Used Hartz. Need advice about switching KMR

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  • #811128
    Eric
    Participant

    I am bottle feeding an orphan my gf found a week ago. Our best guess is it was no more than a week and a half old now. We bought the first thing available at the time. Hartz. 4 days in I learned of its problems. I heard that switching formula can be dangerous so I waited to see a vet first.

    The vet said he didn’t know much about the ingredients, between Hartz and PetAg, so I should phase it out boosting the PetAg to Hartz mixture by 25% every 2 days. Its been 2 1/2 days now so I’m at 50% now, and sadly it appeared that the vet didn’t know much about kittens, so if its safe to just do a full switch now, please someone let me know.

    I’ve read enough horror stories and there’s only new ones popping up it seems.

    #811136

    I had to have a kitten put down yesterday, and the others (I have 4, 4 week olds) were quickly following suit with symptoms that I am pretty convinced were due to the Hartz KMR. Id been feeding them the powdered version of it, and it just started happening after the newest container I bought. The symptoms are horrendous…its like they become paralyzed, unresponsive, limp…they just lay there. Its terrible. I was a mess yesterday. After having to euthanize the 1, I went to the local pet store and bought PetAg KMR, and fed that to the remaining 4 (who by now were definitely exhibiting the same symptoms). I was convinced I was going to lose them all throughout the night. This morning I was awakened by their “hunger cries”. I was SO HAPPY. They are all bouncy, bubbly, kitties again! Sucked the PetAg KMR right down, purring and all! I cant say for sure, and I dont want to alarm anyone, but in my opinion, and also after researching the horror stories about Hartz products, I would discontinue use. If you have a local pet store, check it out, they may have the other KMR..or you can see if they can get it for you…or you could probably even order it online. Good luck, I hope all goes well 🙂

    #811138
    Eric
    Participant

    I’m sorry for your loss. I already lost two long time pets myself right before i found this kitten, so I wouldn’t do good at all.

    Anyways, I already have the good KMR. I’m just not sire if I should stop it cold turkey or continue to phase it out by mixing the two.

    The vet told me to, but he seemed like he knew dogs but not much about cats.

    #811139
    ecbrown
    Participant

    Eric, I don’t have any experience with bottle babies, but the advice the vet gave you is standard “food switching” advice for cats of any age. The idea is to go slowly to prevent tummy upset. Totally not an expert here, but I’d feel confident going ahead with 100% new KMR. From what I’ve read, folks don’t seem to worry about making the transition gradual with the bottle babies. Sounds like Danielle did an abrupt switch. (Glad they are doing better, Danielle.)

    #811140

    Yes, I did an abrupt switch, only because I didnt want any more of that Hartz going into their bodies, even if it was only a small amount. Luckily, I havent had any tummy issues as of yet, after their 530am feeding, they pee’d and poo’d and burped..no runny or “too soft” poo, no spit up…played and bounced around for a little while, and went back to sleep. No cries of pain, nothing.

    #811141
    Eric
    Participant

    Okay. Thanks. I think ill do a full switch on the next feeding then.

    My biggest fear was that due to the sugar content disparity, that it might cause some sort of hypoglycemia, but it looks like that won’t happen and I don’t want to continue to play Russian roulette with feedings.

    Ill continue to check before each feeding if there’s anymore input.

    #811147
    Kittyzee
    Participant

    Like ECBrown said above, go ahead and make the switch. I have hand reared lots of kittens on KMR and IMO, the symptoms you are describing are scary enough to warrant the switch. There are lots of vets who don’t know much about bottle fed kittens. This site has taught me more than anything my vet has said to me. This doesn’t mean they aren’t good at their jobs, but usually a kitten does best being raised by it’s mom. Sometimes that just can’t happen. Also, goat’s milk found in the baking aisle at Walmart is wonderful for their tummies and immune systems. The kitten I am now hand rearing has been on it since he was 2 weeks old. He has just reached the 7 week old mark, is pretty much weaned and on wet food. It is non constipating too.

    #811149
    Melissa
    Participant

    This makes me sad reading all of this info about hartz when we found our little sunshine it was Easter and the only store open was walmart so we bought hartz since it was the only kitten formula there. I didn’t want to switch formulas and cause tummy upset. I hadn’t seen anything bad about it then. He only survived 4 weeks and I was devestated the vet couldn’t determine what happened. Now that I’m seeing these posts it makes me feel awful and wonder if I had used a different formula would he still be here with me. It’s only been a month and I have since gotten a new kitten who is awesome but I still miss my sunshine. I think that the info about hartz should be posted every so often so that every kitten has the best chance of surviving.

    #811155
    JerseyJoan
    Moderator

    {{{Melissa}}} I agree, the word needs to be out there. Please don’t beat yourself up, though – how were you to know?

    #811156
    Eric
    Participant

    Thanks everyone. I just gave her her first feeding of 100% PetAg. Hopefully all goes well.

    Now it is back to my 45min-1hr in between feeding sleep sessions.

    #811187
    Kittyzee
    Participant

    Melissa, please don’t blame yourself. I have used Hartz in the past hand rearing a kitten with no ill effects. I didn’t know, and neither did you~and maybe it wasn’t the food at all. We do our best with these little ones and sometimes we still lose them and no one can say why. I am so sorry for the loss of little sunshine.

    #811191
    Buttons
    Moderator

    It’s a disgrace that hertz product are still being sold ! Thank god it’s not available in Ireland ..

    #811196
    Eric
    Participant

    Personally I think its no short of corruption that Hartz is still doing business and that Wal-Mart hasn’t taken it off the shelves. With so much negative attention it seems impossible that anyone in the business is unaware of what’s being said.

    #811197
    katzenjammer
    Participant

    Well, IMHO sounds like a class-action lawsuit ready to happen. Just sayin’

    #811205

    Thats great, Eric! I bet your baby is going to sleep nice and sound for a bit 🙂 I called my vet earlier and let them know I believe my baby’s death yesterday was due to the Hartz KMR, and that they should be on the look out for similar cases. I think everyone who has had such experiences should put the area vets and adoption centers, etc on alert. Keep us updated Eric 🙂

    #811208
    Leeny
    Participant

    Months ago I bought some KMR for one of my terminally ill cats who was no longer interested in eating, in a last-ditch attempt to save the cat’s life. The kitty decided to go to the Bridge instead, and I never even opened the cans. This morning I checked them, and they were Hartz. They went straight into the garbage.

    #811209
    Emily Langella
    Participant

    My kitten became paralyzed, limp, etc from the Hartz too. One feeding he was fine, the next I thought I would lose him. I worked on him for four hours, gave electrolytes every 3 hours, took my shirt off and held him to my skin, rubbed him to keep his breathing up, etc. After four hours (it was 4:30 am and my fiance was at work with the car) I decided to put him back in his bed with his blankets and heating pads, making him as comfortable as I could expecting to wake in the morning to find that he had passed away. I was blown away that he awoke with hunger cries. I still had not heard of this hartz thing, but after doing research and finding SO MANY other people showed the same symptoms after feeding Hartz, I dropped everything and ran to the store and bought Just Born brand KMR. I didn’t mess with the Hartz anymore and just made the switch. I decided I could deal with a gassy kitten and possibly a little diarrhea. I started with a 5:1 ratio of the new formula (water:formula) and day by day made the formula stronger. Our kitten is now happy, healthy and gaining weight well. Don’t give your kitten anymore Hartz and just make the switch. Just make it weaker and give electrolytes (1 Ml, 3 times a day)

    #811210
    Eric
    Participant

    I did the full switch today after phasing her to 50% hartz/50% PetAg.

    At first she wasnt eating much, but now she’s taking it down way easier. She hasnt pooped in about 44 hours, but I’m confident she will soon. She scared me the other day when she went almost 3 days without pooping.

    If she hasnt made a poop by the morning ill put a drop of Kari syrup in her formula like I did last time

    #811211
    jcat
    Participant

    I am so so sorry to hear of all these little ones who have been lost. Just to let newbies and anyone else who might be reading this know that if you go to the store and a certain brand is the only one available, you don’t have to buy it. If you are near to a Walmart, get canned goats’ milk (in the baking aisle) or health stores may have it. If you can’t get hold of goats’ milk (or, even less likely, sheeps milk), there are many recipes for kitten glop (homemade kitten formula) on this site and on the Internet. Most of them are based around either condensed or evaporated milk, so if you have that in the pantry or can get your hands on a tin, you can use them. Anyone who HAS used Hartz, please don’t feel bad, many people use it with no problems at all and it is readily available all over the world. And without post mortems and extensive testing, there is no way to know for sure what may have killed your little one. All of us here know that you were doing your absolute best for your loved little babies, and our heart goes out to you.

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