My 2-day-old kitten won't nurse and has breathing problems. Help!

Question

My cat had 3 kittens 2 days ago. The first night was fine, all nursing well and no irregular behavior. Last night I started realizing that I wasn’t seeing one of them breastfeed, it was sleeping excessively. On top of that it had a croaky meow and irregular breathing pattern. Today I saw that it had not eaten all day and even when I attempted to aid it with latching it would just whine. We tried to bottle feed today but to no avail, maybe it can’t breath well through its nose? What do we do?

Dr. Strydom, DVM · Accepted Answer

This is serious and the kitten needs to get to a vet. It could have a congenital anomaly like a cleft palate or it could have fading kitten syndrome; it could also have aspiration pneumonia. Regardless, you cannot fix this at home. She needs to be treated by a vet. Please get here there ASAP if you want to have the best chance at survival.

My 2-day-old kitten won't nurse and has breathing problems. Help!

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