Sophie's Pregnancy Log - Page 2

Sophie is in labor!!  She has been leaking water since this afternoon and contracting pretty steadily since about 5pm. She is all nested up.... in my bed! Of course the box I made isn't good enough, thank God for towels!!  So far no pushing, but she is enjoying belly rubs, especially during the contractions.  I'll be sure to let you guys know when we have kittens!!  Send good vibes for my sweet girl, I hate seeing her in pain...

Is it normal for cats to sleep between contractions??  That is what Sophie has been doing for the past few hours... She seems to only move around when she's having one...

The contractions are getting stronger and are lasting longer, she is amazing though, other than being sleepy she seems fine... As soon as I pet her she rolls onto her back and wants me to rub her belly, it must help.  Poor thing, I wish there was more I could do!!

Sorry I fell off, things were kind of hectic!!  We have 2 kittens right now, one born at 12:30pm, the other at 1pm, they are doing wonderful!!  Definitely at least one or two more to come, I can still see movement in her belly.

Okay everyone, number 3 is here!!  We have a cream, an orange, and a dark tabby with white face, paws, and belly (looks like a mini Miles!!)  Mama is doing great, still got another one in there I think... I'll update again soon!!  Thanks for all the vibes!!

Haha, I can't post fast enough!!  Number 4 is here!  Another grey tabby I think!

Here they are!!!  I'm a proud grammy

Thank you everyone!  I'm in love.. they are perfect.  I haven't gotten weights on them yet, I'm letting Sophie relax for a little while, but they seem good sized.  The vet said she was due over a week ago, so maybe they cooked a little longer than normal.  I'm happy though, they are all strong and good sized, all in all it went very, very well.

He is doing really well, I let him in to see them and he just walked up to the box and smelled them.  Sophie was fine with him being there, and he didn't show any sign of aggression at all. I obviously won't let him in the room without me, but I'm pretty confident he is going to handle fatherhood quite well.  Thanks again everyone, I'm so excited my little fur balls finally joined us in the world!

New pictures!!!

This is a female, she has white on her face, paws, and belly, and random splashes of orange on her legs and body.. So cute!!   

This is a male (I think, it seems harder to tell on the dark tabbies.  He was the last one born and he came out fast, both him and his sister came out before both of their placentas.

This is a male, he is definitely the biggest, and I think he may end up being long haired like Miles, look at that fluffy tail!!

This is my favorite... a cream boy, he seems to have a lighter face, belly, and paws than the rest of him.  His fur looks different than the rest, and I can't see any stripes. 

Mama and babies are doing great!  I'm so proud of my Sophie.

Thanks guys, I think they are pretty cute too.    They are thriving, and Sophie is doing great.  Miles however is not sure what to make of the kittens.  He seems almost scared of them, and sometimes hisses when they are near him.  Hopefully he will get used to them soon enough.  For now he isn't allowed in the room unsupervised, just to be safe.

I do have a question that I haven't been able to find an answer to, so I figured I'd see if anyone had any ideas.  Seeing as how the kittens are immobile now, they stay nicely in their box, but what is the best way to house kittens later?  Say at like 6 weeks and up... I really don't want them just wandering around, I have a lot of little nooks and crannies in my house that tiny kittens would have no problem accessing and I want to keep them safe.  Should I try to find a very large cage for later to keep them in when I can't supervise?  How do breeders handle this?  I don't have an unoccupied room to keep them in, so I'm trying to come up with a solution now so I'm prepared when the little furballs start exploring.

Quote:

Originally Posted by StefanZ 

That is a fairly common reaction of adult cats - often males, against small kittens.

So he isnt one of those who spontaneously accept them and is acting extra mom as a selfgiven matter of fact.  Thus you are doing right, allow him near as long as mom doesnt mind, but also do keep close watch, never leaving him unsupervised there.

 

About the other question... Serious breeders do have a room for them kittens, if they dont want them to run around the whole house.  If they dont have a suitable room, they dont become breeders.  :)     Some other breeders do use such a big dog crate. Especielly if they have several litters at a time.

This may be ok for small kittens crawling around, but it is NOT recommendable when they are old and vigile enough to run and climb.  they do need this running and climbing.

 

So my advice would be, make the flat as children- and kitten safe as you can. Take down your best pieces of china, especielly them from the Ming period - Kang-Shi period too, btw. Etc etc.  

and do accept filosofically they take some risks running and climbing everywhere.

The great polish humanitarian and pedagogue  Janusz  Korczak did said much about "every childs right to its own death".  He meant, safeguarding in absurdom, keeping a child in a "golden cage", was worse than allowing the child to live a normal live, thus also taking some natural risks...

 

The situation was exactly comparable as here, I think.

 

Good luck!   *vibes*

Hahaha, I will be sure to carefully put away all of my china (from whichever period its from).      I was just concerned because I live in an old house, with fireplaces, crawl spaces, etc.  I will do the best I can to baby proof before I need to worry about them running all over the place.  I know that I should relax a little about it, I would just hate for anything to happen, and I'm trying to be as prepared as I can be.  When I took in Miles and Soph I had no idea that I would be confronting this situation, so I'm trying to do the best I can to help these little fur balls grow up safe so they can make excellent pets for people.  StefanZ, you have been wonderful in helping me, thanks again.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by CatNamedPanda 

I rescue momma cats and kittens from time to time. As soon as the kittens are old enough to explore beyond the nest I use a baby gate to confine them to one room where they can not get into to much trouble and I know they will be safe in. Just make sure you don't have anything dangerous they can get into. They will start exploring about 5 weeks and by 7 they are going to be hard to contain, mine learn to climb the baby gate around 7-8 weeks. I would not crate or cage them, they will be miserable and they need the room to play and explore, they need the space to learn important cat things there mom will teach them. I have not had much trouble with my kittens, they do like to crawl under the dresser, couch and bed, but there is nothing under any of those that would be a threat, and they know how to get back out. Enjoy them while they are this little they wont be for long, they grow at a very rapid rate as I am sure you will notice soon as they should double their birth size in the first week.

Yeah, my husband suggested something along the lines of your baby gate idea too.  My living room would be okay, I'm just worried about the electrical cords from our tv, entertainment center, etc.  In fact my living room has double french doors that lock, so I wouldn't even need a gate, I suppose I could just have my husband work on consolidating all the cords behind our entertainment center.  This is why I'm trying to figure this out now, I know we are going to have to put a little work into getting things kitten proofed.

I can't wait for the kittens to get a little bigger, they are so tiny right now!!  Although I'm sure there will quickly come a time when I wish they were little and helpless again. LOL  Thank you very much for your advice!!

Hi everyone!!!  I'm sorry its been so long since I've posted, but we've been very busy with all these kitties in the house!!  Everyone is doing well, and Sophie, her babies, and Miles are all doing wonderfully.  The kittens are very sweet, starting to play, and really enjoy their time out of their box and playing with us.  They turned 4 weeks old on Monday, how time flies. :)  I thought I'd upload some more recent photos for everyone to see.