Kitten Passing Away - Is it My Fault?

Question
Hi,
This morning I woke up, and one of my 2-week old kittens was found dead. They were born in a big storage bin in the basement, and there were 5 of them. The 14 month old cat is a great mother. The kitten looked very heathly, but I am afraid that I may have done something to hurt the kitten. The bin was brought into the living room about 3 days ago. Yesterday afternoon, my brother and I were looking at the kittens, and he took a few pictures with a flash of the kittens, and I read on the internet today that it is very bad for them, now I feel horrible. We decided to see how they would react if we took them out of the bin to play in the living room, and they seemed a bit scared at first, but they had their mother there so they were okay afterwards. Later on, I took the kitten, which I think was the one that died last night, out on its own to play with and it was too scared so I put it back in immediately. I cannot stop crying, I keep thinking that it is my fault. Would it have been the flash from the camera that caused harm? Or being taken out of the box on its own? I am absolutely wrecked about it, it was my favourite kitten. I am such an animal lover and can't live with myself. Please help me!!


Answer
Katie,

The odds are the kitten would have passed on anyway.  At two weeks of age, it is good to handle the kittens, but I would not take them away from the mother, even to play.  At 3 weeks, they should be more self assured and will do better.  It is also best not to keep moving the box around, so the mother does not get upset.

The flash would not have hurt the kittens.

At 4 weeks, you should begin feeding solid food to start the weaning process. I would give them meat baby food (make sure the only ingredients are strained meat and meat broth, no added salt, sugar, onion, or garlic) to start and slowly move them to what mama is eating.

Once the kittens are weaned, they will enjoy the exploration and play.  At two weeks of age, they are just not quite ready yet.

Best regards... Norm.