Dear Kim, I am so sorry about your kitten's death! I'm sure that at one time or another, each one of us who has dealt with sick cats and kittens, takes the blame for their death. You did all you could! Your kitten seems to have had some serious health problems and was probably underweight because of them; at 2 months old, she should ideally have weighed almost 2 lbs. I would probably question whether the vet gave her the right dose of dewormer etc. Don't blame yourself...you did NOT kill the kitten! It's so natural for us to question ourselves when something goes wrong!
I have just gone through a kitten death two weeks ago. A practically newborn kitten was found in a window-well filled with water after a heavy rain. Someone looked down and saw a tiny orange kitten - under water except for the head. A call went out to anyone who might have a nursing mother - I did and still do. The kitten was probably 4 days old by then...our kittens were already 4 weeks old and gigantic compared to this baby. The mother was very willing to accept little Puddles, but he showed no desire to suck....I had to feed him with an eyedropper. All went well, but after 5 days, Puddles didn't want to drink as much KMR and started feeling cold, although I kept him in a small carrier on heated disks for warmth, and fed him every two hours except for 4 hrs at night. I took him to the vet, and as he examined him, Puddles died right then and there...his temperature was only 95.6!. I blamed myself for just about everything, but I know that I did what I could correctly...I have raised so many tiny kittens to adulthood, why not this one? Maybe Puddles never got to drink his mother's milk to get any colostrums....we'll never know. Natalie -----Original Message----- From: felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of Kim Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2010 2:53 PM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: [Felvtalk] I killed my kitten last night... I am having such a hard time today with my kitten's death. My little kitten that was 2 months old died last night. She weighed 3/4 of a pound. She was the runt of the litter that I had raised since they were four weeks old. She has been a huge challenge for me the month I had her. My vet first thought she had mega esophagus but then wasn't so sure when she threw up roundworms. She had a problem keeping her food down since the very beginning. Anyway, Friday, my vet wormed her, and her three siblings. She was doing great yesterday until around 7 pm. I gave her a small bowl of KMR and shortly afterwards she started having difficulty breathing and was breathing through her mouth. She had eaten canned kitten food earlier and was doing fine. She died while I was holding her trying to give her a sub q injection. I don't know what I was thinking. I know I killed her. She couldn't breathe and I was trying to hold her still and evidently I had her in a position that her breathing worse because she just went limp and died in my hands. It was so fast that I didn't even get to give her any fluids. I knew she was having troubles breathing but yet I held her still and she was unable to breath because of it. I'm having a hard time with her death. She was such a sweet kitten and even though I can't admit it in front of her other three siblings she was my favorite. Can anyone explain this to me? Were the worms fighting the Strongid and migrating to her lungs making her unable to breathe? Did the KMR have something to do with it? I feel so bad. When I saw her throw up the worms Thursday night I told her to hang in there and I would get her all better in the morning after the vet wormed her but instead I feel like I killed her and did wrong by her. I am so sorry I did this to her and wish I could take it all back. She didn't deserve to die this way. Kim "...Saving just one pet won't change the world....but surely the world will change for that one pet..." The top ten reasons to spay and neuter your dog or cat were killed in a shelter today. _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
