Hartz Milk Replacement for Kittens Review

Some lowlife left a box with two one-day old kittens in my car last week.  Also in the box: Hartz Milk Replacement for Kittens, a couple of kitten bottles, and a dirty sock.  No, I am not making that up.  The bottle of powdered formula had already been opened and the bottles were filled with rancid formula.  I have no idea where the kittens came from, why they were separated from their mother, or why they were dumped in my car.  Did the person have difficulty in bottle feeding them?  Did they just not want to bother with them? Did they find them somewhere? I had (and still have) lots of questions about the situation but there isn't enough time to really worry about it because these babies have to be fed and cleaned regularly!

I dumped out the rancid formula and mixed up a new batch of Hartz Milk Replacement for Kittens.  The general directions are to mix one part powder to two parts room temperature water and then mix until lumps have dissolved.  Huh.  Easier said than done.  This formula is very lumpy and it's difficult to thoroughly mix it.  I tried using a fork, a wisk, and even just shaking the heck out of the bottle but I couldn't eliminate all of the lumps.  This was annoying because the clumped formula would obstruct the flow of formula to the babies.  I would just shake the bottle a bit to move it and try to dissolve it but by that point the kittens would be screaming and fighting me when I tried to offer them the nipple again. 

After a day of caring for the kittens, the 8 foster puppies, and the other 6 foster kittens that we have here, I was tired, cranky, and frustrated.  While looking over the label, I found the ingredients listing and discovered that this formula contains pork fat preserved with BHA/BHT which are both known carcinogens.  You usually find those preservatives in the really cheap grocery store pet foods which is why I stay away from anything I can buy at the food store or Target.  I was not expecting to see such ingredients in kitten formula, though. 

I immediately rushed out and bought a big can of KMR Kitten Milk Replacement.  That's a better-quality formula and doesn't contain carcinogenic preservatives.  If you are in a pinch and can only find Hartz Milk Replacement for Kittens, it will work.  Kittens find it palatable and will drink it.  If you have the opportunity to pick up a higher-quality product, though, I definitely would do so.