I need help - cat coma

[kittyrescue]

Testing name change first

quick need to go to bed!

Ok, due to fuckwittery and finances, our cat remained unspayed and has become pregnant. We have homes sorted and today they were born.

The cat lives in the garage pretty much despite encouragement to come inside and thus had her kittens in the most unsuitable part of the house. I went in this morning to find they were being born.

I could hear one and mummy cat came out to me looking very confused and distressed. Turns out that the one I could hear mewing was down the side of a box on cold concrete floor.

Brought them in and palced in my bedroom with blankets. All well with mother and baby.

Upon investigation I find two more dead kittens in the garage. These I put in a bag and DH and I inspect them for possible cause of death. We don't tell the DC.

Next another kitten is born. So we have 2 kittens doing well.

This evening I go to dispose of the bag with dead kittens in and one starts moving. Obviously I think I have imagined this as it goes still again. But no, I see its chest rise and fall a teeny bit and possibly a paw flicker.

Up date to now. Kitten is now warm, dry and wriggly but is not feeding.

Spoken to vet who thought me mad and got someone from Royal Veterinary College London to call me. I have been talked through what to do but STILL the kitty won't feed from mum. Will suck my finger but the vert said it really must feed from mother ASAP or it will likely die.

I don't know what else to try and mother cat is getting pissed off with me keep trying to get it to feed off her.

Anyone any experience of kittens reviving themselves over 13 hours later?

Is there any emergency vets near you? You could go and kitty formula and hand rear it.

I said to RVC man that I had baby formula and he said it REALLY needs to feed off mum but he said I could use that tonight but he really, really wanted me to try and get her to suckle from mother.

I am so trying to but she's having none of it. Have expressed BM onto my finger so has had the teeniest amount of that. I know that makes this post sound like a wind up but it isn't. I figured EBM would be better, slightly. Have also tried a bit of sugar solution as apparently she is probably hypoglaecaemic hence the 'coma' all day.

Still very freaked that kitten came back from the dead. It has been in my car a couple of hours and freezing cold in a placcy bag by the back door the rest of the time.

Don't feel bad. You weren't to know. These things happen. The babies usually need some sort of stimulation i.e. the mother licking them to get them going. If they fell down the side of the box perhaps your cat couldn't reach them.

I have no idea if this will work, but when by baby rats were abandoned I was told to run a small amout of baby vix on the babies of another nursing mother babies and on the abandoned babies and a touch just above the mothers nose, so that they all smelt the same.

If it is the mother rejecting it or not encouraging it to feed perhaps it no longer smells the same as the surviving kittens?

Please consult your vet first though. I am not a vet nor a vet nurse. Just an ex freaky teen who used to breed rats.

Go to your vet at first opportunity and get some cimicat and a bottle and feed kitten every 2 hours (I know, I know, but will give it the best chance!)

If you can't get to vet tonight, there are various recipes for cat milk substitute online (it's quite different composition from human/ cow's milk) likethis

With the best will in the world the kitten might not make it, but you can but try- good luck

id spay your cat asap or she could be pregnant again in no time.

kittens can be hand reared but its a labour of love and knackering.

are the other kittens feeding? could you "swap" one mid feed?

Oh- if you have no bottle you can use a syringe, but don't be too forceful- it's easy for kittens to inhale the milk when they are so weak, leading to aspiration pneumonia

She needs the colostrum from her mother's milk, so you must get as much of this into her as possible - even if this means expressing it and feeding her with a syringe or dripping it into her mouth off a teaspoon. What have you done so far to get her to suckle? If you haven't done so already, carry her over to mum, put her into position and get her sucking your finger while you squeeze mum's nipple to release a few drops of milk, then quickly swap the kitten from finger to nipple. If this doesn't work, open her mouth and try to latch her on while squeezing the nipple. Persevere, and hopefully she will get the idea. If not, you'll need to act fast to get a feeding syringe and some formula from the vets otherwise she probably won't last the night. Even if she's not feeding, snuggle her up next to mum, it's the best place for her to stay warm (and she might start to feed on her own).

Is the other kitten definitely dead? If a kitten appears stillborn it's normally quite easy to bring them round by rubbing them 'against the grain' with a towel to stimulate their breathing and unblock their airways - my gran's cats had a lot of kittens (she had a farm and they didn't spay in her day ) and I can probably count the number of actual stillbirths on one hand - many of them appeared dead but we managed to bring them around. It's probably too late for the other one now, but just incase please check.

I just want to ask - did you make a safe birthing nest for the cat in the garage (i.e. box with blankets and high sides), or did she not have anything set up? It's very unusual for a cat to just leave her kittens on a cold floor if there's a safer option available (most cats go to great lengths to find a safe birthing spot).

Hope the kitten perks up

Thank you.

I have a plastic calpol syringe but it doesn't glide very well so am very worried about aspiration of fluid. So I am using my finger with the EBM but it gives the teeniest amount as most drips off my finger.

I will go the vet first thing as there is no 24 hours vet within reach of me at this time.

I will get her spayed - probably via Blue Cross which the RVC vet told me about.

Mother isn't exactly rejecting the kitten but doesn't seem bothered that she isn't suckling. I tried expressing from mother cat but it didn't work at all.

Would a rubber glove with a pin hole cut in in be better than the medicine syringe I have which is very hard and not malleable at all?

oh and I have tried yankign a feeding kitten off and replacing with poorly kitten as the vet told me to try this. She is quite 'energetic' (not in the truest sense of the word) and flings herself away from the nipple every single time I place her there.

I'm more than willing to feed 2 hourly if necessary but so want her to bond with mother to have the best chance of survival.

thanks for advice thus far.

Thank you. She had several places in the garage with throws and things on. She ususally sleeps in an old baby car seat so I put blankets in that too. I also put boxes around indoors for her and she sat in one I made til late last night but then wanted to go back to the garage very late. I really don't know wht she had them where she did. I'm still unsure whether she birthed on top of the box and they possibly fell or whether she birthed down the side of the box because it was very dark...but why choose the concrete floor?

I noticed labour started probably on top of the fridge where she often sits when waiting for me to come and feed her as there was some sick and runny poo there and from there to the birth place.

I can try again to express milk. And also try the finger suck and remove idea. Will keep trying - am just giving her 15 mins with mum and no fuss to see if she 'gets it' after she has now had EBM from my finger.

Will human milk make her ill?

Yes, put her back in with mum between feeds. If she is strong enough to throw herself away from the nipple she should be strong enough to suckle. Check her little tummy periodically- if she feels empty, top her up with cat's milk/ substitute. If not, let her be with mum.

She sounds like she is feisty anyway!

PS you could try rubber glove is she isn't keen on syringe.

Another tip is to pick up the skin at the back of her neck- if it stays up and tented, she is dehydrated and needs more feeding. if it falls down quickly she is getting sufficient.

How is mum reacting to her?

Human milk won't make her ill, as such, but is very different from cat milk- poss best to try for a substitute. Exactly how old are the kittens= as midori said, better if she can get some colostrum from mum, but mum will only produce it for 24-48hrs

I'm not sure about human milk. It would be better than cows milk but the recipes that someone linked to are probably a safer bet.

I'm glad your getting better advice than I started with. Jooly sounds like she knows what she is talking about.

Hiya, just a quick note, I had something similar happen several years ago, I found a kitten that seemed dead and was cold. my dad put it in a bowl of warm water and it revived. We then mixed up some glucose and fed it to the kitten to give it an energy boost ( it can be absorbed i told through the membranes in the mouth so even if not swallowed theres a benefit.

I totally agree that the kitten needs to latch. In your situation I would be very torn as to whether backing off would give the kitten a chance to bond and latch.

You can give stimulus by stroking the kitten in the same way the mother would lick it. That may help, its tricky.

goats milk is far better, they use it at the wildlife reserve for all abandond babies

Just tried again and she sucked and then lolled off. Literally two sucks, she is definitely better at sucking my little finger even though it is massive.

Will see about making up milk substitute. I also have goats milk in the fridge as none of us like cow's milk in this house. stroke of luck.

Is it the best thing to be doing this I wonder? She was stone cold all day. Hours and hours in a bag. Thsi si very odd.

That's what I thought about the nest situation - if she's a young first-time mum she probably didn't know what was happening and was caught 'on the hop' when giving birth so didn't know what to do with the first kittens once they came out. If she was a bit more experienced she would have carried the kittens to a warmer place, but she was probably just a bit confused and that's why she came looking for you to help her.

It would be worth going on yell.com and calling all the vet surgeries in your area to see if they've got an out-of-hours service (most leave a number on the answering machine) and then call them all to ask if they'll see you. I'm sure if you explain the situation they won't turn you away even though you're not an existing client.

Have you got a 24 hour supermarket within driving distance? That way you can get some ingredients to make your own substitute milk, and possibly something to feed her with (a baby's bottle with the smallest teat you can find would be ideal).

If you've got absolutely nothing else available I think you could use goats milk for tonight, but you'd have to dilute it about 50/50 and boil it up first to kill any bacteria, then let it cool.

she was maybe meant to be here. someone will love her, i think my DDs cat is a little 'odd' but she is the most loved kitty, my dd adores her, she sleeps with her every night.

keep trying. your doing the right thing, give her a chance, at least if she doesnt make it you tried. can you hold her to mums teet so she doesnt 'loll' off? if she can suckle your finger she sounds strong enough to suckle mum.

have you checked the other kitten in the bag?

Also meant to add, you'll have to stimulate her to wee and poo before and after you feed her. Just rub her tummy and genitals with a warm damp cloth to mimick the licking action. You could try this now - it might make her want to feed and it certainly won't do any harm.

How is she doing now she's cuddled up next to mum?

Don't know if anybody's still up and reading this but to anser vicar's qu. I have checked the other kitten again and tried rubbing it and mouth to mouth stuff for about 15 mins but it is definitely dead. I think rigour mortis is also setting in slightly so that double confirms it. The one that is now 'alive' looked the best of the two even when I first considered them both dead.

I have spoken to Karl again at the RVC (I love him) and he has told me that her being as active as she is is very good and she just needs to figure out the feeding in her head.

He said he'd prescribe Simicat for me to go ollect now if I want (said I would colelct now) but given her activity levels he said he'd prefer me to keep trying with the mother cat's nipples for a bit.

He said EBM was okay but simicat better so go get some if I am going to have to go down the route of human intervention. I am going to call him in a couple of hours if she starts getting weak through lack of feeding.

Thanks also for the tip on stimulating weeing and pooing. Had forgotten that.

oh bless you, your going to be knackered!

well best of luck for tonight - hope she starts to feed. let us know!