Injured Kitten, What Should I Do?

[PhuongVH]

Hi,
I'd like to apologize in advance in case I violated any of the posting rule. I did look at the code of conduct and the reminder threads, but I'm a bit worried at the moment so I could've missed something I shouldn't.

Anyway, to the main topic, our cat just gave birth recently. She (the mother cat) is a nice and shy young adult cat (slightly more than one year old) instead of the aggressive type and this is her first time giving birth. She gave birth to 3 kittens, but unfortunately, two passed away - one shortly after birth and one faded away two days ago, so there is only one left. Until yesterday, both the mother and the kitten (now a week old, haven't opened her eyes yet) were really healthy. However, this morning, my father noticed some blood on the kitten's chest. He suspected that our mother cat accidentally scratched the little kitten while walking around, as we always cover the cage carefully at night so the chance that some stray cats attacked the kitten should be very minimal and if the mother cat injured the kitten intentionally, the kitten probably wouldn't have survived. My father haven't been able to check the wound carefully yet since the mother cat has been defensive of her children since the birth (use her head to push hands away if our hands come close to the kittens or lightly scratch us) and he doesn't want to unknowingly stress the mother cat out.

At the moment, the kitten (who was really healthy yesterday) seems a lot weaker than she was. It either drinking a lot less milk from the mother, or not at all - my father is still trying to observe the situation - which I guess is kind of understandable if it was hurt while being this young. So I'd like to ask - what should we do in this situation? I'm quite worried. Bringing them (the kitten and the mother cat) to a vet isn't really an option as there isn't any vet around my family, plus that I'm working oversea and my father is a bit old to drive for hours. We live remotely near a hospital, though (within 10' of walking) so we can probably get most medical stuffs (at least, the ones commonly used for human) if needed.

 

[Sarthur2]

Where is the kitten being kept that predators have access? Can you keep mom and baby inside your home?

The kitten most likely needs antibiotics for infection, and immediately needs to be warmed and fed.

Please apply honey to the kitten's gums for quick energy, and attempt to feed the kitten with a syringe or dropper, using water with a spoon of honey and a sprinkle of salt stirred in.

Feed only on the tummy, head up, little drops in the side of the mouth.

If you have goat's milk, feed that instead.

This kitten really needs a vet. It may not survive.

Please keep us posted.

 

[PhuongVH]

Where is the kitten being kept that predators have access? Can you keep mom and baby inside your home?
<...>

We are keeping the cage in our yard, but we cover it nicely at night to make sure they wouldn't be affected by rain or wind (still keeping it well ventilated of course). The stray cat hasn't been an issue even since the mother & father cat were still kitten themselves, but I guess it's a possibility so I should bring it up just in case. I'm considering asking my father to move our cat's little family inside the home and let them out at night (currently, the cats come back to the cage at dinner time and we lock the door), even if just a few weeks as well, but I'm a bit worried that the change in environment might stress the mother cat out as they never got inside the main house since birth (my father specifically allowed and trained them to run free in our yard and kitchen, but not part of the main house or our neighbors').

Would any kind of antibiotics do? When I was looking around the Internet for advises earlier, I remember seeing mentions that there are some kinds of antibiotics that would harm the kittens instead. Would you mind letting me know if we can get any specific kind? Or would anything do as long as it's antibiotics? Would it be fine for us to clean it with disinfectants (using a minuscule amount of diluted 3% H2O2 on top of a Q-tip)?

We always keep the kittens (well, kitten now ) warm, so it's just the feeding part left. I will forward it to my father since as stated, I'm oversea so I can't really do anything by myself.

Thank you very much for your help. I will update if there is any change - be it for better or worse - in the situation. Hope it will be alright in the end.

 

[catsknowme]

I would use only coconut oil on such a tiny kitten or at most a Neosporin, especially since the mother cat may lick it off.

 

[catsknowme]

There is a good video on MaddysFund.org called Critical Care of the Sick Neonatal Kitten. It is free. It is for vets and vet techs and any cat rescuer so the lecturer uses both technical and layman's terms. I learned a lot about what to look for and what to do. I apologize for not putting in a link but i do not know how to copy&paste from a cellphone.
Prayers and vibes for the little kitten and its mama cat; condolences on losing the other 2; Blessings on you and your family for helping cats in need!

 

[PhuongVH]

Hi,

Thanks you all for your advises. Just to update, so far, my father has cleaned the wound (he said that it should be small as he can't see any significant one with his eyes) and helped to feed the little kitten every 2 hours. He said that the kitten is still alive and warm, but the situation is grim as the kitten seems a lot weakened compared to yesterday. According to him, until yesterday, whenever the mother cat went in the cage and lay down, the kitten would come over and suckle, but today so far it just lie on one spot without attempting to move to the mother cat (at least when he observed). He tried to help moving the kitten towards the mother, but then the mother cat stood up and moved away. That doesn't sound like a good sign, but the mother cat is still cleaning and helping the kitten to excrete (I assume that's what she does when she licks the area around the kitten's tail).

As of the vets, my father already tried to contact some, but everyone who my father called wanted us to bring the kitten to them instead of visiting our home. That is an issue since, as I stated, even the nearest vet / pet clinic is quite far from us, we don't have a small cage to just put the kitten in and grab a taxi, and I'm being oversea at the moment so we can't move the big cage either. For the time being, we can only just try our best and hope for the best for the little kitty.

 

[Sarthur2]

What is your father feeding the kitten? It needs formula or goat's milk. The water with honey and salt was to perk up the kitten, but it needs nutrition.

 

[PhuongVH]

He bought some KMR milk for kitten from the pet shop near our house and used an eye-dropper bottle (clean with soapy + hot water and dry out with a fresh Q-tip before feeding).

 

[Sarthur2]

Perfect! Is the kitten swallowing the milk? Does the kitten have labored breathing?

 

[PhuongVH]

Yes, the kitten is swallowing the milk and does react to the scent when we brought the eyedropper bottle close (which was why my father tried to help it to reach the mother cat to see if it'd suckle, but that didn't work out as the mother cat moved away after he moved the kitten to her). The kitten was breathing heavily in the morning, but it no longer does so - although I'm not sure whether that was because it's getting better or weaker (it still cry out occasionally, i.e: when the mother cat was licking it).

 

[Sarthur2]

It's good the baby is swallowing. The only other thing I can suggest is antibiotics. Do you know what kinds are available in your country, such as Clavamox?

 

[PhuongVH]

I'm not too sure, but I believe most of the common kinds are available. Clavamox, for example, is available (and since we live close to a hospital, it shouldn't be too hard to buy some). We also have some ampicillin / penicillin tablets around. We looked up the dosage for pets online, but haven't tried yet since from what I read, it's advisable to get prescription from a veterinarian first due to possible undesirable side effects.

 

[Sarthur2]

Yes, from a veterinarian. It would need to be a tiny dose and liquid. Is your father able to go to a vet?

 

[PhuongVH]

If it's just by himself, yes. He can grab a taxi. It's just an issue with moving the cats since their cat house / cage is pretty big and wouldn't fit in a car. I will tell him to go to a pet clinic and ask for more advices / prescriptions tomorrow after feeding the kitten in the morning as it's already 10+ PM now.

Again, thank you all very much for helping We raised pets before, but this is the first time one of ours give birth so it's all uncharted territory. Without you all, we probably wouldn't know what to do (in fact, as I talked to him just now, my father is still puzzled as to how the kitten could be injured).

 

[PhuongVH]

With a heavy heart I'm bringing bad news. The kitten had passed away. I and my family are very distressed by now, and I hope that the poor kitty would rest in peace. However, there is another issue.

Roughly 2 hours ago, while I was posting here, my father fed the little kitten and the mother & father cats. At that point, she was still alive as described in my previous post. My parents also moved the cage inside our main house and make sure to put it on 2nd floor so there was no chance for any stray animal to get in. After that, my parents went to the kitchen to have dinner (our kitchen is separated from the main house), then my father went to take a shower while my mother prepare the next tiny batch of milk for the kitten. While my father was showering, he heard the mother cat cry out and quickly stop showering, ran out to check on the cats. What he found was... not too pretty. The kitten has passed away, but her head was missing. Seeing that the cage is secured on the 2nd floor and the father cat is separated (since we were afraid that he would harm the kittens), the only explanation is that the mother cat ate it. We can't understand why - she (the mother cat) was a sweet shy little cat and she was happily nursing the kitten until yesterday. Why did she commit such an act? When the previous kitten faded away, she was still trying to hug and nudge it back to life the entire night and only let my father take it away the morning after (now that I think about it, this kitten was scratched around midnight of the same day).

I know that while this (eating her own kitten) might not be a common behavior in cats - especially young first time mother, it's not unheard of. While we are really sad for the kitty, there is another issue. The mother cat has been crying out loudly almost non-stop since then. My father is trying to calm her down by hugging and petting her gently, as our cat family love him the most among our family. What I would like to ask is, is there any issue with the mother cat (mentally or physically, i.e: having a bone stuck in her throat), or is this just a form of grieving? Should we keep treating her the same, but nicer, or is that a sign of bigger unseen problem that definitely need to be diagnosed professionally?

Again, thank you all very much for helping. Looking forward to your reply.

 

[talkingpeanut]

I'm so sorry about the kitten. It's possible that something was wrong with the kittens and mom was acting instinctively. It's also possible that she didn't feel safe.

Does mom seem like she is in pain? She may be looking for the babies.

Do you have any way to get mom spayed? It's really not safe for her to be around your male now. She can already get pregnant again.

 

[Sarthur2]

Mama cat is grieving. This is how they grieve - by crying and sometimes lying around lethargically. It should pass within a week. Just offer comfort.

I'm so sorry about the kitten.

Are you planning to spay mom now so she can live as a happy, healthy family pet?

 

[PhuongVH]

Yes, we can get both cats spayed (which is easier than bringing them to pet clinics since there are public services near our house for that). I know the benefits of it and my sister has been telling my father to do so, but my father said he wants the cat to live naturally. My father is kind and a bit old-fashioned, so I think he consider spaying / neutering a bad thing for the cats. I and my sister tried to convince him, but can't really push the issue as the original purpose of getting our little cat family (since when they were two little kittens themselves) was to give my father some friends to take care of (he just fully retired recently, my mother is still working, both I & my sister work oversea and only visit home every 2-3 months or so, longer for my sister) so it's up to my father. To be fair, we raised a pair of cats before when I was still in elementary school until they died of old ages (14-16 years IIRC) and there was no problem even with my father still working by then, this is the first time something so sad happened so I don't think my father expected this (he was saying sadly when the previous kitten faded away that he thought the birthing would have been smooth since we took great care of the mother cat during her pregnancy period).

I will try to convince him now that he is sad, but I'm still uncertain if that'd work. Still, thank you all for all your help. I'm sorry our family couldn't do better for the poor little kitten.

 

[talkingpeanut]

Please try to encourage him. Cats can have up to 3 litters a year. It's a horrible life for a female cat.

 

[catsknowme]

Condolences on losing the little kitten - you and your family tried very hard. If you ever have to carry a cat to the vet and don't have a carrier, you can use a sturdy cardboard box with breathing holes - just be sure to rope the box shut and keep the cat from escaping. Is the mother cat calling for her baby or is she meowing in pain? If she is meowing,check her and make sure that there is not another unborn baby kitten stuck inside. Please keep us updated!