Found our cat dead in her bed this morning- kittens 5 weeks

[diege]

Had the awful experience of finding my beloved cat dead on her bed this morning. She was 2, no health issues, and behaving normally yesterday evening. She has 5 kittens, approx 5/6 weeks old. I'm devastated and will have to break the news to my children tonight... She was really my eldest daughter's cat, and got her (daughter) through recent surgery and radiotherapy for an aggressive brain tumour, so it will be exceptionally difficult for her to take in. I'm also worried about the kittens --will they be ok on kitten food/cat milk?They started weaning last week but were still feeding from mum.
Any thoughts/advice very welcome!

I would contact the vet for advice about the kittens. So sorry for your loss

I’m so sorry, OP. That’s an awful experience for you and incredibly upsetting for your poor children. Although they are still a bit young and it will be hard work, you should be able to ween them. Please ask your vet for advice. If you ring them, they may give you a call back and advise you over the phone and give you any medication/food that the kittens will need. My own vet phones me back if I’ve any questions, so hopefully yours will do the same.

Vet straight away for the kittens. Hopefully having had colostrum and most of what they need of mum's milk they will survive with the right alternative.

Vet ASAP for the kittens.

I'm so sorry

Oh no how awful!

5 weeks is a bit too early to be fully weaned, they will need to be given kitten formula - I have half a tub from last month (much less tragic circumstances) which I can post to you if you PM an address (but you will need to buy some today too) - we got ours from Pets at Home, "Beaphar Lactol kitten milk" - NB this is not the same as the little cartons of kitten milk that are designed to be a little treat for an older kitten and shouldn't be the main food for any kitten.

They will need to have formula as their main food for at least the next 3 weeks, with little amounts of solid food only for experimenting with. Then you can withdraw the formula gradually as they get better able to cope with solids.

They may be too little to lap and need to be bottle fed but they may manage lapping.

You should consult a vet to ensure the kittens health is monitored. The vet may also recommend an autopsy for the poor mum to check whether the cause of death has any implications for the health of the kittens.

I would call the vet and take the kittens in to be checked if vet thinks its needed. So sorry for your loss.

So sorry to hear. How sad for all of you x

Thank you so much for the advice. I'm on my way back from work and will pop into the vets on the way. They'd only just started having a taste of wetted kitten food so yes definitely not ready to do without a milk substitute yet.
Very anxious about telling older dd who will be devastated. She's out tonight on her first 'social' outing with friends since radiotherapy, so am tempted to wait until tomorrow and hope I cam defer the talk until then...

Yoba, many thanks for the offer. I'm going past Pets at Home so will see what they suggest.
I can't financially run to an autopsy unfortunately...from googling I'm guessing something heart-related.

Oh how awful, you poor thing.

www.humanesocietyhbg.org/Media/pdfs/orphaned_kitten_handout.pdf might have some useful tips

All-round bag of shit, really, I feel for everyone (4 and 2 legged) in this situation

A long shot but do you know of anyone who has a female cat that would act as "auntie". When I was a teenager, we had a cat that did this. She couldn't provide milk but otherwise she made a good job of being a surrogate mum.

Thanks Worrybadger, that's really useful.

Not to sound overly dramatic, but last time I had to sit them all down (have 6 dcs) it was to tell them that their dad had died, so very hard. At least I found her though, so spared them that at least!

Local pet shop has the kitten substitute milk too it seems, so at least that's something positive.

Phone your nearest cat rescue and see if they have a queen who’s just weaned her own litter? Our cat sanctuary says they often put an extra lone kitten or two in with a good mum.

Blimey you've really been through it, hope it goes ok with the children and the kittens thrive

Ohh i am so sorry,,maybe her heart,?sorry i have no idea,,her kittens though,,ahh thats heartbreaking,. We lost our 5 yr old cat maximus 3 weeks ago,so sad,💔💔 i know your pain xx

They might need stimulating to pee/poo still depending. Rub their bits with some warm damp cotton wool. If they're already using a litter tray you can ignore this and just make sure everyone is going.

You'll also need to keep them warm. A rice bag is good or a hot water bottle under a few folded towels.

If you're bottle feeding make sure you're doing it in the right way so they don't choke.

The kitten lady on Instagram has lots of advice.

Hope you can get the advice and support re the kittens. What a lot your family has been through.

Oh bless you. Your family has been through such a lot.

The children should be allowed to see the mother cat if they want. So sorry for your loss, this will bring it back. Look after yourself

Oh that's so heartbreaking, so sorry for your loss xx I wonder if the vet would know what happened?

Our cat almost died giving birth, first kitten died, second delivered by cesarean (big emergency) and mum couldn't produce milk after. The vet gave us kitten milk and a syringe (kitten was as small as a hamster and was NOT impressed with feeding that way, it was more difficult than you'd imagine) much easier when they could lap it up themselves. They're going to wonder where mummy has gone, so sad :(

So sorry for your loss, did mum seem fine with feeding the kittens etc and well in herself, could she have a retained kitten or afterbirth i wonder ,i had this with a cat a few yeas ago, luckily she survived,but at 2 unlikely to be a heart attack but not impossible
Your vet might have an idea if you took her to be examined, not a post mortem ,
I hope the kittens will get on ok without mum,it's not too early to wean if they wont drink from a bottle with a bit of mashed up kitten food
Sorry for your daughter who will probably be devastated

My heart goes out to you and your family on your tragic losses. I have cats and just wondered if you have family or friends who can help you look after kittens. I agree you should contact cat homes near to you to see if they have a mummy cat to fed kittens and I've even read mummy dogs can sometimes feed kittens anything is worth a try to help kittens survive. You have been through so much and a very caring lady. If I lived near you I would be willing to help anyway I can. I live in Hull. I would love to help. Xx

Thank you for all the lovely messages The substitute kitten milk is going down well and they're lapping it up from a saucer so no need to syringe thankfully. They're trying to feed from mum's brother 😩hanging off his back, which would be funny if it wasn't so tragic.

The children are out and about this evening and dd1 has an important assessment at college tomorrow , so on balance the telling will have to wait until then...I still can't believe she's gone. No signs whatsoever and just looked like she was asleep this morning 😔

With mum at the weekend trying some milk-soaked kitten food 😔

Oh bless them and you, you poor things.

I would suggest phoning a cat rescue place for advice too. They will probably know how to help orphaned kittens.