Help With Kittens Age?

[MarTaurus80]

Hi I rescued my kitten 7 weeks ago from someone who wanted it gone quickly on the internet. My heart went out to her. She was extremely malnourished, I could see majority of her bones, her fur was patchy. She had worms and fleas etc
They claimed she was 3 months old (which I questioned them about when I collected her as she was tiny!).

I took her straight to the vet the next day to her checked over, worn treatment, which I had to syringe feed as she was only 1kg. The vet couldn’t be certain of her age at the time.

1st day:

I visited the vet 3 weeks later for her 2nd injection and she weighed 1.4kg (despite me feeding her constantly ), the vet said that all he could determine was that she was still under 4 months as her permanent teeth hadn’t started coming through. And possibly she was 3 months. That was now 3 weeks ago.

I’m hoping someone might be able to help me work out how old she is as she’s still incredibly tiny, which could be due to the malnourishment? I’m guessing she’s now around 3.5 months? So she would have been around 8 weeks when I got her?

This is her now: she’s still so tiny!

This a recent pic of her and my 9 month fur baby Loki - to compare their size difference. He was twice her size at 4 months

I checked her teeth yesterday and it doesn’t seem like she’s teething yet.
I want to try and narrow her age better to work out when to get her spayed. Vet said once she’s bigger and reaches over 2kg.
She’s been wormed regularly and eats 4 meals per day, plus biscuits out freely. But she doesn’t seem to be growing, she’s only marginally bigger from when I first got her.

Any advice welcome.
Thanks

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! You might need to go with your vets thought of figuring it by size...? However, there are other members who will weigh in for you.

You could add some kitten glop --there are recipes on the internet .

Both your babies are gorgeous!!

 

[MarTaurus80]

Thank you for responding. Yes, I think she’s somewhere between 3-4months possibly. I wanted to get her spayed before she goes into heat, but she’s still so tiny and not reached 2kg yet

Thanks, I’m really pleased they’ve bonded so quickly. My first time having two cats together - and now I see why every suggests 2 rather than 1, they’re such good fur buddies

 

[MarTaurus80]

I guess I’m just frustrated as it’s been purely guesswork with her age, and 2 visits to the vets and they’re unsure.

 

[Furballsmom]

Maybe I can see if @abyeb would have a moment ...

 

[MarTaurus80]

Thanks! It might just be that’s she’s a very small breed of cat, or her growth was stunted from being neglected when she was younger. The vet said she was still underweight at the last visit and gave me special kitten food for a couple of weeks. She’s eaten that. I might try and weigh her now to see her current weight. Only the last few weeks has her fur grown back and all her bones are covered in fat

SHes definitely healthy now, but Just hasn’t grown much at all.

 

[Furballsmom]

Bless your heart for saving this furbaby!

 

[MarTaurus80]

I saw how shocking she looked in their ad and they were selling her for £20, like she was a worn old pair of shoes. She had to come home with me. She’s a cutie and so sweet tempered.

She does still knead quite a bit, does that help with ageing her?

 

[Furballsmom]

Her kneading is something that she might do for a long time this one's fun;

Why Do Cats Knead

 

[Willowy]

It's possible that she was 3 months old, just underweight. I once took in some orphans who were 8 ounces at 8 weeks (confirmed)!

I've found that many kittens seem to go into heat soon after their canine teeth fall out and new ones come in. I don't know if the 2 things are connected (the maturity hormones make the teeth come in?) but that seems like a good way to figure it. So just keep a close eye on her teeth and make an appointment when you see the new ones poking through.

 

[MarTaurus80]

That’s incredibly tiny!! Thank you for the canine tip! I will check her teeth regularly and use that as my guide.
I think I will leave it a few more weeks and if she still doesn’t seem to be growing go back to the vet. To me she only looks like she’s 3 months now.