Runty Kitten Mystery- Any theories?

teamcarp33

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Messages
96
Purraise
52
Location
Maryland
I foster litters of kittens with mama cats for my local animal shelter. My current litter is currently just over 6 weeks old. This litter has had a rough time since the beginning. The mama cat is very very thin, and had a large litter (6 kittens). All 6 kittens were very small at birth- between 2.3 and 2.7 oz each. One kitten died in the first week of unknown causes, or fading kitten syndrome. Four of the kittens have developed normally and are healthy, normal 6 week olds. The 5th kitten is runty and TINY for his age. I brought him to the vet a little over 2 weeks ago- he had an umbilical infection. The vet prescibed Clavamox and the infection cleared up right away. We both hoped that his growth rate would pick up, but it hasn't. He currently weighs about 8 oz. We went back to the vet yesterday, hoping to get some answers. I was mainly concerned about his belly- its huge in proportion to the rest of his body, and about his overall stunted growth. I was afraid it might be FIP. The vet looked him over pretty well- she said that his belly is concerning, but that he doesn't have any other symptoms that would indicate FIP. He is too tiny to have blood work done, and at this point an x-ray won't show much. She said she is leaning more toward some type of congenital abnormality, maybe something involving the liver or heart. However, she did not detect a heart murmur. Has anyone experienced something like this? Any ideas?
 

nekochan

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Aug 5, 2006
Messages
2,760
Purraise
22
Location
Chicago, IL
I had a rescued feral litter where 3 of the kittens were way smaller than the rest, we never figured out a cause... I rescued them at 2-3 weeks old, I don't think the 3 small ones would have survived if I hadn't found them. They had no eating problems and they did gain weight and grew normally except for staying smaller than their littermates.
Two of the small kittens eventually caught up to their littermates but not until they were much older, and one is still on the small side as an adult (she's 7 pounds at 2 1/2 years old, everyone else is 9-10+ pounds). The one who was originally the smallest in the litter but caught up now has severe allergies and immune issues (EGC) which could be related but the other two have not had any health problems.

Here is a photo of the smallest from the litter with one of his "normal size" littermates (the small one here is the one who now has allergy/immune issues.)



 

my4llma

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Oct 23, 2010
Messages
9,556
Purraise
247
When we got Midnight at 3 weeks old he was very tiny, and he stayed the same size for 5 weeks. We even brought him to the vet afraid something was wrong. When he turned 8 weeks old he grew over night. Now he's 7 months old and very huge, he's a whole head taller than Luna, and she's older than him! Maybe something like that with your kitten? Hopefully nothing serious
 

stephanietx

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Dec 1, 2005
Messages
14,768
Purraise
3,490
Location
Texas
It's also possible that the mother cat bred more than once during her heat cycle and the little one is actually younger than the bigger ones, yet born at the same time. This happens frequently from what I've read. Also, could just be a small framed, more petite cat. I have one of those. I would think that looking for growth markers based on age rather than size would be most important. As long as they're healthy, playing, pottying, and gaining weight, all is well.
 

catsallaround

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 21, 2009
Messages
3,104
Purraise
66
I had a small kitten and it was most likely a liver shunt(without the pricey tests or necropsy its not known for sure) She was euthanized at about 6 weeks. She was fine on formula but got sicker when went to food(got her at 2 weeks no mom) Main difference was at some point she didn't gain and LOST weight.

I know look back to a litter I hand raised from the start and realize another kitten most likely died of a liver shunt to
She was always about the same size and made it 2 weeks.

Nekochan that's a really cool pic to see the different size!
 
Top