Insights welcome...Kitten sizes and growth

I tend to worry ...I will say that up front.  (I think being a nurse for almost 40 yrs contributes to that!)

Our kittens are now 9 weeks old. They were bottle raised.

When we adopted the siblings the two girls were bigger than the male. The size order at birth was Maxwell (male) was biggest, then Ella (black female) then Cami (gray female they called the runt) 

we were told to keep an eye on Maxwell as he was super tiny and the vet felt he was most at risk. He is now the biggest, is a food hound and has passed everyone size wise.

Ella is growing fast but is long and not as heavy as Max but is much bigger than when they came home  and Cami is slow growing. She eats slower and a little less than the other two (I keep a good watch that she gets to eat as much as she wants)  She is different looking than the other two. They are like tabbys and she is not. I guess different fathers.

She plays but not as rough now that Maxwell has come into his own. She was the rough one at the beginning. I feel she is just small and light weight. Everything seems ok with her interest in playing within the group. I also noticed that the other two are rougher with each other and not as much with her. While they are body slamming each other ...she is trying to grab their tails for example.

She has a little belly and she has gotten a little taller in the legs. Her eyes are shiny and bright. She plays with the toys. She does not have the capacity to wolf down the food like the other two. I have slipped her some extra wet food a couple of times.  Why am I worrying when all her systems seem ok? Using the box, stools ok, drinking and voiding well.

Is it me???? I guess if they were all the same I would not be wondering. Their next vet visit for round two of shots is July 1st.

Anyone experience this? anyone a worry wort like me?  Thanks for your help. I just want to relax and stop looking for trouble.

I want to introduce the new food when it gets delivered (Life's Abundance) but I wonder if I should wait until they are older?

ACK!!!

I don't remember worrying like this about our past sets of cats who lived to be 18! 

She is probably just fine and is just smaller /  slower growing.   Even with the same father this can happen sometimes.  ( one kitten can take more after one parent and one after another -- or might take after a grandparent who was smaller).

  and sounds like in this case there is a possibility  it may be different fathers,  so that could be an explanation. 

I have a friend who had a kitten in a recent litter noticeably slower to grow.  ( and also in that litter,  the larger siblings were less rough with the small kitten.)  Anyway,  it turned out that by 3-4 months she began catching up more to her bigger sister that she went home with.    I think she will still be a smaller cat.  but not as much smaller as she was for a while as a kitten.  She just seemed to be on her own growth schedule.  

One thing you could do is feed her separately an extra meal daily if she doesn't eat as much at once.   Give the others a smaller snack/ treat  and take her in another room and feed her some high calorie wet food.  like Wellness Chicken .    or if you are getting that Life's Abundance Instinctive Choice canned , that is high calorie.  

 If the food is "All Life Stages"    ( which I think the Life's Abundance is;  would either say All Life Stages or  something like "for cats and kittens") you can go ahead and introduce it now.  just as with any food change it is best to do it gradually . start out with 75% the current food and 25% new food,  then in a couple days go to 50/50,  etc. 

In my litter the boy was always the heaviest but the girls switched off back and forth. I just focused on the fact that they were all gaining at an acceptable rate and realized that they will be unique. Since one of the girls is a short hair she always seemed the smallest even though she ended up getting heavier than her sister for awhile. Like you I just reminded myself that they were all playing, pooping and eating fine regardless. 

Thanks so much...after watching them this morning and I also noted a gelatinous stool from Cami ...I really watch! ...I called the Vet and we have an appointment to be checked in a half hour...

I will give an update as it might help someone else in this situation.

I could not get rid of that nagging gut feeling that something is not right. She actually looks different to me than this morning when I wrote this post.

She ate lunch then had a pinkish jelly stool.

She is now watching the others play and just being an observer. Not her usual self.

I'll let you know what the Vet finds. Please say some prayers for her and me....I am a wreck! thanks

Carol

 OK  if she is having abnormal stools,  it would be a good idea to  talk to the vet about the possibility of worms / other intestinal parasites.    I am assuming she was treated for worms . but sometimes it takes more than 2 times.    also there are more than one kind.  

 Other idea - some sort of malabsorption disorder. 

 I am not saying this is likely.  just mentioning a couple things  

Hope the appointment goes well and the vet can find out if Cami has a problem.  

Spent an hour with out most wonderful vet! She re wormed her and is going to treat her for parasites. Albon is the med I will be giving her. She got a thorough exam. Some liquid stool showed itself so they go to see the color and consistency (sorry about the graphics) and felt that she had an intestinal thing going on. Bland food (baby food for a week) and meds for 9 days. They drew up the meds in syringes for me and we will keep our appointment for July 1st for all three.

They will get a chance to see how she does in a week.

She is bushed ...was very good ...they checked her out, gave her a little subcutaneous fluid, wormer and had a consult with 2 of the other vets there so they agreed on treatment. And the wonderful people charged me 37.00. I was there with her for over an hour. Everyone there just fell for her. She is so tiny and adorable. We are all pulling for her. They sent me home with jars of Gerber baby food.

We are so lucky. Her original foster mom was the vet tech.

We found out she has actually gained weight since the last visit but I know she was much heavier than lost weight.

In any case. glad that she was seen. Now we have to do our best to give her a chance to thrive!

I will let you know further updates...it may help others.

thanks again

Carol

that is OUR most wonderful vet.

I'm glad you followed your instinct to get it checked out. I agree that abnormal stool and her not being herself were valid reasons to be concerned and get a vets opinion. Sounds like you have very good vet care and hopefully she will be back to her normal healthy self soon.

Hi, I know what you are going through I was the same way. Where I work there was a mamma cat who always got pregnant and after having the babies would abandon them after a week. Well anyways I bottle raised about four litters of kittens, and on the last litter when we finally caught and got her spayed me and my husband decided to keep two of the little boys, one of them was so tiny and sick all of the time and ended up passing away, where the other one is healthy as can be and he is three years old now. The one we lost was sick from the start and he was always going to the vet, but your little girl sounds like she is healthy and so you should not have anything to worry about. 

Thank you so much for your replies. Sorry Ponnie Moore that you lost the little boy kitten. I know they don't always make it.

Glad you have a healthy 3 yr old and the mamma cat is spayed! So many kitten litters out there by the millions! Bless the people who foster and find them homes!

Cami is eating (I am separating her from the sibs to give her a chance to eat her fill) They are chow hounds! and today she gets her second dose of antibiotic. She ran right to the gate this morning and was first in line for me to feed her. That always makes you feel better when they eat!

We are so lucky with our Vet care for sure. We were lucky to be the adopters of these little ones. We took over foster care but with intent to keep them at 7 weeks. Cami will be everyone's success story when she get through this.   We are giving her our all.

My mom always tells me "you can only try so much and when you give it your all its all up to them" and she seems like she has alot of fight in her. I do hope she makes it. Best of luck 

Ponnie Moore said:

My mom always tells me "you can only try so much and when you give it your all its all up to them" and she seems like she has alot of fight in her. I do hope she makes it. Best of luck 

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the people who knew her from birth think she is a fighter.   and... Your mom is wise!

she is a little better today...she even climbed the scratcher pole to get a feather twice and we shall see.

The Vet's office called this morning to tell me her stools were negative (but she is on the Albon for 6 more days...) and with the improvement from just yesterday we may make it.

We love her so we are praying she keeps fighting to be well again.

Hope Cami is back to her "normal" self and pulled through with flying colors!!

Cami today.  She has had a much better day...not as emaciated as she looked 2 days ago...eating and drinking well. Coat looked more alive today! She played with her siblings for the first time since Monday. Less loose stool and on the 4th day of antibiotic, Thanks so much for thinking of her.  She is tiny but so adorable ...we love her so much!

 Good to hear that last update!   

and such a pretty little blue kitten she is!