Laurel
Kitty Mama
- Joined
- Aug 27, 1999
- Posts
- 20,692
Yes, it's true - I've been tricked into playing temporary mommy to another sickly kitten.
There's this really mean, hissing mommy cat who gets pregnant every few months and brings her babies to our backyard. She seems to have some sort of genetic problem or some other physiological issue, because nearly every litter has included at least one kitten with some sort of deformity. (She's Owen's natural mommy.) A couple of weeks ago, she brought her new brood by the house - two marbly kittens, one pure white. As in the past, out of the three surviving kittens, one had something wrong with its back legs. But it seemed to get along fine, and the mom still fed & cared for it, so we left it alone.
Last night, we saw the mom nursing the two marbly kittens, but the white kitten - the defective one - was nowhere to be seen. Flashlights in hands, Manu and I looked around our house and yard until we spotted the little guy lying underneath a corner of the house, alone.
At first, we thought he was dead. Then when he moved, we thought "oh, he's fine - he must've gotten lost." Then we picked him up and realized that there was something terribly wrong with him. He couldn't stand up. His body was twisted in the middle. One leg stuck straight out stiffly. My first thought was that he must've fallen and broken his back, but he could move his legs (albeit randomly) and he didn't appear to be in pain. When we took him in, he drank formula, peed, and even made a little poopoo. But he still couldn't walk, and his body was just as twisted & strangely rigid.
This afternoon, we took him to the vet. They tested him for FeLV and FRCRP (deadly kitty diseases) - he was negative. The doctor felt the little guy and said it looked like trauma to him. He took x-rays, but the x-rays of the spine came back normal. His leg bones were a little weird - like Owen's were when he was young - but nothing in his bones gave a clue to the strange rigidity and twistedness.
A couple of the doctors observed the kitten for a while, and decided that they believe the problem is not muscular or skeletal, but neurological. They took blood from him to test for some weird brain disease that causes cats to lose control of some of their motor function. The disease is caused by a virus, so they told us to keep the kitty away from our other cats (which we do). They said it could also be a nutritional deficiency causing the problem - as was the case with Owen - and advised us to feed him high-quality food.
So, there's a little furry sleeping bundle in our garage right now. Tomorrow afternoon, the results of the blood test come back from the lab and I'll have more to tell you. I'll take pics of the little guy and post them later tonight.
There's this really mean, hissing mommy cat who gets pregnant every few months and brings her babies to our backyard. She seems to have some sort of genetic problem or some other physiological issue, because nearly every litter has included at least one kitten with some sort of deformity. (She's Owen's natural mommy.) A couple of weeks ago, she brought her new brood by the house - two marbly kittens, one pure white. As in the past, out of the three surviving kittens, one had something wrong with its back legs. But it seemed to get along fine, and the mom still fed & cared for it, so we left it alone.
Last night, we saw the mom nursing the two marbly kittens, but the white kitten - the defective one - was nowhere to be seen. Flashlights in hands, Manu and I looked around our house and yard until we spotted the little guy lying underneath a corner of the house, alone.
At first, we thought he was dead. Then when he moved, we thought "oh, he's fine - he must've gotten lost." Then we picked him up and realized that there was something terribly wrong with him. He couldn't stand up. His body was twisted in the middle. One leg stuck straight out stiffly. My first thought was that he must've fallen and broken his back, but he could move his legs (albeit randomly) and he didn't appear to be in pain. When we took him in, he drank formula, peed, and even made a little poopoo. But he still couldn't walk, and his body was just as twisted & strangely rigid.
This afternoon, we took him to the vet. They tested him for FeLV and FRCRP (deadly kitty diseases) - he was negative. The doctor felt the little guy and said it looked like trauma to him. He took x-rays, but the x-rays of the spine came back normal. His leg bones were a little weird - like Owen's were when he was young - but nothing in his bones gave a clue to the strange rigidity and twistedness.
A couple of the doctors observed the kitten for a while, and decided that they believe the problem is not muscular or skeletal, but neurological. They took blood from him to test for some weird brain disease that causes cats to lose control of some of their motor function. The disease is caused by a virus, so they told us to keep the kitty away from our other cats (which we do). They said it could also be a nutritional deficiency causing the problem - as was the case with Owen - and advised us to feed him high-quality food.
So, there's a little furry sleeping bundle in our garage right now. Tomorrow afternoon, the results of the blood test come back from the lab and I'll have more to tell you. I'll take pics of the little guy and post them later tonight.
