Rapid Respiration In Kitten

[SmolCreeperCat]

Hey everyone! I'm new hear but I work at an animal shelter and I've been fostering neonates for about two years now. Each kitten always seems to have its own unique issues and now I have one I've not experienced before. His breathing is very fast while resting - around 90 BPM. He weighs in at about 85 grams (he's a week old and was 68g when I got him) and eats, pees, poops normally. His eyes just opened fully and he's a very energetic guy, but he just has this fast breathing. I'll have my staff vet check him out on Wednesday in case it's an aspiration issue, but just wondering if any of you have noticed something like this in your own babycat journeys.

Also, any tips to help him eat better? I'm still using a 3ml syringe because he tends to eat way too fast with a bottle and nipple. Most of the day and night he'll eat 1-2 ml per feeding then eat close to 9 ml at one feeding randomly. From what I know he should be eating 24 ml a day (so about 2-3 per feeding if it's 2-3 hours).

Thanks, and I look forward to hopefully helping out and sharing my experiences with you all!

 

[SmolCreeperCat]

Also I forgot to mention he was obviously very small when he was born, so I'm wondering if the fast breathing might be his lungs still developing. We're assuming he was the runt and maybe mama left him behind.

 

[StefanZ]

this breathing he had it always?

Anyway, whatever it is. As he is energetic and develops fairly normally, I do dearly hope this breathing is inside the normale.

Kittens with say, weak heart arent energetic.

You say he added from 68 to present 85. In how many days? Ie how long did you had him?

 

[SmolCreeperCat]

I've had him since Sunday the 4th, so exactly a week. I know he's not gaining as quickly as he should but in my personal experience I've seen that a lot with kittens who have been with mum for a few days. KMR just isn't as good as the real stuff! I have also just ordered some Miracle Nipples so maybe that will encourage him to eat more too. We all know plastic doesn't feel very nice on baby mouths.

Just tonight I fed him about 6ml and he was awake an hour later yelling so I fed him again and he took 2.5. He keeps meeting his intake goals and is a very round boy, so I'm not super worried about slow weight gain in the first week.

Here's a picture of him slowly lapsing into a milk coma.

 

[StefanZ]

If you can get raw goats milk, it may perhaps be worth a try. I mean, it comes from an alive momma, it too.
Cartooned or powdered goats milk are OK to use, but not the same potential edge.

 

[vyger]

On the Tiny Kittens web site (they are Canadian) they dealt with a problem with a small kitten that just didn't grow. They named it Nano because it was so much smaller than the rest. Anyway they did this whole work up on it and it turned out the problem was a hernia. When the kitten ate it's stomach expanded and pushed on its lungs and caused problems with breathing. So it would only eat until it couldn't breath anymore. At least that is the way I remember it. They were going to try and do surgery on it but it wasn't big enough so the hope was to keep it going until it could handle the surgery. The hernia got worse and in spite of all the care it died before it could get treated. But it was a pretty extreme case. Apparently hernia's in cats are not uncommon but many of them remain small and don't cause problems.

I did a search and here are some videos on YouTube about it. Be aware it's pretty emotional, at least the tribute part.
nano kitten - YouTube

 

[StefanZ]

Re hernia. Now I remember I saw something on it, as my Niece had it as infant. In in fact, my son too, even if not that dangerously.
they discovered a remedy, something rather simple.
At that moment I dont remember what, but it was quite a simple treatment...

On the Tiny Kittens web site (they are Canadian) they dealt with a problem with a small kitten that just didn't grow. They named it Nano because it was so much smaller than the rest. Anyway they did this whole work up on it and it turned out the problem was a hernia. When the kitten ate it's stomach expanded and pushed on its lungs and caused problems with breathing. So it would only eat until it couldn't breath anymore. At least that is the way I remember it. They were going to try and do surgery on it but it wasn't big enough so the hope was to keep it going until it could handle the surgery. The hernia got worse and in spite of all the care it died before it could get treated. But it was a pretty extreme case. Apparently hernia's in cats are not uncommon but many of them remain small and don't cause problems.

I did a search and here are some videos on YouTube about it. Be aware it's pretty emotional, at least the tribute part.
nano kitten - YouTube

 

[SmolCreeperCat]

Hey guys, so I took Boris in to my staff vet because he was very lethargic this morning, and it looks like I'm losing another one to Fading Kitten. I had hoped since he had passed his week mark that we would be out of the woods but apparently that isn't the case with him. It's always painful to lose a little one but thankfully he had a very great week with me he wouldn't have had otherwise. The odds were very stacked against him as he was very, very tiny, but he seemed to be doing so well all week.

I'll keep you posted.

 

[SmolCreeperCat]

Another baby met at the rainbow bridge by the beautiful souls of all our animals who have gone on before. It never gets easier to say goodbye.

 

[StefanZ]

Im sorry. RIP little one!

 

[AbbysMom]

On behalf of the TCS Team, I'm very sorry for your loss. Threads like this get closed after such a loss as a sign of respect. Please consider starting thread for him in our Crossing the Bridge forum as an everlasting tribute.

RIP little one.