My 10 day old kitten is sick!

Hiya my cat Cilly had three beautiful kittens ... they are 10 days old today... One of them is sneezing and has sleep gunk on either sides of his/her eyes .. is this normal? Or is this a cold? HELP!!! Don't want to remove the kitten from the litter to take to vet... please reply!

Just to add on a little after note ... Cilly had the kittens under the house. Once we found out we put a box with blankets underneath there and cilly moved her babies into it. PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND WITH THE USUAL SPAY/NEUTER/KEEP THEM INSIDE THING! I know all this ... this was cilly's choice to have them outside. Yes 10 weeks and 4 days from now Cilly will be spayed. Yes all the kittens have a home ... my home ... and they will be given the same choice as cilly ... in or out ... whatever they prefer. These cats will be very loved .. I don't need a lecture I just need help.

As for the eye thing. Have you talked to your vet about it? I would take the kitten in if I were you and if you dont know to seperate them take the whole litter and mama to the vet with you =)

For the eye concerns, this thread may be of help to you:

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54375

As for the cold, are all of the kittens sneezing? When sneezes happen, is there a discharge? What color/consistancy is it?

Regarding the lecture ... it is my sincere hope that this Forum is a safe place to ask questions and that no one feels they cannot post here due to past responses. This Forum was created to assist, not to judge. If the responses you have received don't meet this one, important guideline then that response will be removed and the member who posted it will be warned.

Please - don't ever feel you can't come here to ask questions for fear of the answers you may get.

~gf~

Please know that if you leave her outside by the time 10 more weeks rolls around she will likely be pregnant again.

gayef ... thank you for your response ... I am happy to announce that the kitten (a boy named Dale Jr) has stopped sneezing and I guess cilly cleaned his face because there is no more gunk on it.

missy ... if you read my whole post then you know cilly will be fixed now in 10 weeks and 2 days ... the appointment has already been made and once the babies are old enough they will be fixed too but thank you for your concern for my kittens

I LOVE that name for a little boy kitten! I would also like the names of Tony and Elliott too! *grin and wink* Gotta love that #20 Orange Home Depot Chevrolet and of course it just ~wouldn't~ be Talladega if Elliott didn't get airborne at least once in the M&M's car ... *LOL*

A little sneezing is normal, especially when they and still young and adjusting to a new environment - you want them to adjust to your home's normal stuff (not that your house is dirty, but all homes have their own unique environment when it comes to dust and other little particles) and to build up a natural immunity to it. A strong immune system can fight any baddies that may cause an Upper Respiratory condition - and a lot of kitties do get a little UR condition when they little.

Glad to hear everything is going along OK!

~gf~

I've just read over all your posts. Congrats on the babies. I'm glad they are all doing well.

Just an idea, you said before you were having trouble catching Pricilla when it is spay time. Although right now you need to give her as much kitten food as she wants, by the time the kits wean, you can switch her to once a day or twice a day feeding, getting her in the habit of coming to you on a schedule. Then you can easily catch her the night before her appt.

Best of luck with these babies.

Originally Posted by Carlabing

gayef ... thank you for your response ... I am happy to announce that the kitten (a boy named Dale Jr) has stopped sneezing and I guess cilly cleaned his face because there is no more gunk on it.

missy ... if you read my whole post then you know cilly will be fixed now in 10 weeks and 2 days ... the appointment has already been made and once the babies are old enough they will be fixed too but thank you for your concern for my kittens

Click to expand...

Carlabing...I think Missy's concern was the fact that Cilly is currently indoors/outdoors..which would normally be fine, except that cats can go back into heat very soon after giving birth and can get pregnant again. If your vet has reservations about spaying a pregnant cat..you may want to encourage your cat to be indoors only until she is spayed to avoid that from even being an issue. My friend had the same feeling about her cat and each time she set up the spay appt. her cat would end up pregnant....5 litters later, she finally kept her cat indoors until she could be spayed. I do hope that doesn't happen in your case...but it can happen.

Katie

Thank You Katie that is exaclty what I meant

I would recommend taking everyone to the vet since they probably have an upper respiratory infection and will need antibiotics.

And it is a very, very bad idea to let such tiny kittens be outdoors. They can't even see, hear, or regulate their own body temperature much less defend themselves and Mom can't be right with them 24 hours a day. Letting an adult cat or even an older kitten be outdoors is one thing, but these are teeny-tiny, defenseless babies and you have a responsibility to do what is necessary to give them reasonable protection. Cilly may have "chosen" to have the kittens outside but that doesn't mean it's a remotely safe place for them to be.