Expert: Jessica - 5/3/2011

Question
Hello Jessica,

My cat had her litter yesterday in the garage and being my first time handling this situation I may have not reacted as quickly as I should have. 2 of the nine kittens had their umbilical cords cut by the time I found her hiding spot and the rest had tangled up together. I was concerned about one with his cord around his neck and missed the fact that all the squirming was twisting another's leg. I'm not sure if it's broken or just badly sprained. It's nursing and scooting around okay but his foot is swollen and red. Should I try taping it or splinting it? Thank's for your time.

Sincerely,
Nyree Stephens

Answer
Hi Nyree,

No, I would not suggest either of these on a swollen foot. It's impossible for me to say for sure what happened, but a broken bone in a newborn is highly improbable, because their bones are extremely flexible. This is required so that bones don't break during the birthing process. A more likely scenario is that an umbilical cord formed a tourniquet around the leg and caused blood to pool in the foot for an excessive amount of time, or that, as you mentioned, the leg is just inflamed and swollen from twisting during/after delivery. A dislocation is also possible.

The best idea, of course, is to bring the little one to the vet to make sure the leg isn't dislocated. If it is, it should be set back into place to ensure the leg develops correctly. He is going to be growing by leaps and bounds over these next couple of days!

If it seems the leg is just injured or that circulation had been cut off for a while, then most likely, you'll just need to wait things out. At times, a swollen extremity can indicate a severe infection, but this is probably unlikely in a kitten quite this young. Antibiotics can be given to kittens as young as a few days old if necessary.

As an aside, with a litter this big, I would highly recommend supplementing their nursing with bottle feeding. Mom's health may struggle if she tries to nurse a litter bigger than five all on her own.

Best wishes!

Jessica