Feline Neonatal Medicine

Abstract

<p>Veterinary pediatrics, with the possible exception of the foal, is an unfortunately neglected discipline. Feline pediatrics, specifically, is almost entirely neglected in the literature. This neglect is out of proponion with the numbers of kittens seen by veterinarians for both routine health checks and treatment of diseases. Consequently, clients are often ill informed regarding kitten care and an unnecessary number of kittens die that would, with proper care, survive to become healthy pets and show animals. More imponantly, sick or weak kittens should not be considered genetically inferior and be destroyed on the assumption that they would never develop normally. In many situations, feline pediatric medicine can be both practical and economical. Many therapeutic measures effective in kittens are easy, inexpensive, and can be attempted with minimal time and money invested.</p>