My kitten is weak and not playing after a new cat died. Is he sick?

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Keanu. I recommend that he sees a veterinarian today as he sounds very sick. Depending on his exam findings, he will likely need bloodwork and fecal testing to determine the cause of his symptoms. Infectious diseases are common in young kittens. Based on these results treatment can be started to help him feel better. I hope this information helps!

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Brauny. I recommend that you seek veterinary care for him. His behavior is not normal for a kitten. He should be playful. The vomiting can be the result of an intestinal infection, a dietary intolerance or even an obstruction. Has he ingested in any foreign material such as a piece of a toy? This veterinarian will gain information from his examination as to how best to treat him. I hope this information helps!

Lethargy is a non specific sign and can be related to a variety of health problems. Given his young age could be quite concerning but at the same time he is eating fine and the body temperature is normal. Sometimes they can feel under the weather for a little trauma, because they feel pain somewhere, for a gastrointestinal problem (check for any vomiting or diarrhea). I would monitor Bruno for the next few hours but if he is not improving or any other symptom appears, I would suggest to bring him to the vet for an health check. Good luck! Do not hesitate to post again on the forum or request a consultation if you would like to discuss it any further.

Hello and thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Lethargy and low energy level in such a young kitten is always a concern. This behaviour could be due to fever, pain, intestinal worms and more. Please de-worm your kittens if they have not been dewormed in the last few days. If it does not make any difference, please take him to your local vets for an appointment.

I'm sorry Baxter isn't feeling well. I would recommend a vet visit to check for parasites or viral disease. If he hasn't been tested the vet may recommend testing for feline leukemia as well. If he's not eating well please get him to the vet first thing this week.

These are certainly concerning behaviors for your young kitten. I would be suspicious of intestinal parasites causing the problem, especially if he/she has not yet been wormed. I would recommend taking your cat in to the vet to be checked out and make sure nothing too serious is going on. Hopefully it is something simple like parasites that can be treated easily. Best of luck!

Sorry to hear this! Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon situation with small kittens. They usually die suddenly like this due to a heritable defect, poor immunity, or a severe disease like panleukopenia. There are very few diseases that a kitten can pass onto people and considering that she died so quickly, I would not be concerned about any diseases that could be passed to people. Most of the diseases carried by cats that can be passed to people are not a problem for healthy people and would not be nearly as deadly. If you did get a disease like toxoplasmosis or bartenolosis there would be warning signs such as feeling malaise, or Flu-like. Again, it's extremely unlikely for this to happen to you, but if you did feel sick in the next two weeks, then it would be good to mention the kitten to your doctor. Either way, the diseases that you could get from cats can be treated and would not be deadly (besides rabies, which is extremely unlikely in this case). I really wouldn't worry though. I've seen many of these little kittens die suddenly in shelters and have never had a concern about a zoonotic disease (disease passed from animals to people). I hope that helps.