Expert: Jana Connell RVT, CVT - 4/6/2011

Question
One of our cats recently had kittens. We found her with one of them and looked for the rest. We found another kitten lying motionless on the ground and thought it was dead. It was also tiny compared to the other kitten we had found (probably 3x smaller). We poked it and it moved very slightly. We immediately brought it into the house to warm it up. We finally got it warm and were able to feed it. We  have been letting mom in to feed them, as well as supplementing them with milk replacer, as mom doesn't seem to have much milk. They have been eating, sleeping, and growing well since we've been caring for them (they were probably a day or two old when we found them).

Yesterday (the kittens are probably about 5 days old at this point), we noticed that the small kitten was doing "weird" things. After watching her more closely when she does these things, she appears to be having seizures. Her body becomes sort of rigid and she tends to fall to one side, or sometimes ending up on her back. Her ears twitch, as well as her limbs, generally only one side at a time. Or she will make a kneading motion with one of her front paws. Sometimes she crawls in circles instead of making any of the other movements. She also sometimes cries while this is going on, as well as sometimes getting frothy at the mouth. These episodes last a few minutes and once she comes out of it, she will nurse or continue sleeping. They occur many times throughout the day. She has been eating well and appears to be growing and gaining weight.

The other kitten appears totally healthy and has not done any of these things. The mother also appears healthy.

We would like to have her looked at by a vet, but will they be able to diagnose/treat her since she is so young?

Is it likely that the kitten has brain damage from being so cold, or is it more likely that she has some kind of disease or other problem?

Thanks so much for any help.

Answer
Does sound as if she is having seizures. While she is young, it's hard to assess them but not impossible. I would most certainly have a vet look her over at this point.

I don't know if this is more from her being a runt then being cold. I had one that was found cold as well and she lived a healthy life for 14 yrs.

So this sounds like an unhealthy kitten to begin with.
Best to get a vet's opinion of what you can expect from this kitten.