back yet again with an issue.. kitten akwardness...

so since this particular kitten is now 2 weeks old, im able to realize theres a lot diffent with him. his body is awkward-really hard to explain but i'll try anyways. while the others are walkingish. he does this crawl like thing and his legs are a big odd looking (not deformed but... just not like a kitten should) its like his back legs stretch out far back and as apart as they can get and kinda looks like a frog when in mid swim. and his front paws look like a cat stuck to something and hanging down. he pulls himself with his front paws as his back pushes him. he kinda looks more like a lizard with his back end swing he gets when going. he doesnt sit up like the others have already mastered.
he also shakes and hes not cold. he only doesnt shake when hes not using any muscles.
hes also got a diffrent feel to him. like the way his chest feels (more bulky than the others) and hes not heavier than the others but he tends to put all his weight on his upper chest so he has more dead weight on me when i pick him up.
he seemed a bit diffrent mentally from the others too. and his face structure looks weird for a kitten. like his head is broader-ish and his eyes are in the right spot, but his nose and mouth look a bit lower(downward long) than the normal kittens(or any ive seen). he doesnt have the moveability (like he will fall and tumble and roll back on his back and he doesnt ever have that gracefulness that cats or his sibilings have. he also has a diffent meow. he never hisses. but his meows can be scratchy and squeaky or most of the time you just hear a lost voice kinda sound. he also chews on his front paws and arms a lot.
he also had his eyes open from the start(i thought it might of happened during one of the early times that she licked him but i dont know for sure-it was the only thing i could come up with)

he used to have breathing problems when stressed out but that has gotten much better. and his pink eye issue is almost completely gone. other than that he seems pretty healthy and extremely sweet and a little playful the past few days.

theres another in the litter who have this shakey head thing but only when finding a nipple. and that just started the past week.

has anyone seen this in a kitten before? does anyone know what it could be or whats likely to be wrong with him?

Any diagnosis would have to be handled by a vet. You should get him to one as soon as possible.  This is not a canned answer.  It sounds as if there might be a problem that could be caught early.

I totally agree with the previous post, that you should bring them in to be seen by a vet...

One of my previous foster kittens had issues just like you described, and she ended up being diagnosed with cerebellar hypoplasia. I didn't really notice that she was any different until she was about two or three weeks old either. Hers was a very mild case of it.

Here is a video of my little buddy Gemma. You can kind of see how she falls over a lot and is shaky..



Cerebellar hypoplasia is a neurologic disorder and is from the mom cat having distemper during her pregnancy. I would definitely get all of the kittens in to the vet.

!!! that video! thats what mine does! especially that flop like back thing with the paws up uncoordinated like (conpared to usual kitties).
thanks so much!
earlier i tried to gently get him to walk like the others, and got a shakey paw foward then floped over with his back legs up in the air and him grabbing and swimming (and hip swinging)the air with his front and back paws.

as for a vet, .... i think im in a weird place for vets because most arent taking on any new clients and the one i had for the momma i took in, wasnt good (and possibly the cause of whats going on with the kittens now as he vaccinated her, dewormed her, xrayed her chest, de flead her and tested her for a uti(needle in the stomach) while saying she wasnt preggo and was just fat and that cats dont get preggo in the winter time. and their office wont return my phone calls to get an appointment, and the other one i checked into wants over $600 for just the office visit (its an animal er only place)
so i am really stuck in the vet issue right now. but got leads on another place(too far and i havent found a ride to even check and see if they would take a new client).
thanks again!

Wow, that vet sounds awful. Thank God you care enough not to go there again. I hope you can find a better vet who is closer to you.

yah, im hoping so too!
is there any tests for CH or is it just a vet looksee to confirm?
how likely is it that more than one in a litter have CH?
two which were the first and second born seem to have the same issues.
the momma was sick for the whole first month i took her in (which had to be the same week she got preggo). no colon sickness but she had some kind of upper respitory thing that was turning her blue and fainting along with the hairball cough that isnt a hairball and rapid short breathing(thats all better now). she was tested for fiv and luekemia and the vet said she didnt have them.
she was also on pain meds after the uti test due to blood and obvious pain afterward and she was stuck in pee mode.

i also watched videos of normal 2 week old kittens movements and that sums it up for the others. but the two (the first born isnt as severe as the second but the first one started showing problems last night and continues even now.
also both of these kitties have long razor sharp claws that get stuck in everything (even in their mom). is it okay to clip their nails at this age or should i just leave them alone?

my phone is full right now but im going to try and get a video of the one i started this topic on.
it looks like sometimes hes just quickly grabbed and pushed down on his back or side (anytime he tries to actually walk over someone or above the others to get to the nipple).

Saphris25 said:

yah, im hoping so too!
is there any tests for CH or is it just a vet looksee to confirm?
how likely is it that more than one in a litter have CH?
two which were the first and second born seem to have the same issues.
the momma was sick for the whole first month i took her in (which had to be the same week she got preggo). no colon sickness but she had some kind of upper respitory thing that was turning her blue and fainting along with the hairball cough that isnt a hairball and rapid short breathing(thats all better now). she was tested for fiv and luekemia and the vet said she didnt have them.
she was also on pain meds after the uti test due to blood and obvious pain afterward and she was stuck in pee mode.

i also watched videos of normal 2 week old kittens movements and that sums it up for the others. but the two (the first born isnt as severe as the second but the first one started showing problems last night and continues even now.
also both of these kitties have long razor sharp claws that get stuck in everything (even in their mom). is it okay to clip their nails at this age or should i just leave them alone?

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I'm pretty sure the vet just looks at them to make the diagnosis. I'm not sure what the likelihood of more than one kitten having it is. It wouldn't surprise me that more than one would have it though, if mama cat was exposed to distemper during her pregnancy than all of the kittens were as well.

My foster mama Cami (Gemma's mom), was sick throughout the whole time I had her, during her pregnancy and after she had the kittens. It wasn't until we realized that Gemma had CH, that we knew that Cami had distemper. Cami had three kittens.. Gemma and her two sisters, Gia and Clover. When the girls were about 2-3 weeks old Gemma and Clover became really ill. Not gaining weight, diarrhea and vomiting. Luckily I was able to save Gemma but Clover didn't survive. I don't think Clover had CH also, but she was so young that I might not have noticed it quite yet either. I didn't notice Gemma's "awkwardness" until after she became healthy again.

I think it's okay to clip their nails now. When they're so little it's usually easy to trim off just the little tip. I always just use regular people nail clippers on my kittens.

thanks so much for all the info and replies!! :-)

:-( *hugs*
im glad Gemma made it through okay tho.

between my shakeyness and the kitten its kinda hard to see the intensity in this video, but his ears still show some of it.
he also walked which i got on the video. hes doing less of the lizard worm slide thing he was doing to get around. now its more of what he does in the video.

I wouldn't be clipping his claws right now.  It sounds like he might have frog legs, and those generally sort themselves out when the kitten starts crawling, but whatever his problem(s) is/are, he needs to be able to grip when he tries to walk.  Avoid towelling for bedding as they will get really caught in that.

Your description sounds like a classic case of cerebellar hypoplasia. The description of mom being sick while pregnant fits, too.

There are a lot of videos of cats and kittens with the problem in varying intensity.

If the kitten does have CH, then that's not going to slow them down much. CH cats don't get worse with age, and make good pets (though should be indoor cats).

Clipping claws is safe in kittenhood and is good to start then when they are young. But orientalSlave does have a good point about the kitten using their claws to grip things. You could if you wanted just take the very tip off, just the sharp end; or you could handle his paws to get him used to your doing it, for when you start clipping them later. It just depends on how likely you think it is that the claws could get caught on something. I've clipped my cats' claws ever since Tiny got his caught and limped for a while after that. I think he sprained his toe or something, poor guy.

A few videos of CH cats:







And my favorite, Charley: