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Why did my kitten die?

My husband and I adopted Bagheera a few months ago, or more accurately Bagheera adopted us.  We went to Petsmart for cat food for our other cat, Rivan, and there was this beautiful, black, little four month old kitten in a cage that a nearby shelter had.  We hadn't planned on getting a kitten, but he decided for us.

Throughout the few months we had him, he proved to be boisterous, mischievous, talkative, cuddly and everything else that makes a cat great.  Bagheera bonded closely with Rivan and they were inseparable, always snoozing together, playing and cleaning one another.

Until yesterday.

Bagheera acted like his normal self all day Saturday.  He was energetic, eating, playing, and in general getting into all the trouble a six month old kitten can get it's paws on.  Saturday night, Bagheera and Rivan did their late night game of chase like always and I went to bed thinking all was well.  My husband works nights, but Sunday morning when he came home Bagheera ran to the door to greet him and then ran to his "Pet ME!" chair and demanded my husband give him attention.

Less than an hour later, as my husband and I were getting ready to go out to breakfast, we hear a horrible, loud, howling meow.  We ran into the bathroom to see Bagheera collapsed on the floor and not moving.  He was barely breathing, so we checked to make sure he wasn't choking, but there wasn't anything we could see in his air way.  We were afraid he was choking on vomit, so we lifted him butt above head at a 45 degree angle and vigorously (but gently) rubbed his chest.  Nothing was working, and he had stopped breathing.  We did CPR on him, but still there was no response.  We realized he no longer had a heartbeat, and began sobbing.

Neither of us could stand the thought of him being cut up at that moment, so we decided to bury him on my Father's land under a Hibiscus.  It's been 24 hours, and it all happened so suddenly and unexpectedly that it doesn't feel real.  I keep expecting to see him everywhere I look.

Bagheera had a clean bill of health from the vet last month, and there were no symptoms or warnings before that horrible yowl when he collapsed.

Has anyone ever had an experience like this or know of something like this to the point you could give me an idea of what took our baby from us so unexpectedly?
2 Responses
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11924850 tn?1601364171
Hello.

  I'm so sorry and saddened by Bagheera's passing onward.

  I am concerned by the grief your other kitty, Rivan, must be experiencing.  I doubt that I need to say anything to you about giving Rivan extra special love and attention after losing a best buddy.  But if I'm going to err I'm going to do it on the side of the kitty.

Blessings,

  Melinda
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2 Comments
I am so sad for you and the huge shock of loosing a seemingly healthy kitten so suddenly. Google Cardiomyopathy (HCM) a hearth condition with seldom any warning signs, often death comes suddenly with the very painful passing of a clot, this clot lodges in the hinde legs giving sudden excruciating pain than death.  Sounds very much like what took place with your dear kitty...RIP little one
Sorry for the miss spelling, should read HEART not hearth
7052683 tn?1392938795
Hello Heartbroken,

......and I know this name is soooo appropriate right now.

Please know there was nothing you or your husband could have done to prevent this.

I have worked in Rescue for a lot of years and we know the hardest thing one can do is foster kittens. The reason for this is there is so much that can go wrong in the first 6 months . Sometimes it is called "failure to thrive".

Now this can be the reason the mother abandoned a kitten, because it sensed a congenital weakness or some other dyer problem with a kitten in the litter. Bagareeha might not have been abandoned but brought in with litter mates.

What happens is there may be a congenital birth defect like a severe heart murmur. This will usually result in the kitten having a heart attack. This sounds like this could have been what happened.

Yes they seem fine, and are not tested thoroughly at rescues, because it is expensive. Usually they are Neutered , vaccinated, de-wormed, and if they have a cold given meds for relief.
So now you have this baby who passed all the tests one gets at a shelter, but all kittens should have a complete  work-up with your own vet to establish a baseline for further medical issues.
I just got two kittens at 3 months and one has a slight heart murmur, I will have to have an echo cardiogram to establish the seriousness of it.
I am going to have to live with the fact my baby may not have a long life, but will certainly give him the best life possible while he is alive and well.

Nothing you can do about it. It can be many other things also they are so fragile during their first few months of life. Many Fosters stop fostering because losing kittens you raise is such a hard thing to go through.

Look at it this way, Bagadeesh had a wonderful kitten life with all the playing, running, and love he could have wanted. He played his heart out and this was the way he was meant to go.
Necropsy's show very little  so you still may have not had a definitive answer if it was something other than his heart.
You gave him a wonderful life of love and care and he couldn't have asked for better parents.

This is LIFE...and death is a part of it, and heartbreak will follow. This is a given .
Feel his spirit still with you--they never leave us just watch over us from the other side.

My heart breaks for you both, may time help you heal.
God Bless your baby and the both of you,
CML
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1 Comments
So sorry to read of Bagheera's sudden passing.  Your description of the howl sounds exactly like the crisis our Chesapeake had.  She died from a congenital heart defect 2 years ago.  Nothing could have been done.  Take some comfort that he knew you loved him, and he died having a Home.
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