Runt cat

Question
I live in an apartment building in Florence, SC and we have "dumpster kittys".  Having two cats myself, Kibby the smarty pants and her brother Skippy the three legged wonder, I can't stand to see them cold, or hungry.  A few of the cats are friendly and I think they may have been abandoned when the owner left.  Anyway there has been a new set of kittens born when we arrived in August.  But now it's January and one kitten is way way smaller than the rest of it's siblings.  All the kittens are from one mom, and I'm sure they are all the same litter.  His face is smaller, but he eats the most.  I can't keep another cat and I'm afraid to take him to a shelter.  He stays close to my back porch (I have a conforter out there for them, it's cold), and can't bring him in becouse I don't know what he might give to my other cats.  Another cat, Shadow, that is too friendly to be a true stray has ring worm and I don't want this little guy to get it.  What can I do?  Do you know of anyone in SC that would like to have a kitten that won't grow?

Answer
Christin,

The first thing I would do is to have the runt seen by your vet to see if there is a medical cause that is treatable.  Often what makes them runts means ongoing problems and a shorter life as it grows up. Some cats are immune to ring worm and some are not.  Unfortunately, the spore are air born, so the little guy has already been exposed.

I have had some luck with vet techs wanting "problem" kittens, so you may talk to your veterinarian's staff.

Good luck and best regards... Norm.