Positive news - at last

Well, it’s not an understatement to say that 2024 has not gone according to plan -that’s for sure. In the spring Prunella went to meet her husband Oz for what was to be her last pregnancy, only to soon have an emergency operation & the largest completely intact pyometra my vet had ever seen in a cat. She would not have had a chance had it burst, however she made it through the operation some how and now is my retired & very spoiled matriarch. She has had some wonderful pregnancies and babies & I’m so grateful to her. She has done us proud & I’ve loved getting to know all of the new families who came into our world through adoption of her wonderful kittens & who we now think of as highly valued friends. 

Then came Plum’s first time mating - after all this was to my my first year in which this cattery would have two litters! Alas, her mating visit was unsuccessful, probably because she is highly strung so she was to meet up with her Ragnar again. However, I got covid then a dear friend of mine needed a lot of support in coping with her own serious health issues & this meant making the decision to postpone kittens for her until (fingers crossed) mating on the early spring of 2025.

I’m so excited to see dear Plum Pipsqueak become a merger successfully since I bred her myself it will be a milestone achievement. It’s been too long altogether now since we had any kittens born to raise here. 2022 seems a distant memory. Putting of 2023 for my surgery, then the difficulties of 2024 mean I’m ready for new things & with this thought I’d like to introduce you to a new face - not here yet as she is only 3 ½ weeks old, but I’m so excited to meet her at Christmas (or new year depending on travel arrangements to fetch her home. I’d love you to meet the newest recruit to Naked Sphynx Cat Hampshire  - Miss Floozy Blue

Miss Floozy Blue

Hoping for aqua eyes! 

Coming from certified HCM screened & DNA negative parents both of whom are Blue Pointed blue/mink & who both have dreamy light aqua coloured eyes (which have no red glow), I think sweet little Floozy Blue will inherit these peepers too. She won’t be breeding until lat in 2025 (or early 2026) of course but isn’t she just adorable? I can’t wait for her to come home - I’m just not too sure Plum or Prune will necessarily agree - at least not at first! 

Once over their hissy fits though I reckon she will make a lovely playmate for Plum - particularly now that Pru is slowing down some. Dear Pru, she has definitely gained a bit of weight since her neutering - but she is still as gorgeous as ever! Can’t wait for her to become a granny-cat!

Still stunning! Those eyes!

MumPrune & her dinky daughter Plum

Plum’s turn at last!

Tomorrow, finally, Plum is getting to go to meet her chosen mate. It’s been quite a mission to find the right boy for her… there were 3 boys who unfortunately did not end up making the grade, which has slowed down progress for Plum a lot as she has been calling loud and clear every 4 weeks to tell me she is ready since late February. 

Not just any boy will do, for me any breeding has to be done with absolute integrity. First & foremost in selection is health & this means several expensive tests for both the male & female cat . These are often scheduled some weeks apart given that the finances need to be available to each cat keeper to have all of the test & also the specialists need to be available to see them. Getting all of the ducks in a row & keeping them in place is like spinning plates while juggling! 

So, I’m off with Plum to the North Weat of London tomorrow to meet Ragnar a beautiful young chap with all the right credentials. He is young like Plum is, and is proven having sires some lovely litters with other queens. He is a mink/blue tabby so carry’s different colours. Plum being solid and almost but not quite black (she was blue at birth but she and a brother darkened significantly a few days later (known as thermal though nothing at all so do with warmth!) her mum is all black, her dad all blue, her grandmother solid lilac and her grandad all black but carrying a red gene. I hope we will have a solid or two but she may have tabby or Torties. It’s a new phase!

What’s particularly significant for me with this new pairing is that Plum was born & raised here by her mother & me. As the daughter of my dear Prune she will be the very first of my own kittens to grow up & become a producer herself! 

Approximate Kitten Timings: 

For anyone thinking of applying for a kitten from this match, this being This being Plum’s first time as a maiden I’m not sure how quickly she will accept Ragnar’s advances however, if they get on & mate as soon as tomorrow evening - I should have pregnancy diagnosis by around July 8th/9th … with kittens arriving mid August (approximately the week commencing 19th) and then if those dates ring true those kittens would be ready for collection by pet homes only by week commencing 11th November onward (after their vaccines, microchips, health checks and so on). 

Here is pretty little Plum (right) laying protectively beside her mum Prune who’d very recently undergone an operation. I know Prune will make an excellent Grandma, guiding her daughter as she learns motherhood ~ I cannot wait! 

Emergency Surgery

 The last post I wrote declared kittens were on the way and indeed, all appeared as if they were however, days after this post Prune became quite unwell and we sped off to see the vet. He did a scan and immediately told me ‘something was going on in there but no embryos could be seen on the scan. He told me that he needed to operate there and then which is very very frightening for any pet owner. I was given two scenarios… if it was a cancer, he would not wish to wake her up again, and anything else found would be addressed once he had opened her up. 

I got home and set up a pen on my bedroom so that she could come home (if she was well enough to) and be able to be kept immobile and safe. And waited for what seemed like so long. A couple of hours pass and I’m told she is alive, no cancer but the biggest intact pyometra he had ever seen in any cat. Usually they leak pus and give themselves away but how this was intact was a surprise given its size. It was attached to the bladder and the womb and ovaries had to be removed along with it. A photo of the pyo in a large kidney dish with a 30cm ruler showed that if straightened out it would be about 40-45cm long. A scalpel opened it afterwards and it was filled with poisonous pus. I was informed jad I not brought her it would have burst within hours and she would not have survived it. 

She returned home with pain meds, a week of antibiotics and a belly sewn down the middle. Bless her heart. A week into recovery things were better in some ways but then she started being bladder incontinent despite weeing in the tray regularly. Everywhere she settled was wet all of the time. Back at the vet she was lightly sedated and her bladder emptied. A scan revealed the internal wound stump looked inflamed. A blood test showed her kidneys had taken a battering with numbers on op day good, a week later she had grade 2 kidney failure. We returned home more comfortable, with more antibiotics for a further week. Within 48 hours the leaking has d stopped. And a week later on review I reported a much brighter cat. We were going to repeat the blood test that day but Mark my vet said let’s wait a couple of weeks as he would have asked for a 4tj test then anyway. So we made another date and went home to continue healing. By the time we went back again my formerly very sick cat was once more engaging in play, cuddles, had regained weight lost and was bright eyed enough to even having been wheel running too. Bloods taken again revealed improvement on her kidneys with a warning that any future general anaesthetic may not be dvissble and we would have to be careful what meds she might have later on in her life. Great news, except now they reveal liver issues and so a supplement was devised which we are now in receipt of and will start in the morning. 

I’m so so disappointed that there were no kittens after all. A final litter from Prune would have been a delight. She has been a remarkable mum over these last recent years. But I’m also very very VERY grateful to still have her to care for and love. 

Losing her after the trauma of losing Noodle last June (Father’s Day) would have been unbearable. She will have the best retirement that I can give her and hope this new supplement prescription will help her live a long and spoilt life.

Meanwhile there’s the small matter of her daughter Plum who just turned two and has been seeking a suitable mate. A stud boy we had waited for, didn’t do well on his heart score unfortunately so the search began all over again! Thanks to some kind breeders in the community we have now found another lad for her who has all of his tests and papers in place. 

She has just come down from her latest heat cycle so it will be on the next one in 3 weeks of so that she will get to meet him. 

There will be kittens, just not as soon as I’d hoped to have them! Plum was born here and so when she has kittens of her own they will be the first second generation ones born in my cattery! 

Quite the wound. 

Prune (left) & daughter Plum just after the incontinence saga (puppy pads on every surface!)

And here is my beautiful Prune now ♥️