We lost a white folded longhaired kitten tonight. It was the smallest and we noticed it wasn’t eating well, it would try to nurse but when other kittens came it would just give up. So for the first two weeks I helped it nurse by finding it a spot and blocking off the other kittens. We’ve always had runts but this one was very sluggish. Two days ago it stopped trying to nurse at all. So I started giving it KMR in a syringe and a bottle. It hated it and most went all over the towel. Today I brought it in to the vet to get a feeding tube that was recommended for kittens refusing to eat (a catheter inserted in the throat) as it doesn’t run the risk of pneumonia like force-feeding and you know exactly how much food makes it into the tummy instead of face. I brought some littermates so the vet could see the difference in size. The vet was pretty unconcerned. Said the kitten was dehydrated so they would give it IV fluids and it should start eating on its own. I didn’t think this felt right and told her it had no interest in a bottle and I thought a feeding tube was best. She said it looked healthy otherwise and heart and lungs were good and it sounded like it just had trouble breast-feeding and it would pick up the bottle soon.

The kitten was crying a lot at the vet and on the ride home I noticed it started grunting while breathing. I got home and continued trying a bottle two or three times. At 6pm I could tell the fluids were not helping and it’s grunting was continuing but the vet closed at 5pm. I gave it another feeding at 8pm and decided I was going to take it in at the opening time and insist more strongly that it be fed. By 9 the kitten was crying and grunting more and I started getting ready to take it in to the 24 hour emergency vet, they were better able to handing intensive hospitalization anyways as our vets always recommended them when our shelter cat was dying but we didn’t want to put our old cat through that if she wasn’t going to make it. I woke Andy up to drive while I held the kitten next to me to keep it warm and while he was getting ready I went to gather up the kitten, and it was barley breathing and limp. I screamed at Andy it was time to go now and the kitten was dying. We rushed to the hospital while I did breaths to help it breath and then full cpr once I could tell it was no longer breathing and the eyes weren’t moving anymore. I called the vet on my cell phone too to let them know we had a kitten who just stopped breathing and I was doing cpr so they would be ready.

They were ready when we got there and quickly asked if we wanted CPR which I said yes. I knew it was pretty grim since the kitten didn’t respond to the CPR I had already started. They came out about 5 minutes later saying they tried. I explained it to a tech while the vet worked on her and he said it was probably failure to thrive or fading kitten syndrome. He said it was very small for it’s age and sometime kittens just don’t eat as much as they should. This frustrated me greatly because this is what I was trying to tell the regular vet earlier who said it was nothing. My cat vet book I use recommends hospitalization right away with IV fluids, tube feeding, heating, and blood sugar monitoring. NOT a wait and see in a few days approach. And also to compare small kitten to littermates which the first vet did not do.

So we had a very tearful night and me with much regret for not pushing harder for the feeding tube I asked for twice. This is once again a problem of local vets (who usually only see stray litters that people are not willing to spend money on) not knowing how to handling the raising of kittens by those who love and are willing to spend money and time to save a kitten or two. The emergency vet who handles emergencies for all the vet clinics in the area would have known what to do as they probably get all the overnight breeders in the area coming there. I contemplated going there first but all online resources said a feeding tube if fine to get from a local vet, they show you how to do it in the office, then it’s a home thing. A feeding tube was going to be an on going process needing to be watched over by a local vet, something the emergency vet doesn’t do. Just fixes up your animal or handles things to big for your local vet then hands them back off to the local vet. So now I know, if I think my cat will die within 48 hours and will need intensive medical care, go to the emergency vet.

This baby was adorable. I’ve been watching her closely these two weeks. Her face was very flat and her ears had just started folding. She got tons of oos and aahs at the first vet and they showed her to all the workers and even some of the customers. I became very emotionally invested in her, even more so when the bottle feeding started and when I became her voice trying to explain how sick she really was. I think the first vet visit is what finally did her in. She was meowing so hard there and on the way home is when I noticed her troubled breathing. I think it took too much of the last of her energy. Ironically, if I didn’t bring her she may have had a few hours longer and the after hours nature of the visit would have forced me to bring her to the emergency vet and she may have survived long enough to get her feeding tube. I reacted very quickly to the event, less than 24 hours no feeding, got to vet, 6 hours later at 9pm things no getting better and gut is telling me things are very wrong so go to emergency vet, kitten crying worse 20 min to get ready and get Andy up to find a quickly fading kitten. We were back home before 11. I learned a lot about fading kitten syndrome, including birth weight and difference between litter mates can help detect this, so I will be adding weighting at birth and of the small kittens to my new kitten mommy regimen.

We are taking it pretty hard, but not as hard and the poor baby who went over the rainbow bridge. May you be warm and full over there sweet kitty.