Care of Kittens

A pregnant queen should be isolated from other cats for the
final three to six weeks of pregnancy and should not be overfed.
A queen can experience a false pregnancy, or can reasorb
fetuses, especially if she is old, if she feels overcrowded or
disturbed, if she is unable to make a nest, or if a strange male
is present. In extreme situation, she may abort and ingest her
fetuses.

A nest box should be provided for the queen. If she feels
secure, “queening” is generally a swift and easy process. The
first kitten usually appears within an hour of the onset of
labor. However, the entire litter may be delivered within the
first hour, or, in some cases, the birth may take up to thirty
or forty hours. A dark vaginal discharge indicates placental
separation; this persists for only two or three days after
delivery, unless there is a problem. Once labor has commenced,
the queen should not be disturbed except to check occasionally
that all is well.

Newborn Kittens

The new family should be left alone in warmth, quiet, and
solitude. Constant crying, kittens squirming around the nest
box, and restlessness of the queen are signs of trouble. Young
kittens have a normal rectal temperature of about 96°, which may
rise to about 100° (35.5°C to about 38°C) during the first week,
after which the kittens develop the ability to shiver. Umbilical
cords drop off at two to three days, and ears and eyes open at
around six to twelve days.

Kittens weigh about 100 grams (3-5 ounces) at birth and gain
approximately 7 to 15 grams per day (a quarter to over half an
ounce). Thus, they will double their birth weight by seven days
and triple it by twenty-one days (males gaining even faster).
Large quantities of breast milk are needed, and this is
stressful for the lactating mother. if a supplemental food
source (e.g., milk replacer) can be provided by three weeks of
age, it will lessen the need for milk production and may shorten
the time to weaning.

Caring for Orphan Kittens

Occasionally, neonatal or young kittens are left with no queen
to nurse them or care for them. If a breeding queen dies after
giving birth, reject: her offspring, is unable to feed all of
her young, or has a mammary disorder such as mastitis, human
intervention becomes necessary if the kittens are to survive.
The task of “substitute queen” requires meticulous attention to
details and accurate record-keeping. A simple logbook will track
the progress of each kitten and provide helpful data if one
begins to fail. Kittens should be weighed at birth on a gram
scale (newborns usually weigh between 90 and 110 grams [3.15 and
3.85 ounces), and then on a daily basis for the first two weeks.
When properly fed, they will usually double their weight within
the first week. In addition to food, warmth is essential to the
well-being of newborn kittens.

A consistent environmental temperature of 90° to 94°F
(approximately 32° to 34-5°C) is recommended for the first two
weeks, then 75° to 80° (approximately 24° to 26.5°C) for the
third week. A temporary incubator, using a standard household
sixty-watt bulb placed approximately two and a half feet above
the kittens, should maintain the desired temperature.

When the queen licks her kittens, she is not only cleaning them
but also stimulating them to urinate and defecate. Massaging or
stroking the kitten’s anal area with a warm, damp cotton ball
will provide the same stimulus. Massage the kittens after they
have eaten and continue the massages for three weeks or until
the kittens are capable of urinating and defecating on their own.

Kitten Diseases and Neonatal Mortality

Without question, the first two weeks of life are the most
perilous for kittens. Almost all kittens that die before weaning
succumb during this critical time. Expected preweaning losses
range from 10 to 30 percent, with approximately 65 percent of
these deaths occurring during the first week of life (about half
of which are stillbirths). Deaths after weaning are less common
and normally don’t exceed 1 to 2 percent.

When less dim two weeks of age, kittens aren’t yet capable of
regulating their body temperature. Their immune systems are
still underdeveloped, and they are not yet able to maintain
normal levels of blood sugar. As a result, hypothermia, low
blood sugar, dehydration, and inadequate quantities of oxygen in
the blood are common preludes to death for kittens in this age
group, regardless of the initial cause.

Because of the limited number of ways neonatal kittens can
respond to illness, most “fading kittens” exhibit the.
following: (1) low birth weight, loss of weight, and/or failure
to gain weight; (2) diminished appetite and activity; (3)
decreased muscle tone; (4) constant vocalization or restlessness
early, but increasing quiet and inactivity later; and (5) a
tendency to remain separate from the queen and the rest of the
litter.

A number of noninfectious causes of kitten death are most
important during the early nursing period. Difficult or
prolonged labor, cannibalism, maternal inattention or
over-attention, and lactation disorders are significant
queen-related causes of neonatal mortality. Extremes of
temperature and humidity, inadequate sanitation, overcrowding,
and stress ultimately discourage nursing or allow hypothermia.

Infectious Diseases

Infectious causes of kitten mortality are more common during the
late nursing or early weaning period than during the neonatal
period, although there are exceptions. Young kittens are
susceptible to a number of viral infections, some of which
(feline panleukopenia virus, feline leukemia virus) may be
contracted in utero.

Panleukopenia virus infection acquired before birth or just
after birth can produce changes in the cerebellum (the portion
of the brain concerned with motor function, balance, and
coordination), intestinal tract, and bone marrow. Infected
kittens may have lowered resistance to other infections,
diarrhea, and a wobbly walk. Feline leukemia virus infections
can cause stillbirths and fading kittens, in addition to other
signs. Young kittens are also susceptible to infection with
viruses that cause respiratory disease (feline herpesvirus and
feline calicivirus).

Bacterial infections are usually acquired across the placenta;
during passage through the birth canal; via the umbilical cord,
gastrointestinal tract, urinary tract, or respiratory tract; or
through skin wounds. However, kittens nursing from queens with
mastitis (mammary gland inflammation) may become infected
themselves, manifesting signs such as fever, lethargy,
depression, bloating, and diarrhea.

Mastitis in queens can be the result of infection with any of a
number of bacteria, but Streptococcus spp. (spp. stands for
species, plural), Stapbylococcus spp., and Escherichia coli are
the most prominent. Affected animals become feverish and may
refuse food; infected glands appeared, swollen, and painful.

It may be necessary to remove kittens of queens with mastitis
and let them nurse from another queen or give them milk
replacer. Veterinary attention should be sought immediately.
Antibiotics may need to be given to the kittens as well as to
their mother. In addition, surgical drainage procedures may be
necessary to reduce swelling in the affected glands, especially
if an abscess has developed.

The bacteria agent Chlamydia can produce signs ranging from mild
conjunctivitis (inflammation of the eyelids to life-threatening
pneumonia. Infection with Bordetella bronchiseptica, another
bacterial agent, is being reported with greater frequency than
in the past. Respiratory tract signs predominate in infected
kittens, with pneumonia being the most serious. Congenital
Defects

Defects present at birth may affect any organ system, with
grossly apparent anatomic birth defects occurring in up to 10
percent of nonsurviving neonatal kittens. Birth defects that are
not grossly obvious (microanatomic birth defects) also occur.
Although many defects are apparent during the early stages of
the kitten’s life, some may not manifest themselves until later
in life. Congenital defects are often inherited, so breeding of
cats with such defects should not be considered, unless it is
known with certainty that the defect is not inherited.

Some of the more common birth defects involving the nervous
system include cerebellar hypoplasia (usually caused by feline
panleukopenia virus infection of the queen or kitten), spinal
cord defects like Spina bifida (especially in tailless cats),
and various storage diseases caused by inborn errors of
metabolism (e.g., GMI/GM2-gangliosidosis,
mucopolysacchiaridosis, mannosidosis, and globoid cell
leukodystrophy).

Congenital cardiovascular diseases reported in cats include
various septal defects, valve defects, aortic stenosis, patent
ductus arteriosus, and tetralogy of Fallot. Portosystemic or
portocaval shunts are being diagnosed more frequently than in
the past. This defect allows blood flowing from the intestinal
tract to bypass the liver, resulting in a variety of clinical
signs such as drooling, behavior changes, increased thirst and
urination, stupor, incoordination, and stunted growth. Except
for cleft palate, congenital defects of the gastrointestinal
tract are fairly uncommon and include failure of normal
development of segments of the intestine, abnormal development
of the anus (atresia ani), megaesophagus, and pyloric stenosis,
Craniofacial malformations occur primarily in Burmese cats but
occasionally are seen in other breeds as well.

Respiratory system defects include chest wall abnormalities and
pectus excavatum. Hereditary deafness, affecting either one or
both ears, is common in white cats. Congenital hernias
(especially diaphragmatic, peritoneopericardial, and umbilical)
are fairly common defects in cats.

Hemolytic Disease of the Newborn

The two most common blood types in the cat are type A and type
B, with the allele (one of a pair of genes for a given
characteristic) for type A blood being completely dominant over
the allele for type B blood. As a result, cats with type A blood
may be either homozygous (genotype AA having the same two
alleles at a given location on a chromosome) or heterozygous
(genotype Ab, having two different alleles at a given location
on a chromosome), but blood type B cats must always be
homozygous (genotype Bb).

Approximately 95 percent of type B cats have high levels of
antibody directed against type A blood cells. Therefore, when a
type B queen gives birth to type A kittens (as can happen when
bred to a type A male), antibodies in her colostrum destroy her
kittens’ red blood cells, resulting in a profound anemia, This
condition, termed neonatal isoerythrolysis (NI), usually becomes
apparent within one or two days after birth and can be rapidly
fatal.

Severe depression, anemia, jaundice (yellowing of the mucous
membranes), brownish-red urine, necrosis of the tail-tip, and
respiratory difficulty may be seen. The diagnosis of NI is
confirmed by blood typing. Affected kittens should be removed
from the mother as soon as signs are seen, foster-nursed or fed
feline milk replacer, and given supportive care. Because passage
of antibody in the colostrum is transient, affected kittens can
be returned to their queen after twenty-four to forty-eight
hours. Neonatal isoerythrolysis can be prevented by avoiding the
mating of type B females to type A males.

Parasitic Diseases in Kittens

Acute toxoplasmosis, a disease caused by the protozoan parasite
Toxoplasma gondii, may occur in young kittens, producing a
rapidly fatal illness. Cats are the natural hosts for Toxoplasma
gondii and, in most cases, are resistant to its
disease-producing effects. Under certain conditions, however,
the parasite can cause fever, pneumonia, diarrhea, depression,
and neurological abnormalities. The prognosis is very poor in
such cases. There are other parasites that more frequently cause
disease in young kittens, such as roundworms, coccidia, and
Giardia. These are much more common problems than toxoplasmosis
and, in general, are much easier for the veterinarian to treat.

The above is general veterinary information. Do not begin
any course of treatment without consulting your regular
veterinarian. All animals should be examined at least once every
12 months.