Cats from same litter but huge size difference!

[blahblahlandgoogoodoll]

Hi,

I have two (rather lovely) Ragdol cats. They're both female and from the same litter. We know / saw both mum & dad and they were both about average size for ragdolls. Both cats were spay at the same time around 4/ months of age. They mostly eat dry food (Yora) and have wet food (Royal canin) 3 x a week. I've been on maternity leave this last year we've had them & so I'm around at home & they eat the same amount roughly. They've got microchip feeders so no stealing of food.
My question is in relation to their size, one is considerably bigger than the other. One weighs in at 4.9kg and the other 3.8kg. They will turn one next week so I guess they've done most of their growing now?
Is it normal to have such a big size difference from litter mates?

Are they different sexes?

No disrespect but maybe the smaller one was the 'runt' of the litter.

My cats Basil and Sybil are siblings at just under 6kg and just under 4kg respectively.
FWK has two females from the same litter - one is significantly larger than the other. Not too unusual really.

(And my brothers are twins, one is 6ft the other is 5ft 8 🤣)

My cats are brother and sister. Both same litter and both hugely different in size. My friend also has a brother and sister from same litter as mine and her girl is tiny like mine and her boy a monster!

Op says they're both females.

We had litter mate tortie sisters and there was a huge difference in sizes. In fact Ziggy was such a big kitten we thought she was a he. Ididn't know at the time about torties. Cassie was 2.5, but was the runt of the litter, Ziggy was 4kg.
They lived to be 19(C), and 20

I have 2 litter mates (birmans so similar to ragdolls). She is tiny at just over 3 kilos and he is a massive floof at just under 5 kilos. And she eats more than him! Its normal for female cats to be smaller.

My two Persian sisters had a similar difference if I recall correctly.

It was an absolute pain as they had to have different doses of flea drops,

Brother and sister here - massive difference in size. About 2 kg in weight too.

Had you just upset them Plump? Those are some impressive glares.

I know somebody with two brother ragdolls where one is much bigger than the other. It seems to just be how they are, they've never had any health problems or anything.

I have 2 boys from the same litter and one has always been about 1kg heavier than the other.

we once adopted a kitten from a farm. So they were moggies, not pure breeds.

The one we took home was, at 8 weeks, literally twice the size and weight of the others. He was so beautiful, long haired, huge paws, massive head. His litter mates we short haired and normal size.

He continued to be the biggest cat I have ever seen. Obviously some throwback gene. He also liked water and swimming and was very vocal.

But less common with more stable genes I would think.

If it's not a runt or a good issue then it's just down to genes they have turned on in the individual cats

It does look like they're about to be put on the naughty step! I think theyre looking at a toy.

Definitely both girls. I'd like to think the vet that spay them would have noticed if not !

Neither were runts. 5 kittens in total in the litter. 2 girls and 3 boys. A boy was the runt (he was clearly smaller than all the others both times we visited). The breeders granddaughter fell in love with him & they were keeping him as a pet as she couldn't bring herself to sell him, otherwise we'd have got him as he was beautiful.

Seems like it can be a thing!

Thanks!

Won't be in your case OP, as yours are very much known breeding, but with moggies it isn't unusual for kittens in the same litter to have different fathers which can explain the different sizes, colours, shapes etc.

With my first 2, Boycat was about 1/3 bigger than Girlcat, though they had far too many similarities to have different fathers

I have one long haired and one short haired cat both from the same litter. The fluffy one looks big but is much lighter than his short haired brother

I have a large lounge haired boy cat and a small dairy short haired girl cat. Both had the same mother but most likely different father's. My girl only eats half a sachet for her meal and boy cat eats his then after she goes he comes back and finishes hers. She nibbles at kibble though but he only likes wet food. They both love half a piece of chicken each though on Sundays.