# What Could Be the Cause? (Hairless Kitten)



## pipje (Jun 29, 2011)

This was on Facebook recently. A breeder had a nest with a single bald baby after a 72-day gestation. Mum is a Highland Straight, dad is a British Shorthair. Both do not have any naked ancestors for at least 9 generations. Mum was not dewormed during pregnancy. 

What could cause a kitten to be born hairless?


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## gskinner123 (Mar 10, 2010)

Is the kitten alive and well?


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## pipje (Jun 29, 2011)

Yes, kitten is alive. Seems well enough.


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## carly87 (Feb 11, 2011)

My first thought is a prem baby. What was the birth weight? Did she have access to another male or the same one who could have given her a late mating?


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## gskinner123 (Mar 10, 2010)

Well.... It's anyone's guess. A new or so far undocumented hairless mutation? A falsified pedigree somewhere back along the line? Or some strange biological risk factor occurring during the queen's pregnancy? 

Not really uncommon but I'm wondering if the fact that it is a single kitten litter is somehow related. 

It'll be interesting to see if the kitten grows any coat 

What do you think, Pipje?


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## gskinner123 (Mar 10, 2010)

carly87 said:


> My first thought is a prem baby. What was the birth weight? Did she have access to another male or the same one who could have given her a late mating?


In the photo attached to the op, Carly, though it's difficult to judge the age in days, it looks to be a fairly hefty/podgy kitten and has feet like shovels  It doesn't appear to be the least bit premature.

ETA: Certainly under two weeks as I've just noticed the eyes are still sealed tight shut


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## havoc (Dec 8, 2008)

> ETA: Certainly under two weeks as I've just noticed the eyes are still sealed tight shut


Although it doesn't look prem the eyes could be a good indication. My kittens' eyes are generally open well within a week and whenever I've had a suspect prem they take significantly longer to open their eyes. Of course the combination of lack of coat plus late eye opening could have a completely different cause but it is one I've seen more than once.


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## gskinner123 (Mar 10, 2010)

havoc said:


> Although it doesn't look prem the eyes could be a good indication. My kittens' eyes are generally open well within a week and whenever I've had a suspect prem they take significantly longer to open their eyes. Of course the combination of lack of coat plus late eye opening could have a completely different cause but it is one I've seen more than once.


That's true. Even with breeds that are relatively slow in the department (considering the kitten is half BSH) mine will almost always have their eyes at least half open by 10 days at the latest. It's difficult to get a size perspective of the kitten in the photo so perhaps I'm misjudging. It does look quite well 'filled out' and not the least bit scrawny though!


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## havoc (Dec 8, 2008)

Yeah, I've been there when the suspect prem is far from the smallest in the litter. Problem is you can't know what any kitten's birth weight would have been full term to judge. Over the years I've had full term kittens range in weight at birth from under 60g to nearly double that


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## gskinner123 (Mar 10, 2010)

I've seen premature kittens with bald legs/ears but never one like this. Could it be SO premature as to have no coat at all and still survive? Answering my own question I guess it would depend upon the level of skill and how intensively it was cared for. 

I can't get away from a nagging feeling, however, that the kitten wasn't premature. I suspect the pedigree isn't what it is thought or said to be and the kitten should be called Occam's Razor


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## pipje (Jun 29, 2011)

The kitten was one day old in the photo(85g). It's a blue white female according to the breeder. 

Mum wasn't interested so the kitten is staying with another breeder (who is having a nest now) and is drinking there. I will keep an eye to see if her fur grows


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## gskinner123 (Mar 10, 2010)

pipje said:


> The kitten was one day old in the photo


How wrong could I have been? 

Thanks, Pipje, it would be really interesting to know how the kitten develops.


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## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

85g is a decent weight for a day old, suspect it's not prem. As said above, it will be interesting seeing how it develops.


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## carly87 (Feb 11, 2011)

But we still don't actually know based on that weight. As Havoc has said, they can be anywhere from 60-120G and be prem or otherwise. Perhaps another week in the womb would have seen this one much heftier.

Was it a singleton? And could the mating dates have been wrong?


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## havoc (Dec 8, 2008)

> It's a blue white female according to the breeder.


I know nothing about these breeds. Could a blue white be mainly white? I have noticed that pointed pattern kittens can sometimes seem almost hairless or have 'poor' coats at birth, not always by any means but occasionally. At one time I'd thought it was maybe a matter of pale coloured hair being thinner and less easy to see but as I've had many points born with normal coats this can't be the explanation on its own.


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## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

havoc said:


> I know nothing about these breeds. Could a blue white be mainly white? I have noticed that pointed pattern kittens can sometimes seem almost hairless or have 'poor' coats at birth, not always by any means but occasionally. At one time I'd thought it was maybe a matter of pale coloured hair being thinner and less easy to see but as I've had many points born with normal coats this can't be the explanation on its own.


I've seen newborn pointed BSH and they had normal coats, and so do newborn Siamese.

What breed is this 'hairless' kitten meant to be?


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## Steverags (Jul 19, 2010)

We've had a furless Ragdoll kitten born before and the kitten grew into a perfectly normal furry raggy , the fur should eventually grow.


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## havoc (Dec 8, 2008)

> We've had a furless Ragdoll kitten born before and the kitten grew into a perfectly normal furry raggy


Interesting to hear it's happened to other people and another breed. I guess it is quite rare though, I've probably had two in decades of breeding and one wasn't completely furless, just very sparse. I too have had such kittens grow perfectly normal coats.


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## NorthernDarkness (Jan 9, 2013)

OrientalSlave said:


> What breed is this 'hairless' kitten meant to be?


The first post mentions Highland Straight x BSH. Which IMO is a weird combination unless the Highland Straight (Scottish Longhair with straight ears) is actually a Highland Fold.. Anyway, that would make the kitten a Scottish Fold/Straight.

A friend of mine once had a queen who had trouble conceiving, the cat finally got pregnant but gave birth prematurely (can't remember the day) and the kitten was hairless (and a singleton, she may have absorbed other possible kittens). He did grown fur normally later.


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## moggiemum (Mar 28, 2013)

intresting story , best wishes for the cuddlepusss xx


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## pipje (Jun 29, 2011)

Kitten has fur  according to her breeder, the gestation is at least 67 days (72 days if counting from the first day of mating). Not sure what happened over there, exposure to something?


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