Small cats

[Huxxle]

Sorry, couldn’t find the best place to post this. My local cat rescue Centre has kittens that are small for their age. Many of the kittens have remained small for their age. They are 4 months old but look about 8 weeks old. The vet said they are fine and alert. I’m worried about taking them on in case any abnormalities come to light later on down the line and we get too attached! Does anyone have any experience of having a smaller than usual kitten/cat?

One of mine is very small and dainty. She's fine and does what the other cats do. She gets a bit cold outside in the colder weather. I was thinking about getting her a little coat.

I've adopted small kittens before, that were way underweight but in my experience they grow fast and get big quick. The main thing is for a lot of medicines like flea and worming treatments, you cant do much until the kitten weighs 1kg. They often get easily upset tummies when they're small as well so the first two weeks is normally tough while they adjust, put on weight and settle down. My biggest challenges have been when adopting adult cats that haven't been looked after and are sick/deformed rather than young cats.

Yes, we have an unusually small cat - she was rescued as a feral kitten. Absolutely no problems now. She has had so much handling and love in our family, you'd never think she'd had a rough start in life. Incredibly sweet, friendly, chatty, affectionate little cat. We all adore her!

Some cats are just little and there is of course great variety across breeds. If they are otherwise happy and healthy then I wouldn't worry at all.

I have an unusually small child and it was a bit like WellLarDeDar said. They were a bit more prone to catching stuff and we had to be careful about medicines that are weight based dosage etc.

We did get warned that (in humans at least ), restricted access to nutrients in utero/in early life carries higher risk of certain things later on including diabetes and heart conditions - you could maybe ring a vet and ask if it's similar with cats.

Ours was dainty for about 3 years then got bigger! Totally normal sized cat now

I had one cat from a shelter who was very small at 9 months. She has been born at the end of kitten season (so her mum wasn’t as strong or healthy in pregnancy), was a stray and had cat flu. Oh, and dental problems.

6 months later, she weighs nearly 4 kilos (almost double what she was at 9 months) and is happy and healthy. As confirmed by the vet! She is currently purring her little heart out on my lap.

Small doesn’t necessarily mean unhealthy. And she may stay small or have an unusual growth spurt like my furball.

The last 2 black dcats we have had were small. Current one is extra feisty to compensate!! As a fosterer moons ago I had a dkitten with a chromosome disorder.. He never grew past about 4 weeks size... Sadly he died at about 10 weeks...

Just googled - this might be of interest:

blog.healthypawspetinsurance.com/when-do-cats-stop-growing-reliable-ways-to-know-when-cats-reach-their-full-size

Our 10 year old girl is half the size of our 3 year old boy. She's always been tiny and gets mistaken for a much younger cat.

My friend was adopted by a strong-minded little cat, who didn't like the new domestic arrangements when a neighbour died and she was looked after by his relatives. She not only survived living in my friend's porch to make her point until my friend caved in and took her on, she survived until at least fourteen years old. To the end of her days, visitors who didn't know her sometimes mistook her for a kitten.

One of my rescue cats is really small! Got him at 14 weeks, he'd been on the streets etc. Now a year and a bit later, he's way smaller than the regular tabby cat (people think he's a kitten still!) but he is perfectly healthy and the vets have said he's not at risk for any future problems due to size 😊

Thanks. I’m just wondering if the kittens will stay thin throughout their lives or have a shorter life expectancy.

I have a pretty small cat. She’s never had any health issues related to her size.

It does skew my perception sometimes! I’ll go out and see a regular sized cat and think “Blimey that cat is enormous!”

Judging by my local Facebook page, the main danger for small cats is being misidentified as a "lost kitten" when going about their normal business and then suffering the indignity of have their photo pop up every couple of weeks.

My 9 year old Persian is tiny. Only 3.5kg. But she has small cat syndrome. And a very loud voice!

@Huxxle Our cat is still very kitten-like in appearance - she has stayed thin, her adult weight is such that she's right on the border of kitten and cat doses for medication (around 2.5 kg, dips if she's stressed). So far she hasn't had any health issues but we do keep a close eye on her!

We adopted our cat from a rescue and they estimated she was about 2 years old so she’d be 8 now. People always assume she’s a young cat as she’s small and dainty. We don’t know her backstory but she’s had no health problems and we’ve had no issues at all.

Oh and she’s around 2.5-3kg.

My girl cat was 2.5kg to her brother’s 4.5kg. She was little and feisty and never had any health problems, but didn’t live into old age as was hit by a car.

My foster fail is nearly a year old and is quite a bit smaller than my other cats. Her mum was feral and trapped from a large colony at the end of the kitten season. She may catch up with the others or she may always be on the small side. She may actually be normal sized at around 3kg as my others are all sisters with Bengal in the mix and weigh in at 4-4.5 kg. My Maine Coons were all 8kg. If you are worried check with the vet but there is a variation in size in cats. The current crop of foster kittens vary hugely in size and that is just one litter.

My cat is very long but incredibly slim, perfectly healthy but looks underweight. She's checked every 3 months at the vet for a general health check, and she absolutely fine, it's just her build. Some cats are tiny, I'm sure they will be fine x

I have a tiny cat, she’s also very thin. People always assume she’s homeless and starving. The reality is she rules our house, eat everything in sight, bullies our older male cat, and is just naturally very small and petite.

My smallest ever cat was also the most long lived, also proper perky and active until one day he just fell over and carked it

Clarence

I have a 3kg cat, she was the runt of the litter. She's now 16yo, with the usual gamut of elderly cat issues (kidney disease etc) but she's been a very normal cat all her life.