Sad story – one of the shades of cat breeding

We went for holiday in the middle of February. With our work and stress levels, we really needed some rest. There were moments when we couldn’t handle all things. Elmirka gave birth to a wonderfull litter of five kittens at the end of January. Helen had delivery term for teh end of February/beginning of March. Elmas babies were developing nicely and were gaining weight. Even the smallest girl, who had to be taken care of with eating, for the first two days, was growing good and increasing her body weight. Ultrasound showed that Helen’s pregnancy was going on great and the kittens had good parameters. We thought this might be a good time to get some rest before next litter arrives.

First – later it will be much more difficult to find proper care for so many cats, while we’ll be gone. Second – with two litters on the board and two caring mothers, it’s always much more work and things that need our attention and time. What’s more that kind of situation also influences our other cats that need to be taken care of. So we’ve faced the choice to go and “charge our batteries” now, or we will have to wait until July. And with our level of exhaustion, we couldn’t make it till July. Stress level and atmosphere at home also influences our cats and thei well beeing. We could tell, that they also feel it. That’s why we’ve made a decision to get holiday between the litter. We would be back home before Elma’s kittens will start to eat other food (weaning is a delicate moment for kittens) and before Helen’s delivery.  

We’ve had two people to take care of our cats. Traditionally it was my mom, who had always watched over them while we were gone. Because we live together, they have constant care 24h/7. Additionaly, one of my best friends – Agata, was coming everyday, to keep them occupied and handle “technical issues” (litter boxes, feeding, additional petting and hugging). In Elmas and kittens room, we also have a camera that allows us to watch them from any place in the world (with good internet access). Thanks to that and everyday updates, we knew up to date, how everybody’s doing. Little ones were energetic, started to crawl our of their box and play with each other. They were also more interested in everything around and more social towards people. Elma and Cody were watching over them with parental care. 

Helen became good friends with Agata and Whisper with her son, who fell in love with her. Dziabąg probably gained some weight under “grandma’s care” (read – my mom’s). (So we will have to handle his diet and weight losing program as we get back… but raise a hand, who had never got a bit chubby while at your grandma’s?) 

Everything was looking great, so we’ve enjoyed our holiday and tried not to think about all the stress of everyday life. After all we left to charge the batteries for another months to come. After Helen’s delivery, we will have to take care of 12 cats while still having regular hobs. Someone may say, it’s what we decided to have. And that’s totally correct. But it doesn’t mean, that we don’t need some rest, once in a while, to have strenght to carry on with it. 

Unfortunately, life doesn’t always go as planned. Sometimes when we think, we are safe and everything will turn out for the bes, life teaches us humility. For us this punch in the face and getting back on the ground was Tuesday, 18th of February. Right after International Cats Day. 

 
Where we are, is a 4 hours time difference and we have internet acces only in the hotel. First information that I got to read that day (it was around 8 a.m. in Poland) was from my mom. She said that the smalest girl from Elma’s litter was having breathing difficulties. Previous day she was playing with her siblings as usual, without any disturbing syptoms. I received the bad news with a delay when I got back to the hotel. When I read it, the kitten was already at the clinic in the incubator, receiving oxygen and after first dose of medication.  

At first I wanted to leave everything, skip the holiday and get back home as soon as possible. But due to organisational reasons it was not possible. I knew our cats have the best care possible and that my mom will do everything in her power to hel this little girls. Even before I read her message, she was able to react quickly and deliver her to the clinic. The ocly thing I could do, was to try to help her from where I was, try to organise the medications and consult with doctors who took her in. 

Despite communication problems (signal, connection quality etc.) I was able to talk with the doctors. Our little girl was in a bad condition. Fading kittens syndrome was one of the options. Especially considering her age and the fact that she was the smallest one in the litter with lower birth weight (those factors increase can predispone for this problem). Also infectional issues could be suspected for ex. calicivirus. But other cats and rest of the kittens in the litter had no disturbing symptoms. Ausculation also didn’t reveal any disturbances.  

Fading kitten syndrome is mostly responsible for kittens death. According to research, among pirebred cats, survival rate varies between 76-95% in the catteries (we are above this level). Kittens between 1-3 weeks of age are in higher risk group. One of the reasons is lack of their own thermoregulation (this mechanism develops around 4th week). Chances for FKS are also greater while those kittens are more sensitive for hypoglycemia, dehydration and hypothermia (all the above can also arise and progress rapidly within hours). In bigger litters there is also risk of malnutrition as there is bigger competition for nipples. This can also lead to weakness of particular kittens. Sometimes the first and only symptom is decrease of body weight, but it can also happen that everything progresses really fast. Especially with smaller kittens. These are also more susceptible for infections as there is a chance they got less colostrum within first day of life.  

Our little girl was placed in the incubator really fast. Her temperature was decreased. Normal boidy temperature for kittens this age is between 36-38°C. When she got to the clinic she had around 34 degrees. She was given warm fluids and glucose to preven hypoglycemia. She also got oxygen due to her respiratory problems. Luckily she was still able to swallow and it was possible to give her some milk replacer that she ate pretty well. Untill her temperature gets back to normal, she was receiving small amount of warm fluids every hour. It was clear that oxygen helped her a lot. Slowly her body temperature was raising. Because beyon a reasonable dount, we could not rule out infection, she gto antibiotics and we tried to arrange some anti viral medication. My mom got across the city to find it as we had just a small reserves at home. Little one was in bad shape, the were rhonchus in the lungs, but she was stabilising. She was eating, her temperature stayed around 37,8°C. She was under constant supervision of doctors from Sowa Egzotica clinic and of course my mom.
When it was possible to perform further examination, ultrasound showed a bit of fluid in her thorax and bradycardia (decreased heart rate). Unfortunately, during it, she got so stressed, that she got respiratory and circulatory failure. Thank God, thanks to proffesional reanimation, she was brought back to life. She received additional meds to help her lungs and heart. She got back to the incubator and oxygen. She was responsive, was eating while fed, sometimes even kept her nose at the oxygen tube on her owne. We had to wait and see how she reacts to the meds she got. 

Elma and the other kittens at home, were doing great – playing around, fighting with each other and wondering around their room. Anyway, doctor Jagoda from the clinic, came for a house visit to check them out. Luckily there was nothing to worry about, no disturbing symptoms. But because we didn’t know what was the reason for the little girls problem, we couldn’t rule out infection. Therefor, the rest of the litter received protective dose of antibiotic and interferone.

At the evening, litlle girls condition was still severe but stable. We’ve decided to take her home for the night. All the meds she could have been given, she got. We’ve borrowed oxygen concetrator from the clinic, and in her box she had similar temperature as in the incubator. There was no serious reason to leave her at the clinic until morning. We hoped that she will have less stress back at home. She would also have acces to her mom if she felt like suckling. Because the clinic is not open overnight, there would be noone to watch over her. And at home my mom would stay with her. After consulting with the doctors taking care of her, we decided this will be for the best. I didn’t want her to stay alone in a strange place for the night. There was nothing more we could do.

Unfortunately, the little girl didn’t make it till morning 🙁 She got home, slept in her box with oxygen mask and just went to sleep for good. According to what my mom says – she didn’t suffer. She just left.. 🙁 

I didn’t sleep for the entire night and it’s hard to write all that. Especially beeing houndreds of kilometers away, when everything is “fresh”, there’s nothing I can do and I have so many thoughts in my head. What could have been done better? If we stayed at home maybe it wouldn’t have happened? What now with the rest of the kittens? etc.

We’re getting back to Poland on Sunday. Untill then we still have few days of holiday, but I’m not sure if I can make any use of it. All the time I stay worried about the other kittens. Entire morning we’ve spent on the camera watching them. So far, from what we can see and what my mom says, everything seems to be fine. But considering the rapid course of the little girl’s condition I don’t think we can rest easy. I know that she was the smallest one, had lowest birth weight and all that was the probably cause. But on the other hand, these are live animals and it’s unpredictable how this will go. So plase, keep your fingers crossed….  

 

EDIT:

According to necropsy and histopathology exams, cause of death was an aspiration pneumonia. Tests didn’t reveal any bacterial nor virus infection as a reason for pneumonia. Aspiration pneumonia can occur to animals (and people) of any age but the most endangered group are newborns and pediatiric patients (especially bottlefed). Cuase of the disease is a foreign substance aspirated into lungs (ex. milk, vomit etc) that leads to inflammation and progressive lung tissue demage. Aspiration pneumonia is a serious, life treating condition even for adult cats, not even mentioning kittens. The treatment used with our little girl also covers protocols for aspiration pneumonia. Unfortunately, regats the efforts, she didn’t make it.
Although lab results made us sad, they also brought some peace regarding safety and health of other kittens. Beacuse it means that infection wasn’t a direct cause (so the little girl didn’t get the condition from other cats) and therefore the rest of the litter couldn’t catch anything from their sister.