For those of you who have had kittens in your house, fighting flatulence is probably nothing new. Our kittens were born in a barn, we got them from a shelter and they were loaded with undesirable "friends" like ear mites and intestinal parasites. Even after the parasites were cleared, they remained extremely fragrant. Frequently. They were also having some amount of difficulty creating solid poop. It isn't easy being a kitten. And it was growing increasingly difficult to be in their presence.

Our vet suggested we try changing their main food. We had been using Wellness Kitten Health, which both kittens adored and thrived on. Sometimes, our vet explained, even the best food isn't a good match for a specific kitten and changing can help, um, firm things up. So over the following couple of days we slowly made the switch to Chicken Soup for the Kitten Lover's Soul dry kitten food.

Okay, I know, I know. It's the corniest name for a cat food ever conceived. It also happens to be the brand that our friendly neighborhood pet store (really, we have one) recommends most highly, and one that the vet definitely approves. We had used the adult formula before but this was the first time for the kitten variety.

The packaging touts this brand as wholesome and made with natural ingredients. It's clearly meant to appeal to the tree hugging hippie granola crowd. And that's me! I will pay more (and I do, but not by much - only about 20 cents per pound more than Purina) for a brand of food that takes steps to provide my kitties with solid nutrition. Looking at the label I saw a lot of the same things that made me like Wellness brand, meats and non-corn grains with a smattering of veggies. No meat by-products (gross, gross, gross). There are, of course, a whole lot of ingredients I can't pronounce, forget define. But I leave the final formulation to the experts - if the vet is happy, I'm happy.

Actually, that isn't really true. The kittens need to be happy. And they are - they love Chicken Soup for the Kitten Lover's Soul. They don't know that it has a silly name. They don't know they were switched because they stank. They just know that they will eat every last bit of Chicken Soup kibble they can stuff into their tiny mouths. They both prefer the Chicken Soup brand - as we were making the switch they began to pick out the Chicken Soup pieces and leave the Wellness pieces behind. They only left them behind for about a minute and a half, but then again they eat hair. To leave an actual food product behind for even a fraction of a second is unprecedented.

In the end, though, what about.....the end? Well, we did succeed in decreasing posterior gaseous emissions by a significant percentage and achieve poop shaped poop. The change in food did correspond with the decrease in both gas and diarrhea, but I don't really know that it didn't simply clear up as the kittens grew. There's no question that they loved the Wellness Kitten Health and were happy and growing while it was their primary food. For whatever reason, the Chicken Soup for the Kitten Lover's Soul seems to have calmed their wee guts while supplying the solid nutrition I want for them and keeping them healthy and growing. So for us, the Chicken Soup is what we'll stay with through kitten-hood, but objectively I think both Wellness Kitten Health and Chicken Soup for the Kitten Lover's Soul are excellent brands that provide sound nutrition.




Recommended: Yes