By Tonya Price
Jezebel is a formerly feral 20 week old kitten we live-trapped at the age of about 7 weeks. We obviously have no clue about her parentage, but she appears to be a garden variety American shorthair type. She has had no health issues other than a minor eye/upper respiratory infection at 12 weeks that cleared up quickly with a course of Amoxicillin and eye ointment.
She is well proportioned and eats well. She is socialized with humans, other cats and even gets along with the dogs. Jezebel is quite friendly and easy to handle at this point. She is also energetic and active like a normal 20 week kitten, but she seems exceedingly small for her age. She only weighs about 3 lbs and is scheduled to be spayed in three weeks. The vet will spay kittens if they are 2 lbs or better. She has her permanent incisors and canines right on schedule so I am confident I am very close with the estimate on her age.
Is she abnormally small, and should her small size concern me? We have three adult cats – one is 17 lbs, one is 8 lbs, one is 5 lbs. They all are strictly indoor (the three adults are spayed females) and all share the same diet.
If she is healthy or showing signs of good health then she may just be small as the runt of the litter. I would watch her carefully for signs of good health. You may even want to seek the opinion of a good veterinarian and then take it from there.
I have a kitten also . Her name is faithlynn … She is about 1.2 pd. She is 20 weeks old , i have her , also a sibling , and mother … Tge siblin is double the size of faithlynn …. She is so small idk what is wrong , she was first born kitten out of 4 … The others are grown , very big kittens … But not faithlynn …
I had a very small lady cat – she was fine. I thought that she just hadn’t grown up yet until I realised a couple years had passed and it was just her size. She was and still is healthy and happy and strong. She loves the outdoors and does alot of hunting. She did get a bit territorial with some cats bigger than her – she doesn’t realise she’s small I guess – she came home a couple times with injuries – once a cist. Just make sure she’s healthy and happy and keep a close eye is all I would say.
My nephew adopted a very slinky little tuxie named Panda. When I say slinky, I mean a very demure, narrow cat. He is growing like a cat his age (11 1/2 months) should, but he is a very small cat. Not sure the weight, but there is no doubt that he is a healthy, well adjusted cat who is just petite.
Is Jezebel, who is absolutely adorable, doing all the normal activities that you’d expect from a cat? It sounds like she is. I have to agree with Elisa and Michael. Give her time. It takes most cats two full years to physically mature. Love to hear how she does after she is fixed.
Our feral Renny is very small. We rescued him at 2 months. He weighs between 3-4 lbs but is very muscular. Keep in mind Homer the blind cat Gwen Cooper rescued is fully grown and only about 4 lbs. As long as your kitty is healthy and bright eyed I wouldn’t worry too much.
Hi Tonya, four things come to my mind:
Could you tell me how you decided she was fully grown? Or have you decided she is fully grown?