The 7 Newborn Of Entire Litter Dead

[jjwindmill]

3 days ago, My Ragdoll girl just had her first litter. It was such happy thing for all of us.
However, this morning, all kitten were found dead and cold.
We could not figure out any reason because all of them looks real healthy and nice.
Could any one share or tech us what to do to prevent it from happening again...

 

[She's a witch]

3 days ago, My Ragdoll girl just had her first litter. It was such happy thing for all of us.
However, this morning, all kitten were found dead and cold.
We could not figure out any reason because all of them looks real healthy and nice.
Could any one share or tech us what to do to prevent it from happening again...

I am so sorry this happened to you and your cat. If you are a registered breeder, do you have a mentor you could talk to to understand it and prevent it in the future? If you’re not a breeder, spaying her would be the best option.

 

[maggie101]

Oh, I'm so sorry this happened! Sometimes there are unknown causes that are unpreventative. What does your vet think? Is your rag doll ok? Some cats take it hard when something happens to their babies

 

[lutece]

I'm so sorry that happened. I know how devastating it can be to lose a litter of kittens.

If you plan to continue breeding Ragdolls after this, it's a good idea to have both the mother and the dead kittens examined by a veterinarian. If the vet can't figure out what happened by simply examining the kittens and mother, you may also consider having a necropsy done on at least one of the kittens.

 

[StefanZ]

You can also consider to let mpmma be a foster momma?

Just be sure the fosterlings are healthy

 

[Faikey]

Take the kittens to a vet to find a cause of death. When I was trying to figure out why a mother abandoned her litter, I immediately brought the cats to the ER vet *and yes they were abandoned, meowing for 2 days constantly under a monsoon, with 2 dead kittens already under them as I pulled them out*. The vet who was amazing and didn't charge me a thing helped me with setting up a feeding program and provided me formula and warming blankets and also explained the likely death rate of the entire litter was extremely high. I brought back each one as they began to exhibit worsening symptoms and discovered congenital defects with the heart in 1 case and the lungs in the rest of the litter. Thankfully she put them down as I brought them in for free and only after deep analysis of the kittens to see why they were so sick. Again, she did this all for free. She even x-rayed them to confirm what she initially discovered.

They all died in a week, even the strongest one that was had the healthiest appetite, pooped and peed properly upon stimulation, and actually was keeping up with his weight standards, suddenly took a turn for the worse in just a few hours. Found out he had a heart defect and she was surprised he was alive for even as long as he was (she told me to weigh them and gave me indications of proper growth as they were newborns).

Maybe you have a nice vet in your area that can examine the kittens to see any signs of congenital defects. The ER vets in my area didn't charge me a dime for hours of their time and went out of there way to provide formula and everything they could to help me.

The kittens were ALL white which was also an odd thing as the male that impregnated the female was a black cat.

"An important part of investigating congenital defects is performing necropsies on affected cats or kittens that die or are euthanized. Too often, many affected kittens have died and were not submitted for necropsy by the time a problem becomes apparent. For informative necropsies, the entire body should be submitted to a qualified pathologist within 24 to 48 hours. The body should be refrigerated and not frozen if possible. If there is a long delay expected before the body can be examined, the veterinarian can take samples of all major organs (or collect entire organs) for fixation in formalin and freeze the rest of the body. It is also important to supply the pathologist with the complete medical history of any affected kittens."

The next litter the cat had was all black. And I adopted two of them. =) So not such a bad story.

 

[jjwindmill]

Oh, I'm so sorry this happened! Sometimes there are unknown causes that are unpreventative. What does your vet think? Is your rag doll ok? Some cats take it hard when something happens to their babies

 

[jjwindmill]

Yes, the mommy is OKay but sad.
I could not figure out why they are all seemed so healthy but not been fed by her milk. Do we need tach her how to feed her kitten? I thought it is mother nature to milk the newborn. I am very sad and puzzled.

 

[jjwindmill]

Yes, the mommy is OKay but sad.
I could not figure out why they are all seemed so healthy but not been fed by her milk. Do we need teach her how to feed her kitten? I thought it is mother nature to milk the newborn. I am very sad and puzzled.

 

[PaulinPilsen]

What a sad story! I would be so heartbroken, and poor mama cat. I read that Kittens cannot regulate their warmth as newborns. I thought “Could this be it? Were they in a warm location?” But then, I read that mama cat was not feeding her kittens. Was she physically able to to do this?

 

[di and bob]

New, inexperienced mamas often have trouble with taking care of their newborns. Your mama may not have had milk to feed them, or if she did, didn't stay long enough with them. Some are just overwhelmed and need a human to sit with them at first and give them comfort and encourage them what to do. The whole litter like stated above may have had a congenital condition, or they may have been a little premature, or she may not have warmed them enough. There are just too many things that it COULD be.
With the next litter, if you decide to have one, have feeding supplies ready for newborns, an acurate scale to weigh themm at birth and then twice daily for the first week or two to make sure they are gaining weight, the ONLY way to really know if they are thriving. That, and tehm being quiet and calm. Crying, moving newborns means something is wrong. Have a heated cat pad for mama and little ones, and watch her to see how she is intracting with her babies.
In my experiences with feral mothers, I have had them give birth and then never come back to the nest, ignoring them completely. I have even had one that ate her young. In the first case, she went on to be successful the second time, the second one I had spayed ASAP.
I'm so sorry you had to go through this, it is heartbreaking. Some mamas come back and become great mothers, but some can never be. One time may be a fluke, but twice is not a coincidence!

 

[lutece]

I could not figure out why they are all seemed so healthy but not been fed by her milk. Do we need tach her how to feed her kitten?

The babies were 3 days old and they were not nursing at all? Sometimes it is difficult to tell if they are getting milk from mom. Were the babies agitated and crying? Did you weigh the kittens to see if they were gaining or losing?

 

[StefanZ]

If all seven died the same night, probability is it was not only lack of proper nursing. There were probably other reasons too. If it was lack of care and nursing as sole cause, they would go away one by one...

Thereby not said a vigilant and active care by caretaker couldnt perhaps save some of them. It usually does, even with these whom would die in nature.

 

[lutece]

Yes, that's one reason it would be useful to have them examined by a vet.

 

[jjwindmill]

New, inexperienced mamas often have trouble with taking care of their newborns. Your mama may not have had milk to feed them, or if she did, didn't stay long enough with them. Some are just overwhelmed and need a human to sit with them at first and give them comfort and encourage them what to do. The whole litter like stated above may have had a congenital condition, or they may have been a little premature, or she may not have warmed them enough. There are just too many things that it COULD be.
With the next litter, if you decide to have one, have feeding supplies ready for newborns, an acurate scale to weigh themm at birth and then twice daily for the first week or two to make sure they are gaining weight, the ONLY way to really know if they are thriving. That, and tehm being quiet and calm. Crying, moving newborns means something is wrong. Have a heated cat pad for mama and little ones, and watch her to see how she is intracting with her babies.
In my experiences with feral mothers, I have had them give birth and then never come back to the nest, ignoring them completely. I have even had one that ate her young. In the first case, she went on to be successful the second time, the second one I had spayed ASAP.
I'm so sorry you had to go through this, it is heartbreaking. Some mamas come back and become great mothers, but some can never be. One time may be a fluke, but twice is not a coincidence!

 

[jjwindmill]

Thank you for the advice.
Will do next time and watching them 24/7.

 

[lutece]

Did you check for cleft palates? Babies with cleft palate cannot nurse properly.

 

[StefanZ]

Did you check for cleft palates? Babies with cleft palate cannot nurse properly.

True.

Such kittens can sometimes be saved by handfeeding with a dropper or syringe. This way they dont need suckle its enough they can swallow.

Surgery not immediately necessary.

 

[jjwindmill]

We have checked each kitten. They all perfectly fine in physical and feature. Noe of them has cleft palates. They seemed all not been fed milk from mommy cat.

 

[talkingpeanut]

How old is your female? Do you have a breeding mentor?