Sugartoes is having her kittens!

I am so happy! Sugartoes, my foster kitty, just had 3 kittens! She does not seem to be finished, yet. She is a dark tortie who has a five month old litter, and a 10 week old kitten. Her owner thought it was mean to keep her inside, so when the kitten was three weeks old, she went outside and got preggers again!

The first one seems to be a dark tortie, then a tan or orange kitten, then a very dark or black one. She is doing a good job cleaning them, and the afterbirths are gone, but they are still wet as they came pretty quick!



I am so excited! I think May 21, 2005 is a good birthday! I'll keep posting with details, and will post pics after I finish a roll of film and develop it!

Oh for a web cam! Congratulations for taking this on and becoming the foster-grandma!!

We want pictures!!

Oh, now there are four! So very cute! I think the last one is another tortie with a tan nose. Oh, this is so fun!

Congratulations!!!!

Originally Posted by LaceyDF

YAY!!! Congratulations and Happy Birthday to the new babies!!!!

I hope that she will be spayed soon, so she doesn't have to go through this again!

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Oh, rest assured she will remain locked in her room with her babies until they are 8 weeks old at least, then she gets a quick trip to be spayed. I am not foolish enough to let her do this again. She is handling things well today, but I'm sure her health has suffered to be having a third litter in less than 6 months.
Not to mention, I don't know if she has ever had shots or other basic vet care. And I am pretty sure she is wormy, so they either are or will be too. But for now, everyone looks healthy, and they are drying off, so it is a very happy day for me!

She did have a fifth kitten. It looks like 2 torties, one orange stripe (like Uncle Garfield!), a black and a gray. Momma jumped out of the cage to eat and drink, and I was able to remove the wet blankie and put in a dry towel.

Other than that, I am keeping a mostly hands off approach. I don't have a scale to weigh them, but will check often for high activity level of each baby. The kids have had a chance to see the babies, and I took a few pics.

Although this happened due to someone's ignorance or stupidity, I intend to fully enjoy every minute of the process. I just love having kittens, and feel fortunate to be connected with a foster agency. They are very supportive, and were kind to find me a friendly Momma so my kids can be involved.

Congratulations grandma!

They sound like beautiful babies!

Thanks! Everyone is active and noisy this morning. Sugar tends to jump out of the cage when I enter the room, and they all get to crying. All is quiet until I enter.

When I checked on them with a flashlight last night, the "black" one seemed to have faint stripes. It would probably be easier for me if it isn't jet black, as our angel kitten (Festie's sister) Mattie was pure black, and we lost her to FIP last summer.

They are just so adorable! The orange kitty has swirls on his (?) sides, like a tiny cinnamon roll. The tortie is very dark, almost black (like Momma), but with lots of orange on her (?) face. Just unbelievably gorgeous. As the kids peek at them, I'm already reminding them they are fosters, for someone else's home. They are not keepers. But I do see how easy it would be to keep one or two from each litter...

Congrats to you, and bless you for careing for this girlie and her babies

Thanks, I'm really loving this! (As if you couldn't tell! LOL!)

I took the gray baby out to show 5 y/o ds. Sugartoes has been fine with me picking up one at a time to get a closer look, but doesn't like when they really cry a lot. Well she growled when I put the crying baby near Shane. I am very lucky to have such an attentive mommy for the kits, and my hooman kids will just have to wait a little longer to get a better look.

They have seen the babies, though, through the bars of their cage. We didn't actually see any births, as the babies each came very close together, and we just missed it.

All doing well. I picked up the tabby and it just curled into my hand as I pet it, and went to sleep! So I took a quick pick, and you can see the adorable face! Then I got a good shot of orange and tortie. But black and gray cried so loud I had to put them back.

I tried a second time with gray, but this time when it started crying Miss Sugartoes took things into her own hands and took him from me and returned him to her nest. I feel as if I have been chastised, and will remember to be more considerate next time I do a baby check.

I have to remember when I get the pics developed; day two, kits curled in my hand!

Gayef-thanks for all the info you have linked or posted here. I noticed Sugartoes had a small amount of blood, and was able to double check that it is normal!

OK, I tried to e-mail my pics off my phone, and only one came through! It's not very clear, but here is the cute tabby baby at 2 days old:


We haven't named them yet, so we call this "The One That Looks Like Festus"!

Too cute!!

Aw what a cutie. Congratulations on the babies!

Originally Posted by Beckiboo

Gayef-thanks for all the info you have linked or posted here. I noticed Sugartoes had a small amount of blood, and was able to double check that it is normal!

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You are quite welcome. *blush* It does my heart good to know that the efforts I place here are appreciated. I had to smile when I read you were "loving this". *grin* Babies bring such a special life-force into a home, don't you think? I will be breeding Lexus hopefully next month and I can very honestly tell you that I am looking forward to babies in this house again in August. My husband works a lot and so is frequently away from home. I, for personal reasons, work from home and so the cats are great company as well as beloved companions and valued family members. The babies bring me a lot of joy as do the lovely email updates, cards and pictures my kitten buyers send to me after my little ones go off into the world.

I just have to add that I admire you and people like you who are willing to bring needy cats into their homes - I worked for a long time in and around rescue before I began breeding and it was just something I found I did not have the appropriate um ... intestinal fortitude ... to continue. My hat is off to you and to others who have what I lack.

Continued best of luck,

~gf~

Thanks, Gayef!

I came home tonight to find little black baby cold, in a corner of the box. Poor little sprite! I had noticed when I picked him (or her) up this morning, that he seemed to weigh less than the others. But he was still very active and nursing. But now he is gone.

Poor little baby. But although there is sadness all around, I can say no tears were shed (yet). I tried for a bit to revive him, but to no success. So we wrapped him in a pretty piece of pink cloth, and buried him under the honeysuckle bush. We put some catnip in the grave with baby, and some honeysuckle flowers on top.

The kids seem to understand that it was just one of those things that happens to tiny babies. In hindsight, I wish I had taken the day off and watched him more closely, but like I said, he was active this morning.



This is tabby, orange, then black and tortie kits together, then gray. Sorry it isn't clearer! Hopefully the camera pics will be better. Our black angel kitty Mattie never showed up well in pics, and she lived to be almost 5 months old!

Thank you all for sharing in my joys and sorrows! I will post in the crossing the bridge forum when I get better pics.

Everyone is well this morning. When I talked to Barb and Karen last night, from the foster agency, Karen had some good suggestions for me.

Sunday morning I found black kitten out of the nest, on the floor alone. Then yesterday morning I found tabby stripe out on the floor. Karen thought maybe the time alone gave black kitten a chill, which he never recovered from. So last night I locked Sugartoes in the cage with the babies, and this morning they were all in the nest.

The cage is really two crates wired together, with several shelves to put a food bowl, etc. I was keeping Momma in the cage at night before she gave birth to encourage her to have them in the box, but after she had them I gave her more freedom. And I turned the heat in that end of the house up to 75 degrees!

Sugartoes had her previous litter in the rafters of her house, out of reach of the previous owner. Then by the time she brought the kits to where he could help, all were cold and died except one. So maybe she is worried, and thinks moving the kits is a good idea. Also, Sugar seems to lay on one side, with the kits lined up, and black kitty was always hard to spot, I think he ended up with a nipple on the bottom of the pile. Anyhow, I can think in circles, but the good news is that everyone seems healthy, and now there are plenty of nipples to go around!

Pics, I have pics!



Here is pretty girl Sugartoes, sitting with her kits.

What a pretty girl! She looks so proud of herself. Give her a gentle chin-scritch from me, won't you?