kitten died :(

My friend Tracy's cat just delivered kittens (yes she is having it spayed) all of which did fine, all of them were adopted except one lonely kitten. It played with her 2 new pixie bobs, but we went away for a weekend and took the pixie bobs with us. The mother and her kitten were left behind. We came back and I picked up the little guy and noticed its belly felt really squishy and thin, It was very wierd, unlike anything I've ever felt in a kitten.

The next day we has acting very lathargic, he just layed around, and drooped and leaned to the side.

There was ALWAYS food and water available and the 3 times i saw him 2 of which he was in front of the water, but I never caught him drinking. I think he may have been dehydrated due to a trick i was taught where you pull the scruff of the neck and if it doesnt immediately return to the form it started in, then it was dehydrated. Well this was at 4:00 in the morning, and when they woke up the next morning the little tyke had died. Really made me sad but i told myself it was going to happen, and they were going to take it to the vet that morning.

What happened? What could we have done? Any odd chance it died of grief (siblings being taken?) If it was sick, is it contagious to the other kittens?

Really sad situation I know, but I am looking for answers as to what we could have done and if the other kitties are safe. (P.S. I gave her the pixie bobs, and a lot of my friends and I have somewhat of joint custody of our cats, so sorry for any confusion there)

Help!,

Jason

I would recommend taking the body to the vet and having a necropsy (autopsy) done. The symptoms you describe sound like it could possibly be panleukopenia, and if that is the case then his siblings are at risk and no new cats can be brought in the house for a year because the virus lives on surfaces for that long.

A necropsy will tell you exactly what happened and if you need to worry about the other kittens.

I would also recommend taking the other kittens to the vet so any early signs of illness can be detected.

I'm sorry for your loss. :-(

Unless the body was kept quite cold the necropsy could be a waste of time and money. It also depends on how old the kitten is. But distemper could be a possibility and they are having sudden outbreaks of distemper in several states. It is also possible the little one fell or got stepped on- it's hard to say-

I am very sorry for this loss. I think that you should let the owners of the siblings know, so they can have their kittens checked in case it was distemper, which is highly contagious. And hopefully the other cats, including the pixie bobs have had their injections. But I had a litter last year who got mild distemper despite having been vaccinated! Please have all the cats who may be affected vet checked!