To see or not to see
 

Let me just start out my story on how I aquired my foster kitten named
Roxanne. I work at a hotel and we have stray cats from the area and then
seem to breed and birth on our property. There is one female cat named
Patches(by a co-worker) that is the alpha female that has all the kittens,
that I know of. Last year at this time she had 7 kittens and were all healthy
and I fostered them for about 2 weeks and found homes for all of them, I kept
one. This year she had kittens again, however, she let one behind, Roxanne.
A guest and her family found the kitten. She was about 24-36 hours old
(umbilicord was still attached but almost dried up) and she was cold and not
moving. I told the couple that I would try to save her and resured them that
I know what I was doing because I have fostered small kittens before, as
young as 6 hours old. I am also a certified vet assistance and have worked in
the animal field for 4 years and voluentered for a total of 10 years. They
were fine with the idea and wanted Roxanne when she was old enough. I got
food into her and she improved. Things were going good till 2 days later,
what happen next I like to it an episode because I do not know what happened.
I was at my grandmothers and I went to get Roxanne out of the box to feed her,
because at this point I was force feeding her, and she had defacated all over
herself and was having convolsion. I figured that she was to weak and that
was why Patches left her. Roxanne was displaying all signs of dying. Labored,
shallow, decreasing breathing and she was screaming out. It got to a point
where she had stopped breathing, for at least 3 min maybe longer, I said my
goodbyes and put her in her carrier and put her in the car. 2 hours later
when I got home I went to bury her and when I took off the lid she was moving.
I picked her up and held her. I did not know what to think she stopped
breathing and was lifeless in my hand 2 hours ago. Since that day she has
been a different kitten she eats like a pig. I took her to the vets a week
later just make sure everything was ok with Roxanne plus I thought she had a
unbilicord hernia. Vet could not tell me anything about her episode, what it
was or what it could have been, and said she was healthy and I had nothing to
worry about. Less then 3 days later I had to take her to the vets because
she had a hole at her unbilicord site and it was infected. Vet gave me
amoxicilin to give to her for 10 day and said the problem she is having was
related to a hernia and that I needed to keep an eye on it. I am on day 5 and
the infection has cleared up.

The reason I am writing this thread is because I hope someone can help me out.
I need to know first if anyone has witnessed an episode like this before and
can enlighten me as to what happened(I am thinking a siezure), second how can
you tell if a kitten is blind.

To see or not to see
 

http://www.fabcats.org/fading_kittens.html

Congratulations to you on doing this. I've no direct experience, I'm just an
everyday cat-owner, but the above mentions hypoglycaemia where a kitten isn't
taking enough milk.

Post 10 days the pupil should react to light.

Is there any chance of arranging for an international rescue organisation to
make a one-off visit and spey the females at least?

There's more useful general info here.

http://www.kittenrescue.org/handbook.htm#Orphan

weavergirl wrote:
Let me just start out my story on how I aquired my foster kitten named
Roxanne. I work at a hotel and we have stray cats from the area and then
seem to breed and birth on our property. There is one female cat named
Patches(by a co-worker) that is the alpha female that has all the kittens,
that I know of. Last year at this time she had 7 kittens and were all healthy
and I fostered them for about 2 weeks and found homes for all of them, I kept
one. This year she had kittens again, however, she let one behind, Roxanne.
A guest and her family found the kitten. She was about 24-36 hours old
(umbilicord was still attached but almost dried up) and she was cold and not
moving. I told the couple that I would try to save her and resured them that
I know what I was doing because I have fostered small kittens before, as
young as 6 hours old. I am also a certified vet assistance and have worked in
the animal field for 4 years and voluentered for a total of 10 years. They
were fine with the idea and wanted Roxanne when she was old enough. I got
food into her and she improved. Things were going good till 2 days later,
what happen next I like to it an episode because I do not know what happened.
I was at my grandmothers and I went to get Roxanne out of the box to feed her,
because at this point I was force feeding her, and she had defacated all over
herself and was having convolsion. I figured that she was to weak and that
was why Patches left her. Roxanne was displaying all signs of dying. Labored,
shallow, decreasing breathing and she was screaming out. It got to a point
where she had stopped breathing, for at least 3 min maybe longer, I said my
goodbyes and put her in her carrier and put her in the car. 2 hours later
when I got home I went to bury her and when I took off the lid she was moving.
I picked her up and held her. I did not know what to think she stopped
breathing and was lifeless in my hand 2 hours ago. Since that day she has
been a different kitten she eats like a pig. I took her to the vets a week
later just make sure everything was ok with Roxanne plus I thought she had a
unbilicord hernia. Vet could not tell me anything about her episode, what it
was or what it could have been, and said she was healthy and I had nothing to
worry about. Less then 3 days later I had to take her to the vets because
she had a hole at her unbilicord site and it was infected. Vet gave me
amoxicilin to give to her for 10 day and said the problem she is having was
related to a hernia and that I needed to keep an eye on it. I am on day 5 and
the infection has cleared up.

The reason I am writing this thread is because I hope someone can help me out.
I need to know first if anyone has witnessed an episode like this before and
can enlighten me as to what happened(I am thinking a siezure), second how can
you tell if a kitten is blind.

--
Message posted via CatKB.com
http://www.catkb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx...ealth/200705/1

To see or not to see
 

"weavergirl" u34042@uwe wrote in message news:71e9dc14f4408@uwe...

second how can
you tell if a kitten is blind.
--------
One way to check a human's vision is to move your hand toward the person's
face, and if he don't respond, and he doesn't blink, that would be at least
a clue. When the kitten reaches an age where kittens are normally able to
see (I don't know what age that is for a kitten), see if she will follow
your finger with her eyes and/or turn her head to follow your finger.
Good luck.
Best regards,
---Cindy S.

To see or not to see
 

"weavergirl" u34042@uwe wrote in message news:71e9dc14f4408@uwe...
Let me just start out my story on how I aquired my foster kitten named
Roxanne. I work at a hotel and we have stray cats from the area and then
seem to breed and birth on our property. There is one female cat named
Patches(by a co-worker) that is the alpha female that has all the kittens,
that I know of. Last year at this time she had 7 kittens and were all
healthy
and I fostered them for about 2 weeks and found homes for all of them, I
kept
one. This year she had kittens again, however, she let one behind,
Roxanne.
snip
The reason I am writing this thread is because I hope someone can help me
out.
I need to know first if anyone has witnessed an episode like this before
and
can enlighten me as to what happened(I am thinking a siezure), second how
can
you tell if a kitten is blind.


I am writing in response to the part of your message that asks about
blindness in a kitten. The "easy" check is to move your hand back and forth
(and up and down) in front of the kitten. Watch to see if she follows the
movement of your hand. Do this in good light, but not direct sunlight that
might be difficult for a kitten to use for contrast. You could also use a
flashlight to see if there is any reaction. Is there a veterinary college
near you where you could take Roxanne for an evaluation? I have a wonderful
blind cat, Duffy. If you google, you will find that I have written numerous
times about Duffy and his incredible feats. He can do almost anything that
a sighted cat can do, and he is an incredibly loving, happy, active little
guy. I took him to Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine for an
evaluation. He is completely blind and has been blind since birth, but it
would be well worth having an examination while the kitten is young -- just
in case there is something that you can do to preserve some vision for
Roxanne. (Duffy was estimated to be 3-5 years old when I adopted him.)

Please keep us updated.

MaryL

Photos of Duffy and Holly: 'o'
Duffy: http://tinyurl.com/cslwf
Holly: http://tinyurl.com/9t68o
Duffy and Holly together: http://tinyurl.com/8b47e

To see or not to see
 

On 9 May, 11:19, "weavergirl" u34042@uwe wrote:
Let me just start out my story on how I aquired my foster kitten named
Roxanne. I work at a hotel and we have stray cats from the area and then
seem to breed and birth on our property. There is one female cat named
Patches(by a co-worker) that is the alpha female that has all the kittens,
that I know of. Last year at this time she had 7 kittens and were all healthy
and I fostered them for about 2 weeks and found homes for all of them, I kept
one. This year she had kittens again, however, she let one behind, Roxanne.
A guest and her family found the kitten. She was about 24-36 hours old
(umbilicord was still attached but almost dried up) and she was cold and not
moving. I told the couple that I would try to save her and resured them that
I know what I was doing because I have fostered small kittens before, as
young as 6 hours old. I am also a certified vet assistance and have worked in
the animal field for 4 years and voluentered for a total of 10 years. They
were fine with the idea and wanted Roxanne when she was old enough. I got
food into her and she improved. Things were going good till 2 days later,
what happen next I like to it an episode because I do not know what happened.
I was at my grandmothers and I went to get Roxanne out of the box to feed her,
because at this point I was force feeding her, and she had defacated all over
herself and was having convolsion. I figured that she was to weak and that
was why Patches left her. Roxanne was displaying all signs of dying. Labored,
shallow, decreasing breathing and she was screaming out. It got to a point
where she had stopped breathing, for at least 3 min maybe longer, I said my
goodbyes and put her in her carrier and put her in the car. 2 hours later
when I got home I went to bury her and when I took off the lid she was moving.
I picked her up and held her. I did not know what to think she stopped
breathing and was lifeless in my hand 2 hours ago. Since that day she has
been a different kitten she eats like a pig. I took her to the vets a week
later just make sure everything was ok with Roxanne plus I thought she had a
unbilicord hernia. Vet could not tell me anything about her episode, what it
was or what it could have been, and said she was healthy and I had nothing to
worry about. Less then 3 days later I had to take her to the vets because
she had a hole at her unbilicord site and it was infected. Vet gave me
amoxicilin to give to her for 10 day and said the problem she is having was
related to a hernia and that I needed to keep an eye on it. I am on day 5 and
the infection has cleared up.

The reason I am writing this thread is because I hope someone can help me out.
I need to know first if anyone has witnessed an episode like this before and
can enlighten me as to what happened(I am thinking a siezure), second how can
you tell if a kitten is blind.

First off, well done!

You should be proud of yourself, hand rearing a very young kitten is
an extremely hard thing to accomplish & the fact that you have got
this far is testament to your dedication & hard work. I would assume
that you are giving kitty milk formula via kitty teat or syringe until
your kitten is at least 4 weeks old every 2 hourly, by which time you
can start supplement feeding with solid food? It is no easy feat & I
admire your dedication;o)

I am so pleased that you had the foresight to get straight to the vet
with her, instead of posting her and asking us what you should do. You
would be amazed @ how many do;o(

It's great to hear that your vet has looked @ her & given you some
amoxicillin for her. I wonder if you might be able to get your hands
on something like some STERZAC POWDER, which we humans use for baby's
umbilical cord? I have had one kitten in a similar condition to that
which you describe, & I found this powder to be immensely helpful in
drying the cord area up. The vet dealt with the hernia later. Ralf
didn't make the noises that you describe, only the shallow breathing,
& eventually I thought stopped breathing. There was only a very small
convulsion just before this happened, but now that he is nearly a year
old, we can see that there was no damage at all. Our vet put it down
to a febrile convulsion

I also thought that it was the end, only to look back half an hour
later & find him still whimpering in his little shoe box under the
lamp. The moment I realised that he was still going, I called the vet
& she told me to rub a tiny amount of honey into his gums, & sure as
eggs are eggs, about 20 Min's later he was back to normal. ( he too
had a oral suspension of amoxicilline.). I will try & post a photo of
him a bit later. He was ever such an unusual looking cat, but
wonderful in character Ralf didn't make the noises that you describe,
only the shallow breathing, & eventually I thought stopped breathing
completely. I find the easiest way to get a kitten to empty bowel and
bladder, is to soak a baby-wipe in some lukewarm water, then wipe
around the area to encourage the kitten to empty both bladder & bowel
@ the same time like their mother would naturally.......


Mary is our resident Blind cat advisor. no one I know, knows more than
she does about blind cats because of Duffy, her wonderful cat. Any
advice that she gives you will be correct & very good too...

I think what you are doing is a wonderful act of generosity, all too
rare these days in our disposable world. I wish you all the best, &
look forward to some future instalments as to how things progress with
her as well.

I am only too aware what a precarious a feat tiny kitten feeding is &
how vulnerable they are, so I realise how hard it is to find the time
to do anything, especially posting all of the time- perhaps now and
again if you wouldn't mind?
I really do wish you all the best,

Good Luck,
S;o)

To see or not to see
 

I am glad you responded to my message. I looked at the slide show of Duffy
and the one picture close up of his face reminded me of Roxanne's eyes. Her
eyes are almost idenical to Duffy's except they are not as cloudy as his. I
had been to the vet twice in a matter of 4 days with Roxanne and each time
the vet said that she was to young to tell if she is blind or not, which I
understand because she was only 11 days and 15 days old. The vets said that
what was wrong with Roxy was age related and not vision related. However,
Roxy has had her eyes open for 8 days now and she has no control over her
eyes. She sleeps with her eyes open somewhat or even open the whole way. My
friend, who also worked/works for a vet, did the hand test and she did not
even flinched. Roxy is only 20 days old now and is still young but I want
the people interested in taking her to know of all her problems before hand,
so if they are not interested taking Roxy I can find a home for her. Also
does Duffy like to be touching you or cuddle with you? Because Roxy is fussy
when she is not touching me, not like any other cat that I had fostered
before.

MaryL wrote:
Let me just start out my story on how I aquired my foster kitten named
Roxanne. I work at a hotel and we have stray cats from the area and then
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
one. This year she had kittens again, however, she let one behind,
Roxanne.
snip
The reason I am writing this thread is because I hope someone can help me
out.
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
can
you tell if a kitten is blind.

I am writing in response to the part of your message that asks about
blindness in a kitten. The "easy" check is to move your hand back and forth
(and up and down) in front of the kitten. Watch to see if she follows the
movement of your hand. Do this in good light, but not direct sunlight that
might be difficult for a kitten to use for contrast. You could also use a
flashlight to see if there is any reaction. Is there a veterinary college
near you where you could take Roxanne for an evaluation? I have a wonderful
blind cat, Duffy. If you google, you will find that I have written numerous
times about Duffy and his incredible feats. He can do almost anything that
a sighted cat can do, and he is an incredibly loving, happy, active little
guy. I took him to Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine for an
evaluation. He is completely blind and has been blind since birth, but it
would be well worth having an examination while the kitten is young -- just
in case there is something that you can do to preserve some vision for
Roxanne. (Duffy was estimated to be 3-5 years old when I adopted him.)

Please keep us updated.

MaryL

Photos of Duffy and Holly: 'o'
Duffy: http://tinyurl.com/cslwf
Holly: http://tinyurl.com/9t68o
Duffy and Holly together: http://tinyurl.com/8b47e

--
Message posted via http://www.catkb.com

To see or not to see
 

"weavergirl via CatKB.com" u34042@uwe wrote in message
news:71fc1da841cbc@uwe...
I am glad you responded to my message. I looked at the slide show of Duffy
and the one picture close up of his face reminded me of Roxanne's eyes.
Her
eyes are almost idenical to Duffy's except they are not as cloudy as his.
I
had been to the vet twice in a matter of 4 days with Roxanne and each time
the vet said that she was to young to tell if she is blind or not, which I
understand because she was only 11 days and 15 days old. The vets said
that
what was wrong with Roxy was age related and not vision related. However,
Roxy has had her eyes open for 8 days now and she has no control over her
eyes. She sleeps with her eyes open somewhat or even open the whole way.
My
friend, who also worked/works for a vet, did the hand test and she did not
even flinched. Roxy is only 20 days old now and is still young but I want
the people interested in taking her to know of all her problems before
hand,
so if they are not interested taking Roxy I can find a home for her. Also
does Duffy like to be touching you or cuddle with you? Because Roxy is
fussy
when she is not touching me, not like any other cat that I had fostered
before.



Duffy does love to be cuddled, and he does a lot of head-butting and
face-rubbing (rubbing the side of his face against mine). However, he is
not fussy, and he does not sleep with his eyes open (as you described). He
is a little "talker," but it is a happy sound -- he will walk around the
house making cute little "myruup, myruup..." sounds.

I took Duffy to the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine for
an evaluation shortly after I adopted him (estimated then to be between
three and five years of age). He is so remarkable about going wherever he
wants and locating objects that I thought he might have some vision, and I
wanted to know if there was anything I could do to preserve it. I learned
that Duffy is completely blind. If there is any residue of vision at all
(which is "minimal to nothing"), it would only be the merest light/dark
perception. He would not even be able to see broad shapes. His condition was
described as "anterior cleavage syndrome." His eyes are much smaller than
normal. Since the eyes did not grow correctly, the eyelids also did not
grow. It seems that the eyelids grow to accommodate the eye. I was shown a
model of a cat's eye. There should be space between the iris and the cornea,
but there is no space in Duffy's eyes; the two components adhered together.
This probably happened in utero, and possibly was caused by infection in the
mother. However, Duffy does not have any infection; and this was not caused
by herpes (in Duffy) or anything similar.

If possible, I encourage you to take Roxanne to a feline ophthalmologist.
It is hard to find this specialty unless you live near a large city, and
your best location might be at a college of veterinary medicine. My
veterinarian gave me a referral. I was very impressed with the people and
the facility, even though I was not able to do anything to help Duffy's
eyes. However, it eased my mind to know that I had not neglected something
that might have been saved if I had just acted in time. I was also pleased
with the costs -- I had expected it to be much more. They quickly
determined the cause (and results), so it was only $55.00. It would have
been more, of course, if they had determined that additional tests were
needed. That is a teaching facility, and several interns were brought in to
see Duffy's eyes. All were interested in seeing the condition, and everyone
was very gentle with him.

One point: Be sure to talk to Roxanne before you touch her since you think
she may be blind. You don't want to do anything to frighten her by touching
her when she doesn't expect it. Of course, I have always tended to do this
even with my sighted cats. When she gets a little older, it might be a good
idea to place her in a household where she will have another cat as a
companion. Duffy is always aware of where Holly is, and you could almost
swear that he is "watching" her. There have been times when I called Holly
a "seeing eye cat" because Duffy will chase after Holly and gets such
delight in playing with her -- sometimes *too* much for Holly's liking, but
Holly can leap onto high objects and get out of Duffy's reach if she really
wants to.

MaryL

To see or not to see
 

"MaryL" -OUT-THE-LITTER wrote in message
...

"weavergirl via CatKB.com" u34042@uwe wrote in message
news:71fc1da841cbc@uwe...
I am glad you responded to my message. I looked at the slide show of Duffy
and the one picture close up of his face reminded me of Roxanne's eyes.
Her
eyes are almost idenical to Duffy's except they are not as cloudy as his.
I
had been to the vet twice in a matter of 4 days with Roxanne and each
time
the vet said that she was to young to tell if she is blind or not, which
I
understand because she was only 11 days and 15 days old. The vets said
that
what was wrong with Roxy was age related and not vision related. However,
Roxy has had her eyes open for 8 days now and she has no control over her
eyes. She sleeps with her eyes open somewhat or even open the whole way.
My
friend, who also worked/works for a vet, did the hand test and she did
not
even flinched. Roxy is only 20 days old now and is still young but I
want
the people interested in taking her to know of all her problems before
hand,
so if they are not interested taking Roxy I can find a home for her.
Also
does Duffy like to be touching you or cuddle with you? Because Roxy is
fussy
when she is not touching me, not like any other cat that I had fostered
before.



Duffy does love to be cuddled, and he does a lot of head-butting and
face-rubbing (rubbing the side of his face against mine). However, he is
not fussy, and he does not sleep with his eyes open (as you described).
He is a little "talker," but it is a happy sound -- he will walk around
the house making cute little "myruup, myruup..." sounds.

I took Duffy to the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine
for an evaluation shortly after I adopted him (estimated then to be
between three and five years of age). He is so remarkable about going
wherever he wants and locating objects that I thought he might have some
vision, and I wanted to know if there was anything I could do to preserve
it. I learned that Duffy is completely blind. If there is any residue of
vision at all (which is "minimal to nothing"), it would only be the merest
light/dark perception. He would not even be able to see broad shapes. His
condition was described as "anterior cleavage syndrome." His eyes are much
smaller than normal. Since the eyes did not grow correctly, the eyelids
also did not grow. It seems that the eyelids grow to accommodate the eye.
I was shown a model of a cat's eye. There should be space between the iris
and the cornea, but there is no space in Duffy's eyes; the two components
adhered together. This probably happened in utero, and possibly was caused
by infection in the mother. However, Duffy does not have any infection;
and this was not caused by herpes (in Duffy) or anything similar.

If possible, I encourage you to take Roxanne to a feline ophthalmologist.
It is hard to find this specialty unless you live near a large city, and
your best location might be at a college of veterinary medicine. My
veterinarian gave me a referral. I was very impressed with the people and
the facility, even though I was not able to do anything to help Duffy's
eyes. However, it eased my mind to know that I had not neglected
something that might have been saved if I had just acted in time. I was
also pleased with the costs -- I had expected it to be much more. They
quickly determined the cause (and results), so it was only $55.00. It
would have been more, of course, if they had determined that additional
tests were needed. That is a teaching facility, and several interns were
brought in to see Duffy's eyes. All were interested in seeing the
condition, and everyone was very gentle with him.

One point: Be sure to talk to Roxanne before you touch her since you
think she may be blind. You don't want to do anything to frighten her by
touching her when she doesn't expect it. Of course, I have always tended
to do this even with my sighted cats. When she gets a little older, it
might be a good idea to place her in a household where she will have
another cat as a companion. Duffy is always aware of where Holly is, and
you could almost swear that he is "watching" her. There have been times
when I called Holly a "seeing eye cat" because Duffy will chase after
Holly and gets such delight in playing with her -- sometimes *too* much
for Holly's liking, but Holly can leap onto high objects and get out of
Duffy's reach if she really wants to.

MaryL



One correction to what I wrote: Duffy usually sleeps with his eyes closed.
However, he does occasionally lie with his eyes partially closed (as you
described) and is either asleep or "very" relaxed. I have never seen him
sleep with his eyes completely open, as you described with Roxanne. That,
in itself, is enough that I think I would want to consult with a second vet.

MaryL