# The Runt of the litter



## Kelly_ann (Aug 5, 2003)

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I was told before to never adopt the Runt of the litter. Also, I read that in one of my cat books. They said they will have some health problems. Is that true or not. I am not really sure. There is always one kitten that is smaller then the others in the litter. I adopted a tortie kitten from the Humane Society. She didn't looked like a regular kitten. She had giant ears, very tiny paws and a skinny tail. Too me, Sabrina looked like a rat. Her brother was all black and he was twice the size of her. The tortie I see in the shelter are bigger then my Sabrina. I guess Sabrina was the runt of the litter. She had lots of problems with her stool. It was very runny just like diarrhea. Her stool sometimes had blood in it but it all clear up for now. 

I was just wondering will she have lots of health problem as she gets older. Should I be concern since she was a runt of the litter. Please reply and let me know. Thanks for your time!


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

One of my friends adopted the "runt" of the litter and her sister. She brought them into work and, seriously, the runt looked like a little rat. 

She's had absolutely no health problems at all, and you can hardly tell them apart now.

They were abandoned and she had to feed them with an eyedropper for a while, but they're just the cutest little white cats in the world!


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## melysion (Mar 12, 2007)

My mothers cat was the runt of his litter. 

He is very small but is a perfectly healthy 14 year old


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

When cats get pregnant, they don't get pregnant all at once...it usually happens over several days. The "runts" of litters are probably just the last ovum(s) to be fertilized while the others had a day or two or three head start in development. 
Because they are born smaller, they have to work harder for a nipple to nurse and sometimes it takes a while for them to catch up with their litter-mates development-wise. Usually, once the kittens are weaned from mother's milk and are eating solid food, they manage to catch up in development just fine.
My opinion, anyways...
Heidi


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## Jennyphx (Apr 5, 2007)

My Hunter was the runt of his litter. He's a Maine **** so it was really obvious he was small for his age since the **** kittens are large. He did have problems with runny stools and gas and he came down with a nasty URI. I think he just needed time for his digestive system to mature as a bland diet solved those problems. He is now eating more variety and doing just fine. He still has a runny left eye, which ointments and antibiotics have not solved as a result of the URI, but otherwise he is just a wild and goofy little boy. I weighed him today and he has not quite caught up to his brothers but he is 7 pounds. He put on more than a half a pound this last week alone. He is long and lean, not very tall yet. I'm not sure what the average weight is for an almost 5 month old kitten is but I don't think he is underweight.


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