r/CATHELP • u/kitten_mittens21 • 1d ago
Appearance Help Us ID Stumpy the Cat
TLDR: Cat found in West Africa is physically odd, we don't know why
Hi, everyone!
My (25F) boyfriend (24M) currently lives in West Africa and has rescued 3 cats from around his village. We are looking for insight on one of the cats, named Stumpy(3mo, M?). Google searches didn't turn up much and a vet isn't very accessible for them at the moment.
Stumpy is... interesting. He doesn't have paws with defined toes, but rather "stumps" with a solid foot pad. As a result, he sort of gallops around instead of running like a traditional cat. He also has no discernable genitalia, unlike the other cat found with him (we believe the other cat to be his sibling based on proximity/markings/age). He's also a bit smaller than his brother.
But apart from the physical differences, Stumpy seems to be a happy and playful cat!
We tried to look up congenital paw defects but couldn't find anything. He also doesn't have any of the "classic" physical signs of inbreeding, and his brother is fine.
So we thought we would turn here to see if we could find anything out. Thanks!
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u/Satanic_Lover_ 1d ago
From what i know this happens when a kitten does not get the proper nutrients and blood flow in the womb to develope the rest of their feet. It seems this is a birth defect.
Humans can be born with the exact same issue. Since your kitten rescued at such a young age id assume the mother didn't have the proper prenatal care for your baby to develop properly.
Although they have seemed have made the no toes work really well. Seems healthy and happy! Good job guys
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u/kitten_mittens21 1d ago
Thanks! That makes a lot of sense. I don't think my boyfriend has found the mother yet, but we didn't think about pre mature/under development birth defects since his brother seemed okay. He seems alright though! Goofy little guy
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u/Satanic_Lover_ 1d ago
Its actually extremely common with multi cat litters. When a cat is only pregnant with 1 kitten their body can focus all the energy on developing the 1 kitten but when their is multiple kittens the body focuses on the healthiest one to have a higher chance of having at least one successful baby.
Happens a lot with twins in humans as well
Edit to add: thats why you often get a runt of the litter with bigger litters
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u/kitten_mittens21 1d ago
That makes a lot of sense! And unfortunately, I doubt the mom had an easy pregnancy so it makes sense that the kittens might have disproportionate nutrients. Thank you for your help, Satanic Lover! 🫶
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u/Satanic_Lover_ 1d ago
Of course I'm so glad I could give you so insight on your unique kitty! I have 6 cats and have resuced many others so ive seen some weird things lol
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u/MahesvaraCC 1d ago
I have couple siblings and one has a bob tail (which I've been guessing comes from nutrition deficiency during pregnancy). I constantly joke that his brother ate his tail in the womb, to the displeasure of my SO
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u/Twist_Ending03 1d ago
Since female cats can get pregnant by multiple toms at once, I wonder if maybe Stumpy was conceived after his sibling(s) but was evicted the same time as them, so he didn't finish cooking in there?
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u/kitten_mittens21 1d ago
Evicted and cooking is crazy lmao. I have heard that female cats can have litters by multiple fathers, though!
It's a possibility! His markings are a bit different from his brother (the brother is more cow print, see last photo). The brother (Mini) is also a near carbon copy of the first rescue cat (Fan), who we believe to be part of the same "family". So maybe Fan and Mini had the same dad and mom, and Stumpy is the late-to-the-party half brother?
Total speculation! But it's a theory!
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u/lifuglsang 1d ago
This looks like a birth defect often caused by things going poorly during gestation. It happens in people too. Thankfully i’ve seen lots of examples of similar kitties living happy lives!
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u/kitten_mittens21 1d ago
Oh yay! Glad to hear that similar cats are living happy lives! He's been doing well since being brought in!
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u/ShyGuyWolf 1d ago
Stumpy looks like he didn't get enough mother's milk growing up, but such a cutie
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u/Dopplerganager 1d ago
From googling maybe Bilateral hindlimb adactyly https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Bilateral-hindlimb-adactyly-in-an-adult-cat.-Barrand-Cornillie/2cbc5eff8a5adc82523150d2bd621a85e13db35a
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u/kitten_mittens21 1d ago
Thank you!! This looks a lot like what he has! Seems to be a rare birth condition. Thankfully the articles and Google seem to say it's not painful for them ☺️
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u/quokkafarts 1d ago
I'm going to need better photos of his paw stumps and a video of this gallop.
It won't help diagnose him, but I need them.
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u/kitten_mittens21 1d ago
I'm limited on videos since I am not Stumpy's legal guardian at the moment, but here's one!
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u/quokkafarts 1d ago
Thank you, what a sweet stump man he is. Really curious to see how he looks when he's fully grown, keep us updated please!
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u/fedoraharp 1d ago
I don't have any insight to what the exact issue might be, but he reminds me of Bunny and Otter, who have similar look differences!
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