De groeicurve van kittens van populaire raskatten tijdens de neonatale periode

This study aimed to chart the normal development and growth curve of kittens. The present study was performed on pedigree cats, in which kittens were followed during the first four weeks of life. Most of the kittens were suckled by their mother, only a few received artificial supplementary feeding. Kittens with a low birth weight were more likely to develop the fading kitten syndrome, specifically if birth weight was less than 90 g. Birth weight was affected by maternal parity. Age of the queen and sex of the kittens did not seem to affect the birth weight. Kittens gained an average of 10 g per day in weight and doubled their weight by the tenth day. Based on weight quartiles, it could be seen that kittens from quartile 1 had a higher increase in weight after 48 hours than kittens from the other quartiles. Smaller kittens grew faster than larger kittens, so the weight differences tended to disappear in the first three weeks of life.