All the kittens died??????

[Sadkitty]

Hello,
I am fairly new here, actually I came looking for a "pet place" a few minutes ago, when my last kitten died. Maybe I should tell you the story. My cat is a black and orange short haired female who is 1 year old. She got pregnant by a stray. She ended up having 6 kittens in her first litter. Actually it was supposed to be 7 but one didn't form all the way , and was born dead. They were really tiny, and didn't have any hair when they were born. One of the kittens died the same night, but the others were eating and getting bigger with more hair everyday. Then all of a sudden everyday, we would check on them and slowly they all died. I just watched the last one die, but he faught until the very end. I had named him Shaggy. I probably shouldn't have named him, but if he lived I was going to keep him! I guess my question is....could they have been doomed from birth? When the kittens were still alive, the mother dried up, but we didn't know it until just recently, but the kittens wouldn't take the milk we offered. We think that they starved to death, but they were growing! Oh, I guess i just don't understand! Can someone offer some advice please.....some answers maybe!

Thanks
jbsmum

[krazy4birds]

Hi again...I had answered your first post but then got to this one and it actually answered all my questions except about consulting a vet. How did you try to feed them and what? I am no expert on this but I have learned a few things over the years from experience. You say they were eating up to the last few days? They could have been malnutritioned very easily. It does not take much when they are so little for them to dehydrate and die from it. I have a canary and in one of my books it says a Canary can actually die with in 24 hours with no food!!! That does not pertain to this about your kittys but using it for an example. I would seriously think about getting your cat fixed so you do not worry about going through this again.

['too crazy]

First off, kittens don't drink milk. There is a special kitten formula you can get at the pet store. If the mother's milk dried up, they probably did starve. I doubt they were doomed from birth. Why didn't you take them to the vet when they started to die off? I agree with Krazy about fixing your kitty. There are so many unwanted pets without adding to that population. Hope momma kitty is doing well.

[Animal Art]

Hi :)
Tha'ts right! , the special formula for kittens is called KMR , it has special enzimes for the fortifications of the kitties system.

They probably starved, when new born stage : they need to eat every 2 hours .
Don't feel bad about what happened and learn from your experience .

Do something good for"mom kitty" SPAYING HER :) and if cost is a concern ... check your local animal organizations for low cost surgeries.

If you spay your kitty it will diminish her chances to get PYOMETRA ( Cancer in the uterus ) when older.

I worked in Animal Hospitals before and this was always a common situation on unalteded pets.
Take care.

[Cat&Dog mom]

Wow, that is actually alot of kittens in a litter, and it does sound as tho she didn't go full term with the pregnacy, do you know how many weeks she was preg.? And the others are right, cats should not be fed milk, as many are lactose intolerant, and they cannot properly digest it. Kittens sould get the kitten formula and use a special bottle as well. I'm sorry you had to go through this, it is very sad and had to be heartbreaking for you to go through, but you can't blame yourself. I agree with the others as well though, PLEASE get your animals spayed, there are too many everyday that have to be put to sleep, because of over population, and not enough people to adopt them, it's very sad. If you still want a kitten you could always find one that needs a loving home.