Why would 3 seemly fine healthy kittens suddenly die?

Question

my friends cat had 3 kittens one dies right away..the other 2 are fine for a month..they start too play,yet another dies,one week later the last kitten stops eating..body shakes,unresponsive...3 days later he dies too?has anyone gone thru this or know what it might have been?

Answer 1

These kittens could have had birth defects that are not readily detected or the mother cat may have an infection that was transferable through her milk.

The mother cat needs to be seen by a vet immediately because if she does have an infection it will worsen and may be fatal to her as well. It will not effect her as readily as it would kittens. She needs to be spayed quickly because she will become pregnant in a short time, and this sad scenario will most likely reoccur.

Answer 2

The kitten may have not acquired enough of the mom's milk antibodies.  That will lower the immune system, thus having the kitten susceptible. The mother also may have no been producing enough milk, and at a certain point they began to starve-as they need to be doubling and tripling in weight-more milk needed.   Also, could have been birth defects preventing them from proper nutrition, etc.

Answer 3

The mama cat may have not been able to give them enough nutrition in their fetal stages or maybe there was some sort of complication that just effected them later on. It's really unfortunate, but it's common for kittens to die. They're so fragile that illness can just take them away in a matter of minutes. I'm really sorry to hear this though :(.