Weighing in there!

I was back in the saddle today providing a bit of childcare because last week my daughter in law’s maternity leave ended.I’ve not done any proper child care since before lock down #1 began, though did do a couple of afternoons during subsequent lockdowns when childminders/nursery was closed,  after my ankle break had healed enough & while she was pregnant and trying her best to work from home all with a demanding toddler vying for attention. Being immune suppressed, the only way I could provide the care was if they close the usually welcoming door on all other family members. Anyhoo, lots of time has passed and I’m hoping my 4 (soon to be 5) jabs and careful life will be enough to protect me going forward. They’re my greatest joy (other than the cats!!) but my biggest kryptonite. So, it being half term as I took the reigns this morning I had both children to entertain/care for - nothing like being in at the deep end! Actually they were wonderful as always! ❤️

I began by waking extra early to make sure the kittens were “full of tummy” before I left & since I forgot to weigh them last night I also did this this morning too. They weigh in results are: 

Black Girl 178g

Blue Girl  174g 

Blue boys : 188g & 177g.

All kittens have fully open eyes now, and as I pick them up I can definitely feel how solid they are becoming as they “flesh out”. At 9 days today they still sleep most of the time between each feeding & will cuddle up with mum searching out a teat then dozing off. Either then or if mum decides she will take a little “me time” they’ll bundle up in a heap all together or else in pairs. It’s rare to see a kitten sleeping on its own. If they wake and are alone they yell out, and seek their litter mates or mum will respond and go to them. I love watching my beautiful Prune as she mothers them. And I love that Noodle is happy to assist. She’s even I see taken in her favourite toy to lend them. You’ll see it in the photo back right corner. 

As each day goes by these kittens so fragile just a week ago just skin , vital organs & bone, are gaining weight and building up muscle. Once they leave their crawling behind and find their feet though their energy levels will start to increase & they’ll be awake for longer periods. Eventually Prune will begin to entice them to step out of the nest, a sign she is ready to begin to litter train & wean them. Once they lose the early natural cautiousness they’ll be hard to contain, all part of kitten rearing fun. I love it 🥰! 

Feeding is going so well that each time I make up the supplement feeds I find all four kittens with filled tummies. Rather than over feed them I’m going to dial my efforts back for 12-24 hours to see how they all cope (mum & babies). It might well be that even if now she can keep them fed & happy, as their demand continues to grow, her milk supplies may not be able to keep pace, in which case if I do stop having formula right now I’ll be able to restart them at any time. I’d just like to give her the opportunity. Their weights and their appearance will soon let me know if I need to start feeding again tomorrow. 

Have I mentioned that  I’m keeping the blue female from this litter for myself? Keeping a kitten from one of my litters is something I have always planned to do & now that there is a blue girl seems the perfect opportunity. I’ve been thinking about possible names. Momentarily I considered “Jubilee” this being the Platinum Jubilee year & the event itself so almost upon us. However, I dismissed it quickly - I’d imagine though that there will be a fair number of new cats and dogs this year bearing that name though! I do have a name idea list … on it is Cossette/Chossette (little thing)  as well as Rayzin, Elodie (one I really like though it’s meaning , foreign riches is a bit obscure), there’s also Thema (meaning Queen). But as I thought more & more I think I may have thought of one that sits really well for us.

Look, I’m not food nuts I promise despite the seemingly food oriented names of all of my cats contradicting this! I have Noodle - but she gained her name not from food but just from being, well,  Nood. A sweet tongue in cheek play on the characteristic nakedness of the breed. Then I have Prune - or to be precise her full name is Prunella Prudence ( The Prudence was giving echo to my pinky past & the punk song “Dear Prudence” by Siouxie & The Banshees. Prunella was put in preceding it because I thought they sounded so good together. So what is the name I think I may have for the new girl? What food is she likely to be? Well, I’ve grown fond of calling her Plum. Not because I’ve a great love of fruit. I very much don’t.  In fact dislike Prunes too (or indeed any dried fruit) but I think Plum because she is Prune’s daughter. And whereas a Prune comes from a Plum being dried and so would mean Plum then Prune for us it would be in reverse, the Prune creating the Plum. I like it because it connects them mother & daughter even if it’s topsey-turvy! I’ve a while to decide so I’ll not decide 100% yet

I still very much love the name Floozy. And I was desperate to name my 3rd cat this. Indeed when I purchased a blue female kitten in 2020 (the year Prune was not mated) I gave her this name. Unfortunately though she had to go back to her breeder toward the end of last year due to her permanent digestive health issues & the need for her to have daily steroids. This medication made it impossible for her to become the breeding queen I had hoped she would have become for the first time this year (aged 2). I still very much love the name & I very much love & miss the cat. The association of the name to the cat I love & lost feels to recent and too raw & I just don’t feel ready for reusing it. Yet. 

Here before I go is the proudly purring mumma - image taken this evening with her kittens suckling away…(with Aunty Noodle’s toy in the corner!) 

 

Weight watchers!

 I’ve just completed the last feed of the day - it’s getting on for midnight (it will be by the time I’ve written this post) and I’ve just weighed the kittens again. This time I took photos to add to this page showing you ! 

Mum was keen to know too so came to oversee procedures…

1st up was the Black girl who was 136g on day 4.

Next up was the blue girl who was 121g just 2 nights ago. 

And then came the two blue chaps who last weighed 120g & 128g.

These are tremendous gains showing how well fed they are - mums milk is keeping them full & I’m simply backing this up at this point. It might be that her milk supply though evidently plentiful now will bottom out leaving a bigger gap for me to plug but for now she is doing enormously well. 

She settled into the new digs pretty well. She did bring one kitten onto the bed during the night but I put it right back and she settled back down with them. She does take regular breaks but spends only short bursts on the bed because instinct to check on her charges wins out, particularly if they are moving about snd whimpering. 

I was proved so wrong today as it’s still just the two kittens with their eyes opening. It’s very difficult to show this however as their eyes will shy away from the brightness of the camera light source. It might be visible in video I took earlier which I haven’t yet uploaded but will after I’ve finished writing and will add on later. I took two lovely bits of film today minutes apart. 

Sunday tomorrow- a day of rest - NOT. I’ve got to get my finger out around my home as been very lazy this week enjoying the babies! I return to grandma’s babysitting duty next week and it’s half term! Have a lovely Sunday! 

Eyes open but not wide (awake)

This morning the first born (blue girl) looked a bit different. Yay! Both of her eyes were unsealed nearly all the way across, with thin slits revealing the first sighting of the shiny dark matter behind those delicate eyelids. By this evening her eyes were almost fully opened showing the large glassy black orbs of her eyes. Like human babies, the eyes are dark at birth gaining their permanent colouring over the next few weeks. Also like a human baby, she will not have 20/20 vision at first, just very very blurred short distance, but can see light and discern varying shades of grey. 

It’s now 11:30pm, and I’ve just given them all feeds & noted as I did that one of the boys too now has both of his eyes partially unsealed so he’s not far behind.  I’ve little doubt that by close of play tomorrow all 4 will have opened eyes. 

Meanwhile their ears all appear to still be sealed but the small flaps are all not loose. Soon, as they feed the muscles will be stronger & working so hard that they’ll appear to be “flapping “ the ears back and forth. Over the weeks to come those tiny downward pointing ears will stand to attention & will grow to be so much larger which is one of the most visual traits of the breed (other than being hairless obviously!). That’s an enormous change & yet  it’s so gradual it’s hard to say when the change actually comes about. 

Today, I decided to re-house them. While Prunella was very happy with the cat bed dome, there is risk that a kitten can be laid down upon. They do squeak like crazy to tell her they are in trouble but I’m too concerned that something terrible might happen to one, particularly if I am out to risk leaving things as they were. To begin the move I got out & set up our smaller pet crate. In its base Ive set her adored heated mat, which has several layers of protective covering preventing any risk of their delicate skin becoming damaged. There is vet bedding on the remaining floor area and I’ve “wallpapered” the crate out inside using padded cot bumpers (the kind that used to be used on babies cots - but that are now not recommended !) . Over the top and three sides is a heavy throw blanket making a dim cosy and draft free environment for them. Prune is not happy about the removal of the cat den and is not as settled again however, she has raised her previous 2 litters in this crate so hopefully she’ll hopefully remember & in that familiarity will relax. 

The largest door is open so that mum can come & go and for now a rolled up blanket is enough to keep a crawling kitten from inadvertently tumbling out & escaping (which had happened with the cat den and was another reason for the relocation!). I’ll get some cardboard and create a higher barrier over the weekend to be extra safe. Here they are in their new digs: 

As you can see, they’re zonked in sleep. Small neonatal kittens do a lot this making photos all a bit samey in these early weeks, but they will make up for this in the weeks to come after they’ve found their feet, ventured out of their nest & learned the layout of their birth home.  The kittens look very dark in this image. It is very dark where they are housed and so this was a fill in flash & then I edited the light balance further to provide a clearer image.