Can I give KMR to my nursing cat instead of feeding kittens directly?

It's not a dumb question at all! :) It's recommended to feed kitten food to the nursing mother cat, because she is using lots of calories during this time to make milk for her babies. The kittens will likely start to show some interest in their mother's food around 4-5 weeks of age, when their teeth begin to erupt and they are capable of eating solid food - it's fine for them to begin eating it also, if/when they want to.

KMR is a much better balanced food source for kittens than either cow's milk or a homemade milk recipe. Follow the instructions on the packaging as to how much to feed per day, divide the feedings up into several per day. You can use a warm wet washcloth to gently massage the rectal and urinary openings to stimulate bowel and urinary movements. Here is a great article on raising orphan kittens that will provide you a lot of helpful information: http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=1738

It is perfect to feed the mama cat kitten food as well as long as she is feeding her kittens. This is correct! This should provide her with the energy needed to stay in good condition and also give enough milk to raise her kittens well. Please leave the kittens with their mama until they are 12 weeks old, as she will teach them everything necessary to become good cats (cleaning, toileting, hunting, etc.).

No, the nutritional needs of puppies and kittens are different. KMR has too much protein and not enough fat for puppies and will likely cause diarrhea. If necessary, goat milk may be fed to puppies until you get a proper puppy milk replacer.

No, giving Muffin milk replacement will not turn that milk into her milk. It's concerning she is very skinny, and she needs a kitten formulated dry food to eat while nursing. The kitten food will give her added calories, protein, and calcium to support nursing her kittens, and I would run out to get that food now. Leave a bowl out of that for her to eat as needed. It's very important she is healthy to support nursing her kittens, so I would also recommend a visit with the vet in the next day or two for a health check. Be sure to bring her kittens with her. Best of luck.

Make sure the kittens stay warm. If they are not nursing well or she is not producing milk then you can bottle feed them to help. She should be fed kitten food as it has more calories and nutrients to help her keep her weight up and produce enough milk

Hello. It is difficult to say if Lady is just being an inattentive mom, or not. You can certainly try supplementing the kittens with KMR ( kitten milk replacer ). I use very soft makeup sponges cut into small wedges. Soak the clean sponge in the milk & most kittens, if hungry, will klatch on. Most kittens can also start on a soft, mushy diet at about 3 weeks of age. Mixing the pate type canned cat food with a little KMR will be easy for them to lap up, although they will spend more time crawling through it initially. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.