Question:

If you have a newborn kitten, about 2 weeks old, and you leave him in a box without his mother, and the room is not cold, but semi-cold, can that kitten die? In other words, does a kitten need to be warm constantly or can it survive under semi-cold temperatures?

Thanks.

It's my understanding that they are unable to regulate their own body temp until about 3 weeks of age. They don't have a shiver reflex...so they will quickly chill (and become hypothermic) if left alone without a source of warmth.

You must keep them warm I'm afraid. They may die from the cold - esp. if there's only one.

if it is alone and doesn't have anything to keep it warm I would say yes eventually if it gets too cold. depends on how long and if it is not being fed either then yes. why would a 2 week old kitten be left alone without its mother in a cold room?

no the kitten will die. Please if this your situation get a heating pad or make some rice socks. The kitten needs warmth. I say till about 4-5 weeks but there is others that say 4. Let us know how it goes.

the room my mum and kittens are in at the moment gets exremly cold at nights , but its the safest room in the house. so i went and brought a safe plug in heater for the bedroom. iv put it right out of the way from mum and kittens , and its worked wonders.
make sure there is a nice soft blanket , maybe a soft toy for him to cuddle into. and like some have suggested , a rice sock or a heat pad which should be set to the lowest setting.

There is safety heaters where if knocked over it turns off and also it is cool to the touch all the way around I have it for my bedroom and when it gets to 70 it turns off and back on when it drops below. I love it. I never thought about that Thanks Tasha... o I got mine at wal-mart for 10.00 because it was in March of last year they discount all that stuff.

ea i only payed £10.00 for mine . i got mine is pound stretchers. it does the same thing , if it falls it turns off , gets to a certin temp and cools down untill needed again . and isnt hot to the touch.

Well, we started off with 3 kittens and now there are 0. One kitten died first, almost immediately. Then the second one a day after. Now, the third one died. I asked if a kitten would survive under these conditions because the night she died (the night before last), she was placed in a box with covers and all. In the morning (yesterday), we found her dead. The mother WAS in the room (my bedroom) but when I woke up, the mother was not with the kitten. So, I assumed that the kitten must have stayed inside the box alone. The room was NOT cold. I specifically told my parents to turn off our air system which they did before I woke up. However, the room wasn't warm either. I was semi-cold, or at least room temperature.

Anyways, I'm not sure what killed the last kitten. See, the mother had the flu, and all kittens were sneezing and whinning quite a bit before their passing. However, this one was the lone survivor and I assumed was stronger, so I was shocked to find him dead. I then started thinking about the room, because when I found him the mom wasn't in there with him anymore.

I don't know what happened. I wish I would have had the common sense to put something warm in there. I've had kittens before in the past but never one single kitten. When you have more than one, they usually keep themselves warm...so I never had to deal with this situation and I didn't even think about the a semi-cold room being able to kill a kitten. I feel bad now.

Originally Posted by Jen

if it is alone and doesn't have anything to keep it warm I would say yes eventually if it gets too cold. depends on how long and if it is not being fed either then yes. why would a 2 week old kitten be left alone without its mother in a cold room?

Click to expand...

The kitten wasn't eating. I didn't put two and two together at the time, but he was whinning a lot and not eating, at least not that I saw. However, I didn't question this or fear for his life because his mother WAS in the room with him. I just assumed she'd take care of all his needs.

As for the room, as I've explained, it was a cold room. Our cooling system was OFF, but the room wasn't warm because we don't have a heating system and I didn't think to put a heater on. When I awoke, the room was semi-cold, or room temperature.

And as for the mother, she WAS inside the room, but not inside the actual box, at least not when I woke up to find the dead kitten. Also, the kitten wasn't cold when I found him. He was actually warm, so i assumed he had JUST died a few minutes prior to my waking...

RIP little ones and I'm sorry you had to go though this Helga06.

If the mom was/is having the flu then that could have been the reason for both the kittens dying and for mom to leave her kittens alone. Mom cats usually know somehow, if the kittens are not to survive.

Please don't feel so bad about it...It happens.

Wishing you lots of positive energy.

I am sorry that you lost all the kittens, how sad. I think given that they were all ill, mum included, there was little chance of kittens that young pulling through. Mum being ill, probably realised that she couldn't keep her own energy up and feed a sick kitten, she probably left it for that reason. It's just the way nature (and the instincts of animals) works, don't feel bad about it I think this just wasn't meant to be and there isn't anything more you could have done

Well I cried when I found the kitten dead, and then threw up because I started thinking about the room and feeling guilty about it. I did think that the flu could have killed the kitten at first but the semi-cold room didn't help.

Now I'm worried about my other cat who also has the flu and is pregnant. She hasn't given birth to her kittens yet, but when she does, I'll have to take them all to the vet.

Thanks for your support.

please take her to the vets now , i thought in your other post you was about to take them to the vets ?

if the mother snesed that the kittens were sick she could have killed them too. That is always a possibility too. But when you notice a newborn kitten not eating, you really need to get in there asap and bottle feed them. They cannot go more then 2 hours or so without eating. That is why you weight the kittens too to make sure they are gaining weight continuously and staying strong.

Definately spay the mother so she doesn't have to go through this ordeal again. She will appreciate it!

Hopefully all goes well with the other pregnant cat. I will have to reread thru your previous posts to remember how you came to having two pregnant cats at once, I can't imagine having to deal with that! Make sure the other prego kitty feeds her babies and have that bottle and formula ready, Start reading up on newborn kitten care. Confine the pregnant one now so she doesn't get sick from the other one. That will just compromise the health of her babies, she is already at risk of losing them if she is being exposed to illness. Learn what to do and have ready in case there are any problems with her. It is a LOT of work so good luck!

Please have mom spayed I think it would benefit her greatly. Please.


R.I.P little kittens...