Head Shaking - no mites?

I'm waiting to hear from my vet about this but figure you guys could give me some insight. This kitten has now started shaking his head a lot. His ears are clean and a healthy pink color and there's no mites, drainage, smel,l nothing that would indicate an infection of any kind. The only history I have on him is:

He was found on the side of the road when the outside real feel temp was around 100 degrees. He was taken in by a couple who work full time and have small children. The children were somewhat abusive (the guy said his little toddler had the kitten by his neck swinging him around) so I am fostering this guy until he's weaned. He's developing very slowly (his age guess is now somewhere from 4 to 5 weeks) his eyes are bigger then his head, in fact that's his hugest feature, he's gaining weight but his legs are still like toothpicks. He's growing very slowly, he gives me isues with feeding and is doing everything he can to not wean, he really hates having a bowel movement and now he's shaking his head. It's not a constant basis but he does do it. I don't know if he suffered any type of truama before he came to me (cept the toddler instance) or even why he was on the side of the road.

Any ideas as to what could be going on?

Thanks a ton!
Chrissy

I'm no kitten expert, but maybe there is trauma that you can't see... I can only relate this to what I know about human babies, but any sort of jolting motion could probably damage their brain, especially when they are young... I don't know that much, so someone more knowledgable will come along, but I think you did the right thing by contacting your vet. Good Luck.

i really dont have any advice apart from i kinda know what your going through. different things though, we have a litter of 4 kittens here all very healthy eating , using the litter box etc. but one of the little boys head sort of sways side to side and can be very off ballance, the vets have checked his hearing and eye site all seem to be fine, so we have to go back soon for more tests.
i just wanted to say that i hope everything is ok with him , and bless you for taking such great care of him.

Thank you both very much for responding. I worry about im more then I worried about my boys for the simple fact I cared for them from day 1 and he came to me older then they were.

I was wondering that too, about babies. I know head trauma can cause all sorts of issues and thought that he had something happen early in life. I haven't heard from my vet, yet. He's away at a conference and checks in with his staff. When he checks in, they'll talk to him and call me back.

I am considering offering to keep him if the people don't want the responsibility of a possible special needs kitten. We're used to taking care of special needs so he'd be treated with love, kindness and whatever vetting he needs for as long as he lives. Would that be okay? Offering to take him on?

Chrissy

IMO, if the vet checks him out and tells you that he is special needs, I would pose the offer gently in the midst of explaining what the problem is. It seems to me that a young kitten and a one-year-old may not be a great combination. I know a lot of places won't even adopt a kitten to a child that young. The person who I adopted from suggested that we start out with an older kitten (I think she was about 4 -6 months when we got her) because I had two kids even though they were 4 and 7. So you might even want to offer caring for the kitten until the child can properly interact with him, that is if there ends up being nothing wrong with him.

Thank you.

I haven't heard back from the vets but do have to take a few kittens in to be seen. When I make their appointment I'll see about taking him too. I talked all this over with my hubby as he's not very keen on another cat in the house that may have problems. We're going to hold off saying anything to the people until after the vet checks him out. If nothing is found to be wrong, I will aproach the owners with a suggestion of letting us foster him until he's a few months old and able to withstand toddler play better.