Kitty vomits: Birth defect legs and ?

[jivago]

We have a litter of kitties about 5 weeks old. One of them has birth defects: malformed front legs. It's like one of the lower joints are the wrong way on both legs. She walks on her "elbows" sometimes. Prior to two weeks ago, it appeared she was OK, and would just walk with difficulty. She seemed happy enough.

Now it seems to have a digestion problem. When she eats solid food, at some point later, she cries in pain and seems to be choking. White foam is coming out of her mouth and her body seems to convulse. While that's happening, her breathing is rough and loud, possibly because she's breathing through mucus?

She vomits mucus and chunks of solid food. One guess is that she's not chewing properly, another is that there's a blockage somewhere.

She does eat liter sometimes. She is still nursing as well. She does urinate, but we don't know if she defecates.

Does anyone have any ideas? Her sisters are getting bigger and look much better. She does look under nourished, yet still runs and plays sometimes.

[latergatorj]

I would take the kitten to the Veterinarian. And honestly, I'm sad to say this because it's not something I ever thought I'd really advocate, but if this kitten is having this much trouble, it may be better to put her down. But the Veterinarian would better able to help with this, both doing it and making that decision.

Good luck. :-( I'm sorry to hear about this.

[jivago]

Originally Posted by latergatorj

I would take the kitten to the Veterinarian. And honestly, I'm sad to say this because it's not something I ever thought I'd really advocate, but if this kitten is having this much trouble, it may be better to put her down. But the Veterinarian would better able to help with this, both doing it and making that decision.

Good luck. :-( I'm sorry to hear about this.

We aren't going to spend more money on the Veterinarian at this point. We're not too keen on the Veterinarian as he had no clue about the radial agenesis (the deformed front legs) and $70 got us absolutely nothing. It's a low income house (my ex) and she isn't interested in spending more.

She seems OK when she doesn't eat. Big problem obviously as she'll deterorate with out food. But we going to try to feed her formula for a while. We're hoping she grows out of the digestion issue.

She handles her legs OK for the most part. I think the legs will be manageable assuming the digestion gets under control. It's not a severe case. She has strength in her front paws and plays with her litter mates albeit somewhat diminished

If the situation isn't ameliorated by the kitty formula and the kitty declines more we'll reconsider.