Nina, my feral stray that I've taken in and decided to keep, finally went into labor yesterday morning at 7 am. It seems that after a long period of moody, alienating behaviour, she decided to specifically wait for me, and made it a point to be extremely affectionate and solicitious, going out of her way to get my attention and meowing for me. For the first time since I've had her (a little over a month), she let me really pet her and give her a kitty massage. Right after that she got up, went directly into the birthing nest I'd provided, and proceeded into labor. It's almost like she wanted to make a point of involving me.
So, here's the roundup:
Six kittens total, two stillborn, four alive. Altogether, three black, three ginger tabby. Surviving, two black, two ginger tabby. It's weird; the stillborn ones were perfect in every respect, and were noticably larger than the rest of the litter, yet they didn't make it.
The mother did very well, and only labored for three hours. She ate all the placentas, chewed all the umbilical cords, and saved me a lot of trouble. She did need a little help getting the birth sac off the runt, though, because that one came out immediately after the stillborn, and she was spending a lot of time trying to lick that one into responding. I ended up removing the sac, took the stillborn out, and directed her attention to the runt, who was clearly moving and ready to be tended to.
I worked on both stillborns for a good ten minutes, but it was a lost cause. Neither one of them were moving when they came out, whereas all the others were... so I think they probably died in utero shortly before labor. Sad.
Nina's a bit prone to leaving the box a lot, though. She leaves right in the middle of nursing, kittens dropping where they may! Seems that Slutty Nina (hereafter known as Nina the baby-making Machina) has gone from wary and moody towards me to choosing sitting by me over her babies. I keep having to put her back in the box, and must stay right there next to her or she gets out again. Sometimes she even gets out while I'm right there. I think she's got the hang of it now, though she tends to also lay right on top of the babies, and seems to not know not to do this. I'm afraid that when I leave the house for work, she's going to suffocate one of them.
Would crating help the above problem?
They are very, very cute. Like little mouse bodies with bat baby faces. ;-D Mom cat seems to feel okay with me handling them, so that's a relief. I thought I'd have a possibly territorial response. The kittens already have personality tendancies, with the two ginger ones being nipple hogs and explorers, and the two black ones lagging behind on both. One black one is the runt, so I keep trying to stick him on the nipple myself. It's funny to watch two kittens get into a slapping fest over one nipple - I mean, c'mon, there are eight of them, why do they all want the same one?!?
What should I do about the runt not getting the hang of finding and keeping a nipple?
And man, oh man, do Nina's farts after six placental lunches stink. Good grief, I need a Hazmat suit.
So, here's the roundup:
Six kittens total, two stillborn, four alive. Altogether, three black, three ginger tabby. Surviving, two black, two ginger tabby. It's weird; the stillborn ones were perfect in every respect, and were noticably larger than the rest of the litter, yet they didn't make it.
The mother did very well, and only labored for three hours. She ate all the placentas, chewed all the umbilical cords, and saved me a lot of trouble. She did need a little help getting the birth sac off the runt, though, because that one came out immediately after the stillborn, and she was spending a lot of time trying to lick that one into responding. I ended up removing the sac, took the stillborn out, and directed her attention to the runt, who was clearly moving and ready to be tended to.
I worked on both stillborns for a good ten minutes, but it was a lost cause. Neither one of them were moving when they came out, whereas all the others were... so I think they probably died in utero shortly before labor. Sad.
Nina's a bit prone to leaving the box a lot, though. She leaves right in the middle of nursing, kittens dropping where they may! Seems that Slutty Nina (hereafter known as Nina the baby-making Machina) has gone from wary and moody towards me to choosing sitting by me over her babies. I keep having to put her back in the box, and must stay right there next to her or she gets out again. Sometimes she even gets out while I'm right there. I think she's got the hang of it now, though she tends to also lay right on top of the babies, and seems to not know not to do this. I'm afraid that when I leave the house for work, she's going to suffocate one of them.
Would crating help the above problem?
They are very, very cute. Like little mouse bodies with bat baby faces. ;-D Mom cat seems to feel okay with me handling them, so that's a relief. I thought I'd have a possibly territorial response. The kittens already have personality tendancies, with the two ginger ones being nipple hogs and explorers, and the two black ones lagging behind on both. One black one is the runt, so I keep trying to stick him on the nipple myself. It's funny to watch two kittens get into a slapping fest over one nipple - I mean, c'mon, there are eight of them, why do they all want the same one?!?
What should I do about the runt not getting the hang of finding and keeping a nipple?
And man, oh man, do Nina's farts after six placental lunches stink. Good grief, I need a Hazmat suit.
