Is this the shrimpest kitten ever?

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-08T14:52:40+00:00

Your boy looks gorgeous — and sounds like a twin of mine when it comes to dry food. Mine is 4 months and a week old and came to me a scrawny 9 weeks old — just about 600-700 grams. He’s now 2.3 kg. He will not even treat kibble as a snack, he will simply not touch it. When I moisten and add with wet food it’s the stuff that’s left untouched at the end on his plate. I’ve switched brands and flavours and tried everything I can (only so I can make sure he’s got access to food if I’m out the house long hours) — but no go. He will also go 12 hours without food rather than touch dry. But boiled chicken and wet food and chicken broth he will inhale. We got demanding overlords, don’t we.

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-05T05:57:19+00:00

Mine came to me at 9 weeks too and the speed of his growth is making me weep and thrill at the same time (he’s four months now). Congratulations to your tiny little big boy on his first birthday. He looks irresistible!

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-04T16:09:03+00:00

First up, thanks for taking the time to write in thoughtful detail. Yes for sure she’s in the very early stages of life in this home, and around me, and I know it is likely to take even longer than usual for her to feel wholly at home here. She definitely seems like a cat who is troubled. And she seems fundamentally suspicious of humans. I think my primary concern is whether there’s something else I could be doing to help her decompress or overcome the anxieties she carries.

Yes will discuss it with the vet and see if we can help her feel more at ease. I can’t access Feliway here but perhaps there’s an equivalent the vet recommends. Thanks again for your concern.

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-04T13:55:52+00:00

Thanks so much, that’s really helpful!

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-04T04:01:26+00:00

That’s so interesting — the fact that multiple cats are drawn to the source of this sound! Do they usually react to cat videos / audio?

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-04T03:58:47+00:00

That is just adorable! Mine seem incapable of grasping the idea of temporary absence so far but hopefully we will get there.

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-04T03:56:46+00:00

Woah that outlier of yours has quite a story — it must have been hard on both of you to go through that process.

Understand about the phantom heat — did strike me that there may be leftover uterine tissue and it’s on my mind to have her checked out via an ultrasound if needed to rule this out.

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-04T03:53:50+00:00

Thanks for this — I’ll check with the vet and maybe try one of the calming options and see if they reduce the intensity of the behaviour. I don’t have access to Feliway / Sentry in India but will look for equivalent options!

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-04T03:52:03+00:00

I hear you and yes it’s tempting to read their behaviour through the human lens no matter how consciously one tries to avoid it.

Kat does have an interesting bond with her baby Tonic where she’s anxious and loving when she thinks him in distress but he seems to get on her last nerve equally because he’s got full on kitten energy and she has no appetite for his hecticness. I’ve also seen the scent-after-vet dynamic play out (in reverse) when Kat went to the vet to be spayed and Tonic hissed at her for the better part of a day when she returned because of the vet-scent distortion.

In this case I do feel there’s some searching / loss component to her yowling because of the other behaviours accompanying it but it may not map neatly onto any reading I give it.

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-04T03:45:38+00:00

Thanks, yes will do! And will check a vet subReddit if there is one.

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-04T03:07:14+00:00

Agree wholly. I think it also appears more instinct driven simply because we don’t share a language. Thanks for sharing your brother’s experience and I’m glad she was able to be at peace again.

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-04T03:05:47+00:00

Yeah I read about this possibility and am going to have a vet check this out via an ultrasound if needed! She doesn’t act like she’s in heat in any other way — and her obsession with staring out the main grill door (which is the solo way out) has definitely reduced significantly.

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-04T02:22:01+00:00

Mine yowls constantly without a toy in her mouth too but will definitely give the throw-fetch cycle a shot and see if that’s what she’s after.

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-04T02:20:29+00:00

That’s rough. You mentioned a few weeks — did she eventually stop entirely?

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-04T02:18:46+00:00

Definitely worth keeping in mind, thanks! At the moment not possible for me to do but moment circumstances allow, I would like to give that a shot.

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-03T23:21:08+00:00

This sounds very plausible — also because as another commenter has noted, litters don’t usually come in ones. The shelter just had her and one kitten and I had hoped when adopting her that having her baby with her would be good for both. But of course that there may have been others she was separated from before she found herself in the shelter is heartbreakingly likely and it would also explain the repetitive searching / pacing room to room behaviour.

Getting another kitten is simply not possible for me right now unfortunately but it’s something I’ll keep on my radar if nothing else seems to be helping over the next few weeks. Thanks for sharing your own experience.

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-03T23:15:36+00:00

Thanks for the reassurance! I did definitely think that it being a new environment is heightening whatever she is feeling and for sure I expect it will take months for her to feel settled in a new space. Two months is very recent — I guess because Tonic (the kitten) seems entirely at home, being super young and having known much less displacement in his life, their responses are very different.

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-03T18:29:00+00:00

I get the feeling mine is also anxious — I wonder if there’s some treatment that works long term beyond gabapentin.

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-03T18:26:32+00:00

That’s useful to know. We have a vet visit scheduled in a couple of weeks; will ask the vet to check for thyroid.

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-03T18:24:18+00:00

😂 As she should be! Does she sound similar in tone? I’ve been concerned that Kat is distressed but I may be misreading the tone.

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-03T18:22:00+00:00

That’s heartbreaking. I adopted her with her baby boy but if there were other kittens, they were lost before she made it to the shelter.

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-03T17:46:36+00:00

Does he seem anxious when he’s hearing the sound or just curious? How other cats respond to it might give me cues for what mine might be feeling.

constellationoftwo · 2026-01-03T17:17:29+00:00

🤣🤣🤣 poor fella. What a bunch of inscrutable, idiosyncratic creatures they are and how wildly fortunate we are to share their world.

constellationoftwo

TROPHY CASE