Expert: Jessica - 10/5/2009

Question
QUESTION: A cat appeared in my barn accompanied by 6 approx. 6 week old kittens.  I had been out of town for two weeks but had never seen them before that time.  They could have possibly been born there as they were hanging out around a big pile of lumber and stacks of hay bales.  They are now 5 mos. old and spayed and neutered.  I attempted to spay the queen when the kittens were about 3 months old but the kittens were still nursing some. When the kittens were about 4 months I took her to the vet and he said he thought she was pregnant again. He said he felt 4 knots and the kittens would probably be born in about 3 weeks. She never really looked very pregnant to me.  Close to the time the kittens should have been born according to the vet I checked on her and she did not look pregnant. Possibility she had already had the kittens? Two weeks after her supposed due date, and no signs of kittens (but she could have hidden them under the lumber pile) my neighbor with good intentions got her and took her to be spayed.  The vet who spayed her claimed there was no sign of mammary milk or any lactation going on.  My concern is that there are baby kittens 2 wks old under the lumber pile with mom gone to be spayed.  Could the first vet have been wrong about her being pregnant to begin with?  If she does have young kittens why is there no sign of lactation?  She was a good mom to the first litter.  I wanted to leave her in the barn until I could see kittens emerge from the lumber pile during the next few weeks, if there were any.  I have not heard any noises from any kittens. What could be an explaination for this?

ANSWER: Hi Paige.  Sorry to hear of your dilemma!

The vet could have been wrong about the pregnancy.  As easy as you’d think it should be to detect bodies that are not normally inside a cat, palpating the abdomen for kittens proves quite difficult for many vets.  There are those who are good at it, and I’ve had those who haven’t been able to detect pregnancies in cats who were due in a week’s time (no lie!).  Because of this, there are actually pregnancy tests available, which are accurate about 4 weeks into a pregnancy.  And the absolute best way to confirm a pregnancy in cats is to take an x-ray if the vet feels she is in the last half of the pregnancy.  The kittens’ skeletons will show up on the radiographs.  Your kitty would’ve been far enough along to confirm the pregnancy with either of these methods, but there is always the cost to consider.

However, it is also possible that she had been pregnant, and that the pregnancy ended shortly thereafter by spontaneous abortion (miscarriage).  In cats, the kittens can “disappear” in a couple of ways.  

One is called fetal resorption.  The fetuses are actually broken down while still in the uterus and absorbed by the body.  This is surprisingly common, and most pregnancies that end in earlier stages will result in fetal resorption.  No symptoms accompany fetal resorption, so many people who have pregnant cats become baffled when the due date rolls around, and no kittens are born.  

In later stages of pregnancy, we usually see fetal expulsion.  This is what we expect when we hear about a miscarriage.  The cat has contractions, and the fetal tissue is passed.  Even in many household pets, fetal expulsion often goes undetected because cats may eat any tissue that is delivered.

It sounds likely from your account, as well as the account of the vet who performed the spay, that if a pregnancy ever had existed, it probably had ended prematurely.  You could certainly keep a listen out by the wood pile for any babies just in case, but I think I would be at peace with the idea that there are no kittens missing mom.  

I hope all turns out well!

Jessica


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: one of the 5 month old kittens was given one nasal dose of a 3-way vaccine.  Soon after that it has symptoms of weakness in the hind legs and a high fever.  Good appetite, no discharge, no diarrhea.  The rest of the litter appears fine. Vethas seen the kitty and it is on antibiotics. Could the vaccine I gave have caused this?  Could it be an environmental virus or bacteria in my barn?  The fever sounds like an infection.

Answer
This is an excellent question!  The two most common types of vaccines are modified live vaccines (MLV), and killed vaccines (KV).  Each has its own benefits and drawbacks.  MLV's are excellent because they provide the fastest, strongest and longest-lasting immunity, while killed vaccines have their place because they are easy to store and are considered "safest".  What's meant by that is that there is no possibility they can cause any degree of disease.  Intranasal vaccines are MLV's.

MLV's are quite safe.  They undergo a process to weaken them, called attenuation, so that they cannot cause a full-blown case of the illness they are vaccinating against.  However, because they are still live viruses, and the body labels them as invaders, some cats still have fairly strong immune responses to them, causing symptoms similar to the disease itself.

One of the vaccines in the 3-in-1 is against calici virus, as you know.  Calici can cause high fever and lameness.  These symptoms, because of the immune response to the vaccine, can be seen 1-5 days after the vaccine is given, although they are generally milder than symptoms that would be caused by a naturally occurring infection.  

I'm glad the kitten is on antibiotics, just in case there is something else going on, as you are correct in assuming that a bacterial infection may also be to blame.  I think at this particular moment, that is likely all that's warranted.  However, keep an eye on the baby's temperature, and if it hasn't gone down in a couple days, the kitten should be seen again.  If his temperature approaches the 105 mark, you may need to give the baby a cool bath (horrors!) to try to bring it down, or have the vet administer some cool subcutaneous fluids.  High fever can lead to convulsions.  There is also an injectable medication called dipyrone which can reduce fever almost instantly in cases where neurological disturbances could become a problem.  Most, but not all, vets believe in its use.  Those who don't may advocate the use of very carefully measured amounts of baby aspirin to bring down fever if necessary (although never use this without vet supervision, as too much can easily cause deadly internal bleeding and kidney problems).

You mentioned FIP in your comments, and this is always a possibility, especially with kittens.  High fevers are disconcerting.  But if the fever passes in a couple days, you can almost count that out.  FIP tends to cause persistent fever and illness that doesn't respond to antibiotics.  It is also relatively rare.  If FIP IS diagnosed, try not to panic.  I had one vet tell me to "depopulate" when I had a case of FIP - what a kind term for telling me to put all my cats to sleep.  I'm glad I didn't listen.  That was 10 years ago, and I still have my survivors with me, although the disease did take a few lives.  However, it will be important to contain the cats for about 6 months to prevent the spread of the disease.  Perhaps the barn could become a make-shift shelter for that time.

Hope he's feeling better soon!  Thanks for stepping in to care for these guys.  I know it's stressful trying to guess what's wrong with them for sure.  Kittenhood is tough, but they generally get healthier once the "kitten diseases" are out of the way.

Good luck!