| Title: | Meower Power is Valuing Differences |
| Notice: | FELINE_V1 is moving 1/11/94 5pm PST to MISERY |
| Moderator: | MISERY::VANZUYLEN_RO |
| Created: | Sun Feb 09 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Tue Jan 11 1994 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 5089 |
| Total number of notes: | 60366 |
About a month ago Kim Trainque took in a pregnant cat, Nikita
who had five kittens. Yesterday one of them died, at the age of
4 weeks. Aside from this being a sad story, there's a lesson in
it.
The cause of death: RAT POISON
We're still watching the rest of the litter with our fingers
crossed. The whole family is going to the vet's today.
Before Kim moved into her current apartment she and the landlord
cleanned it. One of the things removed was a box of rat poison.
Unfortunately, a very small piece of the poison that was under
a radiator was missed.
Kim initially had no idea what was happening. The kitten's gums
were white or pale pink - over an extended period of time which
made shock an unlikely reason. More likely - anemia. I asked
her if there was any chance the kittens had gotten into Tylenol
which will kill red blood cells in cats. She said she doesn't
keep it in the house. I suggested plants, she said she didn't
have any. She told me the vet suspected poison but she had looked
all over the house and couldn't find anything.
Since I currently have a litter of 7 week olds who are getting into
areas you might never even think of I started suggesting areas like
behind the fridge, under the stove, under radiators. Kim said that
the kittens sometimes liked to sleep under the radiators and that she'd
start checking places like that.
She called again last night to say she'd found the poison under the
radiator where the dead kitten liked to sleep.
From the symptoms and behavior Kim described to me, the kitten's
death was not pleasant, but it was fairly quick. I don't think
the others are out of danger yet but Kim did say that the dead
kitten was the only one that liked to sleep under the radiator.
Three of the four surviving kittens are showing very pale gums
and the fourth slighly better. All are eating and playing so I
guess that's a good sign.
I don't think that Kim is in any way responsible for what happened.
The amount of rat poison sufficient to kill a 4 week old kitten is
very very small. Certainly small enough to have been overlooked,
especially if you didn't know to look for it. The previous renters
were the ones who put down the poison and the landlord obviously
thought he had removed it all.
The moral is to be extreemly careful with the environment in which
you keep kittens and to try and think like a kitten so you can
anticipate where they might play or sleep.
Nancy DC
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4929.1 | TENAYA::KOLLING | Karen/Sweetie/Holly/Little Bit Ca. | Thu Sep 12 1991 14:46 | 2 | |
Poor kitten, and poor Kim. Thanks for the warning.
| |||||
| 4929.2 | WILLEE::MERRITT | Thu Sep 12 1991 16:45 | 4 | ||
Poor little baby...thoughts and prayers for the rest of the
little munchkins!!
Please keep us posted.....Sandy
| |||||
| 4929.3 | any news? | MCIS2::HUSSIAN | Christmas is only 15 weeks away!! | Mon Sep 16 1991 10:17 | 7 |
That's awful, Nancy. Please let Kim know how sorry I am. Is she doing
alright? How are the rest of the gang?
Please, let it be good news!! PLEASE!!
Bonnie
| |||||
| 4929.4 | Two more have died. ?Feline Leukemia? | CRUISE::NDC | Putiput Scottish Folds DTN:297-2313 | Wed Sep 18 1991 08:45 | 14 |
I have been in touch with Kim. A necropsy was performed on the
kitten that died and it was Rat Poison. Unfortunately, she has
since lost two more kittens. The vet thinks that this may be
Feline Leukemia even tho the mother has tested negative and
continues to test negative. The vet is going to try and get
enough blood from one of the two surviving kittens to check for
FLV.
The prognosis for the remaining two kittens seems fairly good.
They continue to thrive while the other two had stopped growing
and were considerably smaller than their siblings. Its been hard
on Kim but we're holding out hope for the others.
Nancy DC
| |||||
| 4929.5 | update on kittens..... | USWAV1::TRAINQUE | Mon Sep 30 1991 12:31 | 17 | |
I've just started working at DEC again. Update on the kittens. All
five kittens died. The last four died from FELV, Nikita is stilling
testing negative. I was with the last kitten holding it when she died.
It was awful, I cried for hours after. I felt all of them dying was my
fault. I found a new vet who tried to save a couple of them. He said
there was nothing we could do to save them. The hard part was
explaining to my kids what had happened.
So far Nikita is doing good. I've appointments set up for her to be
tested regularly for FELV. Dr. Bishop thinks that she's carrying it in
her bone marrow or if not, the kittens got it from their father. It
was so frustrating losing all of them. Especially the runt. I stayed
up one night hand feeding her and getting Nikita to feed her only to
lose her in the end.
Kim
| |||||
| 4929.6 | USDEV1::NDC | Putiput Scottish Folds DTN:297-2313 | Thu Oct 03 1991 08:45 | 20 | |
Kim -
I think the breeders in this file, especially, can relate to the
pain and frustration you went through with these kittens. It is
every breeders nightmare. I know from talking with you throughout
this episode that you did everything you could have done to help
these little ones. At least they had a loving happy home for the
short time they were on this earth. That counts for something.
The following names gave been added to the Silver Lining Memorial
list:
Spike
Cinder
Ariel
Triton
Merriweather
I'm sure their spirits will return to you someday.
Nancy DC
| |||||
| 4929.7 | Another name..... | USWAV1::TRAINQUE | Thu Oct 03 1991 13:06 | 7 | |
Hi Nancy,
The first little kitten died before we could name her, we've since
named her Cobalt. We didn't want an empty grave marker. All five have
been buried next to each other I couldn't bear to seperate them. I
hope they rest easy.
| |||||