Eclampsia (Milk Fever)

Eclampsia, also called puerperal tetany or milk fever, is one of the few true emergencies of the postpartum period in cats. It strikes nursing queens, most often in the first month after birth, when the enormous calcium cost of producing milk outstrips the body's ability to keep blood calcium in its narrow safe range. Because calcium is essential for normal nerve and muscle function, a sharp fall sends the muscles into overdrive: the earliest signs are subtle — a queen who seems anxious, pants, paces and neglects her kittens — but within hours this can escalate to tremors, a stiff staggering walk, rigid limbs, spasms and finally seizures. All that muscle activity drives the body temperature dangerously high, adding heatstroke to the danger.

The condition is more likely when a queen is feeding a large litter, when her diet has not supplied enough balanced calcium, or paradoxically when she has been over-supplemented with calcium during pregnancy, which can suppress the hormonal machinery that releases calcium from the bones when it is suddenly needed. Small and first-time mothers are especially vulnerable.

Treatment must happen at a clinic, because the fix — intravenous calcium — has to be given slowly with the heart monitored, as too much given too fast is itself dangerous. Cats generally respond dramatically once calcium is restored, but recovery is only the start: the kittens are usually weaned early or supplemented so the mother is no longer drained, and she is kept on oral calcium and vitamin D. The best protection is prevention: a complete kitten-formula diet through late pregnancy and nursing, no unprescribed calcium supplements, and a watchful eye for the earliest restlessness, so help arrives before the first seizure.