Please Help Me With My Kitten Problem

My lovely Black cat MayDay gave birth to four gorgeous little black and white babies a couple of days before christmas.

They are all nearly identical all with white feet and all with same facial markings but around their neck they have varying patches of white so we can tell the difference between them.

Mayday is a great mother to them but we found out she may have a problem, one person has suggested cancer but I think its a wound from a tooth in a cat fight. She has a bleeding growth on her ear thats been there about six to eight weeks that we know of. I clean it and put antiseptic on but it still weeps. I am mentioning the wound on her because that is her only health issue. Shes a slim cat and about 8 to 9 months old. She was around two months old when I got her on 1st of May, hence the name Mayday

Anyhows the problem. he kitten back legs are sprawled like a frogs and they drag themselves along. They are not paralysed, they seem to manage to dig the claws in and push their way along on their bellies. its the same with all of them. If I tuck their legs underneath them, they flop right out to the side again. The front legs seem fine. They are up on them and walking on them but they drag the back legs and cannot get off the belly. I'd like to think that they are too well fed to get the bellies off the ground but I having a feeling somethings wrong. As a matter of fact the day they were born I noticed it but thought that it would fix itself as they grew stronger.

I have had kittens before and can't remember this problem happening to them at all. I am rather devastated because i realise if they are "cripple" they will probably have to be put down.

Their mother accepted them and loves them dearly which makes me wonder because i know cats usually let sick or deformed babies die. Its like they have no hip joint or something to keep the legs together and under them.

Has anyone got an idea of what this is thats made their legs splayed out? Is it a deformity? Is it common? What could cause it? Has it got a name? Is it a defiency? Has anyone seen anything like this before? is there anything I can do to help them? Or am I just worried for nothing and they will get the back legs working too? The front legs have been used properly for two weeks now.

Maydays mum lives next door and shes a British blue. She is fine and so is Mayday. I've seen the black and white culprit that is the father and he is not in a wheelchair so he is fine too?

I am worried as I love my cat and her babies dearly and don't want to have them put down but if they can never walk on their back legs they wont find homes and I could only keep one myself and I really think if they dragged along on their bellies all their life they would get infections and other health problems.



*I knew she spent to much time in my crop circle, she rolls in it and eats the grass and plays like the circles full of catnip....


[edit on 14-1-2006 by Mayet]

Sorry about your cat problem.

I love cats, and dogs, and have lots of each!

I can only recommend a visit to the veterinarian..Really hard to diagnose
This..

Good luck to you

I would hate to alarm you but I feel it necessary to report that this might be distemper. My ex was a vetinary tech at an animal shelter. I spent many hours helping her with the different animals in the shelter. I clearly recall an incident where some people brought in a litter with the problem that you describe, Mayet. The kittens dragged their hind quarters. I also noted that the cats looked, well, disheveled. and their eyes and noses ran. They were diagnosed with distemper.

I could be wrong. I hope that I am wrong. All I can say is that you should take the litter to the vet as soon as possible. Distemper is very contagious. Your home will be infected for many months unless you literally wash the entire dwelling with bleach or some other very strong antiseptic.

As for the weeping wound on Mayday's ear, it might be connected or it might not. I think that it is time that you had this examined and treated. I think that this entire family should be examined. Don't tarry.