Kitten was doing great, active, healthy, no problems whatsoever.  I didn’t say anything other than trying to comfort her and held her while she cried. She’s fit such a kind loving heart and it just guts her when we lose animals/pets. But like her mom, she’s never content to accept things and constantly has to try something different when there’s no logical need to change. I hate that the poor little guy didn’t make it.

I’m going to sound like an asshole saying this, but once she gets through grieving you should have a conversation with her about not fixing things that aren’t broken.

I'm going to sound like an asshole for adding on that, while listening to dad has its place, you should be praising her for taking the initiative to do the research, find alternatives, take a risk and try to find her own way of doing things. Even coming with you, instead of just asking you to pick it up while you are there shows that she is a go-getter. We have too many spoon fed kids today. She sounds like she doesn't want to be one of them.

It didn't work out, but I think it is awesome that your kid put herself out there to try to do it herself. She needs the failures to truly learn, but she needs to know that dad is there to support her as she fails. Just my .02.

I agree with you guys 100%.

All month long I’ve been telling her how proud I was, her dedication, and what a good job she was doing. I’m refraining from any ‘I told you so’ comments at this time. I know how hard she’s taking it. But eventually once enough time has passed, we’ll discuss it. She’ll learn from this (sad) experience.

Parenting is the hardest thing we do.  This is a good response.  

Don't tell her how you were right and she was wrong and possibly, even if only slightly, drive a wedge between you.  She knows that now.

you should refrain from any "i told you so" comments in the future as well. She obviously knows you told her so and she knows she was wrong. She'll learn the lesson better on her own without you sticking your thumb in the wound and potentially making her ignore the lesson out of spite.

Who said it was the formula?

Correlation =/= Causation.

Without a necropsy, it will be hard to tell. And even that may not give answers.

5 of 6 died within hours, mama rejected the litter, something wasn't right.

this guy knows a thing or two about parenting and leadership in general.

Truly a sad situation all around. Poor little guys

Was the second stuff reportedly formulated for kittens like KMR is?  Just curious and trying to find a teaching moment in this.

Sorry y'all lost the while litter.  :(

Wow

Someone comes on GD to thump their chest with strangers over proving their child wrong.

GD never ceases to reveal all facets of humanity.

Originally we were using KMR kitten formula, newborn to six weeks. Kitten was at four weeks as of tomorrow. Really doing well on it, daughter was tracking amounts eaten at each feeding (every two hours). Bowel movements were good, kitten was alert, no health issues.



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This is the new stuff she bought yesterday. We’ve actually used it before for baby piglets and for younger (8 week old) kittens that we’d fostered that were failing to thrive/progress. I saw no need to switch to this when the kitten was doing fine on the KMR, in a couple more weeks we were going to switch to KMR second stage formula. Daughter was set on trying this other type (multi animal, not cat specific). I should have resisted a little more strongly, I guess.

My daughter had been keeping records, input in formula, daily weights, the kitten was steadily gaining weight and doing good on the original kitten specific formula. No issues whatsoever until switching to the new formula yesterday.  She was giving small amounts of each type so it wouldn’t be an abrupt switch. She said his last two meals he ate a little less and that was the only difference she could tell.

It might be a good idea to share with her the things that china did with pet food and to always turn the thing over and read the ingredients and WHERE they came from not just what they are.

This!  She has enough of a guilt trip going already.  Besides its just a cat, they are free here.

But still. There is still something to learn when it comes to taking chances and testing out theories on living beings.
Now case in point. My son, 13, got an expensive Xbox game system about 6 months ago. He had a friend over for a sleepover and that night, he took it apart just to see what was inside. When he put it back together, it doesn’t work. Now he has a useless $500.00 piece of plastic that I refuse to fix. He learned a lesson on don’t mess with stuff that ain’t broken. He has continued to try and fix it but to no avail.
Sometimes the best approach to thermonuclear war is to not start thermonuclear war.

You don’t need to say anything, she’s already blamed herself. FWIW I’m impressed how seriously she was taking raising a kitten, that’s dedication.

ETA: I don’t change formula or food for animals unless there is a very compelling reason. Also, I’ve come to find that universal means not really good for anything.

contempt for the ex seems to be rearing it's ugly head in this

I’m refraining from any criticism at this point, I know she feels bad enough already.

I know losing animals on a farm is a fact of life. Doesn’t make it any easier when we lose them.

She’s an awesome kid and I love how kind hearted and caring she is. Her dedication to these animals really makes me proud. As an aside, she can field dress, skin and butcher a deer better than anyone I’ve ever seen.

I'm pretty sure that you are taking his comment wrong. I don't think he is thumping his chest about proving his daughter wrong at all.

This.

nor.
I didn't see chest thumping.

I saw frustration from a father whose daughter has similar tendencies as her mother.

Honest, I wasn’t thumping my chest or glad that ‘I was right and she was wrong’.  I hate that she’s hurting, and broken-hearted. And I’m sad that we lost the kitten. I’m frustrated because the kitten was doing fine on the original formula and there was no reason to switch.

My daughter is like my ex wife in many ways, and also like me.  If I am interested in something, or get involved with a hobby or a project, I’ll research it as much as I can, to the point it becomes the focus of my free time. My daughter is like that, too. She kept researching kittens and formula feeding and even though the kitten was doing fine she decided she needed to change formulas.

One night of trying a different formula was not going to kill the cat, unless the formula was tainted in some way.  It was a coincidence.  Don't let your daughter carry this burden.

Same first thought here.  It seems so obvious but without a control you just don't know.

also impressed with daughter's initiative, how old is she?

This. I doubt it was the formula. But now you will never know because switching the formula added another factor into the equation.

The cat didn't die in less than 24 hours because a partial formula change per se.

That cat was already dead before your daughter even touched it. Mama cat instinctively knew. Wife works rescues and the amount of neonatal kittens passing even after all the medicine in a CFP/AAFP hospital was used is astounding. I would think a sincere apology is in order for your daughter, and then maybe a little later, perhaps another discussion on the importance of not switching what is essentially life-saving supplies for kittens unless it's an absolute emergency.. because that's when pathophysiological eventualities can be wrongly attributed to human error. Either way that's just a shitty situation, but sounds like you got yourself a damn good kid. Good luck amigo.