My cat seems... small or short somehow

immortalflower

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I know cats come in all different shapes and sizes... but I was looking at mine and he seems "short" somehow.  He is coming up to 6 months old now.  I am used to them looking like they have legs that are a bit too long for their bodies and bodies that are too big for their heads... sort of awkward still... but I thought... mine doesn't look like he has legs to grow into.

I tried to get a picture of how he looks standing.. but apparently he doesn't do standing still... he only does laying, sitting, running and getting too close and blurry for my camera.  LOL

The thing is... when I got him I don't feel the man we got him from was really honest about the care our kitten had.  I mean, he was clearly loved and feed appropriately, but I think that was all.  When I got my cat he had soooooo many fleas, and it turned out he had flea anemia and a heart murmur from that.  Both cleared in just over a month after we got him and he is fully healthy now with no anemia and no heart murmur.  But, I wondered... could that have stunted his growth somehow?

I mean, I don't think my cat is unusually short... but somehow... I expected him to look a bit more... long legged at this point in development... if that makes any sense.

I've been trying to see if there are any articles about growth after flea anemia and a related heart murmur and articles seem to almost get there but stop talking right at that point ending in... these things are rare because of xyz people taking good care etc.
 
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donutte

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ImmortalFlower said:
I know cats come in all different shapes and sizes... but I was looking at mine and he seems "short" somehow.  He is coming up to 6 months old now.  I am used to them looking like they have legs that are a bit too long for their bodies and bodies that are too big for their heads... sort of awkward still... but I thought... mine doesn't look like he has legs to grow into.


I tried to get a picture of how he looks standing.. but apparently he doesn't do standing still... he only does laying, sitting, running and getting too close and blurry for my camera.  LOL


The thing is... when I got him I don't feel the man we got him from was really honest about the care our kitten had.  I mean, he was clearly loved and feed appropriately, but I think that was all.  When I got my cat he had soooooo many fleas, and it turned out he had flea anemia and a heart murmur from that.  Both cleared in just over a month after we got him and he is fully healthy now with no anemia and no heart murmur.  But, I wondered... could that have stunted his growth somehow?


I mean, I don't think my cat is unusually short... but somehow... I expected him to look a bit more... long legged at this point in development... if that makes any sense.

I've been trying to see if there are any articles about growth after flea anemia and a related heart murmur and articles seem to almost get there but stop talking right at that point ending in... these things are rare because of xyz people taking good care etc.
Click to expand...
Do you know how much your cat weighs? And even if you get a pic of him laying on his side I'm sure it would help also :)
 
donutte

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He's gorgeous! And he looks perfectly normal. He still has some growing to do at 6 months so he's not done yet. My boys have definitely grown since they were six months (they'll be eight months tomorrow). I know my Oliver looks short compared to his brother, but I've had cats with short stubby-looking legs before. Then there are cats like Penelopy with long gangly legs.

And if you are weighing him yourself, try putting a treat on the scale. That's the only way I was able to get my big girl Maple on it yesterday. She sat still while eating it, that was long enough.
 
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immortalflower

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Unfortunately... I taught him to beg for treats and he does a dance standing up every time.... not so great for scales!  HAHA
 
pushylady

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ImmortalFlower said:
Unfortunately... I taught him to beg for treats and he does a dance standing up every time.... not so great for scales!  HAHA
Click to expand...
:lol3:

He looks good to me too, purrfectly normal. Actually reminds me of my Pushy when he was that old, and Pushy came from a farm, was covered in mites and was runty. He's a nice solid cat now.

Years and years ago, my DH's old cat got anemic from too many fleas. She used to live at his parent's farm and the cats there would often get fleas. I went to visit one day and was shocked by her condition, so took her to the vet. Unfortunately we ended up putting her to sleep soon after. She was elderly and ill and the vet was not positive in his prognosis. I believe she had other things going on too.
 
jolie0216

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I don't think I could ever get my cats to stand on a scale long enough to weigh them - I do it like this:

I weigh myself first, then I pick up & hold the cat, then weigh us both together and subtract my solo weight from that to get the cat's weight.

But your cat looks fine!  They definitely are still growing after 6 months, he is not at his final size yet, for sure 
 
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