Parasites infect whole litter?

My boyfriend is a nurse in a nursing home.  One of the other nurses said there were four kittens out by a tree in the back of the facility, and it was about to rain, so they were put in a box and brought in.  My boyfriend did not get off work for another six hours, and then he brought them home.  We inspected them, they were so tiny.  Estimates they were about a week old.  One was injured in his groin area.  His tail was crooked, and there was an opening in the skin, which was teeming with tiny rice-sized white maggots.  He smelled really bad.  We cleaned him off as best as possible, but he died shortly after.

The other three kittens all appeared to have red, inflamed genitalia.  They were passing feces and urine, and they were covered in it, so we cleaned them up, fed them kitten formula, and stimulated elimination after each feeding. Two kittens were particularly vocal.  The third one was listless, and we held and cuddled him until he passed away about six hours later.  The two vocal ones had more feedings, but were clearly unhappy.  We took them to our local Humane Society.  Their genitals were becoming more inflamed and bleeding, and their ears were bleeding.  It was beyond our scope of expertise.  The Humane Society cat guru came out to inspect them, and she said they were being "eaten from inside out."  She said that there were maggots in their genitalia, and they had ear infections.  She said they were beyond help, so we had them euthanized.  We were heartbroken.  We didn't know that a whole litter could be infected by one injured kitten.  We wanted to know if this was common, and does this happen often?  Or was this just an unhappy little family who had an unusual circumstance befall them?  Do mothers abandon kittens if they are sick?

Nay, that is not common.  I think its the first time I hear about exactly this parasite / problem...  May I ask, where you do live?  I mean, if you perhaps do have some local parasites...  Of course, there are many parasites who may get into kittens, weakening them.   And it will be often the whole litter affected.

But I dont remember exactly this sort.  (of course,  my memory isnt as good it was when I was a teenager, but still).

Common flies can leave  eggs in open wounds, who will develop soon into maggots.  Which isnt so horrible as it sounds, as they makes some protection against bacteria infections.    But these flies wouldnt probably not  lay eggs in the other kittens who werent wounded.

I hope someone else has more knowledge about these.

The only left for me to say at this moment, is to give you and your boyfriend a bid

THANK  YOU,

for your taking care and trying to help these our little brethrens.

I do really hope your next time will be more succesfull and happy.

  Good luck!

Ps.   Cat moms seldom do abandon the whole litter. 

They can abandon a weak kitten, usually be carrying it outside.  Or move the whole litter but not the weak dying one.

If they cant take it outside, she eates it.  This not to draw on hostile attention by the smell. 

But a whole litter?

These cases of abandoned litters, are either

1.  - mom is transporting the whole litter, one at a time.  So, while she is fetching one, the others must wait alone.

2.  They are transported, and they are in their new more or less provisorical "nest".  Often in some bushes, without any real protection against rain.

And she is hunting or in any other way trying to get herself some food.

This 1+2 means, as a wanna be rescuer, you must very observant  whom you rescue and why and when.    If you want to adopt them and foster them yourself, fine.

But if you think they are motherless, and or you want to send them to a rescuer who usually do rescue orphans - look out.  The probability is quite big, their mom IS somewhere around, and will appear soon.

So at least, wait some, and watch from a distance.    A mom wont abandon them because there is some human smell (this is a myth), but a highly shy mom wont come near, if you a stranger are near...

3.   Mom got killed or trapped....

4. They got dumped by their human owner...   This is quite common. 

If they didnt were in some protected position, like in some bushes, but out into the open just by a tree,  my guess is they got dumped.

Very sad story.  You did the best you could but it sounds as if you were just too late.  Obviously the mother cat had been gone for some time or they would not have been covered in feces and urine.  Perhaps a predator got her, and maybe had bitten the kitten you said was injured.  Perhaps she led the predator away from the kittens but it killed her.  It's hard enough to raise orphan kittens who are only one week old, but injured ones who had been without proper food and cleaning for some time, probably not possible no matter how hard you tried.  Thank you for trying.  Hopefully the babies are with their mama at the Rainbow Bridge now, and at least they knew love in their short lives, the love or their mama and your love too.