Preparation is underway

Bang on schedule, less than 2 weeks until d-day is expected, I discovered Prune nesting in my overlong bedroom curtains. I later straightened them only to discover her in them again. I had been expecting her to begin to exhibit some nesting behaviour this time around since she is not relaxed around Floozy, so as usual I was already been thinking about setting her up a snug. Luckily my son showed up and popped into my little storage loft to get the smaller of my pet crates down. This is now set up with a cot bumper around the beside, a heady throw blanket on top, and a snug box and blankets inside. And as expected all cats have inspected. It passes muster. So much so that Noodle, who is always vociferous when she has a mouse (toy!!!) has been making delivery of the toys to the cage door every day since. You can see them in the photo above with Pru sitting outside, the prey animals are awaiting being devoured!

I do take them away (so she knows Prune has eaten?) but, lo and behold, sooner or later I hear the usual “I’ve caught a(nother)mouse for you” yell and they are dropped to the ground back at the entrance. The pink one in the picture is one of her favourite mice! I mean it’s bright pink with a bright yellow cord tail. It’s mouse shaped, but she knows this is a prey item as much as she knows that the grey furry one behind is too.

What’s odd is that she (nor the others) has NEVER seen a mouse, nor ever needed to hunt and yet both she & Prune recognise that these mouse toys represent their natural food. 

They have only done this with the mouse toys. Never with the fish or the bird toys with feathers. Noodle never did this for either her own two litters but began doing it (along with Pru) in 2019 when Pru had her first litter and, Pru began bringing them to her offspring & she joined in. But while Prune stopped fetching food, Noodle has carried it on and she most certainly recognises that kittens are on the way again and is taking great care to check on Pru’s welfare. You’ll see this care evident in the photo below as she lifts her head regularly to check up on her as she gets some rest. 

I couldn’t love ❤ Noodle more. Since becoming a mother (in 2017 & 2018) she has been motherly to her own as well as to Pru’s babies but she also exhibits the same need to care for human babies too. Whenever babies have visited us, recognising the human infant as helpless she sits right beside them, and will gently go nose to nose with the baby to check him or her out. She then always looks to me and back to the baby. And if the child should cry she tries her best to give comfort looking to me to help her out. I have a new grandchild due in a few weeks & hope she will get to exhibit this same behaviour again. I do so wish she had been able to have more babies of her own though as she was a super mum, and she obviously wants instinctively to Mother. She more than makes up for her loss of reproductive ability by being a brilliant “Aunty”. 

Prunella’s pregnancy is going very well. Her food is disappearing at a huge rate. The bowl that is normally needs to be replenished at most once a week, is now completely empty on day 2!

I’ve been feeling as well as seeing her kittens moving inside of her. It’s best doing this when she is sleeping because she is still the longest then. I have seen a head and a rump as well as limbs being pushed against her as they seek to reposition and stretch within her. One seemed to have stood up inside her to turn itself around! What must it feel like with so many are and legs, heads and rumps wriggling night and day? Certainly they’re growing at a speed & space is at a premium. Her breast tissue is beginning to be full & defined, her teats usually so small are now very prominent & enlarged in preparedness for those hungry mouths. The difficulty they have in finding the with no sight and no hair path to follow a heavy price for Sphynx mums whose tummies a quickly sore with scratches from those needle like claws they are born with. I do try as soon as I can to blunt them but they are so unbelievably small and delicate it’s not easy to do! 

One thing I’ve noted & which did not occur last time though is that Prune has patches of skin that have changed colour, darkening to black. I spotted these “marks” on her inner thighs when I bathed them a week ago but now the same dark patch is seen at her anus and her swollen vulva. You can just see one of those dark patches at the base of her tail in the photo above. The skin is the same texture as the rest, it’s just a much blacker in its appearance. It will be interesting to see if this disappears again in the days following the births.

Everything is ready. I have the birthing kit complete with iodine for umbilical cords, life drops, suction device, sterile flannels, weighing scales, forceps, lubricant, stethoscope etc (hopefully needing to use only the iodine!) & I’ve also got supplies of milk replacer, steriliser, bottles, feeding tubes, colostrum, subcutaneous fluids & needles and manuka honey at hand should I need to step in to try to save a little life. I lost & saved one last time & on reflection believe that had I not been so frightened to help out sooner I would have saved both. This time then I’m determined to be braver sooner if I need to do so. 

Although there are still 10 days to go, I’m staying close to home as Prune is restless & has been needy of being near to me. I want to give her the reassurance she needs by just continuing to be at home with her. I’m hoping that she will be as relaxed in labour & birth as she was before, and I expect Noodle to be stuck to the side of the birthing box ready to step in (quite literally!) . The unknown is Floozy. Pru has been hissing & low level swearing at her still, the occasional lightening fast series of left hooks and even seeking to bite her. Floozy seems oblivious to her pregnancy so I don’t know how that dynamic will play out when it all happens. I may have to close Floozy out of the room for a bit. I hope not. 

Speaking of Floozy, she was 1 year old on June 16th and a week later went into heat for the first time and, began marking my home with her urine . 4 times on the cat exercise wheel. It reeked! I put in into the bath with napisan and 6 sterident tablets, turning it over a few hours before draining the bath and showering it down. Next day the enzymic cleaners I’d ordered arrived and I sprayed it with that & thankfully the smell has gone. I’ve cleaned the other areas she anointed too. It’s hard as it’s not naughty behaviour but a natural thing, but Pru doesn’t do it and though Noodle did, back in the day, not to the extent Floozy has. She was hard in heat and then, suddenly it was over. I’m going to try to curb her marking by trying her (?) to use puppy pads which at least can be easily disposed of and which will protect my floors from smelling since cat urine laced with hormone calling cards is strong smelling indeed. I so hope that the wheel is not re-used next time though! 

But first Kittens!!!! 10, 9, 8, 7…….

2 weeks & 3 days to go!

Golly, the weeks go by so fast! Nature is an incredible wonder. The  body of the Queen really is a miracle, able to grow inside of her a litter of kittens in just 63-65 days from the first successful mating. By the time day 21 comes around to confirm the pregnancy we are a ⅓ of the way through!

Pru, bless her spent her first pregnancy in 2019 on bed rest having been injured somehow during mating suffering a dislocation of her toe that needed resetting & splinting under anaesthesia. This time, in 2021, having had 2020 off due in part to Covid 19 and lockdown (I am in the extremely vulnerable group & was required to shield for much of the year plus it was my turn to be on bed rest having broken my ankle in spectacular fashion requiring all three bones to be realigned and metalwork installed before I then needed 10 weeks immobile. It was ‘fortunate’ that Prune had not been mated prior to that happening as I’m not sure how I’d have managed! 

But I digress, as this year has been kinder this far (in terms of our limbs at least) and we’ve both stayed mobile and so, with supplies gathered, expired products replaced we are almost ready for Delivery Day! 

Hormonally driven throughout her pregnancy Prune has been very needy which has meant more cuddles than usual. As her tummy grows & her purrs roll endlessly on every breath, while I can’t yet see limbs moving beneath the surface of her skin I can lay my hand there & occasionally feel some little movements. They had better make the most of that stretching room as it’s going to get tight for space now! Hopefully I’ll be able to catch some video footage of the kittens moving soon! You can often make out a round head or rump or even a limb. It must feel feather uncomfortable. I remember my own pregnancies and the feel of my children kicking or shifting position and I had just the one each time! 

It’s so lovely to be able to have Prune stay so active this time round. She still runs on the wheel, though thankfully rather less manically than she does when without her growing belly!. She still climbs up onto kitchen cupboard tops for a birds eye view and gets down seemingly without any problems whatsoever. 

She, along with Noodle & Floozy, had a bath & her claws clipped one evening this week. This will probably be her last for a little while since, when the next one falls due, it will be almost delivery day &, being as it’s not her favourite thing & because she will be quite a size by then I just won’t want to cause her any unnecessary discomfort or duress! I may need to give her a warm wet flannel around her lady bits if I see she is unable to groom herself sufficiently. 

She is eating very well, her food bowl emptying at twice the usual speed. My usually svelte & elegantly lithe cat is still eating as just as delicately as she usually does but is definitely visiting more often night & day. There’s never any restrictions on her food as she never over eats but now she must tuck in to meet the demands that are being placed on her body as her babies develop ready to come into the world.

I’m excited for the birth of course & hope it goes as brilliantly as it did last time with me not needed except to murder encouragement & to weigh and sex each one She really was incredible. 

Admittedly though I am concerned over how she will be toward Floozy.  Despite mothering her greedily when she first arrived last September (at 12 weeks old), she has since taken a dislike to her. She definitely does not appreciating Floozy’s exuberant & precocious teenage ways!

Floopy Floo was 1 human year old this week - a teenager in a cat’s life. I recall Noodle being grumpy with Prune when she was at that ago too, but oh!how her energy was welcomed when Noodle’s last kitten needed company & entertainment!! Very soon Prune & Noodles last daughter (Nebula) were inseparable. I’m very much hoping that as the kittens grow Floozy will prove her worth and be as eager to babysit these kittens as Pru once was. 

Meanwhile Noodle will probably want to be the doting ‘Aunty’ again. She never left Pru’s side once she heard that very first kitten yell! She absolutely loves mothering (human baby or kitten) and throughout Prune’s labour & after the litter arrived she was all too eager to step in each time Prune left the ‘nest’. Prune was not possessive at all then, so despite the atmosphere between Pru and Floo I hope the dynamic will work with the three of them just as well as it did when it was just two in our little family chowder. 

I wonder how many kittens there are and what colours and sexes!!! I hope they’ll all thrive and need no helping hand from me. But if they do, I’ve gathered together my life saving supplies while hoping I will not need to use any of it! 

Here are some pictures taken over the last few weeks of Prune as her little belly began to swell… 

Here Prune is 5 weeks pregnant, still like Bambi but a little pot beginning to show! 

This was taken on the same day, her belly is only just beginning to swell

These last three taken today as I gave here the physical contact she is craving so often & laying my hand over her tummy feeling little kicks.