kitten with head trauma

I have been raising 4 kittens since they where between 1-2 weeks old. Mother was a feral cat who was killed by a car.  They are now 7 weeks old. One of the kittens got under my recliner Sunday and it's head was smashed.  I had a block of wood under the recliner to keep it from rocking but the wood had slipped out enough to let the chair rock forward about an inch.  I didn't know she was under the chair until I heard her growling and saw her convulsing on the floor.  She was bleeding from the nose, her front leg was board stiff, and she was struggling to get up.  I scooped her up and tried to check the damage.  Her face was swollen, blood was coming out of her nose each time she breathed.  I grabbed an ice pack and spent the night trying to comfort her until I could get to the vet the next morning.  We have no emergency vet service and no local vet.  I have one in the next town over that I go to but he will not take calls or come in late at night.  We are a very rural area.  I took her to him first thing in the morning.  He checked her over and found no fractures just swelling mostly on the left side of her head. He diagnosed her with a concussion.  He gave her steroids to help the swelling and antibiotics.  He told me to keep her calm and limit her activity and he thought  she would make a complete recovery.  At no time where her pupils unresponsive and she quickly regained use of the one leg that was stiff.  She has been eating, going to the litter box, with help the first day and by herself afterwards, and has been grooming herself and her sisters and wanting to play.  I thought she was doing great until last night.  She started having seizures every time she went to sleep. They lasted only a few seconds and she quickly recovered.  I spent the whole night holding her. She had 8 seizures in total.  Back to the vet and another dose of steroids because her left side of her head was still really swollen.  She was showing no other ill effects at the vet and was acting like a normal 7 week old kitten so the vet said it was probably the swelling and the seizures should stop and all we could do was wait and see.  She has been climbing, playing with her sisters, eating, going to the litter box, and wanting attention all  day with no signs of trouble.  I have been scared to death she will have another seizure when she goes to sleep but so far none.  The swelling is almost gone.  Sorry this is so long.  I am wondering if anyone else has dealt with this and what the prognosis  is. How long will I have to worry before she is out of danger.  I am planning on keeping her and finding homes for the other three if I can. If not I will  just have to keep them.  I only have one  tom cat  So that would make 4 cats so I could do it with no problem.  

This I one of those cases where you could probably spend thousands to be told you'll have to wait and see. It sounds like you're still in the initial healing process. You should see progress even if it's slow. Young animals heal remarkably well since they are still growing. You sound like you have access to a common sense vet.

I hand raised my cats. There is a definite maternal mama grizzly in me when it comes to them. Hand raising forms an incredible human/cat bond. So you're double hovering.

Thank you for taking them in and loving them.

I don't have any advice just wanted to say sorry this happened to you and your kitten everyone must have been scared to death for your kitten.

I have been through this exact same thing.

One of my foster's 6 week old kitten Zubie was closed under a recliner.

I have a thread about it somewhere, because this to me was such a gfreak accident, but my vet doesn't agree and says she sees this about once a week........most die.

So the foster raced him to emergency vet, he was limp and completely unresponsive, entire side of face and one eye was swelling fast.

One pupil was dilated alot and no response to light.

We were sure he was a goner.

She kept him overnight, said the most important thing was that he had meds to keep his brain swelling down.

We talked about letting him go, but wanted to give him a chance too.

I really thought if he made it through he would have brain damage.

The next evening I picked him up.

He was awake but clumsy and kept spinning circles.

It was so awful to see. Had to syringe feed him, etc.

Her number one advice was to keep him in a carrier and covered.

No, he won't like it at all but it is what is needed.

She explained that when there is sound, and things to see, the brain is working, and he needs all of his brain energy on rest, unstimulated by surroundings.

Every day he was a little better, the last thing to heal was the spinning in circles, it was caused by it being a brain injury on one side of his head, so balance was all out of whack.

Zubie ended up making a full recovery, much to everyone's amazement.

It's crazy to imagine how they have the capability to heal from something so huge..........

Calm, quiet, limited space.

Personally I wouldn't have her ripping around playing yet, she is not healed yet.

Thanks everyone.  Lulu has had no more seizures since Tuesday night.  Her left side of her head is only a little swollen today. I have been trying to keep her activity limited.  I put her in a pet carrier but she kept making such a fuss I figured it was better to just keep her near me and try to watch her.  She hasn't been running, well not much.  I have been carrying her around or letting her play near me while I sit and work.  Her sisters keep trying to pounce her and I have to pull them off.  Very hard to keep a kitten still.  She does like to be cuddled so that helps some.  I have been sleeping with her on my chest.   I have raised a lot of orphaned kittens from new born to several weeks.  I am the go to person for sick and abandoned animals.   I have gotten so attached to these kittens it will be hard to give them away. If I can even find homes for them.  A lot of kittens around at this time.  I wish everyone would spay or neuter their pets but around here people have very outdated views on animals.

I'm glad it's looking like she'll be ok[emoji]128570[/emoji][emoji]128570[/emoji][emoji]128570[/emoji]

Happy to hear that Lulu seems to be doing better. I hope things continue to look good for her.