Fading Kitten Syndrome?

Hi everyone!! I'm new & wanted to introduce myself & ask a question.

I had a momma kitty show up with a belly full of babies! Bella had kittens on APril 22. 6 total, when I found them one was dead. I believe it was born alive & died of hypothermia, or lack of attention from mom. Lost one more yesterday. Was very, very weak when I noticed him & also the runt. I took him in & warmed him, gave him a few drops of formual every 15 min. or so. But he passed within 2 hours. One more is getting weaker, seems like Fading Kitten Syndrome.

I have bottle fed many babies in all age ranges, from newborn, never nursed to 2 weeks old & abandoned. 3 of my current kitties were bottle rescues & one was a newborn, but that's a whole 'nother story!!

I guess my question is: Should I let momma just take care of her babies? She is doing a wonderful job, only gets up to eat & stretch. The babies are fat & healthy, then weak & dehydrated in less than a day. I'm thinking that she can do better than me. I can bottle feed, but mom can do a better job. If it is FKS, basically there's nothing really to help them, other than basic support, right?

What would you do? Vet consult already told me to leave babies with mom & let nature take it's course. I could give extra fluid, but not to get my hopes up.

Bella is scheduled for a spay, but was pregnant already, so date was post-poned.

Hubby is fed up to here with a nursery full of babies in the bathroom!! I really don't want to aggrivate matters!!

Thanks for any help!!

mamahen

I would supplement feed. It could be that mom is sick and passing whatever she has on to the kittens in her milk. No, you can't do much about FKS but do your best. you can visit www.kitten-rescue.com for tips on how to get these babies to thrive.

If momcat is pregnant now, I hope you will go ahead with the spay anyway. It would be better for her if you did, especially since her babies are frail to begin with.

No, she's not pregnant now, she was pregnant with her current litter. She's a stray farmcat that decided out house was better than the neighbor's barn!! She brought her brother & sister, too! Brother has a new home & sister was hit by a car.

I have appt. for my 3 boys to be neutered next week. They were also bottle babies & had a very rough go. They are great guys & very special! I just found out that our local SPCA, does low cost spaying & shots (this is new since last year & I'm very excited about it!!) only $36 for shots & altering!

I've been trying to supplement the babies with a little pedilyte & formula, the thing is they go down hill so quickly. Fine one time, then cold & weak. I'll keep trying, I can't stand to see the babies suffer.

Thanks,mamahen (who had baby robins hopping around in her bathroom for 3 weeks )

The same thing happened with one of my kitty's kittens. CJ had a litter of three. A little ginger boy was the healthiest of them all. He was fat, getting fatter, active, perfectly healthy. Then, on night, I was helping one of the other kittens (who is premature) eat, and I picked him up and he felt very very light. I couldn't get him to eat, he wouldn't cry, he'd just lay there, even when I picked him up, and had a heart rate of 84-90 BPM, when it's supposed to be 200 BPM. The next morning he was better. Heart rate was higher, cry a tiny bit, just better, suckled a couple of sucks. Then I went to check on him later, and he was cold. I couldn't do anything to get him warm, so I decided the best thing I could've done for him was to let him be with his momma. Later, he died. All I can find of what caused his death was FKS. It was really sad. He died at 3 days old. He died an hour after I named him, Limeny.

One thing I did suspect was that they were inbred. They were most likely inbred a few generations, too, because we got CJ and Billy from a stray that has been around for a while, who herself, might be inbred. Is it possible that your kitty's are inbred? I hope that all looks up! You and your kittys are in my thoughts and prayers!

I would just do basic support and then save your resources/energy to get all survivors spayed/neutered. As long as the mother is trying and has physical ability to nurse, I am not a fan of interrupting or trying to interfere when it comes to animal families. (Orphaned or abandoned babies are a different story.)

Originally Posted by Nano

I would just do basic support and then save your resources/energy to get all survivors spayed/neutered. As long as the mother is trying and has physical ability to nurse, I am not a fan of interrupting or trying to interfere when it comes to animal families. (Orphaned or abandoned babies are a different story.)

Click to expand...

is how I feel. I don't like to take a kitten away from a mother unless absolutely necessary.