Cat a Kitten Die From De-Worming?

Someone please help me - right now I am sickened and feeling guilty and miserable....on Monday I found a tiny 9 oz feral kitten I fell in love with and wanted to keep. However, I work during the day so I thought I would take it a vet to get thoroughly checked out and tested and de-wormed (it had a huge appetite but was all skin and bones so I knew it had worms)and boarded till it was a little stronger. Well, not 12 hours after I took it in the vet called me and told me it had died from the de-worming! I feel like this was my fault, should I have waited till it was a little stronger before subjecting it to all those tests and procedures...the vet told me it was 3-4 weeks old probably...could they have given it too much medication? Does this happen often?!

Kittens at that age are pretty delicate, and without their mother, have a very high mortality rate.

I would have waited until it was stabilized, but if the vet thought it was OK, there's not much more you can do. Don't beat yourself up over it...although, if you're like me, you probably will, anyway.

Mother cats tend to abandon babies that have things wrong with them so it is entirely possible that the kitten had problems that killed it(especially ifit was alone and didn't have siblings with it) and not the deworming. Kitten that small are very fragile and have a high mortality even with the mother if it was feral. Without mom there was next to no chance of it living, especially if you didn't know how long it had been without mom.

The vet thought it was ok, and I tend to go with what my vet says. Don't beat yourself up over it, a kitten that young without mom doen't have much of a chance.

Taryn

Thank you Taryn & meblanche for your responses. I still feel horrible - I found this adorable little kitten almost exactly a year to the day that I lost a much loved cat, and for some reason I felt it was almost "sent" to me, so getting that call from the vet was a shock. Many people have told me what you said - but I can't help feeling that I should have nurtured and brought her along a little before sending her off to the vet. I have been reading a lot of posts and it seems like I am not alone, why, when we lose a pet, is the overwhelming feeling - guilt? But thank you, I appreciate it. I am giving myself a little time but I am definitely going to adopt a kitten that needs a home.

Ma’am, this same thing happened to me not a month ago. I had adopted a tiny kitten about 7 oz 3 weeks old. She had worms so I took her to the vet to get her dewormed. The vet told me out of no where while dosing her, “this dewormer is harmless to cats but tough on worms,” something I thought was quite weird to say especially when I wasn’t concerned about it (me & my husband hadn’t asked any questions concerning it being harmful to kittens) since I’ve already dewormed my previous kitten (she was 2 months old though). For a full 24 hours she was only passing bile & she was defacating every 15 minutes approx. she was eating a ton of food though which was concerning. I thought, it’s just the dewormer she’ll be back & going in a day. I woke up the next morning to my husband saying, “I think boots is dead.” I honestly didn’t believe him until I saw her. I did research & im POSITIVE that dewormer caused organ failure in my little kitten. I’m beyond pissed at the vet, I blamed myself until I learned I’m not the only fur mommy who this has happened to. It is NOT your fault.. I know I’m years late but I just needed to put this out there that kittens only a month old should not be dewormed, some vets don’t allow it! There’s a reason why, now that vet has stolen my money AND my kitten. So again .. don’t blame yourself, blame human greed

missrobbie said:

Thank you Taryn & meblanche for your responses. I still feel horrible - I found this adorable little kitten almost exactly a year to the day that I lost a much loved cat, and for some reason I felt it was almost "sent" to me, so getting that call from the vet was a shock. Many people have told me what you said - but I can't help feeling that I should have nurtured and brought her along a little before sending her off to the vet. I have been reading a lot of posts and it seems like I am not alone, why, when we lose a pet, is the overwhelming feeling - guilt? But thank you, I appreciate it. I am giving myself a little time but I am definitely going to adopt a kitten that needs a home.

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I had the same happen with my little Cleo, she died 4 days after being administered dewormers by the vet (she had worms in her stool). For 4 consecutive days I had about 2 hours sleep at most, trying to syringe feed her every two hours. By the fourth day, she was so sick she had basically no white blood cells left. She was in absolute agony, couldn't even make a sound while trying to meow. RIP little Cleo, I know I'm not supposed to have favourites, but you were and will always be mine.

Please don't beat yourself up over this. You tried, and that is much more than most would have done. Vets love animals and that is why they are vets. if he honestly thought that the wormer would kill that kitten he wouldn't have administered it. A kitten that young, abandoned, and alone, had many more problems than you were aware of. The chances are the precious little angel would have passed on no matter what was tried. I'm so happy he received some warmth and love before passing on, you will keep him in your heart and remember him, an honor to his short little life on earth.....RIP sweet angel. You will never be forgotten, you will always have a secure place in a loving heart. May the good Lord open his arms and receive you, keep you safe and warm for eternity......