Pregnancy 101

I have decided to write a blog on the pregnancy and birth of a litter of my kittens. I'll be featuring week to week updates including birth weights etc. Now, I am a big softy and am liable to cry if I lose any, just thought you should all be aware.

Ok, so Mum-to-be is DGCH Leetamy Shine On, Titch. This will be her second litter. Her first litter she decided to have in a kitchen drawer with a one inch gap at the back. How she got in, I have no idea. We lost three of the six kittens due to being smothered. She has taken a very long time to come back reliably into call.

Dad-to-be is the Chunky Hunky Monkey, Kracken Perfect Storm. Bred by my husband from my lines, this is THE mating I have been waiting for, the litter I have prepared for and bred for. Which means everything that can go wrong, probably will...

Titch is between six to seven weeks pregnant. And below is her first tummy pick. Usually females will pink up, which means their nipples going a bright fluoro pink, at three weeks. Titch decided to pretend to NOT be pregnant and took until six weeks to show off her large pink nipples. The hair has receded around the base of the nipples in preperation for the milk pads becoming swollen with milk.

She is not very big, my guess at this stage is for three kittens. Devon babies range from around 50g to 80g for smaller litters.

I will post more pictures as her belly begins to swell. At the moment I haven't felt any movement but that is quite normal with my queens.

Sadness by the bucket load

The problem with breeding anything, cats, dogs, horses, chickens, fish...kids is that eventually your heart will get hurt. Your heart will be ripped out, stomped on, wiped through the mud, torn to shreds and put back in your chest just for the hell of it. It hurts...it hurts alot.
Our first litter of the season was born in a kitchen drawer. Mum managed to squeeze through the back, all two inches of it, and gave birth in the smallest drawer possible. The first two babies died after Mum laid on them. Of the surviving four, the smallest perished after a few days. The remaining three have grown and prospered and taken the hearts of others. They will go to their new homes soon, fat little butterballs they are. Super sweet and naughty too!


Our second was a tabby litter of six. The littlest girl died after a long struggle. Her five siblings, two girls and two boys were doing fine until the choccie girl crashed and struggled to stay alive. I was NOT going to lose yet another kitten so we fought long and hard and she is doing well. She is somewhat smaller than the rest of her siblings but is doing very well. Her brothers are below.


Our hardest litter was born last. We lost one boy at birth. We lost one boy at around a week and a half old and we lost another boy at two weeks old. We had to bottle feed these babies and I fought so HARD to no avail. It really hurt, these kittens meant the world to me.

The last two are putting on weight and are fat as butter. I hoped that was the end of the bad luck...but the kids had other ideas!

Last week Caitie was supposed to be cleaning her room and snuck out. She then went down the road and borrowed her friends roller blades. The first we knew of it was when her friend came running up to the house in a panic. Caitie had fallen over and broken her arm...(sigh)

Can the world just stop for one second? Please?

Cin

Sometimes there are happy endings.

They say a picture can tell a thousand words, well this one heals a splintered heart.

Last night, after another day of sorrow for our grieving Mum, she settled in under the bed, on her own. A few minutes later, there were distinct slurping sounds coming from under the bed. An inspection revealed three bundles of fur who had decided, "Hey, if no-one else is gonna use this Milkbar, then we sure as heck should!" Puddin had two of the older 8 week old bubs and the 7 week old polar bear snuggled in and she was purring her head off with a smile from ear to ear. The other mums are happy to have a break and she is beside herself now that she has some babies.

All is right in her little world and it makes me glad.

Cin

Grief is Universal

One of our beautiful Queens was expecting this week. After a visit to the vet on Friday, Puddin proved to be in first stage labour and we settled in to wait. By Saturday afternoon she had started contracting and we were anxious to see the new arrival.

Around 5pm, Pudd gave birth to a stillborn black tortie female. The little one didn't take a breath at all and appeared to have been in some distress. Watching her clean her daughter and try to get her to breathe was heartbreaking and I sat there with the baby in my hands and wept. I allowed Pudd time to cuddle her baby and then quietly took care of the body.

Pudd is such a fantastic Mum that the loss has hit her hard. She has been calling for her baby and mothering the other kittens. Her cries break my heart and the anxious way she checks on the other babies and paces the floor have proven beyond any doubt that my baby girl is grieving and grieving deeply. This evening she curled up half on and half off my lap and just looked at me. Her ever present smile was gone and their is a look of puzzled hurt in her beautiful green eyes.

Animals feel pain and joy, sorrow and grief, they share our triumphs as well as our tragedies and no scientist with a clipboard will tell me any different. Her baby is in good hands, sleeping with our Arthur Bean at Rainbow Bridge.

Pudd will recover. She is going to be desexed and enjoy retirement with a loving family. Cuddles will be forthcoming as long as she needs them.

In happier times with an earlier litter.

Cin.

Stitches and Witches and Bitches OH MY!

Firstly- the stitches. Two baby Devons, Jigsaw and Peggy went to the vet today to ensure that they do not accidently increase the devon gene pool. Keeping two kittens quiet is a nightmare, especially when they have their sister to rev them up. I swear when Peggy came home that she was on speed. Her eyeballs were huge and she zipped and singed and finally crashed out! Jigs was a little more sedate and preferred to sleep and then sleep, did Imention sleeping?

Witches- Evil girl cats that keep on coming into call when their babies are mere weeks old. Other evil girl cats who insist on hiding their one and only child, driving us to distraction looking for him and then insist that he needs to sleep with us in the bed at 4am!

And the bitches- Well, one lil bitch, Nell Noodle the Staffy and I have entered another agility and jumpers trial on the weekend, fingers crossed that we do well.

And finally, a note about our boy Wombat... When I go down of a morning and hang out the washing, it has become my custom to let Waddy, the stud boy, out to wander around our contained backyard. He has a bit of a sniff and a roll, sprays a tree or two, chats to himself, stalks the grass and pretends to climb trees. I will pop him into the low branches of our biggest tree and he will follow me as I walk under the branch. He then gets to explore the flowering Wisteria and get a good view of the neighbourhood.Yesterday he came flying up the yard, which caused two of my dogs to prick their ears for a second. He then launched himself into a tree and quite proudly meowed as he clung to the branches, "look at me, I can CLIMB." It was a foot off the ground and caused me to chuckle, silly boy. Today he discovered the joys of dancing through the sugarcane mulch, pouncing on wind fairies. It inspired me to pick up a spare length of rope and race it along the ground. There followed a mad dash as he tried to catch it. At one stage he had one end in his mouth and was growling at me, playing tug of war. What was funnier was when my young Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Nell, grabbed the rope and legged it, with the end trailing along the ground and a smoky streak following. Then I had one cat and one dog having a tentative game of tug, until Nell got intimidated and let Waddy win.His final burst of silliness happened at the afternoons romp, when one of my huge chickens escaped and was scratching through the yard.Big brave boy decided to stalk and subsequently pounce on a chook that is effectively big enough to eat him! Again, silly boy.It makes for a more settled stud though and he thoroughly enjoys his out time.

Cheers,

Cin