Any cat breeders had a kitten THIS small?

[Madwife123]

We have 2 week old Ragdoll kittens. 6 in the litter and 1 of them is TINY. Less than half the size of the others.

At birth he was so small we thought he wouldn’t survive but 2 weeks on he’s going strong, feeding well and seems perfectly healthy, except his size.

We’ve had runts before but never such a vast difference. This kitten looks like it’s from a whole different litter!

Is he likely to always be this small? Could there be an underlying problem causing him to be so small? He seems well so I’m reluctant to take him the vets and risk infection etc. but equally don’t want to be missing doing something that we could do to help him.

These photos show the size difference at birth and also now at 2 weeks old. He is clearly growing but not catching up to the others.

By this age, if the kitten's feeding well from mum you should be able to top up with a bottle or syringe with a teat so that the kitten is actively feeding and reduce risk of aspiration.
Putting the smallest kitten on first for feeding is clearly the right thing, but I don't understand the supplementing of the larger kittens. They need to feed from mum as much as possible too to stimulate her to make more milk I would have thought.
I fostered a litter once where one kitten was half the size of the others, she was fine in the end, but got sick a couple of times as a kitten and took a lot of looking after to get her through.

Thanks for the link! I was hoping there was a way to follow Malin’s journey without having to wade through a load of argy bargy. That latest photo you’ve posted on this thread of the cat puddle is just beautiful. Hope he stays healthy OP, sounds like you are very very much in love with him ❤️

honestly the absolute rudeness of people on here, keyboard warriors, same people that go about saying be kind and wouldn't dare say anything to someone's face!
heaven help the day u all need a wee bit of a boost when u are doing something like caring for a wee poorly kitten! the kitten is here now does it matter how he was born?
and no wonder i like animals more than people!
OP hope u are coping better forget the assholes on here Malin u wee gem, me and my 5!! rescue cats and 2 garden strays are rooting for u, all our fingers and paws are crossed for u!! please keep us updated when u get time

@Madwife123 but I can't remember the last time I saw a mongrel.

Cat 1: moggie, bit runty, mother cat got knocked up too young d aged 16

Cats 2 and 3: Tabby and black, died aged 12 and 13 - moggies.

Cat 4: half BSH - King of all the cats. Gorgeous, affectionate boy, d aged 14.

Cat ls 5 and 6: rescues and rescued from overseas. Spent from 4 weeks to 7.5 months in a crate. Had them 4 months. They were v nervous, one more than the other. The v v nervous one might have been semi-feral. Just started to miaow, purred this morning, no longer hiding.

I'm sorry, one gets a cat to love them. Regardless of breed and breed related traits cats do what cats want and behave how they wish.

My cat was the runt, born far smaller than the others. It was thought at the time she was partially sighted (one eye) as well as using a hare lip. It turns out she's actually fully blind, not that it bothers her.

She's an old lady cat now. Yes, she's clearly got a few genetic issues going on but shes happy, healthy and has a wonderful life. She spent the first few years of her life (before she came to us) weighing 1kg, but we managed to get her weight up to juet over 2! She went through puberty at the age of 7, at which point she was spayed.

Definitely persevere with your kitty. She may well find a good home, if your preference would not be to keep her). Best of luck yo you both.

I have bred cats (not this breed), i would be very surprised if he makes it to 4/5 weeks - looks like something going on rather than just small.
Nothing vets can do anyhow

Feeding the larger kittens is advice from an expert neonatology vet. It’s to reduce competition for mums milk. The big kittens still get mums milks also. They are only topped up a small amount. And the small kitten is only 100g so high risk of aspiration.

We really are!

He is definitely a keeper if he can overcome his hurdles.

You can’t remember the last time you saw a mongrel? That’s exactly what these trendy cockerpoo’s etc. are!

I’m surprised he’s made his this long to be honest but we’re not giving up without a fight.

Thank you as another breeder backing me up that vets can’t do a thing for these tiny kittens except put them to sleep.

None, it’s all the exploitation of animals for financial gain.

None, it’s all the exploitation of animals for financial gain.

Exactly. It’s sickening.

Given the number of doctors and midwives who confidently give bad advice to breastfeeding mums I would get a second opinion on topping up the larger kittens! I would have thought you want them stimulating milk production as much as possible.
If you've never hand fed, I can see why you'd be reluctant, but done properly, I don't think the risk is as high as you think. I was involved in cat rescue and worked with very experienced people who showed me how to safely hand feed. We never had any issue and it saved a number of kittens lives.

God some people here just love to moan. Op came here for help and all you've done is slag her off. You're presumably cat lovers but have done nothing to help little Malin, nothing at all 😡

It's a good sign that mum is feeding him, I know a lot of baby animals with congenital issues get rejected by their mothers. So fingers crossed he is perfectly healthy 🤞

I have hand reared before and am trained in tube feeding kittens. The advice to top up the larger kittens comes from a specialist vet. I have done this successfully before. The bigger kittens still feed from mum and still increase milk production. I’m talking about a small top up for the 2 largest kittens (out of 6) 2-3 times a day.

OP has at least two litters on the go at once, average 6 kittens per litter, average price £6/700, that's £7200, potentially 4 litters each per year, that a healthy income.
I can't imagine funding my life off of my pets churning out litters.

You're clearly a very caring and dedicated car owner op. If little Malin has any chance at all I'm sure you'll help him find it. The mummy cat is gorgeous. 😍
Well done on keeping your cool with all the unnecessary criticisms you've had.

Cat not car though. 😸

Your maths is so wrong!

We have 2 litters a year total. We have 2 breeding females and 4 that are neutered.

Average litter size for Ragdoll’s is 3-4 kittens. This is the first time we’ve had a litter with 6 and that’s considered exceptionally large for Ragdoll’s.

No cat can have 4 litters a year! That’s ridiculous. The GCCF will refuse to register that many for one. They have 4 litters each TOTAL in their entire breeding period.

No wonder people thing breeders are rolling in money when they have such incorrect facts about breeding!

I’m shocked that anyone thinks 4 litters each a year is normal!

Cats are pregnant for 9 weeks. The kittens are rehomed at 14 weeks old. That’s 23 weeks either pregnant or nursing. There are 52 weeks in a year. Even if they were bred back to back (which no ethical breeder would ever do) you can’t get 4 litters in a year!

I just want to stand up for you as a registered breeder, they really do look after their kitties and they also cost a lot of money to rear, i.e vet costs for vaccinations, checks and microchipping.

My beautiful ragdoll comes from a registered breeder, she is wonderful and I have the reassurance that her parents were genetically tested to screen out genetic disorders.

People are making themselves look absolutely insane on here

I wonder what they’re like in real life?

I think they are probably the people who work at cat rescues who don't let any actual person rehome a sodding cat which is why they're always full up!!

The op has asked a cat/kitten related question in a cat sub forum on a forum where people post for information. This does not make her a back yard breeder. I have responsibly bred animals and often the answer to some of the questions comes in the strangest of places. Also, often animal specific forums are hot beds of really nasty social politics and the best breeders know to stay well away from them . I was part of a tortoise forum where there where actual death wishes bagged about because somebody admitted to feeding their tortoises shop bought salad instead of freshly harvested weeds, plucked at sunrise while still Dewy and fresh.

Op, I would ask the stud owner if anything had popped up like this in the past. But it could literally be anything. Inefficient placentas, poor gestational nutrition as a result. Could be genetic. You do need to inform the stud, if this pops up in another litter he should be retired.

I had a litter of 9 pups from a small breed mum. Soa huge litter. 7 pups where 180-225g and two little tiddlers were 87 and 91g. No explanation at all. They struggled to thrive and we have them lots of extra time at the milk bar when their siblings were asleep and against the odds they all survived. Both are very petite but doing great now 4 years on.

There are some real twats on this thread

fingers crossed for Malin op