Cat With Dwarfism Will Be Kitten-Sized Forever

Meet Munchie!

Even though Munchie is a 7-month-old cat, he’s only the size of a small kitten.

He weighs in at 1.7 kg (3.7lb) and has a very rare condition known as hypoparathyroidism, so rare that only one other kitten in the world has been diagnosed with it.

However, it doesn’t stop him from leading a happy life and making people smile at how adorable he is!

His human, Emily Tomlinson, first came across Munchie at the veterinary clinic where she works.

Emily explains: “So, I work in a veterinary practice. He got handed in at practice after being found by a lady near to a park. I fostered him for a week, then adopted him when no one came forward to claim him.

He already had bilateral corneal edema, which is his cloudy eyes, but this does not affect his everyday life and he knows no different. This was the beginning of September 2019 and he was suspected by the vets to be 3-4 weeks of age.”

“Everything was going well,” she said. “Until Boxing Day when he unexpectedly collapsed. I rushed him straight to the out-of-hours emergency vets, where they admitted him for ultrasounds, x-rays, blood tests, and intravenous fluid therapy.”

“Upon running types of blood, his calcium level was 0.52. They actually ran his blood again because they thought it could be wrong, but it came back the same. He was given calcium via IV and spent the next 4 nights in the vets being kept stable.”

“Hypoparathyroidism wasn’t originally tested for as it was so unlikely to be diagnosed in a kitten. We did, however, do this blood test recently and with his other blood tests, it was confirmed he does have hypoparathyroidism, which he will need lifelong calcium and vitamin D for.”

Emily tries to be positive about his condition knowing that it will certainly affect his later life.

“He’s like a relatively normal kitten. He does have days where he’s quieter and not as playful, but due to having hypoparathyroidism, symptoms of this are lethargy and tingling sensations, among others.”

“At home, he’s quite happy to potter about and do his own thing. If he wants attention he will come and seek me out for it—he loves cuddles, sleeping on me, and face-rubbing mine constantly. He’s a sweetheart.”

From the first time Emily saw Munchie she fell head over heels in love with him, and her first reaction was to give him a big cuddle.

He has a cheeky personality and when she first took him home she wondered how all the other members of her family would react.

But she had nothing to worry about.

“So, Munchie gets on with the other animals amazingly. He hit it off with Bella from the start (she’s my dog.) Junior wasn’t a fan of Munchie to begin with—it took a few weeks for him to stop grumbling at Munchie. Aslan and Munchie hit it off straight away.”

It’s good to know that Munchie is in good hands and is surrounded by a family that love him.