Hank The Tank

[calamity_jenn]

Hello all! I am new to the forum but not new to cats however I am curious as to why my kitten is so large. About a month ago I actually rescued a kitten from from a local rescue. I had signed up for pet finder after my neighbor stole my Siamese mix Hank and dumped him and he was found recently deceased on Dec. 22 (a whole other story but yes she's an awful person). In April I received an email from pet finder with a picture of a little 6 week old black kitten named Hank and I knew I had to have him. We paid for him right away and expected that in a couple weeks we would pick him up but the rescue kept brushing us off and making excuses for why we could not get him. Finally when he was about 10 weeks old and after several attempts they allowed me to pick him up, he had been neutered only hours prior was filthy and had a horrible respitory infection. He was 1 and 1/2 half pounds at 6 weeks and maybe 2lbs at 10.
Now at about 14 weeks he is 5.4lbs and looks like a 5 and half month old kitten.
He is slender but healthy and sporting a shiny black coat and big clear eyes now.
He has the body type of my Siamese mix who looked like a large Siamese cat.
I've seen his siblings and 2 of them have that fluffy kinda lion mane look on the chest and round eyes like main coons and the other 2 look more like my hank with more slick coats and almond shaped Siamese eyes.
If these 2 types of cats have off spring is it possible to just have a big long tall skinny cat? Haha, I am just wondering what to expect with him as I've never had such a young kitten that is so large. Thank you! Here are some pictures of him, he is sleeping on my 4 year old 9lb cat Marley. I have to admit she should only be 8lbs but the combination of the soft food she's been having on account of Hank living here and not spending much time outside because of my crazy neighbor she has put on a little weight.

 

[Sarthur2]

Hank looks great! Kittens grow a lot the first 6 to 8 months and need lots of food. He will probably be a large cat! His coat looks amazingly shiny!

I took in a pregnant stray 3 years ago who had 4 kittens - 3 males and one female. One of the males was a total runt for months.

He is now the biggest cat of them all at 15 pounds. He continued to grow and fill out for 2 years, and is still the biggest eater! He is not fat though, just big!

I think Hank is just fine. You can get both cats to run around and chase a string toy on a stick for a few minutes each day for exercise.

 

[mikameek]

OH MY GOD! I have always love love loved all black cat since I can remember but after getting my tortie, I have FALLEN IN LOVE with them too. BOTH of your babies look so precious and sweet!

I think Hank is just going to be a big boy! My roommate has a cat that when he was a kitten, the vet told her he probably wouldn't be more than 9 lbs. He's now 12 lbs and filled out beautifully. I think he'll be fine!

 

[calamity_jenn]

Hello everyone! It had been an eventful few weeks in our house. Sadly most events were not pleasant.

Some of them were though. We adopted another kitten! A fluffy cute fat little flame point something or other. His momma was a short hair tortie so dad must be some time of fluffy pointed cat.

Hank is pleased to have a friend but it hasn't stopped him from needed excessive attention from me still. I am certain he is part oriental as he has ALL the personality traits and many of the physical features.

So about his size and health....Hank had a rough start in life being in a less than ideal foster and I believe he was kept in an outdoor cattery as he was filthy and sick when he arrived with us.
He had the worst gas and most foul smelling poo I have ever smelled in my life.
I feed my cats high quality, grain free, no bi-product food only and have never had an issue with smell, most of the time we were unaware when that cats had even used the box... Hank has smelled so bad that we have 2 80 dollar filters running in the laundry room where the cat boxes are and he can still stink up the house.
I thought it was because he came to me eating only fish based foods, we do turkey and chicken bases foods here for that reason so his diet was changed with slight improvement and I figured his gut needed time to heal from his poor quality of life.
He was given catnip which he loved but had a terrible reaction and spent the next 2 days vomiting and having severe diarrhea. He lost maybe 3/4 a pound in about 4 days. I noticed on Wednesday that the new kitten, I think we are calling him Gus, had swollen lymph nodes and that is when it hit me that Hank's issues were classic for a parasitic infection and giardia is common in poorly kept shelters and catteries....greaat! So
I ordered probiotics and started all the cats on probiotics Thursday and then started them all on diatomaceous earth on Saturday. (If you haven't heard of it, look it up! Amazing stuff!) I see a huge improvement in Hank's appitite and behavior since Friday so hopefully with the d.e. and probiotics we can finally put his past behind us! He has gained back about half a pound in the last 2 days and looks like a typical Siamese/oriental in body stature now.

Here are some photos of Hank and Gus! *yes Hank is in a baby sling...he is that needy lol

 

[calamity_jenn]

Here is a couple more. He is never far from me. definitely my little best friend.


Also I love black cats too! I've always wanted one. Marley is the tortie, she is a British short hair mix. Most well behaved cat ever!

 

[calamity_jenn]

Okay last one promise! I felt bad I hadn't responded to your messages. I had a miscarriage and just had a so my couple weeks

 

[talkingpeanut]

Sorry to hear you’re having a rough time!

Please get them to a vet for a fecal as well. They may need more than the DE.

 

[Sarthur2]

I agree! Hank may need a round of metronidazole to cure the parasites and any bacterial infection in his gut.

 

[calamity_jenn]

If there is no improvement in the next week with the loose stool I will. I prefer to go the natural route with myself as well as my pets as much has possible and fecal tests aren't always great at picking up giardia as it isn't always present and giardia can be really resistant to typical treatment. Especially as I have 3 cats here. D.e. will kill all parasites and worms with no nasty side effects!

 

[calamity_jenn]

Also the vets here are kinda the worst. I live in a kinda small city and have to drive an hour to the most decent vet and when my parakeet lost a leg none of the vets would help and I has to treat him on my own. Luckily he lived but not thanks to anyone around here. =/
I also had baby cockatiels I had to hand rear because they were abandoned and one got yeast in the crop so I took her to the vet for antifungals and he gave me antibiotics, I told him that would make her yeast worst (common sense) and he didn't seem to think it was a problem so I went against my gut and started her on the antibiotics and they killed her. So I am not huge fan of any of my local vets.

 

[calamity_jenn]

Just an update for anyone who comes across this thread! The diatomaceous earth did not work but amazon sells this this stuff called kochi free. It's a natural parasite cleanse and is amazing. It was like 80+ dollars for 4 oz but we treated all 4 cats for over 30 days and they were finally cured. Giardia is a nasty and hard to get rid of parasite.
We ended up with a ragdoll mix kitten about 2 months after we got Hank. Hank is now 9 months old and 9 and half pounds and Gus the ragdoll mix is now 8 months and nearly 11lbs. They make Marley our 4 yr old female cat look itty bitty!

 

[calamity_jenn]

Sorry all THREE cats. We so not have 4.

 

[calamity_jenn]

Always in the kitchen wanting something