Bit o' history:
A good friend of ours had this cat named Bud he adopted after her (yes HER) jerk owner dumped her off.
At that time the good friend was a poor student with about two nickles to rub together and no money for spaying-
So.....
Bud escaped (twice) and got preggo (twice). The whole group of local friends came in and most of us adopted one kitten from each litter.
So I and my hubby have two cats from "Bud", the said litters born five months apart.
*deep breath*
A kitten from the 2nd litter, now our black neutered male - MooGoo - has grown into a fattie!
We have had him checked and his health is good. We have put him on the diets and he loses nothing.
He started getting fat at about 18 months.
He gained and gained, despite food restrictions and exercise, and now he is about 27 pounds. He is also a big boned cat (no joke!)and quite long in the body. His front legs are wide and deep and heavily muscled and his paws are huge! Now, at five years old, he seems to have maxed out in weight and has actually lost a pound or two, but no more. He sleeps a lot but he always did. He can leap and run like the wind and is so strong physically, none of our other four cats can slow him down. Watching an 18 pound cat jump on Moo-Goo and Moo-Goo just keep walking like he didn't feel it is a weekly sports show in our house.
Funny thing is - all his litter-mates have turned out the same. (Fact- he has one brother from his litter who is 33 plus pounds and counting!).
Our Moo-goo's 1/2 brother -Pud - from the mothers first litter is also an enormous cat -about 22 pounds but not fat at all. And none of his littermates turned out fat either.
The mother cat was not fat when she had her litters, but has since been fixed and has gained , though she is "rolly-polly", not obese.
The other thing about the cats from this second "fat" litter, they all have very long upper fangs and teeny, weeny upper and lower teeth - almost gum-line. They also often forget to retract their tongues - all the litter-mates from litter #2 do this! One yawn and the tongue stays out!
I guess it's hereditary and all that, but it has been interesting watching two sets of litters (all eleven cats were black as coal) from one female and obviously two different fathers grow up among our friends; charting their progress and seeing the results.
Also, the fat cats are all super lovey types: Lovin' the lap-naps and purring (pretty much all the time) like lawnmowers.
The first litter kittens -Pud's litter - all turned out elegant and beautiful but snobbish.
Both litters are a mix of long hair short hair.
Thanks for reading this long post and now I finally have a question:
Has anyone encountered anything similar to this: litters where the teeth are tiny, the fangs extra long (plus/minus the fatness) and tongues hanging out etc...?
I wondered if it's a known genetic disorder or something.
Thanks,
5Catz[/b]
