Sunday 21st Feb 2010, Two Weeks!

I would have liked to have written more the last week, but it’s been a busy time for me: I’ve been doing around 12 miles a day walking for work I reckon! I’m tending to come in exhausted.

It’s been amazing seeing how the kittens have developed in their first two weeks. They started out with just little curls for ears and prickles on the ends of their toes. Now they have moving ear flaps, wagging tails and claws that, while they are still part out all the time, are beginning to develop sheaths and to move in and out as they knead at mum. Tortie was the first to have eyes opening, on day seven. She didn’t seem totally ready though, and still acted like they were closed, and actually kept them closed most of the time. The others finally began to open their eyes on day ten, and instantly seemed to be blurrily checking out their surroundings. The same day, Tortie seemed to start looking around too, as if she’d finally tuned in to the new sense.

Tortie on day 8: that’s mum’s whiskers about to carry her off… more of that below

They’ve gone from little blobs with an urge to find nipples, to little creatures that seem to be actually thinking. It’s amazing to watch Grey Legs testing out his claws on box and towel, or starting to explore, or Tabby playfully biting a litter mate, or Tortie trying to catch her own back paw. I read something that said don’t be surprised if in week three your kittens start purring… mine started Friday after they were born, day five. Now you can generally hear one or two puttering away every time they nurse. Tabby and Glossy seemed to be top purrers so far, though it’s hard to tell when they are in a pile! Recently Grey Legs has developed a BIG purr. They are generally starting to move around and explore inside the box and each other, starting to get their back legs under them and bellies up by day ten, and really walking (with lots of wobbles) by now.

In some ways I’m more worried about mum’s progress. I keep pointing out to her that part of the appeal of her having her kittens with me was I got to observe cat behaviour… but, well, she is just a kitten herself. She does keep one eye on the kittens, keeps them well fed and cleaned. She seems to have worked out how to casually block a kitten toddling in the wrong direction with a leg. But I do think she’s spending more time away from them than is expected. She still wants fuss from me and wild games with her favourite leather strip, even if she is a mum. Then there’s the carrying issue…

Back on the first day she did move two of her kittens into the box, but left two outside. I’d like to think I just caught her halfway, but I have my doubts. Since then they’ve been in the nest box, and apart from retrieving one off me early on they’ve stayed there. A few times when it’s looked like she was thinking of moving I’ve taken that as my hint to change the towel, and she’s settled back down again. I was beginning to wonder what would happen when the kittens started to move around: would she be able to get them out of trouble? So rather than putting a kitten back in the box after weighing I let her collect it off me. She took the kitten, carried it a few paces, knocked it against the high entrance to the box, dropped it and carried on without it. Then I was taking pics of Tortie out on the couch to show her newly-opening eyes, and she came and took her off, dropped her on the floor and ran to the box looking distinctly sheepish. She clearly felt she wasn’t up to it and hoped I’d step in, which I did. Getting a little worried as time went on, I decided to see what would happen if a kitten was left outside the box. I used Grey Legs since he seems a pretty mellow and resilient type. Purdey felt something was wrong and she should do something… even experimentally mouthed him a little. Then got down and started to roll and play with him. I ended up putting him back.

Well, I guess I shouldn’t have worried, as it turns out Purdey is quite capable of carrying kittens when I’m not available. It’s where she’ll carry them to which I should be worrying about!

Night of Thursday 19th / morning Friday 20th I’d got to bed rather late. Already tired, in fact over tired so I had trouble settling. First a couple of texts came at hour intervals. Then I think Purdey woke me up getting into the gap under the chest at the bottom of my bed and scraping the papers I have stored there about. Perhaps another hour on, who knows, Purdey woke me again, but this time I heard squeaking. I put my hand down the gap, and sure enough, felt a kitten. I sleepily retrieved him and took him through into the living room. Half asleep I was actually wondering if she’d secretly had a 5th kitten there the whole time! But there were 3 in the box. I put Grey Legs (well, I’m 90% sure it was him, since Glossy would have squeaked a lot louder!) back in the box, and went back to bed, finding a few things to block the gap first. In old papers next to the gap under the bed is not a great place for kittens in my opinion…

I think I’d dosed off a little when I realised Purdey was trying to get in the gap again. I went to pull my duvet back to show her it was blocked off, and put my hand on a kitten… Tabby’s turn to be returned to the box. By now you are probably wondering why I didn’t close the bedroom door after that… well, I had visions of getting up in the morning to a little pile of kittens on the cold floor outside it. So I rather hopefully went to bed. A little later I heard squeaks… The first night after the kittens were born I got up thinking I’d heard squeaks and it turned out to be the dawn chorus. So I decided it was that. But then the squeaks got closer. I sat up to find Purdey sitting on the floor by the side of my bed looking at me with Tortie at her feet. Was she just following an instinct to move them? Or was she in some way seeking my attention? Anyway, she seemed determined… I gave up and got up.

I hoped that would be it, and sat down to do some writing. All was well for a while… Then Purdey went past me with Tortie in her mouth again. Once she got to the hallway and saw the door to my bedroom was now shut, she dropped her and ran back in confusion. This time I put Tortie in the second, larger box I have in my living room. Purdey swiftly came and retrieved her and put her back in the nest with the others. I’m not sure if it was seeing the door closed, or that I tricked her into putting Tortie back herself, but there’s been no problems since.

So all well so far… Kittens developing very well. Now I have to get the living room ready for them starting to wander, as I don’t think it will be long (I’ve shut the bedroom door…). Amazing to see them starting to take an interest in the world around, all getting on for 3 times the size they were at birth.

I’m a little worried about Purdey again… one of her nipples is looking swollen (again…) but also a bit red this time. I’m going to see how it is in the morning and it will be back to the vet again if it’s no better. Hoping it’s a false alarm like last time…

Mum and kittens on day 14: they are so big!

Grey Legs and Tabby having a play fight

(PS: I’m having problems posting comments at the moment: weird on my own blog! So excuse the lack of replies….)

A Visit To The Vet: Thurs 11th Feb 2010

Thursday I got a bit worried. I started noticing the kittens were sneezing. Not all the time, just every now and again. Then I noticed that maybe Tabby was breathing a little faster… or maybe he wasn’t. They all looked well. I told myself I was probably being paranoid. After all, there had been the odd sneeze before. It kept niggling me though. Due to Purdey being already pregnant when I got her, it wasn’t possible to get her vaccinated. So my little family were vulnerable. Had I stroked the wrong cat in the street and brought something back?

By early evening I still couldn’t make my mind up. On balance I thought all was well, but I also knew it could be serious if it wasn’t. It was half five and the vets was open for surgery till 7. Then I felt Purdey… She had a hard little ball where one of the nipples was meant to be. Looking at it I could see that the nipple itself had totally disappeared inside the hard lump: the end was just a reddish looking mark. Purdey didn’t seem the least bit bothered. But I now had two reasons. I phoned the vets and booked them in for 6. The possibility that Purdey might be getting mastitis was scary: if so the kittens would have to be taken off her, and it would be up to me to hand feed them every two hours day and night.

Then there was a mad scramble to get them ready. Since I don’t have a car and the vet is a short walk away I tie the cat basket to a shopping trolley base. I found some pillow cases to act as ‘curtains’ on the side and front, both to keep the cold out and for privacy. Then kittens, towel and Purdey were transferred inside and we were off. A bit late so I actually ran much of the way! Of course, I still had to wait an anxious while in the waiting room.

Finally our turn. Of course the vet pretty quickly pronounced all well with the kittens! Very healthy in fact, and probably just milk up their noses. He also assured me that they basically wouldn’t be getting cat flu unless Purdey was a carrier… which it seemed she wasn’t. Purdey’s pea (as he described it) was also pronounced OK. A nipple excess to requirements it seemed, that had got full and blocked up with dried milk. In fact he squeezed the blockage out. Nothing to worry about if it happens again apparently, but I’m glad to say the nipple has remained a normal shape since! Though Purdey was a little reluctant to have me check it at first: I don’t think she enjoyed the vet’s squeezing!

Anyway… even though I was sure all was going well, it is nice to have a vet’s word for it! The kittens were meant to have their first vet visit at 2 weeks. If all goes well he said now he doesn’t need to see them again until vaccination time at 9 weeks! Seems such a long time…

Since I didn’t actually take pictures at the vets, I thought I’d include some for those following the ‘Yawn Thread’ on Cat Chat… The first was actually taken some time ago, soon after Purdey first came to live with me. You can see her favourite toy, a strip of leather, in the background. She still gets regular play sessions with that! The second picture is day one or two with the kittens I think

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First Few Days

So much has happened this week, I haven’t had time to get it all written down, photos sorted, as it’s happened! It doesn’t help that my computer only seems to be able to manage to play a couple of videos before it crashes. It’s taken a while for me to watch all the birth videos myself! So here I am, trying to summarise a pretty amazing week… (I might post birth vids at some point, but I think if I do I’ll make a separate post of it. I think I’ll keep things a bit more nice and fluffy in here for now!)

The first day I was a bit worried how much time Purdey seemed to spend away from the kittens. Probably being paranoid: the room was warm, she did keep checking on them, and they seemed full of beans. Even though Purdey seemed happy for me to be around, I decided to not disturb the box for a while, hoping that would help her to bond. I finally took first weights late that night, but more of that later.

I’d intended to sleep in the living room, but, to be honest, I was feeling a pretty tired and achy, and the couch did not appeal. I also felt it might help Purdey to settle if I slept in the bedroom, since she’s in the routine of settling to sleep in the living room once I’ve gone to bed. Needless to say I could hardly pull myself away. The kittens were showing just how healthy they were by engaging in raging wars over favoured nipples! All had their minor tiffs, but Tabby and Tortie were relentless:

(looks like this has posted as very low quality... will try and work something out to improve it. You can actually see more in a proper version!)



Next day someone pointed out to me this might mean there was a problem with the milk supply… I was pretty sure not, since all seemed well, content and I’d seen them all suckling. It was a relief though to take weights that evening and confirm all was well. In fact very good… Doing a bit of reading I found out that kittens are expected to be born weighing 90 to 110 grams. It’s OK for them to loose a bit of weight in the first 24 hours, but after that they should gain a minimum of 7-10 grams per day. Mine, at first weigh in, were: Tabby: 130g, Glossy: 130g, Grey Legs: 126g and Tortie: 121g. So they were either born heavy, or gained weight in the first 12 hours… or both! They also gained between 8 and 18 grams between their first 2 weigh ins. Nothing to worry about… but I’ve still been weighing twice a day since!

About their kitten names (adult names come later of course): Tabby and Tortie are obvious! Distinguishing the two blacks was trickier. I soon noticed that one (the second black, kitten number 3) looked sort of greyer in some lights. Looking closely I could also see a liberal sprinkling of white hairs on his legs, which is what gave him his nickname. I have at times wondered if he is actually grey (especially when you see some photos where he really does look grey…), but putting the two blacks, back upwards together you can see they really are both black. In fact, Glossy’s legs look greyish too. The difference (apart from the white hairs) seems to be texture: Glossy looks like he’s going to have his mum’s fine, flat lying, very shiny coat. Grey Legs is definitely going to be fuzier coated. I think we’ll have to wait to see if there’s more than that to it.

Pictures at 2 and a half days old:

And just because it’s cute (and to prove Tortie and Tabby don’t always hate each other!)

Birthday, Sunday 7th February 2010

I was up late again, doing the ‘will she, wont she’ bit, wondering if Purdey was finally going to go into labour and being annoyed at a neighbour playing something only remotely resembling music. Finally got to bed gone 4 am I think, putting my alarm on for 9.30 Sunday morning since I had cat sits to get out for.

But no waiting for the alarm. I was woken up by Purdey attacking the bookshelf next to my bed. Well, actually down the far side of my bed, so that the bottom shelf has just a crack down into it (and on down to great spaces for things to get lost under the bookshelf and bed). Purdey has already made some attempts at nesting in this space, last time re-arranging the books and ripping several to shreds in the process. I’d barricaded it off, so this time she was fairly easily repelled. I expected her to disappear off again, but instead she turned her attentions to me. I noticed that her tummy felt really hard. Checking the time, I saw it was 9 am. Then I realised Purdey was lying down next to me (something she’s actually never done: while she follows me round during the day, and at first tried to keep me awake at night, now she settles to sleep in living room.) As she moved around I realised there was a wet patch on the bed and she was having contractions.

So she lay cuddled up to me, with me stroking her and re-assuring her. As the contractions got stronger she got more and more scared and meowed more and more. As they reached a peak she was screaming, her eyes went totally wild and for a moment I thought she was going to lash out at me. I just kept talking to her. She reached out with a paw and pretty much held onto me. I was wondering if something was wrong, if I should get the vet, but within a few minutes the first kitten appeared. I went and grabbed my camera and started taping as she licked it. First kitten born 9.24.

Since Purdey is black and white I thought ‘and whites’ of some description were likely. I’d speculated she might have a tortie or two if the ginger and white cat I’d seen around was an entire tom (and told myself firmly that dad was quite possibly the fairly ugly white with black blotches tom I see more often, including over where I found her). So I was quite surprised to see a plain tabby. Beautiful stripes though. That was followed by two blacks: she cried out, but things went much quicker and easier and she seemed less scared now. I was surprised how huge the afterbirths were, but let her deal with them. The first disappeared quite quickly, but number 3 took a couple of goes! Meanwhile I was comparing bottoms. I thought tabby was a male, first black was a male… but then number 3 still looked male but a bit different to 2. Lucky Purdey seemed trusting of me handling them! She also seemed delighted to lie there and purr as they sucked on her (though they didn’t seem to have latched onto nipples yet!)

The vet had only felt 3 when he examined her. I’d speculated there might be more, and feeling her now I thought I could feel one still there. Sure enough after a short break the contractions started again. Number 4 was swiftly delivered at 10.40. Having now got used to her having plain colours, as she licked at the head end of the sack I was quite shocked to see a little white blaze appear. Then it looked like some bits of the blaze were actually orange… I wasn’t sure if it was birth fluids though. And when I saw a little stripy looking leg I decided the kitten was tabby and white. Then as it seemed dark I changed my mind and decided maybe it was black and white, like mum. It took a while before I confirmed there really was orange… brindle tortie on the back (the orange only visible as the kitten dried) with white (and orange) legs, chest and blaze. While I speculated kitten 4 did her best to prove the tortie reputation by clambering straight over her litter mates and latching onto a nipple while still wet. The first to actually feed I think. Mum took several goes to finish that afterbirth! I think she might have been still attached as she took her first milk.

More bottom examinations, and I now think probably 1-3 are all boys, with no 2 being larger in certain departments than 3! Not 100% sure though: those bits are so tiny!

I was pretty sure that was it, so after a little more time I got myself together to go out. My duvet was wet and bloodstained, so I had a feeling mum might not want to stay there long. I wasn’t too sure what would happen if I went out… I brought one of the birthing boxes I’d made into the bedroom and put it on the bed, right next to the bookshelves. I did think of moving them in… but they seemed settled.

I arrived a little late at my first cat sit of the day! It had all happened so fast… I hadn’t had time to call for cover. And I was probably there quicker than cover could have been! The cats had food in their bowls and seemed quite happy anyway. I got back to find mum and two kittens in the box, and two lying quite calmly outside. I put them in, which mum seemed quite happy about, and went to make announcements. Then tore myself away to go see another pair of cats.

Purdey met me at the door when I returned with some significant glances. There was something I’d been thinking of doing, and I had a feeling Purdey would be agreeable. I went and picked up the box and carried it into the living room. As soon as I put it down, Purdey went in. Quite happy, and quite in agreement that in the living room was much better than in a box on my bed!

Since then she’s actually been out of the box quite a bit. Partly I think she wants my company. Partly maybe because she has needed to put some major time into cleaning! She was just as messy as my duvet! (Though looking much better now: shame I can’t get her to lick it clean…). She’s very happy to have me go over and stroke her while she nurses. She also now has food and water right outside the box. Thinking about sorting out an extra litter tray… She seems to have finally settled down with the kittens.

Tonight I think I’ll be sleeping on the couch. Tomorrow I have to work out how I’m going to fit in 2 cat sits, a dog walk, a trip to the laundrette to clean my duvet, and the 2 hour run I had scheduled for today! Especially since new mum clearly expects me to stay in and help!

(Written last week… updates, photos and maybe videos to follow shortly…)