Kitten has hole in left side/back leg

nanook5

Hi

About 6 weeks ago my cat had her 2 litter of kittens .She had 6 kittens all equally identical.

After about 1 and a half weeks of them being born I went out to check the kittens(They were outside in a cat house which was inside a timber house)and one of the kittens was in the corner of the timber house soaked from torrential rain that day .He was practically dead.

I then checked the other 5 kittens .One was dead underneath the rest of them.That same night the kitten which was soaked died.

Over the course of the next 2 weeks 2 more kittens died.One from a foot infection .I had brought him to the vet and the vet prescribed antibiotic , but he said there was a slim chance of the kittens surviving .

Yesterday I noticed something that looked like dried poo on one of the kittens back left side/leg.I disregarded it though.
Today I had a closer look and there was pus coming out of it .I cleaned the wound with salt water and upon rubbing the kittens side a small hole about the size of a pen came about.His skin just came away.I drained the pus and now the cat is asleep.

Before I put him in bed I took a picture which I have attached below .It's not in focus at all due to the cat wriggling about , but you can see the hole .

Is there something wrong with the litter of kittens that the mother abandoned them ?
What is this injury most likely to be ?
Can I prevent it from getting worse ?

I know most advice is to bring to the vet but I just wanted to know if anyone had seen something like this before and had any information before I bring it to the vet.

Comments greatly appreciated

Pumpkinseeds

It sounds like an abcess. If there's pus in the wound the kitten def needs to see a vet. I can't give advice on any of the other concerns but in my own experience what you are describing sounds like what I've seen in my own adult cats when they've developed an abcess

SillyMangoX

Well first of all, can you bring the cats into the house? If some of the kittens have died due to rain exposure that would be my first port of call. Especially if their mother abandoned them, they basically have no way of getting heat, because that would usually be mammies duty. So my advise would be to bring them inside, set them up in a nice cosy box with lots of towels/blankets and a hot water bottle. Keep up with the disinfecting of the wound with salt and water but get to a vet as soon as you can. As to what caused the injury it could be any number of things. The mother may have attacked before abandoning them, or some other creature could have attacked them and scared off the mother. But I do think the most important thing right now is getting them somewhere warm. Are they eating/drinking okay?

Kovu

That's an absess which has turned very septic. Needs a vet asap to get the wound flushed with an iodine solution and bandaged up to prevent dirt getting in. Will also need antibiotics.
And agree with above, bring them inside, a lukewarm hot water bottle under a thick blanket should start them off warming up slowly. If you have any of those wheatgerm filled thingys that can be warmed in the microwave to replicate mammys body warmth would also help.

nanook5

SillyMangoX wrote: »

Well first of all, can you bring the cats into the house? If some of the kittens have died due to rain exposure that would be my first port of call. Especially if their mother abandoned them, they basically have no way of getting heat, because that would usually be mammies duty. So my advise would be to bring them inside, set them up in a nice cosy box with lots of towels/blankets and a hot water bottle. Keep up with the disinfecting of the wound with salt and water but get to a vet as soon as you can. As to what caused the injury it could be any number of things. The mother may have attacked before abandoning them, or some other creature could have attacked them and scared off the mother. But I do think the most important thing right now is getting them somewhere warm. Are they eating/drinking okay?

Sorry I never explained!
They have been inside since the day I found the first kitten dead .
I refill a hot water bottle every 3 hours and there fed whenever the cry
They are in the cat house in the utility with newspaper under them.
They eat perfectly and the kitten shows no sign of pain.
They are also washed regularly

It's been over 4 weeks since the mother abandoned them so I doubt she attacked them .

Should I put a bandage around it myself now ,until tomorrow ?

SillyMangoX

Oh okay that makes more sense, good that you brought them in! I would hold off on a bandage, if it is an abscess you would be better leave it to drain but it would without a doubt need antibiotic treatment asap, I've had a cat with an abscess on her face and she really went downhill fast.

nanook5

I had antibiotics from the last kitten who had a problem with their foot .

I gave both of the them some a while ago ! The other one just in case

I hope it won't do any harm

I'll just ring the vet tomorrow and see is he just going to give me the same antibiotic and then charge me €40 before I go down.

Thanks for the advice !

Gran Hermano

Sounds like it has the wound since before you brought them indoors, in which case the infection is building up inside for 4 weeks. Get onto the vet as the wound might need a proper cleaning out and the kitten a full course of antibiotics.

nanook5

To the vet it is !

I don't know about a full course of antibiotics though.The kittens are so small.They fit perfectly in the palm of my hand.

The vet told me that the last kitten was only supposed to get 1ML of antibiotic over being so small, whereas usually a cat is supposed to get something like 5-10ML.

I'll still bring him down tomorrow !

Thanks for the appreciated advice.

SillyMangoX

By a full course of antibiotics, that means that they would be on it for a week/10 days. It would still be a small measurement of it though! Let us know how you get on in the vets!

nanook5

SillyMangoX wrote: »

By a full course of antibiotics, that means that they would be on it for a week/10 days. It would still be a small measurement of it though! Let us know how you get on in the vets!

Will do !

boomerang

nanook5 I'm not one to be shrill and lambast people for not neutering their cats. But maybe, after all the heartbreak you've gone through with the current litter, the veterinary costs and the fact that mum abandoned the litter (and so may well do so again) you will now have her spayed before she gets pregnant again? I always feel so sad for the mother cats, the whole experience of painful kittening and then nursing is so draining for them each time.

Hope all will be well with the kittens. I am loathe to suggest advice on d'interwebs when it comes to kittens, as they are so fragile and they can go downhill frighteningly quickly. So I think you are right to stay in contact with your vet and let them guide you.

nanook5

boomerang wrote: »

nanook5 I'm not one to be shrill and lambast people for not neutering their cats. But maybe, after all the heartbreak you've gone through with the current litter, the veterinary costs and the fact that mum abandoned the litter (and so may well do so again) you will now have her spayed before she gets pregnant again? I always feel so sad for the mother cats, the whole experience of painful kittening and then nursing is so draining for them each time.

Hope all will be well with the kittens. I am loathe to suggest advice on d'interwebs when it comes to kittens, as they are so fragile and they can go downhill frighteningly quickly. So I think you are right to stay in contact with your vet and let them guide you.

No need for that , she got knocked down and died 2 days ago .

I'm going to try get all my cats neutered though. Have 6 including the kittens .

The cost !!:mad:

boomerang

I'm so sorry, poor baby. How many cats do you have to neuter? I know a good vet in Limerick that if you explain how many cats you need to neuter, might well give you a good discount if you bring them all in together.

nanook5

boomerang wrote: »

I'm so sorry, poor baby. How many cats do you have to neuter? I know a good vet in Limerick that if you explain how many cats you need to neuter, might well give you a good discount if you bring them all in together.

Well there is 2 female cats and 2 male cats .Then there's the 2 kittens ,Which I guess we'll have to wait a while to neuter them.

boomerang

The vet on Henry Street. Don't want to mention him by name, in case it's against the forum charter.

Your kittens can be safely done at four months of age and you can discuss this with him. (Our vet is neutering at about twelve weeks, but that's a whole other discussion!) Please ignore the traditional and outdated advice to wait until they are six months. At that point, the female kittens may well already have had a heat and will be pregnant without the maturity required to rear kittens of their own. And boy kittens will be on the cusp of sexual maturity and will begin to wander away from home.

nanook5

I Went to the vet today .

He gave me antibiotics and he said it was an abyss that burst .

The hole seems to have healed overnight and it looks like it is getting better quickly.

Can only wait an see now

ferretone

I'm really pleased the op got to the vet, and that the wee kitty seems to be healing.

However, I'd really like to point out that there is an awful problem building up with the whole antibiotics resistance situation: it's threatening the future, not just of veterinary medicine, but of all medicine. Please could we all be a lot more careful with the use of these precious drugs. I was quite surprised to see nobody commenting on this when the op kept them after the kitten died, and then started using them on another kitten.

It really is very important, the exact dosage that is used in any instance, and also the type used. It seems you got away with it here, but intuitive does not necessarily mean right in this case, and every wrong call with them, brings us closer to the point where neither invasive surgery nor cancer treatment will be possible for any species.

Bad enough that huge countries like America refuse to stop using them as prophylactic in their meat industry, just as a cost-cutting measure. I'm just asking, please, for the love of the existence of modern medicine, can we be more careful and respectful of them in our day-to-day usage, both for ourselves and our pets. If a dosage is prescribed, follow it to the letter. If a pet or person dies while on them, do not keep them, and by all that's holy, do not flush them down the toilet either. Bring them to a pharmacist, and ask them to dispose. I'm not exaggerating when I say your life may some day depend upon it!