Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I adopted two 8 week old kittens last Saturday from Animal Rescue. The male kitten began vomiting later that evening when I brought him home and wouldn't eat. When I called Animal Rescue, they told me it was his nerves from being in a new home. The female kitten was eating, but very little. I was supposed to take them to the local vet on Monday.

They were playful on Sunday, but by 4am Monday morning the male kitten wasn't able to stand and just kept flopping around and thrashing. I called the Emergency vet and they told me to give him maple syrup to get his blood sugar up. It didn't work, so I rushed him to the emergency vet 30 miles away. When I got him there, his temp was only 92* and he was dehydrated from vomiting. He died by 9am. They told me all his symptoms pointed to distemper. I went home and brought the female kitten to the local vet because she was not eating well, but was playful. They kept her there ovenight to bottle feed her since she was also dehydrated. By Tuesday, she was lethargic and unresponsive. She died on Wednesday morning. They also told me it was distemper due to her low white cell blood count. Neither kitten has an autopsy to confirm it.

When I spoke to Animal Rescue, they said none of the other kittens that were with mine has distemper and neither did the shelter. The kittens were in foster care before I got them and none of those animals had it either. My kittens were from two seperate litters and I'm wondering if it could be something else that killed them. I'm told distemper can stay active in my house for up to a year and the kids are upset they don't have any kittens and don't want to wait a year.

My husband thinks he saw the male and possibly the female kitten eat some lint balls from the carpet on Saturday. We have a brand new house and I don't know if there were any chemicals on the carpet before we moved in. Would the lint have something to do with their deaths more than the distemper? If I was able to get another kitten, would it be better to go through Animal rescue or to someone's cat who just had kittens and just wants to get rid of them? Both of my kittens were vaccinated and de-wormed. Thanks for any help or info..

At this point it might be helpful to have a good talk with your vet about distemper and find out if it is indeed possible that the kittens could have it and not spread it to any other kittens in the shelter. At the same time, you should discuss with your vet the possibility that they ingested something toxic from your home.

This is very sad, and I am sorry you had to go through this.
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

Hi,

I am so sorry about the loss of your kittens. It's such a sad story.

I think there is a good chance that the kittens did indeed have distemper. I know they were vaccinated, but at the tender age of 8 weeks, they only had one distemper vaccine. This cannot give much protection due to the immature immune system of such young babies. Kittens usually have at least 3 sets of distemper/upper respiratory vaccines, starting at about 8 weeks, and they get the vaccine every 3 weeks until they are around 14 weeks. As older kittens that have had the vaccine 3 times, they are able to build up protection from the distemper virus. A low white cell count is very characteristic of distemper. Even with treatment many kittens with the virus will not survive. Necropsies may or may have not been helpful.

I would not be surprised if the rescue place was not totally honest with you about the kittens not having been exposed to distemper. It could even have been from being exposed to an adult with the disease. An adult cat would not be likely to appear as ill as a small kitten would be. Most adult cats will survive distemper with the right treatment.

Take care, and once again, I am very sorry.

Regards,
AshleyElla