First Post...Kitten with wobbly legs and head

Hi,
I just joined tonight, after searching everywhere for answers to my problem. I hope someone can help.
I have to give some background first.
We take care of some feral cats, only about 3 or 4 now. There was one that was pregnant. We called her Face. She had her babies and we knew where they were, but we left her alone with them. She had them on May 25.
Three weeks ago she died. I saw her in the morning for breakfast, 45 minutes later my husband found her dead. She had not been in a fight, or hit by anything. We know because there weren't any broken bones, blood, or hair missing. She just died.
SO, we went and got the kittens. There were 3 of them. Two boys and a girl. I called the vet and got a home made recipe replacement for mother's milk and instructions of when to give it to them.
Ok, I am almost to my problem. Sorry for the length of this.
One boy and the girl were of a normal 6 or 7 week age. They played and did all the normal kitten things. The kitten with the problems, who we have named Lentil, did none of those things.
Lentil took the milk like he was starved. I also gave them a little bit of water after the first week. Eventually he started doing some kitten things. But he was so small that we jokingly said he was not finished when the other two decided to be born.
I did the milk thing for 2 1/2 weeks then put them on Kitten Chow. Wow! They went for that like crazy. Even Lentil.
He is still like 1/4 the size of his brother. (we found a home for the girl).
On Sunday he started bobbing his head and falling down. But he still ate and drank water. Still no playing. He slept most of the day in my lap , it is his favorite place to be. Monday and Tuesday he was great. He walked normal, ate, and even played a little bit. He even got up on the back of the couch to be by the window. Today (Wednesday) he was the worst he has been. He couldn't hold up his head unless it was supported on both sides. He wobbled when he walked and fell down often. Sometimes he walked backwards. I went back to giving him the milk because I wondered if he wasn't eating enough. But, he also ate the kitten food and drank water if I was there to support him. And through all of this he purrs.
We named his brother Butter Bean. His coloring is of that type bean. Butter does all kitten things. Good and bad. He climbs, he chews, he purrs, etc.
Now for the question (s).,,,Am i doing the right thing by giving him the milk? What do you guess is wrong with him? I would take him to the vet, but he is so very tiny that he couldn't get any shots. Any suggestions on what I should do?
Also when I say milk through this I am referring to the milk substitute I made.
Thanks in advance. T

Could be a couple of things- with mom dead she might have died from distemper. Kittens infected with distemper in the womb will sometimes exhibit syptoms such as you describe. They are actually called CH Kitties. Or he could be either dehydrated or his sugar has dropped. Try giving him some of the clear Karo syrup-do you have a feeding syringe? Try that and give him about 1.5 cc of the syrup and see if that helps.

Here is a video of a kitten with CH- there are different degrees of this neurological disorder depending on how severe and how long they were infected.

Thank you for your reply.
I watched the video. My kitty is similar to the one on the video, except he does walk better. He can get to where he wants to go it just takes him a little bit longer than normal.
Is this CH contagious? Is it distemper? He is so small that I am sure the vet can't give a vaccination yet. We are going to weigh him today just to see how much smaller than his brother he is. I will post about that later.
I will try just some caro syrup like you suggested. I use an eye dropper and he licks the tip as I squeeze the bulb.

It is possible that he is actually younger than the others. That does happen and the babies are preemies. If he has CH, it's not contagious, but it's also not curable. However, CH kitties can live very meaningful and full lives if given a chance and lots of TLC and patience. It's a learning experience for both humans and the cat.

I would recommend a trip to the vet just to rule out any other type of problems and to get him checked for dehydration and sugar levels. Like you said, at this point in time, I wouldn't worry so much about the shots, but your vet will know if you talk with him/her and discuss your concerns.

For more info on CH, you can search the health forum for "CH" and you'll get some more threads with tons of info.

Oh thank you so much.
He is such an adorable little guy that I would hate to lose him.
He is better at walking today. He didn't fall down nearly as much and he could hold his head up. I gave him the milk stuff today and he ate and drank from the bowls. I also tried to give him some caro syrup but he didn't want any part of that.
We weighed him and his brother. Lentil weighs in at exactly 1 pound and Butter Bean is at 2 1/4 pounds. A huge difference we think.
But I feel so much more encouraged now.

This site might help you: http://chcats.blogspot.com/

http://vetmedicine.about.com/library...bellar-cat.htm

http://theanimalvoice.blogspot.com/2...ypoplasia.html

A lady I know from another site recently adopted a CH kitty and is hoping to foster CH kitties in the future.

I'm wondering about blood sugar, too. Does it seem to get worse when you stop bottle feeding him, and better when you do?

Originally Posted by stephanietx

It is possible that he is actually younger than the others. That does happen and the babies are preemies.

Click to expand...

A litter of kittens can be fathered by more than one tom, so I agree that he could be younger. Even if he's too small to get shots, he does need to be evaluated. So please take him to your vet.

He is doing so much better. Hecan even walk straight now. He gives his bigger brother a hard time. He chews on the tail of the other kitten. He runs and plays. About the only time he goes in a circle is when he first wakes up from a nap. He takes a few minutes to fully wake up, but he likes to get moving immediately, and that is when he will walk in circles.
He is the sweetest kitty I have ever known.
I have weighed him 3 times now. The first time he weighed 1 pound, second time 1 1/2 pounds, and just on Thursday he weighed 2 pounds. He really is thriving.
Thanks for all the help.

Great to hear he is doing well. Keep us posted!

And we LOVE to see pictures of kittens, you know!