We live out in the country, and adopted 2 female kittens at very young (still needed bottle feeding) and decided to not spay them as we've never seen another cat in our area, let alone a male. But then after 4 years of owning our sisters.... suprise! they both become pregnant for the first time in around the same 2 weeks.
Our cat Xena's kittens all grew fantastically, and although Xena herself is a recluse- her kittens grew friendly and happy.
Now, for Selena. Selena is a big character and my family jokes that she seems to show some depth of human understanding and even responds with miows if a conversation is directed at her.
Selena's litter seemed to grow well as a whole and reached 4 weeks old with no problems (behaviorally/healthwise). Thats when the story took a turn for her smallest kitten California.
Cali had always had trouble gaining weight and stature but it seemed to be because she was the runt of the litter. Her siblings quickly surpassed her in size. One day she became very vocal and would miow and meow endlessly until she was stroked or someone called Selena to console her.
Cali's vocal rutt lasted 2 days before she began to also have trouble balancing on her four legs, especially her back legs, and she preffered to stay in the cat bed over going into the room with her siblings and jumping around. My mom knew of kittens healing themselves of broken legs (it seemed like a broken leg atleast) as they grew older so we let her heal herself as the nearest vet is 2 1/2 hours away and is $57 for a checkup, which we dont have to spend extra at the moment. She constantly meowed and Selena seemed confused about what she needed to do, sometimes even throwing a deep meow back at Cali; this lasted 2 days. On the 4th night of this whole dilemma Cali was out on the floor scooting around, but refused to eat (strangely she would only drink?) and when night fell she became her Constantly-Meowing self but instead of inside the house she was out by my dresser.
I fell asleep that night and woke up in the morning to California having what looked like a violent seizure on the ground. Selena was frantically licking her legs and i was petting her head every now and again. I now know that Cali unfortunately passed away immeadiately after having this episode for around 15 minutes.
Selena was grooming her still body and i wondered if she had only passed out (exhaustion) from the episode and set her in set her in an old dog bed along with Selena. Selena licked Cali for 10 minutes after she had died and then stood up and just sat on a nearby table and watched me sitting with her. I googled diagnostics and determined California was dead due to her soft eyeballs and lack of a pulse. I brought Cali wrapped in a towel to the other kittens to get their final goodbyes (although they didnt seem to understand why) and went to give Selena a final glimpse of her daughter yet she turned her head away from the corpse. I waited for rigor mortis in the hopes she was in comatose after the seizure but surely 3 hours later it came so we promptly buried the kitten and gave her a small moment of silence in the field.
Selena didn't react in the first day or even search for her laid kitten so I decided Selena was aware of her death.
I believe I might have been wrong. Selena has set out on constant searches outside and inside meowing extremely loudly and examining every nook-and-cranny as if looking for her child. She is still feeding and nurturing her surviving 3, but will instantly use her free time away for searching for California again. We don't know what to do, as this has lasted 4 days after California's death, as if Selena still has hope of her returning/finding her hiding somewhere even though she was present for Cali's death and for her funeral. I only want our sweet cat to be happy once again as she is devoting all of her non-motherly time to stress.
To conclude, is this the grieving process or does she fail to understand (or even, accept?) the concept of her kitten's death. I was also telling the story of Cali's passing in vivid detail so maybe if anyone knowledgeable could help me come to terms with which illness took her? I found many helpful resources online for a grieving cat but none seem to fit my situation in a helpful nature so I came here! Hope you can help.
Our cat Xena's kittens all grew fantastically, and although Xena herself is a recluse- her kittens grew friendly and happy.
Now, for Selena. Selena is a big character and my family jokes that she seems to show some depth of human understanding and even responds with miows if a conversation is directed at her.
Selena's litter seemed to grow well as a whole and reached 4 weeks old with no problems (behaviorally/healthwise). Thats when the story took a turn for her smallest kitten California.
Cali had always had trouble gaining weight and stature but it seemed to be because she was the runt of the litter. Her siblings quickly surpassed her in size. One day she became very vocal and would miow and meow endlessly until she was stroked or someone called Selena to console her.
Cali's vocal rutt lasted 2 days before she began to also have trouble balancing on her four legs, especially her back legs, and she preffered to stay in the cat bed over going into the room with her siblings and jumping around. My mom knew of kittens healing themselves of broken legs (it seemed like a broken leg atleast) as they grew older so we let her heal herself as the nearest vet is 2 1/2 hours away and is $57 for a checkup, which we dont have to spend extra at the moment. She constantly meowed and Selena seemed confused about what she needed to do, sometimes even throwing a deep meow back at Cali; this lasted 2 days. On the 4th night of this whole dilemma Cali was out on the floor scooting around, but refused to eat (strangely she would only drink?) and when night fell she became her Constantly-Meowing self but instead of inside the house she was out by my dresser.
I fell asleep that night and woke up in the morning to California having what looked like a violent seizure on the ground. Selena was frantically licking her legs and i was petting her head every now and again. I now know that Cali unfortunately passed away immeadiately after having this episode for around 15 minutes.
Selena was grooming her still body and i wondered if she had only passed out (exhaustion) from the episode and set her in set her in an old dog bed along with Selena. Selena licked Cali for 10 minutes after she had died and then stood up and just sat on a nearby table and watched me sitting with her. I googled diagnostics and determined California was dead due to her soft eyeballs and lack of a pulse. I brought Cali wrapped in a towel to the other kittens to get their final goodbyes (although they didnt seem to understand why) and went to give Selena a final glimpse of her daughter yet she turned her head away from the corpse. I waited for rigor mortis in the hopes she was in comatose after the seizure but surely 3 hours later it came so we promptly buried the kitten and gave her a small moment of silence in the field.
Selena didn't react in the first day or even search for her laid kitten so I decided Selena was aware of her death.
I believe I might have been wrong. Selena has set out on constant searches outside and inside meowing extremely loudly and examining every nook-and-cranny as if looking for her child. She is still feeding and nurturing her surviving 3, but will instantly use her free time away for searching for California again. We don't know what to do, as this has lasted 4 days after California's death, as if Selena still has hope of her returning/finding her hiding somewhere even though she was present for Cali's death and for her funeral. I only want our sweet cat to be happy once again as she is devoting all of her non-motherly time to stress.
To conclude, is this the grieving process or does she fail to understand (or even, accept?) the concept of her kitten's death. I was also telling the story of Cali's passing in vivid detail so maybe if anyone knowledgeable could help me come to terms with which illness took her? I found many helpful resources online for a grieving cat but none seem to fit my situation in a helpful nature so I came here! Hope you can help.
