6.5 week old kitten has white sponge-like vomit

Hey everyone, this is my first post, but I've been lurking around here for almost two months. I took in a stray at the end of April, and low and behold, she was pregnant. On May 20th, she gave birth to 4 kittens. They have been healthy, happy kittens and just a joy to be around. They received their distemper vaccines on Friday because I took in 4 foster kittens on Thursday. I realize now that I should not have done that because my babies weren't fully resistant and they could have been exposed to who knows what from accidental cross-contamination, though I tried my best to keep them separate. Anyway, my babies seemed to be doing fine until about two days ago when one kitten began vomiting something that I can best describe as looking like spongey curdled milk. She has since been a little lethargic, though she still eats, drinks, and nurses. Also, one of the foster kittens passed away this morning, so I'm super nervous about everything. I am taking the 3 remaining fosters and my sick baby to the vet tomorrow, but I just wanted to know your thoughts of what it might be in the meantime. Also, everyone was dewormed with Strongid on Friday. Thank you guys!

Six weeks is too young for vaccinations, and a single distemper vaccine will not protect your kittens. Not only does the vaccine need a couple of weeks to begin providing protection, but a booster is necessary.

As you've now realized, if the fosters you took in carry distemper, your kittens may already have been exposed if the kittens mingled or shared common areas.

In general, it's always best to keep resident cats and foster cats or kittens separated for several weeks until any threat of infection is known.

The white curdled material your kitten vomited may be milk. And it could be a reaction to the vaccine. Some kittens experience side effects from vaccines. Please keep the kitten hydrated with clear pedialyte if necessary.

How old are the foster kittens? What symptoms did the kitten show before it passed?

It's impossible to know what is going on. If the fosters have distemper they may all pass away. Are you bottle feeding them?

Yeah, this is a big no-no, you don't want to learn the hard way, so in the future, use strict quarrantine for 2 solid weeks, this means no handling them without washing/sanitizing your hands well afterwards, and aside from hands, clothing is the second biggest way of transferring germs.

Distemper/cat parvo/panleuk survives for a very long time, a good 1 1/2 years.

So once you get it in your home, you won't be able to simply clean and be rid of it.

Any cat who comes there must be fully vaccinated for protection.

It's not pretty.

What were the symptoms of the kitten who died, and how old, and how long after they came did your kitten act sick?

The kitten that passed was fine the day before. He was eating and playing and seemed alert when I put them to bed last night. This morning, he was barely concious, his mouth was wet, and his heart was slow. He passed about 15 minutes later. They came to the home on Thursday, I took my kittens to the vet the next day at the reccomendation of the foster coordinator. My kitten began showing the vomiting on Saturday afternoon. I also thought that 6 weeks was too young, but the woman assured me that as long as they weighed a pound, they would be okay. The vet agreed, so I felt okay doing it. I only agreed to take on the fosters because it really seemed like if I didn't, they didn't stand a chance at the rescue's office. I really didn't know about the two week quarantine, if I had, I definitely would have followed it.

The foster kittens are said to be 4 weeks, though they have the teeth and the eye color of kittens much older. I am feeding them canned kitten food. I tried KMR, but all it did was turn their poo white. The rescue had been feeding them actual milk :doh3: I have no idea how long the babies had been orphaned for or anything about their history.

I have been washing my hands and changing clothes between handing/entering the room of the two litters. The fosters are confined to an Xlarge dog crate in a different room than anyone else. My kittens are confined in my large, tiled bathroom for most of the day, but they are allowed to be free for about 1-2 hours a day, though still cannot get in the room of the fosters.

We have been visiting my grandmother for the last two weeks, but we will be going back home in two days. The fosters have never been in my house, just my grandmothers.

I am so regretful that I took these babies in. I thought I was doing a good thing, and now I see that I may have done serious damage instead.

sarahhallstein said:

The kitten that passed was fine the day before. He was eating and playing and seemed alert when I put them to bed last night. This morning, he was barely concious, his mouth was wet, and his heart was slow. He passed about 15 minutes later. They came to the home on Thursday, I took my kittens to the vet the next day at the reccomendation of the foster coordinator. My kitten began showing the vomiting on Saturday afternoon. I also thought that 6 weeks was too young, but the woman assured me that as long as they weighed a pound, they would be okay. The vet agreed, so I felt okay doing it. I only agreed to take on the fosters because it really seemed like if I didn't, they didn't stand a chance at the rescue's office. I really didn't know about the two week quarantine, if I had, I definitely would have followed it.

The foster kittens are said to be 4 weeks, though they have the teeth and the eye color of kittens much older. I am feeding them canned kitten food. I tried KMR, but all it did was turn their poo white. The rescue had been feeding them actual milk

I have no idea how long the babies had been orphaned for or anything about their history.

I have been washing my hands and changing clothes between handing/entering the room of the two litters. The fosters are confined to an Xlarge dog crate in a different room than anyone else. My kittens are confined in my large, tiled bathroom for most of the day, but they are allowed to be free for about 1-2 hours a day, though still cannot get in the room of the fosters.

We have been visiting my grandmother for the last two weeks, but we will be going back home in two days. The fosters have never been in my house, just my grandmothers.

I am so regretful that I took these babies in. I thought I was doing a good thing, and now I see that I may have done serious damage instead.

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Don't feel regret for having compassion for these little lives, ever.

Whoever you are fostering them with has the responsibility to make sure you are aware of the do's and don't's in fostering. 

If nobody ever told you, then how would you have known?

If they came on Thursday and your foster was showing sickness Saturday, then it's unlikely to be parvo, too fast. It takes on average about 4-7 days is the most common, but can be as long of a delay as about 10, so a full 2 weeks covers this, as well as any other thing that may show up.

Anytime kittens, or cats for that matter too, spend any time at a shelter they are very prone to all of the various viruses and germs.

At our shelter where I am on the board of directors and their 'cat advocate', we vaccinate immediately upon intake if over 4 weeks old.

Yes, very young, but for shelters the benefit of protection far outweighs any risks.

But the vaccine is not effective right away either, it takes at least a day to begin any protection at all.

We just went through a terrible time, one little adorable calico kitten of maybe 5 weeks at the most, came in and one of the staff was careless in handling and not following strict quarantine protocols, well, we ended up losing 28, including a few adults who had just come.

Staff is now traumatized and devastated, I have always told them they did not want to learn this the hard way, but unfortunately that is what it took for them to understand the seriousness of it all.

I didn't tell you that for any reason other than the importance of quarantining, you simply never know, a spunky fluffy bright eyed kitten one day can be dead the next, so protect them all by being cautious and aware.

Curious, now this is Tues night, are any others acting unwell, or no?

As of this afternoon, I have both good and bad news to report.

The good news is that the sick little girl from my stray mama's litter is doing much better. She's playing just as much as her siblings, and she gobbled up some Purely fancy feast! I know, it is adult food, not kitten food, but it was originally for my adult cat who is in renal failure. He is on a prescription diet, but over the last few days, he was refusing his mushy renal food. I found this and thought I'd try it because it was better than him not eating at all. The kitten smelled it and ran over to try it. I had been so worried about her appetite, but I'm feeling a bit better about her.

The bad news is that one of the foster babies tested positive for distemper. I took them to the vet this morning, and he agreed with me that they are developmentally much older than their original estimate. He thinks they are around 6 weeks, but their weight tells a much different story. They weighed .6 and .8 lbs. Poor babies. Anyway, he wanted to keep them overnight and give them plenty of medicine and fluids and get them away from my house. He isn't confident that the one that tested for distemper will survive it. If any walk away from this, the shelter is taking them back. Today I found out that they came from animal control and had been at the shelter for about a week. I guess that they presented the symptoms late. I'm currently bleaching the bathroom where I bathed them and the crate that they were staying in.

I will still be taking my sick girl to the vet tomorrow. I didn't want to take them at the same time just in case it increased her exposure. I have learned my lesson for sure. I just wish I had had all this knowledge ahead of time.

As of now, the other kittens are acting normally. I hope I kept their exposure minimal.

Thank you guys for everything!

As much as I hate to say this, the litter who has the one testing pos, well they will likely all die, and your other fosters have a pretty good chance of getting it too.

It LOVES to seek out kittens, who are extremely vulnerable to it.

Every piece of clothing, bedding, surfaces, dishes, you name it, needs to be out of there and either tossed out or disinfected with trifectant or accel, or a bleach solution of 1 to 32, allowed to saturate and soak in for at least 10 minutes and then rinsed well.

They will be just like the one that died, fine one day, dying or dead the next, it takes them down fast.

Once your home has been completely overturned, then start the countdown, 14 days, 4-7 days after exposure will be the most likely, but may take longer.

They are not out of danger until then.

Very, very sorry to hear, this is no fun, the worst most dreaded part of fostering/rescue.

EDIT-NOT generic bleach, only Clorox bleach.

Also be sure that both places know, the shelter and the rescue you are fostering for. Then they know not to ask you to take in any young kittens while this virus is active.

Don't take the chance ever, it is not worth the risk of infecting other innocent kids, or adults for that matter.

Be sure your resident cats and any cats you come in contact with are fully vaccinated.

It gets adults too

S sarahhallstein

It's fine that the kitten ate the other cat's food. It will not hurt the kitten, and as you said, if it helps her to eat, I would continue giving it to her now. I'm glad she's better!

It's sad about the little shelter kittens. If their immune system is strong enough, they can occasionally survive distemper. Perhaps they will. If not, they can be humanely euthanized rather than suffer.

I'm sorry you had to learn this way. As Catwoman said, it was the responsibility of the shelter workers to know these things and advise you appropriately.

Continue to keep an eye on your own kittens for the next couple of weeks. At the first sign of illness, get them to the vet. Hopefully, they will be okay.

Everything has been disenfected with 1-32 Clorox bleach/water solution (I'm waiting those 10 minutes now) and the fabrics that I had to save (my clothes) are being washed in the washing machine. Is there anything specific that they should be washed in? A detergent I can buy? Also, what should I do about the carpet? I can't rip it out because it's an apartment that I am in this week. I'm so thankful that my house is still clean. They never set foot in my house. The rescue and animal control know and are taking their steps.

Wash clothes in hot water with your regular detergent.

Steam cleaning carpets is the best bet if you can.

Do other pets live in the apartment?

Not much can be done, except to keep them off of it now completely.

As far as your shoes, when you get back home, remove your shoes before entering then disinfect them as well.

Watch what goes back home with you.

Wash clothes in hot and use a hot dryer if possible.

No other animals live in the apartment on a regular basis. My grandmother is about to move out as well, so none of our animals will be living on it again. Also, the complex has been replacing carpets as tenants move out, so hopefully, they'll remove it, and that will be that. And I will do that with the shoes! I will also disenfect my car.
Thank you so much for all your advice Sarthur2 and catwoman707 !