My cat had her kittens around 3 weeks ago. She had 3, but one sadly died (unknown reason). At around 1 week old I noticed the little girl was breathing very fast. She doesn't have her mouth open and you can't really hear anything. She was fine feeding and didn't struggle to breathe. We took her to the vet. The vet took x-rays and couldn't see anything wrong with the kitten as she appeared fine. It was literally that her breaths per minute were high, like 80. The vet gave us some antibiotics anyway because she thought there could be a slight infection. After a week on the medication nothing changed.
We spoke to a different vet to get a second opinion. The vet said she may have been premature and could just be slightly deformed or underdeveloped and time would tell. So anyway. Shes 3 weeks old now. She seems fine. Is playing, feeding, wWalking around, and seems strong, but is still breathing fast. She is also a little underweight. Shes 220g. A lot smaller than the boy, at 380g.
Last night my cat was acting really weird. She kept meowing and chirping at me and the kittens, for like hours. I gave her food, changed her litter in case she needed a toilet, but nothing helped. Its like she couldn't sit still. I woke up at 3 in the morning to see she had moved them both onto my bed while I was sleeping.
I left her on my bed with them because I didn't want her to try and move them again and end up hurting one as my bed it quite high up. The next morning I moved her and the kittens down into the bed I've made them. (It's still in my room, very close to my bed.) She seemed happy with them being back in there and would lie down with them and sleep in there with them.
Tonight she is chirping and meowing again so I decided to get a video and all of a sudden she moves the kitten back onto my bed with me. It was the sick one. She laid down to try and calm it while keeping her eyes fixed on the other one. I quickly got up and grabbed the other one and placed it next to her as I could see she was unsettled. She is now fast asleep with the kittens and seems relaxed. What could be the reasoning for this? I though maybe she was bringing me the sick kitten, but she brought both up last night and is now fast asleep and seems fine. I'm just puzzled.
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This is a stressful situation for your cat. She obviously loves and trusts you, and sees your bed as a safe place. That is probably why she is bringing her kittens to you.
is it warmer on your bed? Maybe if you place a grow lamp or heat lamp where you want the kittens, she won't move them
So glad you get the little girlie a vet check!
Mommy may feels she needs help caring for the babies (perhaps mourning the loss of one of her babies and the fear that she will lose the others so she seeks your help to protect or--if she is not making enough milk--feed them) or she is just tired and needs a second set of eyes and "hands".
If everything with the kits stays well, maybe have mommy checked out so she gets a good post partum bill of health!
Post back what you learn! Prayers for all!!
It certainly sounds like you are doing all you can for this mom and her babies. When you talked about one of the kittens that was breathing fast in spite of antibiotics I thought of a friend whose cat had a litter and one of the kittens was breathing fast. No other symptoms but that. A trip to the Vet in the middle of the night found that the kitten had a hole in his diaphragm. It had no doubt been there since birth, and the kitten had gotten big enough that something had slipped through the hole and taken up enough space that the lungs couldn't work properly.
It certainly sounds like you are doing all you can for this mom and her babies. When you talked about one of the kittens that was breathing fast in spite of antibiotics I thought of a friend whose cat had a litter and one of the kittens was breathing fast. No other symptoms but that. A trip to the Vet in the middle of the night found that the kitten had a hole in his diaphragm. It had no doubt been there since birth, and the kitten had gotten big enough that something had slipped through the hole and taken up enough space that the lungs couldn't work properly.
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