Help! Kitten breathing heavy and not moving much

lordofthecats · Aug 24, 2014

I have a kitten that is almost 4 weeks old, he's the runt of the litter, and stopped drinking milk from the mom at 2 weeks, I've been bottle feeding him KMR since then. He's bony, but he drinks a lot. Last night he didn't wake me up at all for food, he usually does 2-3 times. I thought he was eating less because he has teeth now, but I checked when I woke up and he wasn't moving much. I fed him a lot of corn syrup, he doesn't have fleas or ear mites, and his gums are still pink. I called the vet and she said they don't have resources for things like this in kittens this young, and would most likely put him down. (I live in a rural town with a very small vet office) I can't take him to the vet anyway, as my mom will be out of state until next week, and I don't have a car. He's been like this since all night I assume, but I didn't wake up until 8am, around 3 hours ago he drank about 10ml of milk, clawing and biting the nipple like usual. My mom took me to the store before she left, and when I came back he was sleeping and breathing heavy. He still moves, he'll scoot up close to the other cats if they move away, and sometimes pokes his head up. When I pick him up, he can hold his head up. What can I do? Anything? Is he just tired?

lordofthecats · Aug 24, 2014

Forgot to add: He's been breathing out of his mouth some, but not gasping for air. I can see little snot bubbles when he breathes out of his nose.

lordofthecats · Aug 24, 2014

Noticed his head fell off the other cat, picked him up and he was completely limp, I started rubbing him a lot, he let off a little purr and stiffed back up.

stephenq · Aug 24, 2014

LordOfTheCats said:
Forgot to add: He's been breathing out of his mouth some, but not gasping for air. I can see little snot bubbles when he breathes out of his nose.

He may be developing an upper respiratory illness. I can't believe your vet won't treat a 4 week old kitten. Is he sneezing? How are his eyes? It sounds like he's congested. You can bring him into the shower and give him steam baths to help loosen phlegm. And at 4 weeks he should be starting on solid wet food from a can, something mild mixed with water to make it like a soup.

lordofthecats · Aug 24, 2014

StephenQ said:
He may be developing an upper respiratory illness. I can't believe your vet won't treat a 4 week old kitten. Is he sneezing? How are his eyes? It sounds like he's congested. You can bring him into the shower and give him steam baths to help loosen phlegm. And at 4 weeks he should be starting on solid wet food from a can, something mild mixed with water to make it like a soup.

He isn't sneezing, his eyes are fine. I have had other cats become congested, but his doesn't seem that way. It's like a runny nose, not thick or anything, looks like water. He isn't breathing out of his mouth anymore now. I can see him breathing real heavy mainly right under his neck, not sure if that's normal for heavy breathing. The momma cat still cleans him and stuff, he just won't feed off her, she cleaned him and made him pee about 3 hours ago.

micknsnicks2mom · Aug 24, 2014

LordOfTheCats said:
I have a kitten that is almost 4 weeks old, he's the runt of the litter, and stopped drinking milk from the mom at 2 weeks, I've been bottle feeding him KMR since then. He's bony, but he drinks a lot. Last night he didn't wake me up at all for food, he usually does 2-3 times. I thought he was eating less because he has teeth now, but I checked when I woke up and he wasn't moving much. I fed him a lot of corn syrup, he doesn't have fleas or ear mites, and his gums are still pink. I called the vet and she said they don't have resources for things like this in kittens this young, and would most likely put him down. (I live in a rural town with a very small vet office) I can't take him to the vet anyway, as my mom will be out of state until next week, and I don't have a car. He's been like this since all night I assume, but I didn't wake up until 8am, around 3 hours ago he drank about 10ml of milk, clawing and biting the nipple like usual. My mom took me to the store before she left, and when I came back he was sleeping and breathing heavy. He still moves, he'll scoot up close to the other cats if they move away, and sometimes pokes his head up. When I pick him up, he can hold his head up. What can I do? Anything? Is he just tired?

may i ask -- how are you holding the kitten when bottle feeding him? are you holding him so he's tummy down and with his head slightly elevated, like the position he would be in when nursing from momma cat?

lordofthecats · Aug 24, 2014

mickNsnicks2mom said:
may i ask -- how are you holding the kitten when bottle feeding him? are you holding him so he's tummy down and with his head slightly elevated, like the position he would be in when nursing from momma cat?

Yes, I lay down, put him on my chest and hold his head up. update: he got up and wanted more milk, I'm starting to think maybe he's weak from not eating last night, and the momma cat may have been laying on him so he couldn't call out for me.

lordofthecats · Aug 24, 2014

LordOfTheCats said:
Yes, I lay down, put him on my chest and hold his head up. update: he got up and wanted more milk, I'm starting to think maybe he's weak from not eating last night, and the momma cat may have been laying on him so he couldn't call out for me.

Another update: I laid him in the box with momma and sister, just going to leave him there and hope he'll be okay, it looks like his breathing is starting to slow down back to normal.

lordofthecats · Aug 24, 2014

Update: kitty still sleeping and breathing heavy, I just woke him up and he drank a lot of milk, and scooted over to me and went back to sleep. Is there a hereditary condition that could cause this? Grandma cat has been sneezing since I could remember, I've had her since I was probably 8, so 8 years, and Greta, the mom, has also sneezed a lot and I remember now that I was scared she wasn't going to make it when she was a kitten because she started doing a similar thing but got better over a few days. I've never taken them to the vet for it, because I figured if they lived this long it's not really a problem, and it doesn't seem to have any effect on their daily lives. I also don't like the vet around here, I remember when I was little my neighbor accidentally ran over my dog, and we rushed her to the vet, and she had internal bleeding, and they gave her I think a blood thinner, I just remember my mom telling them not to give her that because she'd bleed out(my mom was a nurse) and they did it anyway, and she bled to death. I've heard of them doing similar things before. I think because they're mainly just a spay/neuter place, but there isn't anything else around for hours.

lordofthecats · Aug 24, 2014

LordOfTheCats said:
Update: kitty still sleeping and breathing heavy, I just woke him up and he drank a lot of milk, and scooted over to me and went back to sleep. Is there a hereditary condition that could cause this? Grandma cat has been sneezing since I could remember, I've had her since I was probably 8, so 8 years, and Greta, the mom, has also sneezed a lot and I remember now that I was scared she wasn't going to make it when she was a kitten because she started doing a similar thing but got better over a few days. I've never taken them to the vet for it, because I figured if they lived this long it's not really a problem, and it doesn't seem to have any effect on their daily lives. I also don't like the vet around here, I remember when I was little my neighbor accidentally ran over my dog, and we rushed her to the vet, and she had internal bleeding, and they gave her I think a blood thinner, I just remember my mom telling them not to give her that because she'd bleed out(my mom was a nurse) and they did it anyway, and she bled to death. I've heard of them doing similar things before. I think because they're mainly just a spay/neuter place, but there isn't anything else around for hours.

Just want to add, they're usually not sneezing until fall comes around. Allergies?

stephenq · Aug 25, 2014

LordOfTheCats said:
Just want to add, they're usually not sneezing until fall comes around. Allergies?

Cats with allergies, even seasonal inhalent allergies don't typically have breathing issues but are much more likely to have skin issues. See link below. It is possible that they have a chronic URI like feline rhinotracheitis virus (Feline Herpes) but sneezing alone without other symptoms is unlikely to be very diagnostic. L-Lysine (a pinch of the powder, get it from GNC or other health stores) in the food daily for life can reduce severity, but it doesn't sound serious at the moment in your cats.

http://www.cat-world.com.au/feline-herpesvirus

lordofthecats · Aug 25, 2014

StephenQ said:
Cats with allergies, even seasonal inhalent allergies don't typically have breathing issues but are much more likely to have skin issues. See link below. It is possible that they have a chronic URI like feline rhinotracheitis virus (Feline Herpes) but sneezing alone without other symptoms is unlikely to be very diagnostic. L-Lysine (a pinch of the powder, get it from GNC or other health stores) in the food daily for life can reduce severity, but it doesn't sound serious at the moment in your cats.

http://www.cat-world.com.au/feline-herpesvirus

Yeah the other cats just sneeze a lot during this time of year, I actually have pretty bad allergies at the moment too. I think maybe something growing in the yard, as one is outside all the time and she's the one who sneezes the most. Sad update on the kitty though, I called the emergency vet and they told me to call the humane society in the morning to see if I could surrender him, poor thing has been having seizures and crying for 3 hours, and my friend is in a different state until later today so I have no one to take me to euthanize him :'( I just hope it doesn't last much longer.

Help! Kitten breathing heavy and not moving much

lordofthecats

TCS Member

Thread starter

lordofthecats

TCS Member

Thread starter

lordofthecats

TCS Member

Thread starter

stephenq

TCS Member

lordofthecats

TCS Member

Thread starter

micknsnicks2mom

TCS Member

lordofthecats

TCS Member

Thread starter

lordofthecats

TCS Member

Thread starter

lordofthecats

TCS Member

Thread starter

lordofthecats

TCS Member

Thread starter

stephenq

TCS Member

lordofthecats

TCS Member

Thread starter

Latest Posts

Connect with us