Short Videos for day 19

Not the best examples of my work I know, but, in my defence I was trying to get focussed and interesting shots of them as I moved and panned around, often unable to see what I’m filming. These three short clips are cut from one longer one, removing much of the ‘junk’.

Yesterday evening after last feed and again this morning (day 20) kittens seemed more alert and eager for attention. The blue girl laced on her back for ages seeming to really enjoy being fussed over, stretching her back legs, then her front in bliss.

Each kitten is now able to sit up easily but none, as yet, appear strong enough with their rear legs to walk well. They will however, try to climb the walls of the nest eager to explore and build up their strength and stamina. I will very soon be moving from out of their original nest so that they can come and go a little bit more to increase this further. I have a large pet crate ready, and this will soon have to be their new home - this will do away with risk of falling out of their box and being unable to get back in.

I’m still feeding the blue pair and am amazed at how the little gannets gulp down the milk. Each feed now approx. 15-20mls. One of the black kittens also eagerly accepts formula milk so she gets some each feed too, about 15mls. I’ve ordered more formula as it’s being used so fast!

What’s In a name?

Another summer weekend has rolled around... it began rather wet but thankfully that didn’t last. By lunchtime the sun was out & it was warm.

I’ve noted that the little lad I feed by hand not only has begun to call for me when his belly demands it, but he also looks up and out of the nest box waiting for me to arrive. That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t show an interest in mum, or in making attempts to feed as nature intended, simply that he KNOWS that his voice brings him my attention when he is hungry for food.

I’ve also been “topping up” the blue girl though she is yet begin to call for me or look outside of her nest-world for my arrival. She seems content to at least start off or graze feed with mum. That said, she is very happy anytime Im there with warmed food to be plucked up (even out of sleep) and to receive the latex nipple, greedily sucking until there is no more left. They will both take at least 12-15ml per feed and, on one occasion today, cheeky chappie even guzzled almost 23mls in one sitting.

One of the black girls will also happily take a latex teat if it is offered, while the other, flat out refuses. It’s the only way I can as yet tell these two sisters apart!

Actually it’s kind of odd for me to be referring to them by colour and sex rather than a name of some sort after 17 days....but if I’m honest I’m almost feeling afraid to give them their own little monickers - would doing so perhaps serve to allow me to form too great an attachment?.. (Who the hell am I trying to kid? Anyone convinced?No, thought not.).

Noodle’s first litter was just 1 female who was born by c-section... I named her Pot (Pot Noodle). I would call out to her her Pot-Pots, a name which she & Noodle got used to very quickly. But Pot was later renamed twice... at first she was going to be Harley and so in the last 4 weeks after being reserved I began to get her used to this new name by calling Harley-Pots to her as much as possible.  However, at the last moment, upon collection, she underwent another rebranding becoming Gamora (or Mora for short).

Pot-Pot Harley Gamora

Noodle’s second litter brought us 2 new female kittens, also born by c-section. One kitten sadly suffered from Twisted Leg Syndrome and was immediately named Wonky since this word was how my then vet Emily had described her to me on the phone following the birth operation. The other kitten was already spoken for (if there was another girl available in this new litter). She was destined to be Gamora’s sister, Nebula (see Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel Comics) and so I always called her Nebula or Nebby for short.

I guess I feel that naming a kitten is the prerogative of its future family, and, having got Gamora used to 2 names in a short space of time, it’s made me hold back. I could start to call them in a sing song voice “Blue Boy” & “Blue Girl” but how to get the two black girls to know they are individuals..? It’s still getting them used to a name that will not be used.

One friend of mine who breeds some superb British Short Hair kittens simply calls all of her kittens You... so she will say “Hello You”, “You Good Boy/Girl”. Since they are all phrases a new family will say when giving love to their new pet, so I guess this might work...

It’s been a good day.

Noodle & Nebula

New video posted

Here’s Prune with her 4 kittens as they feed & climb. The sounds you can hear of the purring and suckling are loud considering their size!

Noodle gets her head in the way in the first part of the film, as ever she is trying to join in with this ‘family scene’.

Progression

Prune’s kittens are growing so fast, something that always amazes, so much so that it feels like a distant memory that each was half a handful just 16 days ago. Visually since all have their eyes wide open increasing size appears the only real change, though each is at a slightly different stage of having their ears open, with the little lad bringing up the rear.

There are definite personalities emerging even now, with the biggest kitten seemingly the most wilful. I’m finding she is the most stubborn as I begin the first of their worming treatments.

For 3 days, directly after a feed the kittens must each swallow 0.5ml of Panacur worming syrup; a gloopy white cold soup that sadly is very distasteful to them. I realise of course that it is produced for treating both puppies and kittens but to my mind it is high time the manufacturer found a way to make it taste more appealing. Listen up Panacur!

Using a 1ml syringe I draw up for each a 0.5ml dose and then proceed to slowly drip the syrup in, all the while each kitten does it’s best to eject the unpalatable substance and not to allow me to gain access to their mouths with it again (and again).

For the two blue kittens that I give feeds to, I feel sure that they must wonder why I’m suddenly mistreating them, when normally I bring purr-inducing sustenance. For the two black kittens which I handle less, no matter how gentle and lovingly this treatment it is given, I feel sure they must think me as vile as that which I force on to and into them.

I do love their little faces and so I try hard single handedly to get a decent picture of each one but, since they are still only able to belly crawl, their faces are not at an angle I can see them well. Sleeping photos seem the best option when they are at least still. Mind you, the poor little girl who I disturbed taking this photo was quite startled by the camera flash. Oops! You can see too some white worming syrup has been transferred to a little blue rump!

Awww, yeah mum, just there_____

He looks mightily happy with himself doesn’t he, with his head and neck stretched, his arms extended and eyes apparently closed in bliss as mum gets busy with him after his supper.

As you can see from the way one of his big sisters is climbing over the top of another, the battle for prime position goes on. With the weights ever increasing it is abundantly clear this strategy works,

230g & 218g for the two darker skinned beauties and 190g & 192g for the two blue skins. I’m looking forward now to seeing the little personalities take shape as they gain strength & ability! 

🐾🐾 Nothing will be sacred - I can’t wait! 🐾🐾

A steady Sunday

Loving & tender feeding of kittens by Prune & myself continues. I love to watch them peacefully sleeping, their tummies like beach balls over-inflated.

Pru is spending time outside of the nest box - but right next to it, getting in and out trilling her presence before tending to them which she does at regular intervals.

Day 10

Gosh... the days are passing quickly and the kittens grow more sturdy. In the first days with just seemingly skin & bone they remind me of just hatched birds, their bones clearly outlined & visible under their translucent skin, but now there is meat on those bones, they grow heavy, strong & robust. Two kittens (the black ladies) have now passed the 200g mark!

Each one has learned to purr, the staccato sewing machine sound which is so unlike the purring of an older kitten or cat. Ears are beginning to open now. When they are born the triangle of ear is bent forward held close to the skull, but within days the ear begins to unfold. Inside, it is tightly pulled together, I’m sure this is in order to keep any amniotic fluid from entering during their development. I watch when hand-feeding how the suck & swallow action makes their ears appear to waggle. Soon the inside will relax and their hearing will become more acute. I notice now how Pru has begun to trill when she is nearby, talking to them... I can only imagine her saying that she will lay down for them, but please to keep their claws in!

Yes, her poor tummy is clearly well scabbed from their battle for position, the need to scrabble around as they seek out the fluid that gives them life.

‘Auntie’ Noodle though not actually related by blood, is just as keen to help out and is always sleeping right next to the nest box, and when Pru has dozed off or gone for her ablutions she will take an opportunity to care actively by either getting in to lick the kittens to toilet them or leaning in to do the same. Prune is content to allow her... just as she is to allow me also to do my bit; we are like three clucking hens around our 🐣 🐥 🐥 🐣 (that one is for you Katrina!)

In the first photo below, you can clearly see the scab marks around the sleeping kittens head and mouth, clear signs of the battle that is waged at their dinner table. The second photo is one of the black sisters. She is looking ‘milk-drunk’ having enjoyed a welcomed feed.

We are into week 2...

And things are going really well....

Well I say that, but I think that perhaps Prune may say otherwise just now because her underside is rather scratched up and sore despite my having snipped the tips from those sharp little talons.

They are born with fully-grown, sharply pointed claws and are terrifying to snip. The kitten is wriggling and squealing... an anxious mum is therefore wanting nothing more than to rescue her baby from what must surely be a terrible fate. And me, I’m using the smallest pet clippers I could find, squinting to focus and praying at the moment I commit that don’t wriggle out of my control.

So, while Pru is spending less time feeding due to the free for all going on in the food scrum, some siblings I’ve noticed are also getting scratched heads too.

It’s noticeable in the photo below when it’s zoomed into...

The little lad that I’m feeding formula milk to is gaining weight nicely and today, has caught up with his Blue coloured sister as they both weighed in this evening at 144g. Meanwhile the two dark girls are 187g and a whopping 203g, so they have both more than doubled their birth weights.

Tipping the scales!

All kittens now tip the scales in triple digits, with the little lad entering at 107g on today’s weigh in. I’m feeding him formula but I do also see him trying to feed from mum, occasionally latching on by himself or allowing me to help. It gives me hope that he won’t continue to need my help.

The biggest still are the black girls, at 149 and 160g and the blue girl at 137g. I reckon 2 -3 days there will be a mass doubling of their birth weights.

One black girl had an eye open yesterday surprising me when I picked her up to weigh her with her a cheeky little wink! It always surprises me when their eyes open. The other 2 females had followed suit this morning, strangely all with naughty one-eye open winks! (I just had another look now and I was seen - with both eyes now fully open - and even got the tiniest little meow! Missed it when taking the photo below! Sooooo cute.

Blue girl is quite the sleepy-head, she zonks out in the evening and, when jostled by a sibling or her mum, has the biggest yawn.

Blue boy top, 2 black girls.

Blue girl climbing over one of her black sisters.

A not so good ... and a good day

It is sad that today I lost one of the blue boys. He had been struggling from the start and had not gained weight nor managed to feed properly. Despite enormous effort, he finally gave up this afternoon.

It is fairly common to lose a kitten in this way - it is termed Fading Kitten Syndrome often affecting the “runt” of the litter who either does not manage to get a look in, or simply is significantly weaker and smaller.

Both boys and the blue girl were not feeding well - at first I had it down to the fact that the black girls were like bulldozers. I have been watching closely and so in the early hours of Thursday morning I decided that’s enough was enough and went t0 the kitchen to make formula and so to hand feed them, hoping that with some nutrition they would gain weight, become stronger and thus, be able to hold their own.

Every 3.5 hours I filled a syringe with formula and fed just those three. The girl zoomed through the milk with gusto. One of the boys, sucked well too, though not with the power of his sister. But the small lad would do nothing for himself. I slowly dripped milk into his mouth trying to encourage him to swallow and felt at first that I was getting somewhere. But, late last night I realised that things were becoming serious. The blue girl by this time was clearly receiving food from Prune and no longer needed help but the boys were fairing less well.

I was encouraged by a small weight gain in them both, but they stubbornly remain well below the triple figures the girls have by now achieved. My tiny boy though was becoming weaker, showing signs of clear distress. I upped the anti, providing a smidgen of Manuka honey 15+, Kitty Stim and small hourly feeds. Id got little output from his back end, but finally a poo. Sadly though, it was all too late and, the next time the hour chimed he was cold but was still moaning. It really was last chance saloon.

I placed him on my chest and rubbed him trying to warm him, to get some food and fluid into his body. But to no avail and he died at around 4pm. As I said, this is not uncommon, breeders of such delicate cats, know well that they will have to take a loss on the chin, particularly in a litter of,this size or larger. It does it stop it feeling desperately sad when your effort and care fails and a life fade slowly away.

Back in the nest box, the 4 remaining siblings are getting the hang of things. I was at last able to assist the blue boy to latch on to mum where he began sucking and kneading. Keen to ensure he was not bulldozed off by the black sisters I ensured that he was undisturbed, placing the eager sisters at their own tests and like little ducks in a row, the 4 shared a meal.

I am determined that I will learn some new skills before my next litter comes - I will be able and prepared to give life-saving hydration & electrolytes subcutaneously.  I will not be reticent about tube feeding much earlier rather than being hopeful that syringe feeding will be enough on its own. Those measures, had I had that knowledge or experience, may have saved him, but I will never know that, and I still have to accept that in breeding a kitten loss is considered normal. 

Day 2 Kitten update

Well, it’s a mixed bag of news today...

I was awake ALL night. And as happened the night before, every time Pru moved position or had been out and returned to the nest, I needed to unearth kittens from beneath her. It’s a massive worry after losing one of Noodle’s kittens this way last year. My ears are on high alert & I’m constantly checking and head counting. As kittens get stronger and more mobile the risk will reduce but for now I am not moving from being on hand and high alert, hoping that’s enough.

Weigh in today saw the two black girls push the scales over the 100g mark, however the blue girl made a much smaller weight gain, while her brothers have lost weight again.

Preempting this, having watched them so closely, at 5:20am, Having constantly seem the black ladies muscling and bulldozing their siblings out of the way I decided it was time to step in and give them a hand and made up some kitten formula. I gave the blue’s 1.5ml each hoping this would be enough to give them a boost of energy they needed to hold their own a little better.

This lunchtime I’ve decided to help out on a timed basis, hoping that my doing this every 2 hours for,the rest of the day will make enough difference that they begin to hold their own and feed better from mum.

Ideally I’d like this to be a very short term measure so that the demand for milk is all on Pru so that she will increase her milk supply to sustain them all, but if necessary I will continue to supplement feed them as an ongoing thing. Alexa is tasked to remind at 2 hourly intervals in case I decide that I must sleep and zonk out.

Sexed and weighed.

The first night has gone well - I know I feel better for having some sleep even if I did wake several times to help out. The biggest issue is a kitten being underneath of Prune when she repositions herself. As they get stronger and more mobile and she gets more experienced this will resolve itself but for now I’m on ‘high alert’ 🚨.

So day zero I did sex them but felt a little blurry and bleary eyed however, after a re-examination today, I feel confident in announcing that Prune has birthed

• 2 solid black females
• 2 solid blue males 
• 1 solid blue female

Kittens are weighed daily as this allows a good gauge on their ongoing health status and to know that they are feeding well. A small loss on day 1 is not too worrying, the colostrum they get in these early days so vital similar really to we humans however, you should  expect to see a gain each day of approximately 5g+ once feeding is established. There has been gain in 3 of them but a small loss for two of them. If they do not gain overnight I will start to give formula to supplement Prunes milk. Ideally I’d want to give her time to supply enough for them but cannot allow any kitten to fade.

The first weigh in

First out blue 77g.
Second & fifth out blue’s both 88g.
Third and forth out black 90g & 92g

I have made an initial attempt at sexing them however, I have sandpaper eyes and they are so so small that I do not trust my judgement today. I will re-weigh and look at them again tomorrow to see if I make the same call with any more conviction. For now, I will say go on record as saying that each one is either a Male or a Female!

It’s been a really big day. I feel so privileged, proud & amazed.

I will certainly always remember it, especially no. 2 coming out breached and with its head stuck still unborn as Pru took a breather then seeing survival instinct kick in as each tiny limb braced itself against her in order to try to pull its head free!

❤❤🐾🐾 ❤❤🐾🐾 ❤❤🐾🐾❤❤🐾🐾❤❤🐾🐾❤❤

Ta-Dah

3:53a.m Pru got wriggly,  then I heard a sort of sniffing breath sound. I lay my hand on her and felt contractions. We are on!

4:11 waters broke

At 4:30a.m the first kitten was born. It looks blue, arriving with its tongue out.
Almost immediately the placenta passed and she dealt with it and began pushing again.

Kitten 2 was born breached and stuck for a while with the head in. Stay calm I told myself as the kitten had all 4 limbs pushing to pull itself into the world. It also looks blue.

By 5:15 kitten 3 arrived inside of its sac. Mum opened that immediately. It looks black. The placenta took a while longer.

After that arrived, I waited for Prune to deal with it them as I was cleaning away some messy sheets to a bin bag I looked in and saw there was another kitten. No. 4. It too is black.

I felt her tummy. More were there..

Soon no 5 arrived, breach but not stuck. It looks blue.

I can see and feel more movement inside her so we are not done. Just resting.

I am overwhelmed and Pru looks shellshocked. Noodle is standing by, coming running when she heard that first squeal as she is programmed to do having mothered before (I’ve blogged about how she runs in to help with human babies before).

I make no apologies, I will be guilty of over posting stories and photos while I have kittens !