I am going to try to explain exactly what happened, in the hope that perhaps someone has been in the same situation or can offer some answers or a bit of logic that I'm missing.
On 11th May, my mum and I found a kitten in the garden. He was all alone. We took him in, cleaned him up, and took him to the vet, who gave us some milk replacer and told us not to worm him yet. He weighed about 0.66 lbs (300g). Still no teeth. But he was already so social... as soon as you touched him, he would purr and look for cuddles. For a fortnight, we bottle-fed him; he was a real little glutton, sometimes we even wondered if it was normal. He’d take a 30ml bottle in one go sometimes. Then he got constipated, so we gave him a few drops of liquid paraffin, which worked well and his stools were fine. Despite all that, I thought he had a very bloated tummy, and I found him a bit clumsy with his back legs sometimes. He didn't want any dry food, though. He was so cuddly and playful... I have several cats, but I’ve never had one as affectionate as this one. Everything seemed to be going perfectly.
This Saturday, 29th May, my mum went off to work, so she gave him a 20ml bottle. When she got back from work, he meowed as usual; she gave him 10ml and he didn’t want any more. And nothing else all afternoon. In the evening, my mum was playing with him and while playing, he fell off the bed. My mum was worried and kept an eye on him until 1 am; everything was fine. Except for one bit of soft poo, but it was the first one, so it wasn't worrying. The next day, I looked after him until 1 pm; everything was fine, he was playing, cuddling, etc. But he had only taken 10ml of milk, which was surprising since he usually had three bottles a day. At 6 pm that evening, my mum played with him and then left him to sleep. She came back 30 minutes later to check on him, and he wasn't where she'd left him. In the litter tray, there was some soft poo with a kind of black mucus in it. The kitten had crawled behind a cushion and was lying there, dead. I arrived in a panic; there was a pulse, but he wasn’t breathing at all. Then the pulse faded away because he was so weak.
So, my question is:
What could have been wrong? Did we miss a step? A heart problem? Parasites? Something else?
Thank you for reading; I know it was a bit long...
Translated from French
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Hi, we also found a kitten about a fortnight ago. She couldn't see as her eyes were all gummed up; we thought it was cat flu. She was on kitten milk, had diarrhoea but was peeing, and everything seemed okay at first—she was taking her bottle well. Then on Saturday I took her to the vet because she had a bit of blood in her poo; I thought she was just irritated, but she was so tiny that the vet just gave us some treatment for the diarrhoea and her eyes. Her eyes were improving but not the tummy issues. Then she started shivering, she must have been cold; she was quiet when she was on us and kept warm. Yesterday she barely wanted to eat at all, only a tiny bit. She was meowing so loudly, almost like she was screaming or as if something was hurting her. She was sleeping all the time, but yesterday evening she seemed relatively okay. Then this morning around 5:30 am she meowed loudly; I thought she was hungry but when I went to pick her up she couldn't walk anymore. She’d gone completely limp but was still alive. She couldn't stand on her little legs anymore and as soon as my girlfriend picked her up, she passed away. We don't know what happened. I tried CPR and mouth-to-mouth but there was nothing we could do. I buried her at 8 am this morning, but is it possible she could have woken up and then died again? I don't think so, I waited about 2 or 3 hours before burying her. She wasn't stiff yet but she'd lost control of her bowels etc. and the fleas were leaving her body. Poor little thing, 5 weeks is far too short, she was so small. I feel so guilty because I don't know what was wrong with her—maybe her heart or not eating enough, even though she was eating. I don’t know, it’s all very strange. Since she came from outside and her mum wasn't looking after her anymore, she was just wandering around blind. We tried everything, or maybe we didn't do enough, please let me know what you think. Thanks.
I don’t think he starved to death (if it was only one missed meal), nor do I think he died of fright. The fact that he was having accidents outside his tray wasn’t his fault; it was either due to weaning issues (which is obvious, given he was taken in at only 18 days old) or an untreated health problem. Had you taken him to a vet for a health check or for advice on feeding such a tiny kitten? It is more than tragic that he passed away so young and, forgive me, but I won’t be offering any comfort given the circumstances. My advice, if you ever find an abandoned kitten again, is to take it to a rescue where they will know how to raise it and ensure it develops as it should.
He’s gone this morning💔
I only got him two weeks ago. He was just 18 days old then—very cuddly but he didn't play much, he just wanted to be on me all the time. For the last two days, he’d had conjunctivitis. When he woke up, his eye would be stuck shut. It would open a few minutes after he cleaned himself, and I’d take the opportunity to put some eye drops in. The rest of the time, he seemed okay.
He was eating his kitten dry food well, but the litter tray wasn't really his thing. I tried to reassure myself by saying he was just marking his territory since another cat used to live here, but it was a habit I really didn't like. I kept trying to litter train him, but he preferred going everywhere else and hardly ever in his tray. Yesterday morning, he did a poo right next to me on my bed and I just couldn't tolerate it. So, I was distant with him all day and pushed him away when he came near so he'd know I wasn't happy with him. During the day, some friends visited with a Chihuahua and it went okay-ish; they didn't attack each other, even though you could tell he was terrified of the dog. 😞 He was such a tiny baby. But I was just so fed up, especially with him going on the bed right next to me. I didn't give him any fuss in the evening; he came up to me once, I pushed him away, and then I didn't hear from him again. I didn't really go looking for him; I wanted him to know Mummy wasn't happy with his behaviour, as that’s the age you're supposed to be training them. Before going to bed, I pottered around the house but I didn't see him—and honestly, I didn't look for him. I was cross. I went to bed and forgot to put out more dry food for the night. This morning at 6 am, my boyfriend found him dead on the floor. There were little traces of poo where he was lying. I don't even know what happened, and I didn't even get to stroke him one last time.
Did he die of fright, or hunger? Was it the lack of attention?
I’m so sorry, Cesar 💔
I feel so awful. My heart is in pieces.
Last year, I rescued two female kittens from my workplace; they were about a week or two older than the one I had this year. Both were in a terrible way, and I did everything I could to save them. It was all going so well, but one died due to a misjudgement by the vet. They had Giardia. The treatment was started too late for one of them 😕. So I keep thinking that the bloated tummy was probably a sign... but he was doing so well, playing so much, and was so sweet and cuddly that I just couldn't imagine him passing away suddenly in his sleep like that. It's really hard to understand when there weren't any obvious signs... I'd like to believe it wasn't our fault. That it was some kind of underlying issue.
Unfortunately, we can't give you a definitive answer, but you also have to consider that if you found him all alone, the mother might have rejected him because she sensed the kitten wasn't viable. It often happens that a mother will turn away from a kitten if she feels it won't survive. I think you did everything you possibly could, but sometimes there’s only so much you can do. So sorry for the poor little mite.
