Post by Mistybreeze on Mar 26, 2017 13:27:57 GMT -5
I have always wondered why RiverClan has such a high kit mortality rate. They always have an adequate food supply, unless that winter is particularly bad. They aren't in constant battles, other than Suuningrocks (which really isn't that often) which would stress expecting mothers. They probably have the highest birth rate out of all of the four Clans. They also have the highest concentration of singletons in the Clans. In OS alone they had three: Whiteclaw, Swallowtail, and Dawnflower. And one more in TNP, Willowshine. ThunderClan has two in total: Whitestorm and Whitewing. WindClan has one: Onestar. ShadowClan has none. But I suspect that at least one of those RiverClan singletons had stillborn littermates that were left out of the Missing Kits for whatever reason. Or there is the possibility that multiple eggs were released but only one developed into a kit.
While greencough could happen to any cat, RiverClan kits and queens seem especially susceptible. And to illness in general. In CP alone, we had two kits and one queen die of greencough, two mothers sick while pregnant with one dying after kitting, three kits stillborn due to illness, and three kits born sick and later dying of the sickness.
As for their birthrates, they are three times WindClan's, around twice ThunderClan's, and slightly more than ShadowClan. They always have a litter in the nursery at any given time, usually multiple. One could argue that the high mortality rate is because of the high birth rate, but wouldn't it stand to reason that a good portion of the kits would survive to adulthood? Kits aren't exactly dying left and right, but there does seem to be more stillbirths than in the other Clans.
My theory is mild mercury poisoning in expecting mothers. Just like humans, mercury is very dangerous to cats. Especially so for expecting cats. While we don't see any of the obvious symptoms like blindness and poor coordination, which would take awhile to develop if exposed regularly to high levels of mercury, the illnesses of Brightsky and Graypool never had a name and we don't know most of the symptoms. Given that they eat almost exclusively fish, they are at risk for being exposed. None of the cats were ever exposed enough to make the symptoms obvious as to what it was, but regular low doses of it would weaken the body, making them more susceptible to disease. While mercury is much more common in saltwater fish than freshwater, it is still a possibility. That would explain why RiverClan loses so many queens and kits. It would also take quite awhile for it to build up if they were only get trace amounts, which is the likely case.
While greencough could happen to any cat, RiverClan kits and queens seem especially susceptible. And to illness in general. In CP alone, we had two kits and one queen die of greencough, two mothers sick while pregnant with one dying after kitting, three kits stillborn due to illness, and three kits born sick and later dying of the sickness.
As for their birthrates, they are three times WindClan's, around twice ThunderClan's, and slightly more than ShadowClan. They always have a litter in the nursery at any given time, usually multiple. One could argue that the high mortality rate is because of the high birth rate, but wouldn't it stand to reason that a good portion of the kits would survive to adulthood? Kits aren't exactly dying left and right, but there does seem to be more stillbirths than in the other Clans.
My theory is mild mercury poisoning in expecting mothers. Just like humans, mercury is very dangerous to cats. Especially so for expecting cats. While we don't see any of the obvious symptoms like blindness and poor coordination, which would take awhile to develop if exposed regularly to high levels of mercury, the illnesses of Brightsky and Graypool never had a name and we don't know most of the symptoms. Given that they eat almost exclusively fish, they are at risk for being exposed. None of the cats were ever exposed enough to make the symptoms obvious as to what it was, but regular low doses of it would weaken the body, making them more susceptible to disease. While mercury is much more common in saltwater fish than freshwater, it is still a possibility. That would explain why RiverClan loses so many queens and kits. It would also take quite awhile for it to build up if they were only get trace amounts, which is the likely case.