Expert: Marcia Owen - 5/25/2009

Question
Hi Marcia:

I read this question from the lady with the strangled foot kittens.  I had this happen here last night.  We found a little mamma kitty that gave birth to 4 babies.  Two of the babies had their cords still and each of the 4 had one leg each wrapped around their back legs.  One little one's leg was wrapped around three times.  It really was a balled up mess.  Mamma and the babies just screamed.  I was able to get help and we held them down and cut the cord from around their legs.  It was so tight I had to use surgical scissors to get to it.  I cut the cord on both babies and all of them finally stopped screaming including Mommy.  All the babies are very healthy.  The legs of 3 of them appear to be coming back all pinked up and they are using them.  1 baby's back leg is about 3 times the normal size but baby appears to be using it.  It leads me to think that baby may pull out of it since the leg does not appear to be necrotic.  I can't imagine how this happened and believe I'll never see it again.  Any thoughts?

Answer
If your kitten is using the foot I am confident that it will come right in due course.  If there was no circulation he would not be able to use it as it would in effect be dead, so I am confident that the circulation is fine.  Kittens and their limbs are very resilient so don't worry too much as it is still not long since it happened.  Try massaging it to help the circulation too.

Marcia