Tails or feet?

What do you think, in your experience, is a better indicator of how big a kitty will be when they are little - feet or tails?

I always thought it was feet. Trent had big feets, he's a big boy. Ophelia has teeny petite little feets, shes a teeny little girl.

But when a friend was visiting and Mojo was about 6 months old she said - oh, she's going to be a big cat; she has a really long tail. I thought, oh no - she has tiny little paws, she won't be that big! Sure enough, Mojo is HUGE. Seriously, she's bigger than Trent in stature and weight.

Which do you think is a better indicator? Feet or Tails?

I always thought feet.x

I voted old wives tale, but I am not really certain. When I rescued Speck from animal control he was about 8 weeks old. He had these huge puppy feet. He was also neutered early because the vet said he was so large for his age. I thought he would turn out to be a really big cat. Actually, he's average to short. Though as you can see from the picture below, he does have a bit of a stomach. DH can't stand the thought of anyone going hungry....

In cats I have found ears to be a better indicator than feet.

My biggest cats have large feet and longer tails I know the parents (and beyond) of mine though so know they are from a line of larger cats.

Originally Posted by missymotus

My biggest cats have large feet and longer tails

I know the parents (and beyond) of mine though so know they are from a line of larger cats.

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Just going on experience from my cats ..... little feet short tail = little cat and vice versa.

I wonder - would -- altering, and/or the age they were altered have anything to do with their growth?

Feet, maybe, based on our Taz-man. He's 19 pounds, big, not fat.

Morgan has a very long tail but is our smallest cat, she's a svelt 10 pounds.

This is way too small a sampling to tell, though.

Hmmm... I didn't vote. I'm going to have to go with ears though. I don't remember noting that any of our kitties had particularly large or small feet or tails (except Flowerbelle who had the littlest feet and is little) - but I do remembering noticing Lazlo and Shelly had HUGE ears and HOPING they would grow into them. They did. ...they both have really long tails too, so who knows?

I honestly have no idea! It's been so long since I've had a kitten that reached true adulthood, but that's another story. I do know that Atlas has a short tail, it loks like it got a few inches chopped off it's so short! and he's a big boy on the other hand, Perseus's tail is very long, but he is a very skinny kitty, very long and lean I don't know what their paws looked like when they were little

Originally Posted by GloriaJH

I wonder - would -- altering, and/or the age they were altered have anything to do with their growth?

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I think this is truly an old wives tale, my RB Demeter was spayed at a young age and she got BIG, same with RB Antigone. Perseus was not neutered til he was a year old, and see above, very skinny, same with Hades, not neutered until about a year old and he's a small cat, 7 lbs max

I had to go with feet. Hercules was tiny when he was a kitten and had these huge monster paws and hes a big boy now. Not fat like Fatman but hes just big and solid. But him and Fatman both have really long tails. Now GiGi on the other hand has extremely dainty paws, part of that I think is because shes a girl and girls seem to be daintier than males. I do still think she will be big though because she has LONGGGGGGGGG legs that she needs to grow into shes like an ackward teenager right now with this tiny body and these mile long legs, and a mile long tail. Shes only 9 mths old (approx) right now so shes still got some growing to do. I have noticed though that since Hercules got neutered too he has gotten more husky and seems to have lost some of his leanness hes put on some weight..

I usually go with feet. Lola had big feet AND big ears. She's huge now. We think she's all or part Maine Coon. She still has big feet, but a big body to match. She went through a stage where she had a really long tail, but I just figured that was her "teenager" stage.

I said neither. Pinky is a large cat with humongous paws, but Spanky is bigger than Pinky and has little pencil eraser sized paws. The largest cat I know, Mojo, has an extremely short tail.

Amy - were their ears any indication?

Sabrina is a big girl and her tail is quite short.

Hmmm I voted neither because I have seen cats with big tails and feet but are rather small. Or you have big cats with little feet or tails . I thought this thread was going to be about which one we like the most, I personally like feet just putting that out there

Originally Posted by JuneBugBear07

Hmmm I voted neither because I have seen cats with big tails and feet but are rather small. Or you have big cats with little feet or tails

. I thought this thread was going to be about which one we like the most,

I personally like feet

just putting that out there

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Just to add onto the feet thing I like them too. Lol especially big hairy toes that are begging to be tickled. Haha

Its really neither, although feet can sometimes give you an idea. I've seen kittens with bigger feet turn out normal and normal feet turn out to be large cats.

Jack had bigger feet then Charlie at the same age, but they are both about the same size. I don't think Jack will get a lot bigger then Charlie when he's full grown (in another year).

I said feet. Check out these tootsies!

Smudge is very large, but not very heavy, only about 13 pounds.

I've had some cats with really short tails and some with really long tails, so I don't think tails are a good indicator.

My cat Sneakers has a very short tail and she is a big kitty for example... Her ideal weight is about 13 pounds. When we got her she weighed 16 though.