Unplanned Sick Kittens

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richo1

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How are things?
The black and white tabby is doing really well now however the skinny ginger one with girl boy bits is a constant cause of concern. I recently noticed that s/he appeared to be walking funny so I took him/her to the vet and after a lot of investigating it was discovered that the cause was a 10mm difference in th length of the femur it don't notice until s/he starts walking.
He or she has also got loose stools not chocolate smoothie loose but loose it arrives in the box like cow pats I'm at my wit's end trying to rectify this. It's funny how the mother cat knew all this because she wasn't keen on nursing this kitten.
 

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If the vet is ok with this, could you add a little pumpkin to possibly help with the loose stools?
 
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richo1

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If the vet is ok with this, could you add a little pumpkin to possibly help with the loose stools?
Ok thanks I will try adding some pumpkin. Despite the kittens oddities it is still growing slowly but I feel curing the bowel problem will help it add the weight it needs
 
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richo1

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A round of metronidazole may help. Ask your vet about it.
Ok if the pumpkin don't work I will ask the vet about metronidazole the vet did prescribe royal canin sensitive but ginger wouldn't eat it but his/her mother loved it. Despite the ginger kittens oddities poor sight, kinky tail, male female bits , odd leg length issue he/she is quite a lively happy soul I hope it all doesn't go pear shaped suddenly.
 
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richo1

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Are you-all doing ok?
I have tried the pumpkin remedy and his/her poop firmed up most of the time, but still there is the odd unexplained bout of loose stool. The kitten is skinny and is smaller than its male and female siblings. I still cannot find a vet willing to neuter this kitten all I got was “ that’s a odd kitten perhaps when its fully grown it might be possible to sort it out”

Photo, apart from the coat color the kitten has the same facial features as the female sibling but the coat is of a male cat
kit3.jpg
 

white shadow

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Well, when you say "the coat is of a male cat".........the biology/genetic science behind it is really not so simple.

I think, if she's able, lutece lutece may be able to weigh in and offer some reference points for you.

Of course, the complication with this kitty is that their sex would appear ambiguous.

What a sweetypie you have there !

Do you know their weight now....and that of the siblings ?
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lutece

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Well, when you say "the coat is of a male cat".........the biology/genetic science behind it is really not so simple.
I think, if she's able, lutece lutece may be able to weigh in and offer some reference points for you.
Both males and females can be red ("ginger") in color.

The red gene is sex-linked (carried on the X chromosome), so males inherit the red gene from their mothers. In this case, we can see that mom is a tortoiseshell tabby (also known as torbie), so she has one red X and one non-red X. Her male kittens can be either red, or non-red (brown tabby, black, blue, etc).

Females have two X chromosomes, so they can inherit the red gene from both parents. If they get just one red gene, they will be tortoiseshell or torbie. If females get a red gene from each parent, they will be red. This means that females' posible colors depend on both mom and dad. With a torbie mom,
  • If dad is non-red (brown tabby, etc), female kittens would be either non-red (brown tabby, etc), or tortoiseshell / torbie.
  • If dad is red, females would be either red, or tortoiseshell / torbie.
 

white shadow

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lutece lutece -
  • I understand that most red/"ginger" tabbies are male......is that accurate ?
  • this appears to be an intersex kitten......how might that fit in with what you offered above ?
.
 

lutece

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Red males are more common than red females, because red males only need one copy of the red gene. But there are plenty of red females out there, too.

There are many different causes for intersex conditions. The kitten's sex chromosomes could be XX, XY, or XXY, or it could be a chimera (two fertilized eggs merged together). Genital anatomy alone doesn't tell you what sex chromosomes the kitten has (you can read more about that on web sites about human intersex conditions). With a kitten, you may never know the underlying condition, but just as with any neuter or spay, you'll eventually want to remove any testes and/or ovaries the kitten may have.

As far as color, however, the red gene would work basically the same way in any case:
- If the kitten has one X chromosome, it would need only one copy of the red gene to be red, so the father could have been any color.
- If the kitten has two X chromosomes, it would have inherited the red gene from both parents, so the father would have been red in color.
- If the kitten is a chimera combining XX and XY fertilized eggs, all the X chromosomes involved would have had the red gene (or else you would expect the kitten to look more like a torbie).
 
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richo1

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The male kitten is 3.8kg the female kitten is 3.4kg and the ginger kitten with both male and female bits is only 2.7kg I have only tried pumpkin to address the loose stool so far. The ginger kitten is still quite active like running up curtains like a spider
 

white shadow

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So she's ~1/2 kg lighter than her sister, about a pound. It could be worse, I'd say.

I don't think the male is neutered yet....that needs to be done, like now. By taking care of him, you'll have more leeway with the other two. Otherwise, well, you just know what will happen.

He is old enough now that this must be done.

Back in May (when you were looking for goat milk!) you said the kittens were "at a property in Dartford just outside London"......are you now in/close to London? If I know your general location, I can ask some folks (who know about resources there) for suggestions of Vets who may be willing to see this kitten for spay & neuter.
.
 
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richo1

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So she's ~1/2 kg lighter than her sister, about a pound. It could be worse, I'd say.

I don't think the male is neutered yet....that needs to be done, like now. By taking care of him, you'll have more leeway with the other two. Otherwise, well, you just know what will happen.

He is old enough now that this must be done.

Back in May (when you were looking for goat milk!) you said the kittens were "at a property in Dartford just outside London"......are you now in/close to London? If I know your general location, I can ask some folks (who know about resources there) for suggestions of Vets who may be willing to see this kitten for spay & neuter.
.
The female and male are fixed i got the male done when it had its hernia operation I'm told the best time to do the kitten with hermaphroditism is when it's full grown if I want to take the risk of it not been able to urinate after surgery
 

white shadow

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Ah......OK. Now I'm confused, because when you first posted today (above #89) you said:
"I still cannot find a vet willing to neuter this kitten all I got was "that's an odd kitten perhaps when its fully grown it might be possible to sort it out."​
So, that's why I asked your location - so I could try to get Vet recommendations for you.

Now, would you like me to try to get some quality suggestions for Vets/clinics/hospitals ? (at the least, that would give you more options/choices)

It's easy for me to do.
.
 
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richo1

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Ah......OK. Now I'm confused, because when you first posted today (above #89) you said:
"I still cannot find a vet willing to neuter this kitten all I got was "that's an odd kitten perhaps when its fully grown it might be possible to sort it out."​
So, that's why I asked your location - so I could try to get Vet recommendations for you.

Now, would you like me to try to get some quality suggestions for Vets/clinics/hospitals ? (at the least, that would give you more options/choices)

It's easy for me to do.
.
What I said in post 89 is true The vet said it's a odd kitten because the kitten is equipped with both male and female sexual organs.the vet also said it's best to wait till it's full grown if I really wanted to get it fixed
 
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