Person in rural Africa saves teeny tiny kittens, one of the cute criminals doesn't grow at all leaving rescuer worried and in search of answers: 'Could it be dwarfism?'

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kalila courban
Feb 27, 2025 5:00 PM EST

Hey friends! We are forever grateful for the kindhearted humans around the world who go out of their way to help cats in need. It's easy to see a suffering cat or kitten and continue on with your day, but it takes true compassion, courage, and strength to step in and make a difference. Rescuing and nursing cats back to health can also be financially demanding, but with support from friends, family, and fellow animal lovers, the effort is always worth it.

Today, we're covering the heartwarming rescue of a group of kittens by a kind human in rural Lesotho, Africa. After spending some time caring for the rescued kittens, the original poster (or OP) noticed that while most of them were growing and developing as expected, one tiny kitten remained extra small. Concerned about the little one's lack of growth, OP wanted to get expert advice—but with limited access to specialized veterinary care in the area, she turned to the internet for guidance. Check it out!

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    We recently had a stray cat give birth in our house and we kept 2 of the kittens. One of them was born with some disabilities and isn't growing much. He can't jump as his back legs can't hold him up, his tail is incredibly short as are his whiskers. Here you can see the size difference between the two... his brother is almost twice his size now, and I'm starting to wonder if anyone has ever seen this before?
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    It's amazing that I have a kitten that won't grow up, but I'm worried he will have issues later in life. I live in a remote area in Africa where vets specialize in farm animals so they were unable to tell me much other than he wouldn't have survived in the wild XX
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    ratajewie ⚫ • Hi! I'm a veterinarian, specifically a neurology vet. This could be dwarfism, but I would be on the lookout for any worsening of the signs you're seeing. A lot of the features this cat has are concerning for a neurodegenerative condition like a lysosomal storage disease. There is testing for these conditions, but the biggest thing is that with dwarfism he shouldn't really have any neurological abnormalities (sometimes they do from congenital skull/brain abnormalities), mostly just
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    Commercial_Ad4352 OP • I'm based in lesotho. I'm struggling to find a vet here that can assist with his condition so we hope to get him into south africa for a check up.
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    faystaysalone battle-stance initiated M
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    ginniethegenie . He's so beautiful!!! You could try posting at r/AskVet as well, they may be able to help, especially with how to better accommodate his needs. (A litter box with a low side so he doesn't need to climb, for example).
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    Commercial_Ad4352 OP. Thanks thats a good tip. * I actually already cut the side out of a regular plastic litter box so he has an entry point. It was such a proud moment when he learnt to use it.
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  • While this teeny tiny kitten might not be big on growing, he’s certainly big on cuteness! We’re sending all our best wishes to this little fighter and his dedicated rescuer.

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    napalmnacey . I dunno but you should probably make an instagram account of his life because he is incredibly adorable and lots of people would probably like to help you have the funds to look after him if he incurs a lot of vet fees.
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    Alternative_Year_340 You might google cat "swimmers" for exercises to help with back leg strength.
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    OneRandomThing33 . Not a vet, but I'm wondering if it may be something like hydrocephalus? It can cause the animal to have a larger/more dome shaped head, delayed/reduced growth in animals and difficulty with walking, among other symptoms. Could certainly also be some form of dwarfism or another condition affecting growth
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    MultiColored Mullet does he have solid bones in his toes or are they floppy? growing up my family had a cat that looked like this when he was little named Yoda. Eventually the family vet adopted him because he developed a lot of financially unattainable but treatable health conditions that the vet was happy to tale over care for.
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    He had goofy little stumpy feets and his feet didn't have all the bones really, so he just kind of stumped around with his little odd grumpy face. His vision was poor and he had a temper, and if you picked him up and scrobbled his tummy you could set him down and hed attempt to fight the first thing in his path, like he was a gremlin themed wind up doll
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