A Traffic Delay Could Have Killed the Last Kitten

What immediately caught the attention of our Foster Care Volunteer when the woman from Alton, Illinois handed her a 2-week-old kitten. was he was panting.

Unlike dogs, cats do not generally pant as a primary means of cooling down. When kittens do this, it can be for physiological or emotional responses. Notably, panting can indicate a kitten is in serious distress and the one SNUGGLE Pet Rescue received yesterday definitely was.

Born to a feral mom, this little guy is the sole survivor from a litter of 5. The woman who contacted us watched 3 of the kittens die, after which she decided she better get the surviving 2 help. But it was too late for the 4th kitten who passed away on her way to us. It was in the mid-80's yesterday with high humidity, which is not a good combination when you are transporting vulnerable kittens who cannot regulate their body temperature yet. To make matters worse, the car had no air conditioning.

To treat heatstroke in kittens, it is crucial to start with immediate cooling by moving them to a cool, air-conditioned area and apply cool, damp towels to their back and belly. Rubbing cool water on their ears and paws can also help. Doing this to our latest arrival helped slow his panting down after a few minutes, but his noticeable stomach breathing was a sign he was not out of danger yet.

After the kitten, who we've named Nickel, made further improvements, we did all the things we normally do when we get a new kitten or puppy. One thing we were keeping an eye on was the color of Nickel's tongue. Instead of being pink it was purple. This can be a sign of a lack of oxygen in the blood. The only thing we did differently when we finally put Nickel in his crate was lower the temperature of the heating pad underneath it and checked on Nickel regularly because we didn't want him to then become too cold.

Weighing only 5.8 ounces, instead of the 8 ounces he should, we knew we had to make sure he started eating more. Nickel's first two feedings were okay but this morning he drank 10cc's which we were very pleased with. After his breakfast, our Foster Care Volunteer checked Nickel out again to see if there was anything still out of the ordinary going on with him. He is still doing a little stomach breathing, but it certainly is a lot better than it was before. His tongue is now pink which is a good sign. An odd thing he is doing though is walking backwards instead of forwards. He's not really steady on his feet yet, which may be the reason for this, but we will watch to see if it continues. The thing we were excited about is that Nickel has no troubles purring. After he was done drinking, our volunteer started rubbing his belly and he responded by purring then he rolled onto his side as if to tell her, "Please don't stop."

Nickel is not fully recovered from his traumatic experience, which is why he will continue to get a lot of extra attention. When he finally fell asleep in his crate this morning, looking more content than he had in the previous 12 hours, we realized how close he came to being the last kitten from his litter to die. If the woman had gotten caught in traffic for just a few extra minutes, it could have been the delay that killed Nickel. Our Foster Care Volunteer is going to use every trick in the book she knows to make sure he is the one who does survive.