Newborn orphan kitten death

Question
Hello Jessica, I actually have a few questions for you regarding my 3 day orphan old kittens.

First of all, their mother is somewhat of a stray, the only connection we have is that she comes onto our porch each night to eat the food we leave out for her, she never comes inside. We knew she was pregnant, but we weren't sure when she was going to have the kittens.

On sunday, while walking my dog I spotted one of the kittens in my neighbors yard, it was crying and alone, so I went into my house and got a laundry basket, lined it with towels and carefully picked him up with a washcloth to place inside the basket. I then decided to do some hunting, finding one in the gutter on the street, and the other in my driveway.

I attempted to leave the kittens on the porch to see if their mother would take them when she returned that night for her food. She wouldn't go near them.

I bought a nurser bottle and some KMR powder for the kittens. They didn't eat well the first day, but started taking to it by yesterday. So sunday night I went to bed, leaving my kittens in the laundry basket on my living room table. I got up periodically to feed them when they cried, about every three hours. Then I heard screming and came to check on them, seeing one on the floor, I picked it up and placed it back in the basket. Then I fixed the basket where the kittens couldn't escape.

I had to go to work monday morning, and could not feed them while I was gone, for approx 7 hours. They were fine and guzzled down there food when I got home. Last night they slept pretty well, only waking me up about three times to feed.

Then this morning I woke up and one kitten was laying on it's side, actually the most plump kitten and it wasn't being very responsive. I knew something was wrong immediatly. I brushed it off as if the kitten were just tired, because it did eat enough to satiate my worries. My husband stayed home and they only ate twice while he was here, but when I got home I noticed my kitten was throwing up it's feces and blood was also coming from its nose, mouth and anus. It died soon after, and I'm not sure why.

I have a couple theories as to why, but I would feel much better about the safety of my other two remaining kittens if you helped. My first theory is that the kitten who passed away was the one from the other night who fell from my table, but then again, wouldn't it have suffered before today? And my others would be that it didn't use the bathroom and it just built up, but then why would there be blood? And my final theory is that it was simply crushed. IE I keep a warm jug of water in their bed to keep them warm, since I don't have any other way to heat them, and the jug may have fallen on it, or it could have been wedged between the jug and the side of the basket.

Also, my other kitten seems to have the hiccups frequently, but I'm not so sure that's what it is. It only does it when I'm holding it, and it's sort of a whole body twitch every thirty second, when it's sleeping. When he's awake, he's constantly on the move.

Note: I do stimulate their bows after every feeding, and I help them urinate. They haven't yet opened their eyes, and one seems to sneeze alot.

Answer
Hi Andrea.  I'm so sorry to hear about your little one!  It's really hard to say what may have happened.  

Kittens get dropped.  Mom tries to hop fences and loses grip, and they fall to the ground, and they are fine.  This happens all the time!  This is not to say that no kitten ever gets hurt when they fall, but because their bones are flexible and because they are so light, chances that he became seriously injured from a fall off a table are probably small.

I think a good theory is that this happened because he hadn't moved his bowels, and I am wondering if maybe he had liver problems.  The liver is responsible for producing several blood clotting factors, and if it was failing, the kitten may have been hemorrhaging.  This might explain why he had blood coming from his nose, mouth and anus.  The liver also produces bile, which aids in the digestion of fats.  Formula is high in fat, which kittens need, but if fat is not digested properly, it is a major cause of constipation.  Long-standing constipation or bowel obstruction can cause a kitty to vomit feces.  This is a guess that seems to make sense.  But a vet would have to have done an autopsy to say for sure.

I would try to get a heating pad to keep the little ones on just in case the water jug had crushed him.  This will also keep their temperature evenly warm.  Keep the setting on low, and cover the heating pad with a thick towel.  Then make sure there is an area where the kittens can move off the heating pad if they get too warm.

Keep up the good work!  It's so sad when these things happen, but I hope it was just something that was congenitally wrong with that little kitten, and that the others will grow up big and strong.