Day 11 “Freedom” day

Well, as the clock hit midnight last night, nightclubs flung open their doors, people welcomed the dawning of freedom discarding their masks & any attempt to social distance….  It is almost as if there’s no such thing as being in the 3rd wave of a global pandemic. What’s your view? Do you feel like freedom day made you feel free or, in fact, has it had the opposite effect making you feel much less confident to go about your normal life?

Closeted safe & sound in our soft, bouncy, cloud-filled world of kittendom we are doing well. Prune is svelte-like again, regaining all of her pre-pregnancy shape not a stretch-mark in sight. Yes, it’s true she has floppy skin on her underside but she is producing lots of milk for her brood. 

As week 2 progresses there are definite changes in her behaviour and indeed in the kittens. I’ve noted that now that they can go longer between feeds she makes that happen by spending more time away from them, though she stays very close & checks on them regularly. 

When she is with them, the kittens will immediately wake and mew for feeding & she is happy to oblige and will remain with them allowing them all to fill well. They’ll eventually doze off en-famile, but with their tummies still rounded as each will reawaken to begin suckling again she tired of this & gets up and comes away. The kittens full bellies allow them plenty of time to “sleep it off”. I’ve continued to support her food supply & have concentrated the milk offered to the lower weight individuals first. Though their tummies are milk rounded, evidently they get second sitting or are just much less demanding than their larger brothers. This litter has no scabs on their heads as I’ve seen happen in previous litters. This occurs when the scrabble to feed is boisterous and access to the nipple is eagerly jostled for with those sharp claws constantly scrabbling for purchase in the blind search for their survival. Kittens are cute & sweet but when it comes down to it, this really is survival of the fittest and in nature the most tenacious are the ones who thrive. It’s a good job I’m there with my Royal Canin Kitten Milk Replacer & syringe feeders! 

Now sighted, but still in their dimmed nest, kittens have noted that there is a door through which mum appears & disappears & where that arm reaches in to scoop them out. When getting hungry, rather than lay where they are yelling “I’m hungry” or snuffling blindly in ever decreasing circles in their search, now they come to the doorway, pushing themselves up tall using their front legs and call out to be fed. 

It’s great development. Their limbs are being used and as they do, those limbs get strong. Soon they’ll be pulling themselves up to standing wobbling about to get balance before taking their first tentative steps & from then on abandoning the commando-like drag/shuffle they do now. It’s effective mind you. They’re surprisingly mobile from day 0!

I so wish I had more hands and could video while I fed so that I could record & share with you the cuteness of watching their ears wiggle back and forth as they feed. I’d like to be able to focus and shoot a wonderful portraiture shot to their beautiful tiny faces. I’m sorry I can’t. But, I bave re-weighed the little chunky monkeys now that I can in order to give you an idea of the pace of change. In 11 days they are at least triple the physical size they were at birth.

 

The weight is over!

 Hi Saturday evening people! 

Yes, the wait is over! You can’t have failed to feel the heat today! Don’t dare blink though, word is that it’s only gonna be like this for a week! Yes a week.

My advice get your factor 50 on and get out there to enjoy some sunshine in whatever way you like best! There’s not room here for “it’s too hotters” Soak up that vitamin D. Bet you had, or at least thought about having, that Brest British BBQ, right? Yeah right - I’m here to bring you a treat, in the shape of a possy of porkers. 

Yes, I’ve got another set of scales. Package eagerly opened (batteries included)  I weighed a few household staples to first assess their reliability…. Then….four little 9 day old piggies got (re) weighed. 

Day 7 - the loooong weight!

It was a week ago that these 4 little (getting fat) sausages arrived. It been a lovely week & (touch wood) it’s been & will remain free of fear or anxiety over any individual. I’ve been watching them & mum like a hawk, ready to step in at the first hint of difficulty. So much so that I had been unable to switch off & sleep , managing on micro-naps for about 4 days, listening for the slightest change in tone that might be a distress call. Not counting my chittens (of kittchens?) yet because it’s still early days but the fact that there is flesh going on bones & clear signs of decent feeding established is awesome.

What would be good was to feel that weights were accurate which on the birth days I suddenly discovered may not be all that reliable. By day 2 I was decided that my current digital scale was at fault. So, I purchased a new set of pet scale from a company I trust for the quality of its heat mats (PetNap). As this set bore their name /branding I felt that I could rely on it being money well spent and that having spent it I could reliably weight the kittens to see weight gain (which at this stage should be about >20g a day). 

They arrived and I put batteries in. I set them up on the floor (flat and level) alongside my previous scales and I switched on, set to g (gram) as these are both able to work in 1g increments. I set to zero then put my drink bottle in the centre. Then I removed the bottle and pressed “tare” to re-set to 0 and weighed again. Differing amount. Now I know that’s possible and to expect 1-2 g difference up or down, but not 10g and more. I did it again, and got another different weight. Then I weighed using the original scale and the weight increased by over 100g. Hmmmm. My relief at a new and reliable scale now is evaporating fast.

I then fed and weighed every kitten (the first I re-did 7 times, the 2nd I redid twice, but having flatlined my hopes, the last 2 just once all using the new scale.

I then sent all of the images to a trusted fellow breeder. Now, let me say the numbers shown that the scales were reporting were showing weights that one would see for small sized newborns, and as Prune had had chunky sized newborns and who were now 7 days older these weights also were definitely wholly unreliable.

All of which means that the images I’d planned to upload to this diary this evening showing each of the kittens proudly revealing their weighty prowess are not going to be available. I’m sorry. 

The scales are being returned and, guess what, I’ve ordered a third set, which claim to have 4 precise sensors. It should be here tomorrow at some stage. 

Hopefully, these substituted images will make up for it and show you enough to compare the size difference in one week when you look back at the one taken last week on Friday when the family were moved into this cosy nest.

I cut off mums leg and one pretty rump here (I took these in the pitch dark so it was a guess) …. 

So having woken one of the kittens with my messing about in he dark, I had another go… I do love seeing that wide paw raised over the head of one kitten as he guzzles yet more of his mums wonderfully nutritious milk while laid alongside alongside his bro-squad !