Kitten Fades Every Night

Question
You can call our home the "Coyote Cat Ranch," as we have quite a number of cats in the house, and several feral cats living in our back yard that my husband rescued when he quit his job. He used to feed them every day, and worried what would happen to them when he left, so he trapped them and moved them to our large, fenced-in back yard. They have been living out there very happily, as he feeds them twice a day.

We had managed have all but one spayed. The Queen gave birth to a litter of four kittens in March. We brought them into the house and raised them by hand and they all thrived.

Finally, on June 14, my husband was able to catch the Queen and we took her to our vet and had her spayed. That evening when my husband went out to feed the other feral cats as usual, he came back into the house with a kitten. On further inspection we found three more. So, I am once again hand raising a litter of kittens. I love them. They're adorable and they have been thriving ... except for one problem. (I would estimate that they were about two or three weeks old when we found them so they are about five or six weeks old now.)

The solid black one, I call him Midnight, goes completely limp every evening. His eyes are wide open. His mouth is open with his tongue sticking out. His whole body is limp. He's breathing and his heart is beating, but he isn't moving.

This has happened every evening for the past four nights. In the morning, he's bright eyed and bushy tailed. He's eating fine and running and playing with his siblings. All is well until Midnight and then he goes limp again.

I know this isn't happening because I named him Midnight. It just scares and worries me, as he seems to be moments away from fading away forever. Can you tell me what could be causing this and why it keeps happening? Is there anything I can do to help him?

Answer
Tracy,

First Kudos to you and your husband!!!!!!!!!!  You are angels!!!!!!!!!!

It sounds as if Midnight is having seizures for some reason or another.

I would take Midnight to your vet and have him check the kitten out.  This behavior is not normal and very worrisome, for sure.  I am not a vet, but were one of my kittens doing this, I would want to get to the bottom of it post haste!  There are a myriad of conditions that could cause seizures of this type and it would be important to get to the root cause.  Also, there is no guarantee that finding the problem means that it is curable.  On the other hand, it may be something relatively easy to treat with the correct medication.

Please let me know what you find out about Midnight.

Best regards... Norm.