Expert: Ali - 4/21/2009

Question
my cat had 5 kittens 3 days ago and today my dog broke in and bit it,some organ near its leg is hanging out and i don tknow what to do,we put a wet cototn pad over it and cleaned it after its mother tried cleaning it,thenn we put a clean pad on and bangdaged it up after,we dont know what else to do,please help!what should we do?its stopped meowing and squealing and just keeps laying there quiet as we stroke it but its still breathing..

Answer
Sinead,

This situation is an emergency and it calls for immediate vet care, the kitten is in pain, he is suffering and has likely lost a fair amount of blood relative to it's size - without medical care the kitten's chances of survival are minimal. It remains to be seen if the kitten is still willing/able to nurse and function as a normal, healthy kitten. The fact that the kitten has such obvious external injuries could mean that the internal injuries are far worse than what you can see. Ultimately the fact that the kitten has gotten quiet and is just lying there might be due to blood loss or the kitten may be going into shock. When you bring the little one to the vet be sure to bring mom and siblings as well because if the kitten can be treated you don't want to sever the maternal bond unnecessarily. There's a chance that the veterinarian may not be able to help this kitten, if this is the case it's more humane to have the kitten put to sleep instead of allowing it to suffer until it dies as a result of it's severe injuries. I would also highly recommend that you keep the dog under control and away from mom and her babies in future because the dog is obviously not above killing or seriously injuring other pets and these kittens are completely vulnerable and unable to defend themselves against an opponent they can't see or hear, they're essentially helpless for now. After the kitten has received the medical care necessary it's best to put the new family into a dimly lit, quiet bedroom where mom can have some privacy and be safe from other pets in the home to prevent any further attacks by the dog or any other pets in the household. At this point there's a risk that mom may become so stressed that she kills her kittens or completely rejects them if she can hear or see the dog so it's best to keep them as far away as possible from the little family.

Mom should be kept inside of this room and not allowed outside because she may become pregnant as early as 24 hours after delivering her newborns. The kittens should be kept with their mother for a minimum of 12 weeks in order for them to be well socialized, happy and adoptable cats. Mom doesn't need any help to wean her kittens, she will normally do so on her own within the first 12 weeks of the litter's life. It's also a good idea to consider spaying mom after she's weaned her litter to avoid further unwanted litters. There is a serious pet overpopulation issue affecting shelters and rescue organizations worldwide and all too often animal loving staff are routinely forced to euthanize healthy, adoptable animals because there just isn't enough space, money or resources to keep every animal indefinitely until their forever family comes along to adopt them. There are many good medical and behavioral benefits to spaying and neutering our cats including preventing/reducing the intensity of common behavioral issues such as house soiling, wandering, fighting with other cats, females howling to advertise their availability to mate and males caterwauling and fighting to determine who wins the right to mate with receptive females. Medically spaying and neutering prevents testicular, ovarian and uterine cancers. The earlier in life a cat is spayed/neutered the lower their risk is of developing breast or prostate cancer. Female cats that haven't been sterilized are also at risk of developing a potentially fatal uterine infection called pyometra which causes the womb to fill with pus - if the uterus ruptures and spreads the infection throughout the abdomen the cat's chances of survival are minimal. The only cure for this serious infection is an emergency surgery to spay the queen, cats in this situation face additional surgical and anesthetic risks because they are already seriously ill, the surgery is much more complex and time consuming so it often costs significantly more than a routine spay surgery.