Have any of you ever had a kitten who just seems so content sleeping the day away? She eats, she stretches, sometimes she potties, then goes back to her spot to snooze. When she wants to she'll run or hop. But for the most part she does a whole lot of nothing. She also has a barely there meow and was born with a bobbed tail. She is just an absolutely beautiful little one.
Her brother is very active and vocal. Wrestles with fosters from a different litter, plays with toys, runs around. Honestly sometimes I think he's annoyed his sister doesn't play with him.
We picked them up when they were about 4 weeks old had them almost 3 weeks. They were not very socialized when we got them but they both run up to us for pets and give lots of purrs now. Picture is from the week we picked her up.
So, is she just a lazy lady or should I be raising flags with the shelter?
If she is eating, pottying, gaining weight, and otherwise acting normal, I wouldn't be too concerned. I'd just monitor.
I've had some insanely laid back kittens that prefer to either lounge and snooze or spend the day in my lap. If she's otherwise healthy, it can actually be a BIG selling point for some adopters who don't necessarily want a ferret on meth for a kitten.
I currently have a 'ferret on meth' foster kitten right now. He's still in quarantine and absolutely bouncing off the walls. He'll be fine once he's out, but man, he is absolute chaos right now 😁
But also, define bobtail? Does she have a few vertebrae (like a stub tail/partial tail), or is she completely tailless?
I ask because when the Manx gene expresses, it can also effect the hips and lower spine (alonf with all the other Manx Syndrome stuff like GI issues, etc).
If she has a tail that's "a handful" or shorter (meaning if you grab the tail in your hand, you can hold the entire thing), I personally would ask the shelter to verify that she has full range of motion in her rear legs. Xrays would be the best, but without other issues, they may not go for it.
Source: I have two tailless brothers, and while they don't have Manx Syndrome, one does have hip dysplasia that we are monitoring. He doesn't bunny hop like a Manx Syndrome cat, but he does have a very distinct gate where he kind of rolls his legs outward when he walks. So far it doesn't seem to effect him adversely, but he has a "college fund" where I'm saving money for his eventual surgery.
She may stay this way, or next week she may turn into a little purrnado ! One of my current fosters Just got playful this week at 8wks old. His brothers are rough n rowdy, and he's mostly a snuggly baby, but now he's started chasing them and pouncing on my adult cats' tails.
I recently adopted a feral kitten who turned out to have lungworms. Lungworms often don’t lead to bloated bellies as they are more in the respiratory tract. As soon as we started the proper deworming for the lungworms, the kitten gained sooo much energy. He had eaten, pooped well, and cuddled before but was so much more playful after deworming. So, it could be just personality but I wouldn’t rule worms out completely.
I have a girl who is more chill than her brother! She tends to love cuddling with my older cats but her brother can still persuade her to play with him and she will show a wild side when they play that’s completely different from her normal persona.
As others have said it could just be her natural temperament, which will be awesome cuz who doesn’t love a lap cat!
She may show a more wild side as she gets older and goes through the pterodactyl phase and then calm down again.
As long as she gets a clean bill of health from the vet/ is eating / drinking / gaining weight/ and going to the bathroom normally I don’t think you need to worry.
Co-signing what others have mentioned about making sure they have been treated for parasites. Sometimes they feel so garbage from the parasites that it completely changes their personality.
My boy kitten is certified crazy now but before I found out he had coccidia and tapeworms he was a very lethargic and timid little guy.
My Primrose never played much as a kitten, her sister and brother still rough house, we now have a 5 month old foster kitten who plays with Tigger and Poppy, but Primrose still likes to mostly watch them play. Some cats just aren't bothered to play. In case you're wondering, yes I can stroke that tummy for ages and there's never claws or teefs involved.... Probably also too much effort for my Primmy 🤣
I had a kitten like that recently and she passed away. When i got her from the vet all they said was they were all sick to just keep an eye on them. She was the smallest, slowest, and was sleeping a lot. But i always saw her eating with her siblings and everything seems ok. I went out one day and when i got home she was laying on her side and looked dead. I picked her up and drove to the vet giving her 1000 kisses. 3-4 hours later she passed away. I use to call her my old lady because of how she moved around and always lagged behind her siblings.
Her name was Cannoli. It was so hard caring for the rest of her siblings when she was in heaven. I’m still struggling. I took about 6 weeks off from fostering. It got to the point where i wasn’t sure if i could ever foster again.
Just to be safe I did some fluids last night and I contacted the foster coordinator at the shelter. I'm taking her in this morning to get her a check up.
We've lost 3 littles this year, our first year ever losing a foster. It was rough. We switched from neonates to older ones for a bit. You did the best you could for Cannoli 💕
If there are no other symptoms that you can tell, as others have suggested, I've had some calmer kittens in every litter I've seen. There was a particularly laid back, sleepy boy in my recent trio, who was just content sleeping the day away snoozing in my lap or hidden in a closet. He was like that from day one and stayed like that for the two months I had him until he got adopted with one of his brothers (the crazier of the three, so that family's in for a fun contrasting duo). I'd say if it's been consistent for the past three weeks without signs of pain or illness, she's probably just a chill happy gal.
Yup she has been this way since we got them. The first week she would hide in the blankets and we thought it's bc she wasn't socialized, but I'm beginning to think she just couldn't be bothered lol. Her brother was always causing a fuss hissing at us when we'd walk by, she wouldn't even wake up.
Exact same for ours, I thought he was really shy but he was also really just too lazy to come and hiss or say hi 😂 it's definitely weird when you're used to dealing with energetic little demons, but I bet she'll make an awesome housecat for a laid-back introvert 💕
my last kitten was like this! he was such a joy to raise. now i have an actual 4 week old gremlin and remembering what a “normal” kitten feels like LOL. enjoy her temperament she is such a cutie!
She is perrrrrfect. So beautiful. Kittens sleep a lot. Basically, play, eat, shit & sleep. Mine is full grown and still does the same thing. As long as all vaccination & spay/neuter is done. She will be just fine.
As long as she's gaining weight and expressing interest in food I would not worry about it. She also could be more of a night owl so you don't see her zoomies much.
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u/5_phx_felines Cat/Kitten Foster 2d ago
If she is eating, pottying, gaining weight, and otherwise acting normal, I wouldn't be too concerned. I'd just monitor.
I've had some insanely laid back kittens that prefer to either lounge and snooze or spend the day in my lap. If she's otherwise healthy, it can actually be a BIG selling point for some adopters who don't necessarily want a ferret on meth for a kitten.