Because cats are easier to care for and more well-behaved than dogs, more and more people are keeping cats as pets. So are cats easy to raise? Especially for young cat fans, due to various reasons, cats may die in infancy after birth. You can learn from it for reference:

Killer 1: Congenital Abnormality

Congenital anomalies refer to abnormalities that appear in kittens at birth. Most of them are caused by genetic problems. Of course, X-rays or certain drugs can also cause abnormalities. Congenital abnormalities of the central nervous system, cardiovascular system, and respiratory system often cause kittens to die during birth or within 2 weeks, while other congenital abnormalities may not be noticed until the kittens can move fully autonomously.

Killer 2: Teratology

Some drugs and chemicals can cause teratogenic effects and cause congenital abnormalities and early death in kittens. Therefore, during pregnancy, you should avoid giving any drugs and chemicals to female cats, especially steroids and graymycin used to treat mold. .

Killer Three: Nutritional Issues

If you feed a female cat inappropriate food, she is likely to give birth to weak or sick kittens. The most serious nutritional problem is the lack of oxaline, which is currently known to cause fetal reabsorption, miscarriage, stillbirth, or birth dysplasia. Kitten. Causes of malnutrition in newborn kittens include severe maternal malnutrition, lack of adequate maternal blood supply to the fetus, or competition for placental space.

Killer 4: Underweight

If the kittens are underweight at birth, they will have a higher mortality rate. The cause of underweight kittens at birth is not yet clear, but premature birth, congenital anomalies or nutritional deficiencies are all possible causes. Underweight at birth will not only cause premature birth within six weeks of age The kittens have a higher possibility of stillbirth and early death, and are enough to cause chronic stunting of some kittens. Therefore, it is best to weigh the kittens when they are born and measure them regularly until they reach six weeks of age.

Killer Five: Neonatal Hemolysis

General domestic cats are less likely to suffer from neonatal hemolytic symptoms, but purebred newborn cats are more susceptible to it. This is because the colostrum of the mother cat is rich in transitional antibodies, and the intestines of newborn kittens can only absorb these transitional antibodies within 24 hours. Cats with blood type B have strong anti-type A alloantibodies. When a female cat with blood type B gives birth to a kitten with blood type A or AB, the female cat’s colostrum will contain a large amount of anti-type A alloantibodies. Once the newborn kitten ingests colostrum within 24 hours, these anti-type A alloantibodies are absorbed into the body and combine with the kitten's red blood cells to causeDissolution, this hemolytic state can cause a variety of diseases. Hemolytic symptoms in newborn kittens mostly occur after ingesting colostrum. Most kittens will die suddenly without any clinical symptoms within the first day. However, some kittens will have reddish-brown urine or suffer from jaundice. And severe anemia continued to worsen and died within one week of age.

Killer Six: The number of births of female cats

According to statistics, the survival rate of kittens is the lowest for the first and fifth births. The survival rate of kittens born to medium-sized female cats is higher than that of large or small female cats. When the number of kittens is 5, the survival rate is higher. Have the lowest premature death rate.

Hitman 7: Trauma

The so-called trauma mostly refers to dystocia, phagocytosis, or bad behavior of the female cat. Photophagia mostly occurs in neurotic or highly sensitive female cats. It is quite common for female cats to eat their sick newborn kittens. However, we cannot blame all female cats' photophagia behavior on photophagia. This is to prevent healthy kittens from being infected, and to reduce unnecessary care and breast milk consumption. Mother cats usually do not pay attention to or take care of sick newborn kittens, and may even take them out of the nest or push them out of the cage. This behavior is difficult to distinguish from poor mothering.

Killer Eight: Infectious Diseases

Some kittens are not vaccinated after they are one month old because they are too late or their owners are lucky. If they are infected with the virus before two months and are not cared for properly or do not seek medical treatment in time, they will also die young, such as cat plague, which is contagious. Peritonitis etc.