Kittens not growing

Hi everyone. I have a litter of 7 kittens I am fostering. They are very
inbreed. They were dropped off and left a pet store by there owner and
were supposedly 8 weeks old. Long story short I'm on the board of a pet
rescue and ended up fostering the litter. They were no more than 3 or 4
weeks when we got them, and could hardly eat on there own. I bottle feed
or syringe fed them KMR up till about a week ago, when they started to eat
dry food.. I still supplement some of them because 3 of them are not growing
at all. They are gaining weight, and there bellies are getting bigger. But
there legs are not. They also have a very ataxic gait when they walk.
Another thing is the shape of the 3 kittens faces. They have very big eyes,
and an kind of pointy nose and mouth. The rest of the litter does have a
little trouble walking but have a 'normal face" and are growing taller. I
feed them as much as they want to eat of Nutro wet food to make sure they
are eating, and usually syringe them the wet food if they don't eat much. I
don't force them though. I was wondering if maybe they might have
cardiomyopathy's or ????? . I should mention also one of the Normal kittens
that just don't walk perfect was taken to the vet b/c we thought he might of
had cerebral palsy, and the vet said that the mom cat probably has the
panleukopenia virus when the kittens were in the womb. Also all kittens
were tested for FIV and FeLV and tested negative. They all have been de-
wormed and up to date on vaccinations. I don't know if maybe the kittens
are just extremely in breed or maybe there is a lot more going on with them
then we all realize. I don't know what would make them not grow. I know
they are getting enough nutrients. They will be going to the vet soon, But
I was wondering if anyone ever heard of anything like this before. I can
send pictures of them if anyone wants to see them just let me know.


Elissa

"The Easterling's" wrote in message
...
Hi everyone. I have a litter of 7 kittens I am fostering. They are very
inbreed. They were dropped off and left a pet store by there owner and
were supposedly 8 weeks old. Long story short I'm on the board of a pet
rescue and ended up fostering the litter. They were no more than 3 or 4
weeks when we got them, and could hardly eat on there own.

snip

I've never seen anything specifically like that, but since they are severely
inbred, it is possible that they have birth defects. Also, seven kittens is
quite a burden for a momma cat, so they may not have gotten the proper
nutrition needed for development during those first few weeks.
A trick I've used when feeding small kittens is to mix canned, dry, and KMR
into a slurry. Throw the dry food into a blender and make it into a powder
to mix in with the wet, and add in the KMR until it makes a soupy
consistency. Most kittens will slurp it right up.

-Kelly

in article , The Easterling's at
wrote on 7/8/05 8:31 PM:

Hi everyone. I have a litter of 7 kittens I am fostering. They are very
inbreed. They were dropped off and left a pet store by there owner and
were supposedly 8 weeks old. Long story short I'm on the board of a pet
rescue and ended up fostering the litter. They were no more than 3 or 4
weeks when we got them, and could hardly eat on there own. I bottle feed
or syringe fed them KMR up till about a week ago, when they started to eat
dry food.. I still supplement some of them because 3 of them are not growing
at all. They are gaining weight, and there bellies are getting bigger. But
there legs are not. They also have a very ataxic gait when they walk.
Another thing is the shape of the 3 kittens faces. They have very big eyes,
and an kind of pointy nose and mouth. The rest of the litter does have a
little trouble walking but have a 'normal face" and are growing taller. I
feed them as much as they want to eat of Nutro wet food to make sure they
are eating, and usually syringe them the wet food if they don't eat much. I
don't force them though. I was wondering if maybe they might have
cardiomyopathy's or ????? . I should mention also one of the Normal kittens
that just don't walk perfect was taken to the vet b/c we thought he might of
had cerebral palsy, and the vet said that the mom cat probably has the
panleukopenia virus when the kittens were in the womb. Also all kittens
were tested for FIV and FeLV and tested negative. They all have been de-
wormed and up to date on vaccinations. I don't know if maybe the kittens
are just extremely in breed or maybe there is a lot more going on with them
then we all realize. I don't know what would make them not grow. I know
they are getting enough nutrients. They will be going to the vet soon, But
I was wondering if anyone ever heard of anything like this before. I can
send pictures of them if anyone wants to see them just let me know.
y

Elissa


I know my vet had a litter of kittens whose mother had distemper. They were
all a little small and they were permanently wobblyish. However, they did
not have other special needs. Poor babies. Maybe you could contact a feline
only vet? They might have experienced this?

On Fri 08 Jul 2005 09:31:54p, The Easterling's wrote in
rec.pets.cats.anecdotes ):

[...]
I don't know what would make them not grow. I know
they are getting enough nutrients. They will be going to the
vet soon, But I was wondering if anyone ever heard of anything
like this before. I can send pictures of them if anyone wants
to see them just let me know.


I adopted a pair of littermates in November and both of them had
severe UTI issues. They spread the eye problems and congestion back
and forth to each other, didn't want to eat, and just when both
seemed better, they'd get sick again. I mostly worried about the
female, but even the male had diarrhea that wouldn't go away. He
grew, but she didn't. She looked malnourished and didn't want to play
like I'd heard kittens play. Even the male seemed to sleep too much.
They were about 8-9 weeks when I took them in. I feared for a long
time that I was going to lose the female if she didn't start growing.

Now, months later (they're probably 10 months now) the male is 15
pounds (very Bengal-like), the female is way smaller. Probably 7
pounds, but very long and skinny. It took a long time after her spay
surgery (she had problems -- developed an infection from the sutures.
Related to her "failure to thrive"? Maybe.) I used to feed her baby
food with feline vitamins on a spoon when she wouldn't eat. Now, she
eats well but I can remember when I thought I'd always worry about
how much she eats. I can relate to your comment about very big eyes.
Scarlett always seemed to have eyes too big for her face. She
actually still does. She still has the face of a kitten, where her
brother looks like he's much more mature. Even our vet commented that
they couldn't be from the same litter when she examined them when I
got them, yet I have pictures from when they were all rescued. They
were all little fuzzy babies in the pictures to me from the rescuers.
She just "failed to thrive". It happens, I guess. Good luck to you.
It's such a worry to witness it!

Pictures of them from when I first knew about them:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/shambo...r=1f98&.src=ph


--
Cheryl

On Fri 08 Jul 2005 11:29:09p, Cheryl wrote in rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
):

On Fri 08 Jul 2005 09:31:54p, The Easterling's wrote in
rec.pets.cats.anecdotes ):

[...]
I don't know what would make them not grow. I know
they are getting enough nutrients. They will be going to the
vet soon, But I was wondering if anyone ever heard of anything
like this before. I can send pictures of them if anyone wants
to see them just let me know.


I adopted a pair of littermates in November and both of them had
severe UTI issues.

That should have been URI issues.

--
Cheryl

On Fri 08 Jul 2005 06:31:54p, The Easterling's wrote in alt.cats:

Hi everyone. I have a litter of 7 kittens I am fostering. They are very
inbreed. They were dropped off and left a pet store by there owner and
were supposedly 8 weeks old. Long story short I'm on the board of a pet
rescue and ended up fostering the litter.

Elissa, I can't speak to this specific problem; however, I did want to say
that they are still quite young and may very well grow out of their
difficulty. I would be anxious to know what the vet has to say about them
after your visit. I always feel so terribly sorry for these little babies
when have have such difficulties.

Please post the vets findings... And, most importantly, best of luck and
prayers for the little ones.

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
____________________________________________

Give me a smart idiot over a stupid genius any day.
Sam Goldwyn, 1882-1974


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Hi Elissa,

This brings back memories. The stray we picked up last year had kittens
2 weeks after rescue. The kittens had various problems, and the vet
decided the mother probably had distemper while pregnant.

One kitten was very shaky, almost like a drunk kitten. I tried so hard
for him and he kept getting bigger, but when everyone else was being
weaned -- he started going downhill. I don't say this to scare you, but
we lost him at 7 weeks old. He was trembling all of the time by the end.
The necropsy showed his kidneys were swollen.

The shakiness has a name, initials CH, I forget what it stands for
anymore. There is a problem with brain development while the mother has
distemper. We learned our little kitten had other problems, but the rest
had some shakiness at times. They would have tremors when their systems
were compromised, like after vaccinations, etc. The rest all bounced
back though. They all grew up and although smaller than most adults cats
-- are happy hellions.

The kittens that have tougher cases of CH can also live long, happy
lives. They just have less coordination.

Good luck with your kittens. Hope they all come through the tough spots
and live nice, long lives!

Rhonda

The Easterling's wrote:

I still supplement some of them because 3 of them are not growing
at all. They are gaining weight, and there bellies are getting bigger. But
there legs are not. They also have a very ataxic gait when they walk.
Another thing is the shape of the 3 kittens faces. They have very big eyes,
and an kind of pointy nose and mouth. The rest of the litter does have a
little trouble walking but have a 'normal face" and are growing taller.

I can
send pictures of them if anyone wants to see them just let me know.


Elissa

Yes please Elissa, it would be both interesting and helpful to see precisely
what you are referring to (large eyes, small head), and to be honest I just
enjoy looking at other's photo's on this site, it's nice to see what they
all look like, sort of makes it more personal (not just a name) . I have
a devon rex who most people think looks a little like ET, but there's
absolutely nothing wrong with her, she's the liveliest of the lot! (bit too
lively sometimes, 'the curtain destroyer' became her nickname for a while)
Obviously this is how the breed normally look, and I'm not suggesting that
your cat has a bit of Devon Rex in her, but hopefully her appearance is just
unusual and not connected with more serious problems long term. My oldest
act died 2 yrs ago, at the age of almost 17, and she was tiny. In fact
right up until the last year most people thought she was still a kitten!
(her increasing grey hairs were a giveaway after that) but she was an
absolutely beautiful personality and at 8months old was predicted to only
live a year or so by the vet (too small, protruding sternum, potential
breathing problems) but none of these turned out to be a problem to her at
all, and only ever got sick once (mugged by another cat) so have heart and
very well done on your efforts so far. Please keep us posted.

P.s I too would like to post some pictures of my little family of kitties,
but not really sure how to go about doing it. I have the photos already
stored on my pc, but don't quite know where to take it from there. Any tips
would be appreciated.
Rosie

Rosyposey wrote:
I can
send pictures of them if anyone wants to see them just let me know.


Elissa

Yes please Elissa, it would be both interesting and helpful to see
precisely what you are referring to (large eyes, small head), and to
be honest I just enjoy looking at other's photo's on this site, it's
nice to see what they all look like, sort of makes it more personal
(not just a name) . I have a devon rex who most people think looks
a little like ET, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with her,
she's the liveliest of the lot! (bit too lively sometimes, 'the
curtain destroyer' became her nickname for a while) Obviously this is
how the breed normally look, and I'm not suggesting that your cat has
a bit of Devon Rex in her, but hopefully her appearance is just
unusual and not connected with more serious problems long term. My
oldest act died 2 yrs ago, at the age of almost 17, and she was tiny.
In fact right up until the last year most people thought she was
still a kitten! (her increasing grey hairs were a giveaway after
that) but she was an absolutely beautiful personality and at 8months
old was predicted to only live a year or so by the vet (too small,
protruding sternum, potential breathing problems) but none of these
turned out to be a problem to her at all, and only ever got sick once
(mugged by another cat) so have heart and very well done on your
efforts so far. Please keep us posted.

P.s I too would like to post some pictures of my little family of
kitties, but not really sure how to go about doing it. I have the
photos already stored on my pc, but don't quite know where to take it
from there. Any tips would be appreciated.
Rosie

You could post them to news:alt.binaries.pictures.animals just create a
post as normal, then click on the paper clip at the top of the page to
attach the photo.
--
Adrian (Owned by Snoopy & Bagheera)
A house is not a home, without a cat.

On Sat, 9 Jul 2005 12:28:04 +0000 (UTC), "Rosyposey"
yodeled:


I can
send pictures of them if anyone wants to see them just let me know.


Elissa

Yes please Elissa, it would be both interesting and helpful to see precisely
what you are referring to (large eyes, small head), and to be honest I just
enjoy looking at other's photo's on this site, it's nice to see what they
all look like, sort of makes it more personal (not just a name) . I have
a devon rex who most people think looks a little like ET, but there's
absolutely nothing wrong with her, she's the liveliest of the lot! (bit too
lively sometimes, 'the curtain destroyer' became her nickname for a while)
Obviously this is how the breed normally look, and I'm not suggesting that
your cat has a bit of Devon Rex in her, but hopefully her appearance is just
unusual and not connected with more serious problems long term. My oldest
act died 2 yrs ago, at the age of almost 17, and she was tiny. In fact
right up until the last year most people thought she was still a kitten!
(her increasing grey hairs were a giveaway after that) but she was an
absolutely beautiful personality and at 8months old was predicted to only
live a year or so by the vet (too small, protruding sternum, potential
breathing problems) but none of these turned out to be a problem to her at
all, and only ever got sick once (mugged by another cat) so have heart and
very well done on your efforts so far. Please keep us posted.

P.s I too would like to post some pictures of my little family of kitties,
but not really sure how to go about doing it. I have the photos already
stored on my pc, but don't quite know where to take it from there. Any tips
would be appreciated.
Rosie



Well, there is no way to post pictures directly to the ng-- you must
have your own host for them. If you have your own web site, you can
post them there, and then post a link to them here.

There are websites that will host your pictures. Some we use often
here are webshots.com and Yahoo Photos. You register, and you are
given space for an album to which you upload your pics. Then you post
a link to them here.

Theresa

Theresa
Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh
My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com