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Cat Forum / General Topics / September 2006Kitten died. Causes?
Today, an abandoned kitten my wife and I discovered died after approximately 36 hours in our care. Of course, we're pretty shaken up about this. It was maybe 4 days old or so when we found it among an ant colony in a shady spot under a bush. It surely would have died sooner had we not took it in. We fed it liquid kitten formula at the appropriate times, set it in a box with a blanket and stuffed animal, paid attention to it, set up a heating pad (on low) on 1/2 of the box so it could decide for itself on where was the most comfortable spot, etc. We were able to get it to urinate/deficate and the stool looked of reasonable quality. In other words, we felt we did what we could to nurse it the proper way. But I'm wondering if someone might offer insight into what we might have done wrong so that we can learn from this experience. The kitten passed away over night last night and appeared rather weak yesterday evening. Being unfamiliar with the nuances of kitten care, any insight is appreciated. My understanding is that with abandoned kittens, the survival rate is about 50%. What did we do wrong other than not taking it to a vet at the first sign of listlessness? Sad in Spain. GeoKitten Geo When a kitten is abandoned by its mother their was usually a reason for it. The mother can sense problems that even the best vet in the world can not. And survival rate for that young is more like 25% You tried your best > Today, an abandoned kitten my wife and I discovered died after > approximately [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > Sad in Spain. > GeoKitten >Geo When a kitten is abandoned by its mother their was usually a reason >for it. The mother can sense problems that even the best vet in the world >can not. And survival rate for that young is more like 25% You tried your >best I have a 14 month old kitten who is doing just fine and is a good healthy size. He was the runt of the litter, the mother had given up on him. Now 14 months later and a ton of food later he is a very good healthy size and doing well. >It was >maybe 4 days old or so when we found it among an ant colony in a shady spot >under a bush. When assessing cause of death I'd look at the ant colony. Maybe it's related, maybe not. You may want to have an autopsy done to find the cause, maybe this is a warning to keep cats away from the ant colony? ||| It was ||| maybe 4 days old or so when we found it among an ant colony in a [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] || in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups ----= East and West-Coast Server || Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =---- If it was George W Bush he would have taken that ant colony out by now. Sorry about your kitten you did all you could it is natures way and that is how it works, there was nothing you did wrong.  Signature"A horse a horse my kingdom for a horse, I haven't had a winner in six months". MD it is possible to do everything right, and still have kittens die. It seems like from your post you did everything right. You mention ant colony, is it possible they were stinging ants? a kitten wouldn't have much of an immune system to handle such things. the only other thought would be possibly the kitten aspirated formula into his lungs, which is extremely easy to do, and very hard to tell. Thank you for taking the little one in.at least he died with a warm bed, love, and a full belly > Today, an abandoned kitten my wife and I discovered died after > approximately [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > Sad in Spain. > GeoKitten Hi Connie, It's possible that the kitten aspirated in the hour or so after we discovered him. I initially gave him a bit of normal milk from an eyedropper but he didn't take much. He seemed to be feeding pretty normally, sucking and what not, on the nipple bottle we bought a few hours later though. Within a short time after discovering him and deciding we needed to take him in, I read up on the proper feeding and care of newborn kittens by humans. He seemed content yesterday in the afternoon after he nursed on the bottle, purring, etc. As you said though, it might have been hard to tell if he was apirating formula. We fed him on his tummy as the reputable websites indicated. The ants? I don't really know if they're the stinging type but they might be. There was an awful lot of them in that spot where we found him, a colony. Our hearts were in the right place and we certainly didn't want to harm the little guy. I just wish it would have turned out differently. GeoKitten >it is possible to do everything right, and still have kittens die. It seems >like from your post you did everything right. [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] >> Sad in Spain. >> GeoKitten >Hi Connie, >It's possible that the kitten aspirated in the hour or so after we discovered [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] >little guy. I just wish it would have turned out differently. >GeoKitten Hey, you did the best you could for him. Cease with the sorrow. He's okay now. Most likely, you'll be seeing him again where he'll be happy and healthy. Thank you for your efforts on the behalf of this little guy. At least you tried. So many people wouldn't have. > Hi Connie, > It's possible that the kitten aspirated in the hour or so after we discovered [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > little guy. I just wish it would have turned out differently. > GeoKitten Hi GeoKitten: If your kitten had survived, at the age of 4 days, and you don't know how long he was lying there, I would have been very surprised. Even four weeks is considered too young to be removed from the mother, never mind four days. Odds are that he was already dying when you picked him up, which may have been why mother was forced to abandon him. Please don't feel bad....the ultimate Good Samaritan is the one who gets no apparent reward for his act of kindness. You did the most heroic thing, in the eyes of the little kitten, who at least was warm, well-fed, and loved probably for the first time in his life when he passed away. --tension sorry for the hurt, though...they do grab your heart very quickly. > Today, an abandoned kitten my wife and I discovered died after > approximately [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > Sad in Spain. > GeoKitten You most likely did nothing wrong...but have a heart and try and save a lost soul. Sometimes our greatest efforts and caring cannot "make it so", as I recently discovered losing my precious Lucy. You have done well and cared for a helpless kitten who had someone's love before he left this world. You should feel good about that. Kitty |
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