dwarfism

[dollysmamma]

Hi I joined this site to find info on dwarfism in cats/ kittnens. On 17 October 2012 a man handed in a cat and its 5 kitten which he found in his gareden shed. When I went in to worm the mother and kittens I noticed a tiny little baby huddled under the mother the other 4 kittens were of "normal size" and were running around and enjoying the meat I had laid down for them. The small kitten was very weak I picked her up and took her home, on the way we stopped at the vets for some advice Dolly as she is now known weighed in at 150grams and the vets said she was aged between 8/12 weeks. The vet didn't hold out much hope but said if I wanted to try her then I was to bottle feed every 90 mins and that she would drink just 5mls of milk. So I took Dolly home and bottle fed for 2 weeks the managed to get her to eat a special recovery meat from the vets for a further 2 weeks now she is on a softened mix of dry food with a bit of wet mixed in to make it more appealing. Dolly also has milti vitamin paste once a day. In December at her last weigh in she was 600 grams. Dolly is back at the vets on Monday to be weighed and have a check up as she has had severe ear mites. Dolly does most things a 5 month old kitten would do she loves to chase our dogs and play with our older cat and loves to curl up and snuggle. Dolly tires easily and has to eat regulary due to her size, she eats out of a hamster bowl and eats roughly every 2 hous or whenever she is hungry. Unfortunatley she has not learnt her name yet this may be due to the ear mite problem as her ears were very blocked or it could be a mental problem possibly due to the dwarfism but she does come to me if I meow or shake the bag with dog treats. Dolly sleeps in a crate on a night and when I'm out as I'm terrified she will hurt herself whilst running around and climbing on everything. I have added some photos in an album and am welcome to any info/suggestions. Thanks sarah

[Desert Hippie]

What a miracle that Dolly landed in your caring and capable hands.
((hugs)) to you for saving that bitty kitty and loving her

[dollysmamma]

Aww thanks. I'm sure anyone would have done the same. Everyone who meets Dolly wants to take her home, she is thriving now in every way except growth. Iv hunted the internet and not a lot is known about Dwarfism if that is what she has got. I love her just the same (maybe a little bit more ) than my other animals and would just like to be sure I'm doing everything I can for her

[Susan]

I saw her pictures and she's adorable! Kudos to you for taking the time to nurse her. I wouldn't worry about her not coming when called. My two are both normal sized cats, with perfect hearing, and they don't come when called either (or when I shake treat bags)...they come when they're good and ready!

[dollysmamma]

Thanks, I think I'm thinkin more of my dogs when I think about her coming to her name they are like my shadows and come to me when called my older cat seems to spend her days sleeping in the bedrooms out of the way and has never really been friendly like Dolly.

[Susan]

Well, my girls are friendly. They follow me from room to room, come to see me at the door when I get home from work, and always like to be around me...but they just don't seem to know their names, like a dog would. Some cats do, some don't...it's just not something you need to worry about. Dolly and your dog seem to get along!

[dollysmamma]

They have their moments I have 2 yorkshire terriers the older slightly bigger boy does not bother with dolly and if she comes to play he ignores her she soon gives up and walks away but my smaller girl yorkie pannics and runs away when dolly tries to play or cuddle up to her at times they play and snuggle nice at other times Dolly hounds her and won't leave her alone that's when I intervien just incase either of them get hurt. It seems so strange for chanel (girl yorkie) to be so frightened of such a small kitten but I'm sure in time they will work out who is the boss and learn to get along with each other

[dollysmamma]

Added a couple more pics of Dolly in her album. She is very active today and too busy playing to eat iv been followong her around offering food but she isn't interested yet

[iCloud]

thats so great of you to take care of her and go to all that trouble to save the life of a kitten. kudos. youre a great person. hope she continues to get better and do well.

[Malaika219]

My cats only know their name when it suits their purpose.

I have a munchkin cat (she's a long legged munchkin). It hasn't stopped her from doing anything the other cats do.