- Joined
- Apr 19, 2020
- Messages
- 28
- Purraise
- 3
..With a breeder who was less than forthcoming with some information. We ended up with two new kittens, one seems incredibly small for his age. We just weighed him, and at twelve weeks he is about 1.28 lbs. He doesn't seem to be growing with the other kitten.. all though they are merely a week apart in age, our other kitten is now 3.89 lbs at thirteen weeks and growing seemingly every day.
I am mainly worried about the smaller one but upon investigation of their papers (which were provided AFTER full purchase was made) I noticed a few instances where the same Dam/Sire was used in either line, therefore connecting to the current offspring. I looked into this and found it is called "linebreeding". What really worries me, is that the smaller one was born to parents who are half siblings (same father). There are also instances in both kittens lines where the same couple or cat has been paired on both sides of the parents lineage. I know that this can skip a generation before it crosses over again and the further removed offspring is "inbred". The smaller kitten was the only surviving of FIVE. Apparently the Dam's last litter only consisted of two. (Not sure if that means two surviving or two in all, or how many survived.) This tiny kitten supposedly weighed just over a pound at one week and has barely gained anything. We did not get them until they were ten and eleven weeks, and paid full price for both. As well as an expensive transportation fee.
The smaller kitten is much less active than the other and naps much more often (at first we accounted this to the fact he is a week younger, but now it is becoming more visible that this may not be the reasoning) and cries a lot for mot much apparent reason. Even when he has dry and wet food, water, multiple clean litter boxes and ample toys, beds and scratchers. They seem to be ACCUSTOMED to sleeping in a crate. The smaller one seems to have very little socialization and does not usually enjoy being petted or held. He will dig all four paws worth of claws into you if he feels you have held him for too long (more than a few moments). He, on very rare occasion, will purr and when he first got here would actually dart away from your hand in fear. He no longer is shying/running away but will still slink and tuck his butt under sometimes when you try to gently stroke his back, almost like cowering away from it. He does love his half brother and they do play a lot but as I said he tires much more quickly. He seems to have a nonstop appetite. We are afraid he might have some sort of issues from all of these litters that have been less than ideal and this newfound inbreeding.. He does not seem to catch onto things NEARLY as quick as his brother but does seem to try to follow his lead.. our third cat is indoor/outdoor and has been since we found him starving and parasite infested, close to the edge of death at eight months old more than ten years ago. He goes out for periods during the day but is always in at night and sometimes most of the day. We call him the "ever revolving door". We are afraid if he has immunity issues that our older cat could track something in to him and spread.. We are contemplating supplemental feeding of KMR. He has been to the vet and they claimed they are "healthy" but not sure if he has been tested for everything as the cattery was "negative" for all diseases and therefore don't test the kittens? Not sure if there are some loopholes here. Our vet is also new and this is her first time owning a practice, as our other has retired. He has been acting a little sluggish today, which could be attributed to anything, but giving the data we seem to find out by the day is worrying us greatly even though we truly found it hard to believe. I feel I might be missing some information that gone out of my head now, if anyone can think of some questions please do. We are not sure what our options are now. Of course we love him and want to keep him, and want him to be healthy. I guess I am at a loss.. it was hard to learn our breeder and long time friend had passed away who presented us two beautiful, healthy, purebred cats sixteen and seventeen years ago who we lost just this last year. Both to kidney failure. We were devastated as it is hard to find another good breeder of certain breeds in particular.. we love the breeds for their personalities but if looks are going to come at the cost of health for these breeders, then they are doing it for the wrong reasons and I feel a shelter kitten could have been healthier..
Not sure if this is related, but the smaller one seems to have diarrhea a lot and much of the poop gets stuck to his butt and stays there until we have to either wipe or gently pry it (when it dries) off.
I welcome any help/ideas/advice anyone has to offer. Just please state your credentials (if any, none are needed) and a little about your experience relating.
Thank you and have a wonderful day.
I am mainly worried about the smaller one but upon investigation of their papers (which were provided AFTER full purchase was made) I noticed a few instances where the same Dam/Sire was used in either line, therefore connecting to the current offspring. I looked into this and found it is called "linebreeding". What really worries me, is that the smaller one was born to parents who are half siblings (same father). There are also instances in both kittens lines where the same couple or cat has been paired on both sides of the parents lineage. I know that this can skip a generation before it crosses over again and the further removed offspring is "inbred". The smaller kitten was the only surviving of FIVE. Apparently the Dam's last litter only consisted of two. (Not sure if that means two surviving or two in all, or how many survived.) This tiny kitten supposedly weighed just over a pound at one week and has barely gained anything. We did not get them until they were ten and eleven weeks, and paid full price for both. As well as an expensive transportation fee.
The smaller kitten is much less active than the other and naps much more often (at first we accounted this to the fact he is a week younger, but now it is becoming more visible that this may not be the reasoning) and cries a lot for mot much apparent reason. Even when he has dry and wet food, water, multiple clean litter boxes and ample toys, beds and scratchers. They seem to be ACCUSTOMED to sleeping in a crate. The smaller one seems to have very little socialization and does not usually enjoy being petted or held. He will dig all four paws worth of claws into you if he feels you have held him for too long (more than a few moments). He, on very rare occasion, will purr and when he first got here would actually dart away from your hand in fear. He no longer is shying/running away but will still slink and tuck his butt under sometimes when you try to gently stroke his back, almost like cowering away from it. He does love his half brother and they do play a lot but as I said he tires much more quickly. He seems to have a nonstop appetite. We are afraid he might have some sort of issues from all of these litters that have been less than ideal and this newfound inbreeding.. He does not seem to catch onto things NEARLY as quick as his brother but does seem to try to follow his lead.. our third cat is indoor/outdoor and has been since we found him starving and parasite infested, close to the edge of death at eight months old more than ten years ago. He goes out for periods during the day but is always in at night and sometimes most of the day. We call him the "ever revolving door". We are afraid if he has immunity issues that our older cat could track something in to him and spread.. We are contemplating supplemental feeding of KMR. He has been to the vet and they claimed they are "healthy" but not sure if he has been tested for everything as the cattery was "negative" for all diseases and therefore don't test the kittens? Not sure if there are some loopholes here. Our vet is also new and this is her first time owning a practice, as our other has retired. He has been acting a little sluggish today, which could be attributed to anything, but giving the data we seem to find out by the day is worrying us greatly even though we truly found it hard to believe. I feel I might be missing some information that gone out of my head now, if anyone can think of some questions please do. We are not sure what our options are now. Of course we love him and want to keep him, and want him to be healthy. I guess I am at a loss.. it was hard to learn our breeder and long time friend had passed away who presented us two beautiful, healthy, purebred cats sixteen and seventeen years ago who we lost just this last year. Both to kidney failure. We were devastated as it is hard to find another good breeder of certain breeds in particular.. we love the breeds for their personalities but if looks are going to come at the cost of health for these breeders, then they are doing it for the wrong reasons and I feel a shelter kitten could have been healthier..
Not sure if this is related, but the smaller one seems to have diarrhea a lot and much of the poop gets stuck to his butt and stays there until we have to either wipe or gently pry it (when it dries) off.
I welcome any help/ideas/advice anyone has to offer. Just please state your credentials (if any, none are needed) and a little about your experience relating.
Thank you and have a wonderful day.