1 day old kitten has cut on her face :-(

Hi All,

I posted this in Cat Health but I wanted to post it here as well to see if anyone had any advice for me. Well I'm new to this site. My cat Mindy had 4 kittens yesterday. I don't know if they were her first litter or not because she came to us as a stray. Well today I fed Mindy and I picked up the kittens, she doesn't mind me picking them up and my friend took one, which Mindy didn't seem to like so she took the baby from my friend and ran off down the hall with her to put her back into her bed. I went down to check on them and I noticed that the baby had a cut on the side of her mouth where Mindy had obviously caught her. It seems like a big cut because she's so small, but it's not profusely bleeding or anything, in fact there was very little blood came out of it. The kitten seems to be fine now and is suckling away on Mindy and isn't crying or anything. Is there anything that I can do only to keep an eye on the baby. She's too little to be separated from Mindy. My husband says once it's not bleeding it should be fine that it will heal.

Has anyone got any advice for me I'm so upset about it.

Monitor the cut and dab the bleeding with a tissue or qtip. If it continue to bleed during the day or in the evening call a vet to see if the kittens needs any treatment.

Well there is no bleeding, just the cut, I'm hoping it will close up. The kitten doesn't seem to be in distress, and she's not crying and she's feeding away and the mother is licking her, so I'm hoping it will be ok, I'm keeping an eye on her though. Thanks for the replies

It's also possible one of the other kittens scratched her fighting over a nipple. Those tiny little kitten claws are super sharp! As long as she doesn't appear to be in distress and the cut looks clean, I would just keep an eye on her for now. Can you get a picture of it?

If you live near a vet who makes house calls and it bleeds again, I would call her or him. But the main thing is to ensure it does get infected - especially with her being a baby! But I agree with the others. Probably being playful with her littermates - doubt mama would scratch her - mama cats are the BEST mamas I think I know. Of course, accidents do happen and mamas have been known to step or sleep on a kitten so who knows. She is far too little to be removed and even some of the meds used by vets are too strong for her just yet and she has not had her vaccinations yet so you do not want her to be seen by too many people! Or to go anywhere new where there are germs tho her mama's milk will help for now.

I would add that in young kittens, the blood vessels are not yet fully developed so the bleeding should not amount to too much! If it does, I would call a vet and explain the situation.

Good luck!

Hi all again,

I'm just checking on her every hour or so. The cut isn't bleeding but it just looks big cos she's so tiny when in fact it would only be like a paper cut. My husband thinks it will close up itself. I was going to clean it with some cotton wool and warm water, but Mammy had already licked it I'd say so I just left it alone. She doesn't seem to be in distress or anything and is feeding away grand, I'm just watching her.

No it was definately her mammy that did it, but she didn't mean it, she was just trying to get her baby back to her bed as quickly as possible so she caught her in her mouth kind of awkwardly and then caught her again and ran off with her, the baby was crying while she was running so I knew she was hurting her, and I followed her down straight away, and I noticed just a little blood on one of the towels, not drops just like as if she had rubbed against it, so the bleeding wasn't even that bad, I just got such a fright.

I just checked her again there and it doesn't seem as bad as earlier so maybe it will be ok now.

Thanks for all your advice I'm just worried, I've never had a cat before let alone have kittens as well

Yes, I know how stressful having kittens can be...
As long as it acts fine and the cut doesn't swell or bleed I wouldn't worry too much...
Just keep and eye on it once a day or so...if you feel overly anxious, you can call your vet and ask him what he would do
Congrats on your kittens!

Well the kittens are nearly a week old now and they are doing well. The little one with the cut on her face seems to be doing ok, it's not swollen or bleeding and the mother licks it a lot so I think she's on the mend


Thanks for all the advice.