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 !

Quite a size!

Nine weeks IS a fast pregnancy - 63-65 days being the average from mating to delivery.....these little beings are formed, a skeleton, all organs, teeth, and all 4 limbs, each paw ending with these amazing claws which are astoundingly long at the time of their birth (Freddie Krueger eat your heart out). It fascinates and fills me with awe. 

Each mother cat who may have just one kitten, or several (8, 10 even!) has carried on living their life completely normally (apart from eating more) while inside her body this all takes place.

It’s a short time, but as I watch each day, it’s easy to forget - what did my cat look like before her tummy got to this size? 

The truth of this is that she is normally slim a trim 3.2 - 3.5kg. Now she weighs over a kilo more. Not much you might think, but it’s a ¼ of her body weight! 

She has a lot of milk ready - you can see a ridge where her breasts are taught. Her second row of nipples are even being drawn inward I have noticed today.

There’s been a LOT of grooming going on today... Noodle has been grooming Pru... I wonder if there are hormonal scent markers that cause this? But Pru has been grooming Noodle loads, her ears are the focus of much of this (why?). I keep trying to catch a snap as it looks like Pru is urgently whispering! Then the face and neck. There are little snaps when one will say “that’s enough, get off me” and I step in verbally to diffuse the tiff brewing. 

Despite her size she can still run and jump up and down -  not to the extent she normally would - they get into crazy chasing games at least once a day. Beware getting in their way! After Prune’s recent injury and the wearing of her splint and being kept inactive for the first almost 7 weeks of her first ever pregnancy I’m doing all I can to ensure that ‘dangerous’ activities are kept to a minimum.  

Is this day 64? Without having had a firm sighting of the first mating it’s hard to know. If she and Oz did mate on April 27th (the day she met him) then it is, but if she kept him at paw’s length for a night at least, it might only be day 63. Watch this space... there must be news soon!