Tiny kitten

[catlady76paws]

I have taken in a very smol kitten, Binti. I weighed her yesterday at 750 grams. The trouble I'm having is her size..she is so very smol I am worried we either step on her and just this afternoon, she was playing with her adopted sister and she fell from about a height of about 5 feet. She landed on her feet, thank god but I've seperated her for now because she did seem a bit shook up.

She has a very big character and will play with the others but they are all at least 1,5 kg and some of the bigger ones will use her as their kick bunny toy..

But with her falling today is it maybe better to keep her seperate from the bigger, more rambunctious kittens until she's a bit bigger?

 

[FeebysOwner]

She is adorable! You have to do what you feel most comfortable with. Is there any way to keep close tabs on her and remove her for a few minutes if things get a bit 'dicey'? Perhaps, when the bunny kick looks like it is about to commence, give the 'bunny kicker' a kickeroo toy in place of her? You could pick her up and tell the cat(s) a stern "NO", then give them the kickeroo and say a calm "Yes".

Maybe separate her when you can't keep close watch, but let her be with one of the 'milder' cats so she is not alone?

 

[Caspers Human]

Cats can fall from amazing heights without getting hurt.


The cat's ability to land on its feet during a fall is actually a reflex. It's called the "righting reflex" and they don't even think about it. It's hard-wired.

A healthy, adult cat should be able to fall from a height of approximately five or six feet and land safely, provided it doesn't land on anything else harmful. (About as high as your head.) It might go "OOF!" as it lands, maybe getting the wind knocked out but, after a minute's recovery time, it should be okay. Consider it like humans playing football (American football) and tackling each other.

If a human fell from a similar height, in proportion to size, we would probably get injured pretty badly.

A kitten, obviously, shouldn't take a fall from the same heights as an adult cat but it should be able to take a "five footer" and still be okay if it has a clear landing spot. You have the right to be concerned about your kitten taking such a fall but don't worry too much. Even for a small kitten, a fall like that is still "within range," so to speak. At the upper limit, surely, but still within range.

Kittens are still learning about the world and they need to have a chance to understand about what's dangerous and what's not. Just chalk this one up as a learning experience for your little one. Hopefully, after her fall, she recovered herself then looked up at where she fell from and thought, "I'm not gonna' do THAT again!"

Certainly, "kitten proof" the house to make sure that there aren't any obvious dangers but, after you've done due diligence, there's probably not much that you can do. Sometimes, you've just got to let kittens be kittens. That's how they learn.

As to her wrastling with her older, bigger housemates... It's part of growing up. Bigger cats do pick on smaller cats. Even so, there are limits. That's the way cats roll. If one cat pins the other down so that it can't get away, that's over the limit. Obviously, if cats are actually hurting each other and "making fur fly" that's over the line. Yes, you should separate them when that happens.

If you feel like the older cats are picking on the small one too much, you're probably right to keep them apart when you're not around to be the referee. If you catch them wrestling too hard, yes, separate them and send them to their "neutral corners." If it happens when you're not around, yes, put them in separate rooms or some other safe place until you can be there to watch.

I agree that a "kicker" toy might be a good way to redirect an older cat away from "playing too hard" with a younger one. I think you should try that.

BTW!... That third picture with the little one sitting with her older housemate! SUPER CUTE!
You can obviously tell that the two of them get along, pretty well, and the older one seems to be guarding the little one.

It even seems like the older one is saying, "That's MY little sister! You'd better not mess with her or else you're going to have to answer to ME!"

 

[catlady76paws]

Thank you for the replies. I think we'll keep a closer eye on her and for now separate when we're not around. She still fits in the palm of my hand and she had a rough start being born outside.