8 week old stray only 10.6 ounces

I acquired a stray kitten 3 days ago. She weighed 9.4 oz which would have put her in the 2-3 wk old range. She is quite spunky, easily adapted to litter box, pounces, groomed, and had all teeth. Began bottle feeding and she has put on weight.

I suspected she was closer to 5 wks based upon behavior. I took her to free vet clinic today and they said closer to 8 weeks and about 1.5 pounds underweight!!!

They referred me to vet for tomorrow.

Kitten has seemingly normal poo, eats hardily, very active, no coughing or drainage. The vet tech indicated a likely poor outcome and said she was even too small for blood work. Tomorrow is parasite test.

Anyone have a kitty this tiny make it? Thx

My oldest, Phoebe, was a rescue kitten less than half the size of her littermates.  They call them "runts".  The good news is that a runt *can* lead a very long and happy life, but there's a strong possibility that you'll run into costly health problems at some point.  Phoebe is hanging strong at 14, but she lost all her teeth early in life (4 yrs.) and has struggled with a treatment-resistant form of IBD the past several years.  Medicine, vet visits, surgery, special diets...it all adds up pretty quickly.  I wouldn't go back in time and trade her for any other kitty, though!  I sort of knew what I was getting into.  Nobody else wanted her because of the potential for serious health issues, so it was either take her home or she could have ended up back on the street.  I'm glad I've been able to provide a loving home for her, I only wish we'd started out day one on a raw diet and probiotics.  Maybe an immune-boosting supplement.  I fed her the expensive "junk food" for years, not realizing the detrimental effect it would have on a delicate girl like her.  

So the best advice I can give is to get that little thing on the healthiest, most nutritious raw diet possible.  Rotate proteins, don't feed just poultry.  Throw in some novel protein sources like quail, rabbit, lamb.  The more variety, the less likely she is to develop food allergies later on.

Best of luck to you both!

Teeny kitten

I took on a malnourished litter who were 8 ounces at 8 weeks! 2 of them didn't make it (well, they died before 8 weeks) but 2 did. They're big healthy kitties now. So, yep, just make sure you get those worms out of her and feed her good nourishing foods and she should catch up.

Were they malnourished primarily due to worms and environmental exposure?

Good news. The vet tech yesterday was way off with kittens age. Closer to 4-5 weeks old and healthy.

kaytekat said:

Good news. The vet tech yesterday was way off with kittens age. Closer to 4-5 weeks old and healthy.

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Hooray!  It's good to know she's right where she's supposed to be and doing well.  She is such a precious little dollbaby, btw!  

kaytekat said:

Good news. The vet tech yesterday was way off with kittens age. Closer to 4-5 weeks old and healthy.

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I was just about to say, it is very common for vets to be way off, I hear this all the time, and I was just about to ask you for a picture of his teeth

Glad you found out the right info!

If you have concerns about needing to de-worm your kitten, you should talk to your vet about it. Your kitten can be given a de-wormer (usually Drontal) when she's at least 6 weeks old. All kittens, even the non-feral ones, benefit from getting a de-wormer because parasites are so common for them and can lead to malnourishment and dehydration. Your vet will know what's best.

Vet techs often think they're experts, and are often wrong--so it's good that you got correct information from an actual veterinarian, and that the news was good! 

I just happened back onto this site after MANY years away and found this old post. Glad to say Teeny is thriving and 8 years old now. I ended up keeping her.

My gracious sakes ! Thank you so very very much for the update!

Thank you so much! These updates are very helpful and members often wonder how threads concluded. Teeny is just beautiful.