# Sick kittens...advice?



## noMoreFaith (Apr 28, 2010)

There is a cat in our neighborhood that gave birth to 4 kittens, and she brought them in our garden. They're really small, this week they started playing around and eating solid cat food, along with their mother's milk. Sadly, one of them was sick-it died yesterday. In the beggining, it looked weak and just sat in a corner, then we noticed its fur was dirty, possibly had diarrhea, and I saw that its hind legs had no hair (in the area that was dirty). The mother stopped feeding it and caring for it-they just let it by itself and ignored it. Now, another kitten seems to be sick. We can't afford to take it to the vet, however, if needed, we might put it to sleep. I was wondering: what kind of disease could it be? Is it contagious (can it be to other cats, and other animals?) Anyone had a similar experience?


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

Sometimes kitten are just sick and pass away. The mother won't nurse them to insure the healthy ones get lots of good milk. it's sad, but nature.

It could be many things, and yes it could be contagious to other cats so if you have cats don't let it near them. If this is a feral/stray you may be able to find a person who will help them for free.


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## treblyk (Sep 24, 2010)

Worms are super common in stray kittens and if not addressed tend to kill the babies. It could be also that there is an underlying genetic problem (heart defect etc) as well and momma cat will sense that and abandon the kitten in favour of trying to save the rest. As sad and painful as it is to think about statistically over half of all kittens will die, they just arent very hardy. 

The best thing I can suggest is trying to provide them with extra milk replacer and healthy food. You unfortunately can't really deworm them unless they weigh a certain amount (I cant remember what). 

Good luck, I'm so sorry you have to deal with this =(


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