Kittens Keep Dying

[_Purrball_]

Since last year, every kitten we've had died (except for the last batch that were born just last week, and our latest rescued kitten). Some of these kittens were rescued/adopted, some were babies of our adult cats. Almost all of them looked perfectly healthy so we couldn't figure out what the problems were. Some of the kittens died just a few days after being born, some lasted for weeks and one kitten reached 2 months of age.

The first batch was when one of our adult cats gave birth to a litter of three kittens. two of them died just after a few days. The other one reached the 4th week then suddenly became lethargic.

Then, after a month another adult cat of ours gave birth to 4 kittens. They're all seemed very healthy and their mom was so caring for them. When they were about 1 week of age, we found another kitten in a ditch. He was so wet and crying because it was raining heavily that night. We adopted him. He's around the same age as the other 4 kittens. The mom took care of him and treated him as her own. They all reached weaning stage, still looking healthy, active and playful. Then, same thing happened as before, they all died one by one, day after day, until only one was left. During the 10th week of the last kitten, we thought we could relax a bit. But then, same thing happened. Nothing looked wrong with him as he was so playful and ate a lot.

We felt like we didn't want to have any kittens in the house anymore. We love cats and kittens, that's why it's really hard for us to deal with the depression everytime a kitten dies. We currently have 10 adult cats (1+yo), one 5-6 months old kitten, and the litter of kittens that were born just a week ago (5 of them).

We've just recently started studying about the proper way of raising and caring for cats and kittens, and learned that having too many cats in one household also comes with risks. However, we're already in this situation. We also can't just leave cats and kittens that we think are in dangerous situations (Eg: side of the road, garbage can, ditch etc) so we have no choice but to adopt them.

It's really frustrating and depressing. We wanted to save them but ended up like this. I really hope you guys could help us sort this problem out. We're already planning to go to a vet (vaccines perhaps?), but we want to get some opinions from more experienced cat lovers first. Yes, we're quite hesistant as we've read and heard some really bad stories from other pet owners. The vets allegedly gave the wrong meds and/or dosage that put their pets in worse conditions. We just don't want unnecessary risks for our beloved felines.

Hold you could help us. Thank you.

 

[_Purrball_]

I forgot to mention, the last kitten to pass away was around 4 months old. He just appeared at our doorstep and we adopted him. He was around 10 weeks old at that time. During his time with us, we noticed he's not growing and gaining weight despite the fact that he was eating a lot. His left eye always had boogers. His tummy also became bloated. We had him dewormed, but after that, he became even more skinny and still remained bloated. He was still very playful though.

We were shocked and depressed when he left us last Oct 12.

 

[talkingpeanut]

I think that understanding the health of your cats is the first and most important step. They all need to be vaccinated, and any new rescues should be fully separated for 2 weeks before any introductions are made. You don’t want to spread any disease they might be carrying.

Also, your cats would be much healthier and happier if they were spayed and neutered.

Beyond that, what do they eat? Are they all getting enough? How many litter boxes do you have?

Do you need help finding a low cost spay/neuter clinic in your area? This is really quite urgent.

 

[StefanZ]

So they were dying, no apparent disease signs?

Did some just die off, without any signs? Or there were always signs, they not prospering any longer, and slowly going downhill?

ONE idea could be it is some sort of inbreeding depression, but kittens from outside dies too...

The oldest kitten, did he got milk from any of yours mom cats?
Sometimes the mom cats milk is bad - typically visible the biggest kittens whom ates most, dies first...

 

[Willowy]

Sudden kitten deaths can be caused by Feline Leukemia :/. Have at least a few of the cats tested to see if it's being passed around your household. It is a fatal disease but the adult cats can live a few years with it, so as long as they're spayed/neutered you don't have to put them down. I agree that spay/neuter and vaccination are the big priorities in this case. It will be much easier to take good care of all the cats if you don't end up with more than a dozen new ones every year

 

[StefanZ]

Another idea it may be be FIP - not that I know much about fip, say the dry fip isnt that apparent as wet fip.

This will too take mostly kittens, as adults have a better immune system.

 

[war&wisdom]

Vaccines are generally quite safe. The horror stories you hear are exceptions rather than the rule. It's always better to vaccinate than to risk a preventable disease.

 

[BlueJay]

I was worried about all the vaccines and surgeries and everything too, but when I researched all the pro/cons/risks I decided it was for the best. I felt better knowing what signs to look for to make sure she was recovering properly and I always called the vet if I thought something was off. The vets I called were great, always responding promptly and never seemed to mind, even if my kitten was actually fine.

Best of luck figuring out your kitty troubles, that must be tough to go through!

Don't be afraid to call/visit different vets for a second opinion or if one doesn't seem to be helping. Some are better than others.

 

[BlueJay]

Also, my kitten is 6 months old now, and she never had any bad reactions to vaccines and has fully recovered from her spay, as well as one illness that she needed antibiotics for. I know people post about problems with these on sites like this, but there are so many cat/kittens that go through these things with no issues, there just aren't as many posts about them!

 

[_Purrball_]

I think that understanding the health of your cats is the first and most important step. They all need to be vaccinated, and any new rescues should be fully separated for 2 weeks before any introductions are made. You don’t want to spread any disease they might be carrying.

Also, your cats would be much healthier and happier if they were spayed and neutered.

Beyond that, what do they eat? Are they all getting enough? How many litter boxes do you have?

Do you need help finding a low cost spay/neuter clinic in your area? This is really quite urgent.

Most of them didn't show any signs. They all looked healthy. Except for the two kittens. The first one was the kitten who reached the 4th week. His belly became bloated. At first, we thought he just had too much milk from mama cat. A few more days, we noticed he became lethargic. His belly became even more bloated. That's when we realized there's something wrong. He became skinny that you could already feel his ribs. We took him to a vet. She suspected that the mama cat ran out of milk and all the kitten could suck was air, hence he got bloated and skinny. She was right, mama cat had no more milk when we checked her. The vet also advised us that the kitten needs to be dewormed but he needed to recover his strength first. She told us we could give her "Nido powdered milk" temporarily while we're looking for KMR. Unfortunately, the kitten refused to take the milk and passed away the same night we took him to the vet.

The second kitten, he's the one I'm talking about in my second post.

About their food, we give them Whiskas or Friskies (dry) and cooked fish with some rice. They don't have litterboxes. We have a front yard with plants and that's where they poop.

Yes, we really need help in finding low cost spay/neuter clinic. Low cost but reputable clinic, that is. It's not that we're being stingy, but we earn very little from our work (around $240/month) and our expenses sometimes even exceeds that. I sometimes even have to give up the budget for my food to buy them their Whiskas. It's really frustrating when you want to give them everything they need (and want) but you can't.

We're planning to have the kittens vaccinated first as they need it more. Is that ok or do they need to get vaccinated all at once?

 

[_Purrball_]

Yes, I was also thinking about FIP and feline leukemia. However, I've read that vaccines against FIP are not recommended and also not that effective

 

[talkingpeanut]

Where are you located? Nearest city and state. We can help to look.

 

[_Purrball_]

Where are you located? Nearest city and state. We can help to look.

We're from Manila, Philippines. Well, since I'm from a different country maybe you won't be able to refer me to a specific organization/veterinary, but giving some pointers would help a lot too. The reason why we are hesitating taking them to vets is because we don't have much experience about this kinds of stuff.

As I said in my previous post, We've heard some really bad experiences from other pet owners. Just to give an example, the owner took his dog to a vet. He said his dog was still strong but the vet insisted that it needs to be given this i-forgot-the-name medicine. He was asked to go home and will be updates via text message. In the afternoon, he received a message saying his dog was already dead. The owner consulted another vet and allegedly, the first vet did really give the wrong medicine.

It's not that I doubt how necessary vaccines are, I was just afraid of encountering an incompetent vet. Without having enough knowledge, I might blindly accept whatever the vet would tell us even if it would do more harm than good. I will surely blame myself even more if something bad happens to the cats and kittens.

 

[qissycat]

OP, I'm from Malaysia and I totally understand where you're coming from regarding irresponsible and downright fraudulent vets. This is usually the case with private practice vets, where they would do all sorts of unspeakable and cruel things to get more money from you, to the extent of your pets dying.

It took a bit of research to find a vet that actually cares about my pets. So maybe you can talk to friends and family for references to reputable vets? Or you can get in touch with your local animal shelter for a vet that they work closely with. Such vets would probably be cheaper as well.

Regarding low cost spaying/neutering, I went with the cat shelter route too. I found this page here: PAWS Veterinary Services
Maybe it's something you can explore? These vets are very experienced in fixing strays and young cats so I had utmost confidence in the vet I went to.

Thank you for taking these cats in need in and I hope you find a solution to your problem, I truly believe fixing your cats will give them a better quality of life.

 

[_Purrball_]

Update:

We brought two kittens to a vet last Saturday. Actually we were supposed to bring only one, the 5-6-month old kitten. But before we got to the vet, we found a 6-week old kitten and rescued him. We brought him to the vet together with the first kitten. We told the vet about the situation and asked about vaccination. She told us they needed to be dewormed first and the vaccination will be done a week after. She commented that "both kittens are healthy". She injected them some multivitamins and also gave us dextrose powder for them.

We were advised that it would be better if we could do a mass vaccination. Unfortunately, due to the lack of funds we would not be able to do that. The best we can do is to have them vaccinated one by one

Another thing, yesterday morning we noticed that the bigger kitten was having a hard time using his leg where the multivitamins was injected. We got really worried when I looked it up on the web and found out it might be caused by damaged sciatic nerve. However, by evening it's already back to normal. He could use it like nothing happened. What do you think?

 

[talkingpeanut]

Muscles can be sore after vaccines; it’s normal.

I’m glad you found a vet that you trust and you are getting them help. Is this vet able to work with you on a payment schedule for spaying and neutering too?

 

[_Purrball_]

It's just some multivitamins, the vaccines will be given next week. Do multivitamins also cause soreness like vaccines, or it's the needle that causes it?

Yes, I saw it on facebook. The clinic has very good reviews. Another factor that helped me decide was when I saw from their page the number of cats being brought to them. I don't know how to explain it but, it's not easy for me to get confident when I think the vet treats dogs most of the time and rarely handles cats.

 

[_Purrball_]

We haven't talked much about spaying/neutering though. We'll ask her about it on our next visit.

 

[talkingpeanut]

Yes, any injection into a muscle can cause soreness. Focus on spaying the girls first, and keep us posted!