Of our two remaining kittens, the girl-cat is likely to grow up to be about her mother's size

[conuly]

Small, but not freakishly so like her sister. I expect her to stop growing around September, maybe a little later but not much. She might get bigger than her mother simply because she's not going to get pregnant at any point. At this age, of course, you can't really see the growth from week to week.

Her brother is something else. He dwarfs his sister, and probably his other littermates though they're not here to compare. He outstripped his mother already, about a week ago. (In length. He's weighed more than her for a few months now.) And I know exactly when this happened because the week before he was still smaller than she was. He's 8 months old and you can still see visible growth in him on a weekly basis. And larger animals take longer to grow up, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he's still getting bigger (in terms of bones) at 18 months or even 2 years. (Muscle mass takes a little longer, and they'll still be putting that on for some time after they cease getting longer. Their mother's small size in that regard is one reason I suspect she's a very young cat after all.)

It's a little frightening, actually. And to make it worse, he's not a subtle creature at all. Some cats, you know, they have the art of making themselves smaller than they are. Not this guy. He doesn't rest, he lounges. He sprawls. Like some humans, he's determined to take up as much space as possible in any given instant. Even if he curls up he's always careful to stretch his front paws as far in front of him as possible. He's going to be huge, he already is, and his goal is to make himself appear even larger. It's like he knows this is his huge tactical advantage in all situations and he's determined to take advantage of it even when it's completely unnecessary.

I truly marvel. I'd take a picture, but I'm not even sure what I'd use as a basis of comparison.

Comments

A tape measure?

[marveen.livejournal.com]

(Wait till he sprawls out in sleep, lay the ruler down, take photo.)

I'll do that with our own overgrown couch hog--when he stretches out he takes up two cushions by himself, and I just used the yardstick on the cushions with some disbelief: thirty-six inches. Chairman Mow is still lean and lanky, so may be still growing since he's only a year old or so.

Little sister Tanty (just getting her stitches out so as to prevent anything similar to The Persian Chin Dynasty (http://www.messybeast.com/moggycat/purr25.htm) from happening) was larger when she was born, but about five months ago suddenly she stopped growing and he started.

Re: A tape measure?

[conuly]

That's not a bad idea, and take another when he's done growing. Right now his size is mostly impressive because he's NOT done growing. It's the potential that makes it frightening!

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

You really make me want another cat. Even a monster cat. Possibly especially a monster cat.

[conuly]

He's not a monster, he's a sweetie. Like larger cats and larger dogs in general, he's amicable and placid.

(And that's not just my own prejudice. Why ARE larger cats and dogs generally calmer than smaller cats and dogs?)

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

I have hypotheses!

A data point from cats: Princess Fosterkitty was a six-pound Maine Coon (seriously, she had every characteristic except the size) and knew it. She was a feral cat, and so her only hope of not getting beaten up was to look like twenty pounds of crazy in a ten-pound cat... and when you're four pounds lighter than that, it's that much harder. So her 'stop' was spitting and striking out but not quite connecting. Freaky.

Also, in dogs, big dogs are threatening. They can't get away with anything because scary dog, while a little Pomeranian or cocker spaniel is adorable.

And, I think, the larger breeds are working breeds. Temperament matters there. Dogs bred for purposes other than working very closely with people are probably smaller.

[eofs.livejournal.com]

You should put him next to my nephew, Godzilla Toddler. They might both look normal sized.

[conuly]

I should. Jenn keeps going "He doesn't look that big to me!" and technically she's right. For a full-grown cat, he's not "that big". "He's smaller than the downstairs cat!" she says.

However, the downstairs cat stopped growing years ago. This guy hasn't even slowed down yet. He's NOT a full-grown cat, and for a 9 month adolescent cat he's positively hulking.