Could I make a bonsai kitten?

Factual Questions
1

There’s a website out there, which is supposed to be a joke, which talks about making “bonsai kittens”.

Which got me wondering: What would happen if someone attempted that in real life? Could you grow an animal to be in the shape of the container it’s raised in ?

2

There was a site debunking the bonsai kitten/puppy sites. Basically it said that the animal would die after a short time. It went into the reason but I forgot it.

I volunteer for an animal shelter and we have gotten complaints about such web sites.

3

Well, you can grow part of an animal to take the shape of its container, at least; Chinese foot-binding, certain African tribes’ neck-lengthening rings, and the skull binding / lengthening known to have been practiced in several ancient cultures all come to mind.

Any kind of ‘shaping’ much more comprehensive than these examples probably wouldn’t work too well for complex, bony animals. Might be possible with something like worms, or other maleable critters, but I dunno if anyone’s actually tried something like that.

4

You could probably use some sort of steroid treatments to dwarf kitties. However, the result would be more like an east-german gymnast kitty than a Bonsai kitty.

5

You could probably use some sort of steroid treatments to dwarf kitties. However, the result would be more like an east-german gymnast kitty than a Bonsai kitty.

6

You could probably use some sort of steroid treatments to dwarf kitties. However, the result would be more like an east-german gymnast kitty than a Bonsai kitty.

7

I have a niece who was born with a slightly misshapen head. This was corrected by having her wear a series of helmets during infancy. This was 20+ years ago and I don’t know where the technology has gone since then.

8

This is just a nitpick/FYI, I don’t think that the neck is actually lengthened, even though it appears that way. I believe the rings push down the bones (clavicle?).