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LeeAnne - 25 Nov 2003 17:52 GMT

My sister and her hubby adopted a pregnant (unbeknownst to them) female cat
a couple years ago. She had five kittens, they kept 2 and gave away three.
2 of those three went to one home and when the little-old-lady who adopted
them passed away my sister and her hubby took those two cats back in (now a
couple years old). One of them, is just enormous (not fat, just a big
kitty) compared to his siblings and the vet told my sister and her hubby
that this was due to his being fed kitten food for longer than the siblings.

All the cats are different sizes, one is downright lanky.

Just wondering if anybody else heard that feeding kitten food for too long
can cause a cat to grow larger.

Tx and Happy Turkey!
LeeAnne

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Sharon Talbert - 25 Nov 2003 20:33 GMT

Kitten chow is higher in fat and protein than cat chow and is needed by a
young animal for the first year. I could see a cat fed kitten chow longer
than a year being chunky, but I doubt growth would be a factor. More
likely, the huge cat was sired by a different tom that his smaller
siblings and simply takes after Dad.

An interesting growth factor is related to "early" neutering of male
kittens. The cat actually develops longer leg bones than a tom neutered
later in life. I guess to offset the little head he ends up with...

Thus spoken by someone with no training in veterinary care but lots of
experience in cat and kitten rescue.

Sharon Talbert
Friends of Campus Cats
www.campuscats.org

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Bob Brenchley. - 28 Nov 2003 21:29 GMT

>My sister and her hubby adopted a pregnant (unbeknownst to them) female cat
>a couple years ago. She had five kittens, they kept 2 and gave away three.
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>Tx and Happy Turkey!
>LeeAnne

Sorry LeeAnne, but the vet is talking rubbish.

The most likely reason is that he just has a different father to the
others. Queens can be fertilized by more than one cat and it is not
unusual to find three or even four fathers to one litter.

Signature

Bob.

Cat's motto: No matter what you've done wrong, always try to make it
look like the dog did it.

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Judy - 29 Nov 2003 00:56 GMT

> >My sister and her hubby adopted a pregnant (unbeknownst to them) female cat
> >a couple years ago. She had five kittens, they kept 2 and gave away three.
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> others. Queens can be fertilized by more than one cat and it is not
> unusual to find three or even four fathers to one litter.

I agree Bob. If LeeAnne takes some time to research this she will find this
to be true.

Judy

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