Kittens born August 7 & 8.
Momma Mouse came down with a very bad upper respiratory infection two days before the kittens arrived. I had taken her into the Veterinary clinic today(August 11th) and came back with an oral antibiotic and a bag of Lactated Ringers Solution which I am to give daily. Mouse is very ill with what appears to be a bad rhino virus. This is very sad turn of events because I'm told that this virus will almost certainly kill all her kittens within the next 21 days. The newborn kittens will not be able to fight off any infection either bacterial or viral until they are at least 5-6 weeks old. The Dr advised me that since the mother was shedding the virus as her kittens were born that they were already infected. In these cases there are usually no survivors and all the kittens usually succumb to pneumonia starting after two weeks. I had some thoughts of immediately separating the kittens from their mother however the Dr advises me that that will just weaken the kittens faster. What little hope their is for these kittens is that the Momma Mouse with her infection fighting immune system in high gear will pass some infection fighting ability to her newborn.

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