Kitten not gaining weight as quickly

Hi all,

I'm fostering a mother cat and a litter of five kittens for a local shelter, and I've just weighed them in preparation for their neuter surgery. I've noticed that one of the kittens isn't gaining weight at the same rate as his siblings. From birth, he's consistently been one of the middle of the pack weights (or at the start, one of the heaviest), and steadily kept that up until about two weeks ago when he started consistently weighing in as the lightest.

He's not underweight - he's almost 7 weeks old and weighs 860g, but I worry that he's slowing down with his weight gain. Do I have any cause for concern? Should I be supplementing his food with anything? He was one of the last to take to trying solid foods, but he's eating just as well as the others now (still with occasional feedings from mum). The other thing is that he's the only fluffy cat in the litter, so he possibly might just be genetically less heavy, but I wanted to check here to see if I should be doing anything else.

Thanks!

I give kittens KMR mixed in wet food until they're around 12 weeks, but KMR is also good for cats that need extra calories. 

harpyholler said:

 
Hi all,

I'm fostering a mother cat and a litter of five kittens for a local shelter, and I've just weighed them in preparation for their neuter surgery. I've noticed that one of the kittens isn't gaining weight at the same rate as his siblings. From birth, he's consistently been one of the middle of the pack weights (or at the start, one of the heaviest), and steadily kept that up until about two weeks ago when he started consistently weighing in as the lightest.

He's not underweight - he's almost 7 weeks old and weighs 860g, but I worry that he's slowing down with his weight gain. Do I have any cause for concern? Should I be supplementing his food with anything? He was one of the last to take to trying solid foods, but he's eating just as well as the others now (still with occasional feedings from mum). The other thing is that he's the only fluffy cat in the litter, so he possibly might just be genetically less heavy, but I wanted to check here to see if I should be doing anything else.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

The longhaired ARE sometimes developing slower than the shorthair.  May be seen for example, in mixed litters.  Also, he may be a natural variation to be less heavy, as you say.

Still, its wise of you to beware, as you do.  Its potentially alarming this with noticeable less adding.

I agree with the above, some KMR - or goats milk, is a good addition.   

Others ideas are welcome too!

H harpyholler

At 7 weeks old and 30 ounces, he's actually where he needs to be. The norm is 2 pounds (32 ounces) at 8 weeks. Since he's eating well, my guess is that he has a different body type. Kittens also have growth spurts and plateaus. As long as he continues to gain one pound per month until he's 6 months old he should be fine. Thank you for fostering! [emoji]128522[/emoji]

Thanks so much for your replies everybody, I'm going to track down some KMR just in case, but it's good to know that it's not too much cause for concern!