Unknown Feline Disease

Question
Hello, recently I received a new Siamese kitten from our renters friend.  This kitten is about 5 weeks old and is weaned from her mother. We live on a farm in Iowa and the kitten is able to wander anywhere around the farm yard. I am worried that our new kitten is going to get some kind of a disease that previous cats have gotten when living on our farm. The last kitten we had first showed signs of not moving around much except for a strange back and forth movent that she made, she wouldnt eat and lost weight, her breathe smelled rotten, had a little diaria, seemed stiff and uncomfortable, and also made an unusual meow (longer and louder). I tried treating her with homemade remedies that one of my cat loving friends and made, but no luck. The kitten died a couple days later. We are planning on vacinating for distemper when our new kitten reaches the 6 week mark. Could it be distemper or is it something else? If you know anything about this please help me. Thank You!  

Answer
I would definitely keep her indoors until she's been fully vaccianted for a few weeks.  Right now, she's completely unprotected against anything.  Truly, she shouldn't even be weaned entirely for another month at least (12 weeks is ideal).

The symptoms you mentioned could certainly be from feline distemper.  But there are so many diseases that those generic symptoms could come from.  Feline leukemia, feline infectious peritonitis, even rabies is possible.  Those are all contagious - rabies by bite wounds only, leukemia through bites or grooming, and distemper and peritonitis through contact with feces or nasal secretions of an infected cat.  The indoors are the safest place for a kitty, especially for unvaccinated ones and kittens.  Over 80% of outdoor cats die before their first birthday.