Kittens - Yes please!

Prunella Prudence has been coming into her heat cycles in a big way this spring & so I’ve been trying to get her together with her chosen mate. This May Day bank holiday weekend everything finally came together & so Prune arrived at her destination today. By the time I had driven 106 miles home she & her beau had already begun what looks like a very successful honeymoon🥰😙🥰😙🥰😙🥰

So now we canquietly start to get excited. The important dates are shown in the image below. We count the first mating as day 1- we assume that mating to have been successful! 

Pregnancy is just 63-65 days. 

That’s 9 weeks. 

Or just over 2 months - to go from matings to fully formed kittens able to thrive on mother’s milk from outside of the womb! It’s mind boggling! 

Pinking up (as shown in the image) is the first landmark date. The term refers to the mother’s nipples which, by day 21 - if she is successfully pregnant - will have become a deep pinky-red colour & is the first clear outward sign by which we can confirm pregnancy and begin to plan & be ready to welcome her babies. She may have had morning sickness before this also. 

If you are interested in a Naked Sphynx Cat Hampshire kitten to be part of your family, so please email or message us to get the ball rolling. 

Ultrasound

 I have such disappointing news. 

Prune had been showing some very odd signage in regards to pregnancy. I felt it prudent to check to see what’s what and so I engaged the services of a mobile scanning technician who luckily had space to see me almost immediately. 

He arrived early, I handed Prune out of my front door, she was of course safely secured inside her carrier and I went indoors to wait.

After a short wait Kevin (the scanning technician) telephoned me to say he had finished the scan. He reported that both “forks” of Prune’s uterus are free from disease (Pyometra) but that there were no kittens. 

This was hard to hear but not entirely unexpected since her pinking has been coming and going and never got to the deep pink you’d expect to see. 

Cats do not abort but instead will reabsorb any lost embryos. This could be what has happened, but it is very difficult to know. She may never have been pregnant at all and giving these odd signs may well be down to something else entirely. 

So what next? Well, I need to catch Prune in heat. Not easy with her since she has what’s termed “silent heat” - she does not call or exhibit as cats normally do. As we head into longer days, the heat cycles should really kick in and speed up, so with the days getting longer in February and March, it won’t be long. 

Then, there’s just the small matter of getting her to her beau which, while we are in lockdown is not going to happen since he is in Gloucestershire. 

It’s terribly disappointing for us and for the wonderful people who are on our kitten waiting list, but don’t despair, there’s lots of time and scope. This is but a small delay and Prune’s kittens will be well worth the wait. Last year’s emptiness (as caused by COVID shielding and a triply broken ankle on my part) will not be allowed to get in the way this year! We will have kittens - just as soon as we possible can! Watch this space! 

Please email or message us if you would like to join our waiting list. Until next time, stay safe 🐾🐾❤️

Almost the end of January ‘21

All three girls had a bath night this evening, unlike some Sphynx cats, for my girls this is something they’d rather not have at all. As always after the bath, there was a period of joyful abandonment as they tore all over the place and then a settling down to groom which always makes me laugh since it seems as if its them showing me that I’m not doing an adequate job 🤣.

Pru is eating well, her pinking is much more visible now too but I’ve not seen her belly shape altering yet. I’d love to get a photo of her tummy showing the pinking but she is such a slippery character and trying to wrangle her and take a photo on my own is not working out. The image shown was taken after her bath when she had been ‘fleeced’ for extra warmth just in case it does turn icy again this weekend as predicted by the met office. I don’t think we will see any of the expected snow again though in my area. 

To be honest, I don’t as a rule dress my girls, my home is kept at around 21-22•c and they have PetNap heat mats and blankets they like to nose their way into - that or call me over to cover them over. I am their all to obliging slave after all! 

Stay warm & well folks. Stay home, keep distance. Wear a mask properly and be vigilant in your hygiene measures. Don’t for a moment let your guard down against this dreadful terrible virus.