Newborn kitten with tilted head?

Hi,

I'm writing this for a friend who doesn't have Internet access at the moment.

Last night, one of her barn cats had a litter of 8 kittens, 1 of the kittens died shortly after birth and another was stillborn. Leaving 6 healthy kittens.

My friend noticed this morning when she went to check on the kittens that one of them is holding it's head slightly tilted and seems to be crawling in circles, but is otherwise normal and nurses along side the other 5.

The kitten does right itself when rolled over but tends to lay more to the side, rather than on it's stomach.

She called the vet this morning and they sort of gave her half-*** explainations of what could be wrong, wanted her to bring the kitten in ect, which my friend didn't feel comfortable taking the baby away from momma for so long as she lives 2 hours from town.

So I then called by vet and he said one of the possibilities was something called Idiopathic Vestibular Disease? or something else called Chronic head tilt? which may or may not clear up on it's own but is not life threatening. He also said that it could also be that the muscles in the neck have stiffened from the stress of being born an should relax in a day or two, other than that, he didn't know.

If a picture is required I will go down to her house in the next day or so and take some.

Thanks in advance.

I suppose some massage, very careful, of the neck and around, can help, if it is such a stress related condition.

and shouldnt hurt in the other cases either.   Is this barn cat a semi feral, and she can barely touch the babies, or is the mom friendly and allows the babies to be handled and touched, as long your friend dont overdo?

Good luck!

I'm planning on going up to my friends today to see the kittens and she wants help sexing them, plus I plan on picking one out to take home when they're older as a playmate for my kitty, Caspian, as he's been kinda lonely since his brother was rehomed (they were rescued and I'm "technically" only allowed to have 1 cat in my apartment  But what the landlord doesn't know, won't kill him LOL.

I will take my camera with me  with take a picture of the tortie kitten, my friend says that she *can* hold her head straight, but just doesn't and when she crawls, she flops over to one side.

Caspians Castl said:

I'm "technically" only allowed to have 1 cat in my apartment  But what the landlord doesn't know, won't kill him LOL.

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Try to find the second one similiar to the first.  So if [the janitor or landlord ]  catch a glimp of them both, you can always say it was the same he saw twice.

Great thinking StefanZ )!

My first thought about the head tilted baby is the fact that momma had 8....now 8 kittens is ALOT, it leaves no room what-so-ever, sooo....I tend to think that this baby was in a compromised position for a bit and will straighten out as she grows, in the next couple of weeks.

I'd bet she will see some improvements soon.

The last litter of 8 I had here (I'm a rescuer) momma was huge, I mean so big and solid, day after day I kept thinking, if she doesn't have these kids soon she is going to just pop! Her tummy felt like one big solid melon.

Because of this, it's very easy for a kitten to be in a squashed sort of space

I went up my friends this evening, in fact, just got back, but like a big dummy I forgot to take my camera.

Anyway, I looked the kittens over and am happy to report that the little tortie kitten seems to be improving, she now can and does hold her head straight when laying still although she still rolls over onto her side when she tries to crawl.

Also, one of the kittens eyes are starting to open, they're only three days old, although my friend said that with the mommas last litter, all 5 kittens eyes were fully open by the time they were 5 days old, I didn't know that was so common, I've always read between 7-10 days.

Anyway, @StefanZ, my kitty is Orange and white and 5 of the kittens are orange(4 males and a female), so I'm hoping that they'll be similar enough to pass as one another, of course my landlord hardly ever comes around, but he does drive by every couple weeks, planning on buying  an actual house soon, just as soon as I have enough for the down payment.

Great update, sounds like it was likely from the cramped space

Their eyes will vary, I believe the 7-10 days is about average, but funny, the momma I had with her 8 babies, well hers also opened their eyes very young, I was quite suprised...one of the smallest ones actually had both eyes open wide by 5 days, so adorable.

Caspians Castl said:

 
Also, one of the kittens eyes are starting to open, they're only three days old, although my friend said that with the mommas last litter, all 5 kittens eyes were fully open by the time they were 5 days old, I didn't know that was so common, I've always read between 7-10 days.

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It not that common, it must have been this mommas genetic twist.

So "twice in a row running" was not a proof it is common, it is proof it was probably this particular momma.

Im happy for the news, both this kitten seems improving (DO they massage it?)

And these kittens are somewhat alike your resident....  

Them kittens opening their eyes is a pure bonus.  

I finally managed to get back up to my friends house last night and remembered to take my camera this time!

The kittens are 13 days old today and developmentally, everyone is right on track, everyones eyes are open, and they're starting to learn how to walk, aww. surprisingly, even the little tortie is on par with her brothers and sister, her eyes are open and she's starting to crawl around, but she's not "walking" like the others. I took a few pics as the kittens and their mother have been moved into my friends laundry room since it's been so cold here lately.

the tortie kitten, from what I know about kitten development from when my kitty was a baby, she's right on track, to a point. whenever you pick her up, her hind legs splay to the sides, the rest don't do that, but her reactions to everything else is right along side everyone else, she responds to being picked up by squawking her little head off, she responds to being scruffed by curling up, she is the smallest when it comes to weight, but she's not skinny and nursed the entire time last night when their mother was nursing them.

But her head still tilts to the side, though she *can* hold her head straight and she has a very slow righting reflex, when I flipped her onto her back, it took her a few seconds to right herself, where as the rest rolled over right away.


Her head when it's tilted to the side, she just layed there, didn't even try to crawl around.


Holding her head straight.


One of her brothers, curious, trying to crawl around, for comparison.

Aww! They are so darn precious!
I really believe it is due to her being cramped in utero, and as her strength and muscles develop she will be just fine. She's a tiny little doll

I just got back from my friends a little bit ago and am proud to announce that the little tortie kitten is just as active and lively as her sister and brothers.

They've also been moved back into the barn.

The kittens are 3 weeks old and are little spazzes at this point, my friend has been working on handling them a bit, but because they are barn cats, she doesn't like to handle the kittens a lot as the ones she doesn't keep usually go to other farms where the farmers don't mess with their cats much.

The kittens are out and toddling around already and my friend said that  their mother seems in a hurry to teach them in the ways of being expert mousers, she's been bringing mice back for them to play with already, even though they still ignore them.


And this is the one I might be bringing hope this summer, it's a little girl and her name (that I gave her yesterday) is Maggie

she's the only one who doesn't completely spazz out when you pick her up, the rest take a minute or two before they fully calm down, but this little girl will toddle right up to anyone she sees.

Just what I thought, her neck muscles have had time now to straighten out, likely crammed in utero

GREAT news!!

That baby tortie is so stinkin cute I can hardly stand it, I wanna hold her and kiss her little face!

I love the name Maggie, is this the orange kitten?

Yup, the orange kitten is Maggie, I can't wait to bring her home, though! I'm gonna wait until they're about 12 weeks old though, because I don't believe in taking tiny kittens from their momma, I get so sad when I see 5 and 6 week old kittens for sale in the paper =(

Caspians Castl said:

 
Yup, the orange kitten is Maggie, I can't wait to bring her home, though! I'm gonna wait until they're about 12 weeks old though, because I don't believe in taking tiny kittens from their momma, I get so sad when I see 5 and 6 week old kittens for sale in the paper =(

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Yes, 5-6 weeks is so young, but you don't need to wait until 12 weeks either, when they are able to continue to nurse on mom, they are hurting her with their teeth and pretty much do it out of comfort and security at that point.

Mom wears out too, and after 8-9 weeks they are fine to stop nursing.

Maggie is a doll!

Awwww .. I want one! .. I think (my) Maggie would permanently disown me though. Its been almost two years since we took Thomas in, and she just got around to forgiving me for allowing HIM to stay with us!

@Caspians Castl: Have fun with your new bundle of joy when you get her .. What a cutie!

How is the kitten now?  I have a rescue foster who is about 4 weeks old and he exhibits the exact same behavior you described.  The shelter I am fostering him has me anxious that they will try to put him to sleep when we want to adopt him regardless of what it is and give a good life, however long that is. 

crazy cat chick said:

How is the kitten now? I have a rescue foster who is about 4 weeks old and he exhibits the exact same behavior you described. The shelter I am fostering him has me anxious that they will try to put him to sleep when we want to adopt him regardless of what it is and give a good life, however long that is.

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This appears to be a very old thread but we had a stray kitten (very young mom) have 6 kittens. One died (I guess because it is gone now!) and one has the same head tilt and balance issues. They are 3 weeks old now. No improvement so far. I noticed this in two kittens right after birth but the other either corrected or is the one that is no longer there. I am wondering if it’s correctable or needs to be seen by a vet. Hate to separate the kitten from its mom for that long at this young age.

It could be a case of Cerebellar Hypoplasia, which is not life threatening, and these cats can live full lives. Or, it may be the kitten needs more time to develop.

Read about it here:

When & How Can You Tell If A Kitten Has Cerebellar Hypoplasia?