It's almost time, thought I'd start a thread in this forum.

Normally, I post in the breeders forum. I always frequent this one, pregnancy and kittens is my passion.

I breed Sphynx, with my first litter due on Tuesday. I know it could come earlier or later but I wanted to post about the situation just in case someone else could use the information.

Well, Molly and our stud Monty were blood typed a couple weeks ago and were found to have incompatible blood types. I will be bottle feeding the newborns for the first 24 hrs. She will wear a body sock to cover her nipples so the kittens won't try to nurse. Nursing from her will cause the kittens to die usually within the first 12 hours. I am NOT going to let that happen. I have all of my supplies ready and all I need now is the babies. I will dress her in her body sock starting on Sunday.

I had an xray taken to see how many she had, and only one showed up. However, she had alot of feces in her intestines so there could be another one or two. We'll just have to wait and see. She looks large enough to have 3 in there. Her belly has dropped and her nipples almost look like the milk is starting to come in.

I will use this thread to post pics etc. I am so excited for this event. You'd think I was waiting for my own grandchild...NOT!! LOL My cats ARE my children so the upcoming birth will be so exciting. I will stay with mom and babies in the cat room until they are old enough to mingle through the rest of my house...so at least 6 or 7 weeks of age. The last two litters I had were around that age when they wanted to go out of the room and investigate.

Yes, I have a weigh scale and will weigh each one daily, especially after the first day of bottle feeding. If the kitten isn't gaining what it should, I will increase the amount fed and how long I will supplement. I want to ensure the viability of the kitten(s) and will do whatever I can do make sure it is more than perfect.

I had this scale when I had my first litter in this house, 2 days after we moved in. Momma had 8 kittens and I wanted to be sure they'd be ok. They all did perfectly fine. I did supplement when needed, some of the babies were boob hogs!! LOL

Well, I will have to come out to cook and clean LOL but yes, I will be sleeping in there and spending a lot of my days in there as well.

Thanks everyone for the well wishes. I am so excited. I am going to take some "before" pictures, she is amazing with how she carries her babies...one minute she is huge, next minute she looks so graceful.

Those babies better not be late or I'm sure I'll have an aneurism LOL

Katkisses, yes this wasn't an oops litter. I am purposely breeding these cats. Not all breeders type their cats unless there is a chance of this happening. Percentage wise, the Sphynx are 83% A and 17% B, so not a large margin. Devon Rex are 60/40. Siamese are 100% A. So if you don't research the types, you may not know. It's not like it's a horrible thing either. The kittens develop just fine in utero.

The breeder I got my little Selkirk rex from said that it is really common in British shorthairs which they also breed. He said they still breed their cats and it's not a big deal if you are willing to bottle feed. Because I don't work outside the home, bottle feeding is NOT a problem whatsoever.

The kittens' gut closes after a certain amount of time (usually less than 24 hrs) and doesn't absorb the colustrum into the bloodstream. It's the antibodies (Anti-A) that attack the red blood cells in the kittens and that's what kills them if they are B kittens. After the 24 hr period the colustrum is processed and broken down like anything else (KMR for example) and the danger is then eliminated.

She will wear a body sock so her nipples are unaccessible to the kittens. She will still have full access to her babies for bonding, cleaning, stimulating. I am very sure things will be just fine

I've seen plenty of pics, just never any in person...YET!! I can't wait for it, even if she only has one, I'll love every second of the experience. I know that however many she has they'll be spoiled rotten LOL. They difinitely won't be the type to ignore humans...sphynx love their humans, and spend a lot of time with them. My sphynx are so great in that way, I never sleep alone!

That's also what I did, got them the FelV and FIV tests done at the same time. I know for the future, blood typing is a concern and I'm hoping that Molly is the only one. However, I do own her half sister as well. I will have her blood typed within a couple weeks. I have lots going on between now and a couple weeks, want to ensure not to get myself overloaded.

Even if my other one is a B as well, I will try a couple breedings. Bottle feeding isn't that much of an inconvenience really. I don't think it is, anyway. Like you quoted me in your post, I talked with the breeder of my Selkirk and like he said, he still breeds and says he's never had an issue with any of the kittens, never a death or problem.

Well, no babies yet but last night we were in bed and she was under the covers as usual and all of a sudden as I'm petting her, down by her tail and back end it was all wet. Then, I noticed my leg had a wet spot and I'm like...oh geez I better do something. So I whisked her up and off to the cat room. She didn't have any contractions but she woke me up alot with wanting to lay on my chest and knead. She never lays on my chest. There has been no nesting either. I find it weird, but my last girl didn't nest either.

But, no babies so we still wait LOL. Hopefully tonight will be the night. I've got my fingers crossed! Been feeling movement for a couple weeks now, the other night felt a whole ribcage, that was cool. You can feel so much more on a cat with no hair LOL

I did take some pictures of her last night but they don't do her size justice. I will see if I can post them later.

I'm so stressed out LOL The body socks I had planned to use on Molly don't fit. I tried making another one from a stretchy tshirt type dress, but that didn't fit either. For a cat that they say is only have one kitten, she's huge! so after cutting a dress, an arm off one of my sweaters then finallly cutting a nylon, we decided that once the birth is over and the kittens are with mom (will feed them while she's delivering, if she is delivering more than one) hubby will help with the nylon stocking. He said it would drive her insane if she wore it until she gave birth. Her balance was off while she wore it after we tried it on her.

So, at least we have a solution. If she doesn't have them tonight, I'm gonna run to Walmart and see if I can't find a leg warmer. I was just there when I bought the warm fuzzy socks and didn't see any. Might try this other store first. Can't waste a lot of time in the city just in case. I vowed not to do anything until after the kittens could go back to nursing like they should.

I just got home actually aj with a leg warmer type sock. It appears to look like it will work and I'll wait until hubby comes home so he can help me try it on her. If it works out, I may make her wear it to bed tonight, we'll just have to see. If not, hubby said he'd help put it on after she's done delivering. He said that removing the baby(s) until it's over is the best solution if she won't wear it until the birth is over.

Here's a couple pics of her. Like I had mentioned earlier, the pics don't show how big she really is but I did promise pics LOL She needs a good wipe down, but I am not going to upset her right now. I squeezed a boobie and yes, her milk is in for sure, but obviously she can't nurse them for the 24 hrs or so.

Molly is Blue Tortie and White. She has quite a lot of white on her, makes her appear more dirty. Maddie is a Blue Tortie, but she's not blotchy like Molly.