Anyone experienced kittens born with external organs

Laurstar

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I have stayed up late reading articles every night since I found out that my cat could be expecting, but nothing prepared me for this one. And even now, I’m struggling to find much information as to why this happened. She’s always indoors, spoiled, separated from other pets (pregnancy was an accident that occurred while I was not home) , she got good quality kitten food to provide nutrition for the kittens, I don’t know what went wrong.

I know for sure mating took place on 8/17. I was expecting kittens around 10/20. My cat (Trude) is approximately 3 years old and this is her first litter. At 10 pm on 10/24 (69 days) the kittens were still moving around, Trude showed many common signs of impending labor (she lost her mucus plug, her mammary glands enlarged, she’s affectionate, heavy breathing, etc.) Around 1 am 10/25 I decided to see where she’d gone off to nest and shocker, the closet, but she wasn’t alone. She started crying to me like she wanted reassurance as we both stared in disbelief at her babies. It broke my heart to see her big sad eyes realize I couldn’t fix them either.


WARNING THIS NEXT PART MAY BE GRAPHIC OR TOO MUCH FOR THE FAINT HEARTED, BUT I AM SHARING SO THAT SOMEONE ELSE MAY KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT AS WELL AS LEARN FROM MY (in)EXPERIENCE!


Initially I was shocked to see a kitten for real this time, I expected many days I could wake up and find kittens. But I realized something was off, no movement and not only that, but they didn’t quite look right like the videos I watched to prepare.

Here is exactly what I saw.

Kitten #1 orange fur, developed everything, except it’s abdominal organs were outside the body

Kitten #2 tortie shell, this one only had protruding lungs and no eyes seemed to have formed

I knew there would be a couple more coming, but I had very little hope for live kittens. Trudes labor continued and about 3.5 hours later she gave birth again.

Kitten #3 this image will stick with me for the rest of my life. Trude didn’t make noise, just squatted and with one push the kitten came out followed by a puddle of thick, sludge like, dark goo. The kitten was very underdeveloped especially the head area, it’s brain was external

I sobbed.

About an hour after #3 she gave birth again

Baby #4 this one was actually well developed but the placenta was quite strange and seemed to be basically a wad of slime tissues.

Baby #5 some abdominal organs were external but not it’s digestive track and no place where eyes could go and it also didn’t look like the mouth was right


This was my first pregnancy experience as well as Trudes and it has been so terribly sad.


*I know that spaying/neutering is very important Trude will be getting spayed at her next vet appointment*
 

StanAndAlf

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I am so very sorry you and Trude went through this.

I hate to be Devil's advocate here, as it sounds like you truly care about your kitty and did your best to prepare.

Did you take Trude for regular ultrasounds and vet checks throughout her pregnancy? If this was a genetic issue, its likely the deformities could have been picked up on an ultrasound and the pregnancy aborted. If it is a genetic issue that cause this, then I wouldn't be breeding with Trude again, and likely there was nothing you could of done other than abort the litter.

But in all honesty, this sounds like an infection of the uterus (possibly pyometra) which hindered the development of the kittens considerably. There is no way of telling if this is what happened without a vet visit, but either way Trude needs to see a vet immediately as her life could be in danger. She may need treatment and spaying immediately. Again, the vet check ups during pregnancy are so important, as if this was an infection it may have been detected earlier.

I don't mean to be abrasive, but out of such a horrible experience such as this there is always a very important lesson to be learned. I am so sorry for your loss, please keep us updated.
 

cataholic07

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Unfortunately, it could be a number of things. Most likely an infection but yes could be genetics. They might have been premature too. It sounds like it was accidental breeding so I would recommend just spaying her and preventing this heartbreak from ever occurring again. Sadly kittens are so fragile, you can do everything correctly but they still pass away :(
 

Sarthur2

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I am so sorry that you and your cat experienced this very traumatic event. Have the deformed kittens all passed away now, or are any still hanging on? If so, please get vet help for them.

I do want you to know that this is a highly unusual experience. It is not normal for an entire litter to be born with such terrible birth defects and abnormalities, so I can only think that it is genetic, but it is also possible that an infection or disease played a role. Not that you have not cared for your cat properly, but just that sometimes there are things that we cannot see. Perhaps her eggs were not viable, or the sperm was defective, though it almost sounds like something happened mid-stream to interfere with development.

Regardless, this is a terrible experience, and I am glad that you will be getting your cat spayed so this never happens again. You have my deepest sympathy for going through this. I hope your mama cat is doing okay.
 

Meowmee

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I am so sorry😿 Hugs to you. I can’t imagine how traumatic this was. I hope Trudes is ok and she has been to dvm to be checked out etc. I assume it was sadly too late for all the kittens.
 

Jcatbird

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I am so very, very sorry. If all the kittens are passed then Mother Nature has a way of taking charge from us in times like this. You did everything right. So did Trude. Your post really struck me and brought back a memory. My parents were away and I was with a sitter. My cat had her kittens and I was sitting with her when I noticed a problem. It progressed. I did what I knew to do and then called our vet. I described the situation. He was a very kind man and when he discovered I was left with these babies, he came and got mom and the whole litter. I understood enough to recognize a cleft palette and some other issues and the vet confirmed it when I asked. After talking a few minutes I knew the kittens would not make it but he did return my beloved Calico some days later to me. Mom cat recovered just fine. He had spayed her and there was no further problem for her. I have seen more cat births than I care to mention but that was the only one like that. That was long ago but I can understand how this must have hit you. I can’t express how deeply sorry I am. :grouphug2:
 
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