A new policy of euthanizing (in this instance better described as killing) newborn kittens that weigh less than 100 grams has been implemented at Greenville County Care Services (GCACS). This page analyses the policy to see if it is accurate and decent.
I presume we are talking about newborn kittens who happen to be born while their mother is at the Greenville shelter.
The reason for this new policy is because the shelter’s veterinary surgeon decided that kittens with a birth weight of less than 100 gram will probably not survive because it is not…”a normal, healthy birth weight.”
The question that springs to mind immediately is whether they are correct in their assertion about newborn kitten birth weights.
I’ll quote a good book1 on the subject:
A healthy kitten weighs about 3 to 4 ounces at birth (110 to 125 g)…
In an interesting study, the summary of which which is published online at ncbi.com (PubMed) records the birth weight and postnatal growth of purebred kittens. Purebred kittens are exactly the same as random road kittens in general in terms, although there is a great variety of weights and purebred cats.
The results were as follows:
Maine Coon 115 grams, Norwegian Forest Cat 106 grams, Birman 97 grams, Siamese 92 grams. Persian 82 grams.
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22005433)
ASPCA says that:
“an average birth weight for kittens is about 3 1/2 depending on breed and litter size”. 3.5 ounces is 99.22 grams.
I won’t quote any more weights from websites because they can to copy each other. Another well-respected book, The Cat, Its Behaviour, Nutrition and Health, states as follows:
At birth, kittens weigh between 100 and 110 grams (3.5 to 4 ounces).
The Kitten Rescue website states that:
A full-term newborn kitten weighs 3.3-3.7 ounces (91-105 grams).
Conclusion On Newborn Kitten Weight
The policy of the Greenville shelter is simply inaccurate and also far too strict as can be seen from my research. A newborn kitten that weighs 100 grams might be said to be slightly underweight by some people but not much, if at all. I would have thought that it was certainly within reasonable limits in terms of prospects for survival.
As for kitten survival, a well-respected book states that:
Kittens with a birth weight of 3 ounces (90 g) or less have a higher risk of early death.
Once again this supports my conclusion that the Greenville policy is incorrect because the cut-off point is 90 g not 100 g. Even then were talking about a higher risk of early death. Risk does not always translate to actual fact.
Without wishing to be overcritical, it appears that the Greenville policy with respect to the weight of kittens is biased towards euthanasia or reducing the burden on the shelter of caring for newborn kittens.
If I’m correct, it would not be a surprise because Elisa Black-Taylor describes GCACS as a high kill shelter.
There is one last point to make: how are these tiny kittens killed? Elisa speculates that they use a method called heart stick. How to euthanise a cat.
Note: 1. Cat Owner’s Home Veterinary Handbook.
I believe and I hope that my article proves that this 100 gram policy is incorrect. I tried to make it as black and white as possible and as straightforward as possible. You can forget, for the time being, any ethical questions about it because it is simply, factually incorrect. It cannot be justified therefore.
Google says that an article should be succinct and they hint that it should not be too long. If you read the Google blogs you can see the kind of length they mean and a guy call Matt Cutts, a senior Google executive who has his own blog, gives This you an idea about the kind of length of article that Google likes.
I’ve already been warned by the shelter I’d better have hard proof before writing anything like this. I had the emails from Susan and had planned to study it when I got out of bed yesterday but Shirley did it much better than I ever could have. I’m thankful I could bounce off her article without hanging myself and then I sent it all to Michael so he could take a poke at it. I can say poke, can’t I 🙂
This isn’t an attack on the volunteers but on the shelter director, who is so much like the one in San Bernadino who likes to have police beat on 100 lb animal advocates. She may have bitten off more than she can chew with this one. I don’t think it’s going to go away.
I loved your article, Elisa.
And, I read Shiley’s too. OMG! It was orgasmic (can I say that?)
Thank you so much for showing me this.
These are the sparks that keep my fires burning to make changes in kill shelters.
I write an article as long as it needs to be. Thankfully mine are mostly short these days. People skim more than read these days.