- Joined
- May 9, 2014
- Messages
- 12
- Purraise
- 2
It was a long but wonderful night! Sometime about six-ish, Momma started fussing with my other female, Mali, trying to force her off the sofa. When I picked her up, I noticed Momma's backside was wet.
I carried her to "her" room and when I put her down, she jumped into the birthing box by herself. I gathered a big terrycloth towel, gloves, flashlight, ten pages of how-to printouts from the web, and a bottle of water, turned on the radio and pulled up a chair. It wasn't long before she started having contractions.
Neighbors started showing up to observe the occasion. We have backyard chairs right outside the windows of this room, and at least twice a day, three of us are out there with coffee and ice tea, chatting and fussing with the plants in our gardens. Momma has been the community cat for well over a year, but Mary (my duplex-mate) and I have been feeding her on our porches so she's somewhat "ours." She's been living inside my place for well over a month because I had vowed not to let her have another feral litter. Mary and Faye, our nearest neighbor, were out there when I announced she was in labor. You'd have thought it was a Royal Watch the way they reacted! Mary came in, and together we saw the first birth.
OMG - the first baby was coming out breach! It was very weird to see a little skinny tail peeking out from under hers. According to the paperwork I printed out, as many as a third of kittens are breach births so I tried to stay calm. Happily, it took no more than ten minutes before the little blonde tabby was safely delivered. And less than 30 minutes later, a tuxedo kitten joined the family (face first, like all the rest). From then on, it was less than 30 minutes between births. Faye came by around 8-ish, and was on hand for one birth as well. The final kitten arrived around 11:30 pm, so all six have the same birthday!
All I actually did was assist in leading the kittens to Momma, stroke her and tell her she was a superstar, but she was happy for the company. I finally fell into bed about 3 am after it was clear "we" were done. Got up again at seven and everyone is fine!
Including Momma, I had five cats. Suddenly there are 11. The whole point of this endeavor was that Momma's kittens would be adoptable, since her two previous litters were wild things that only tolerated humans insofar as food-on-the-porch was concerned. It took me over a month of dealing with the first four before I could get them to the no-kill shelter, and even then they remained wary of humans, so two of them are still there. The second litter (two adorable blondes) are still in the wild but get fed daily. The plan is to get them fixed but let them stay in the community. THIS time, since Momma got huge very early, we knew we had at least a basketball team in there. So they needed to be born tame. The degree to which this has succeeded is beyond my wildest expectations. Momma is a great mother and a great "daughter" in that she is trusting and grateful to her human family.
I know this is a long story, but it's such an incredible relief that it all went so well! TheCatSite arrived in our lives at the perfect time! I found so much good info and great support, I felt prepared. Thanks especially to Chaucer, for sharing your story, too. That was my launch pad into this incredible community!
So now I'm off to hover some more. Will post pictures when I start taking them. Thanks again, everyone!
I carried her to "her" room and when I put her down, she jumped into the birthing box by herself. I gathered a big terrycloth towel, gloves, flashlight, ten pages of how-to printouts from the web, and a bottle of water, turned on the radio and pulled up a chair. It wasn't long before she started having contractions.
Neighbors started showing up to observe the occasion. We have backyard chairs right outside the windows of this room, and at least twice a day, three of us are out there with coffee and ice tea, chatting and fussing with the plants in our gardens. Momma has been the community cat for well over a year, but Mary (my duplex-mate) and I have been feeding her on our porches so she's somewhat "ours." She's been living inside my place for well over a month because I had vowed not to let her have another feral litter. Mary and Faye, our nearest neighbor, were out there when I announced she was in labor. You'd have thought it was a Royal Watch the way they reacted! Mary came in, and together we saw the first birth.
OMG - the first baby was coming out breach! It was very weird to see a little skinny tail peeking out from under hers. According to the paperwork I printed out, as many as a third of kittens are breach births so I tried to stay calm. Happily, it took no more than ten minutes before the little blonde tabby was safely delivered. And less than 30 minutes later, a tuxedo kitten joined the family (face first, like all the rest). From then on, it was less than 30 minutes between births. Faye came by around 8-ish, and was on hand for one birth as well. The final kitten arrived around 11:30 pm, so all six have the same birthday!
All I actually did was assist in leading the kittens to Momma, stroke her and tell her she was a superstar, but she was happy for the company. I finally fell into bed about 3 am after it was clear "we" were done. Got up again at seven and everyone is fine!
Including Momma, I had five cats. Suddenly there are 11. The whole point of this endeavor was that Momma's kittens would be adoptable, since her two previous litters were wild things that only tolerated humans insofar as food-on-the-porch was concerned. It took me over a month of dealing with the first four before I could get them to the no-kill shelter, and even then they remained wary of humans, so two of them are still there. The second litter (two adorable blondes) are still in the wild but get fed daily. The plan is to get them fixed but let them stay in the community. THIS time, since Momma got huge very early, we knew we had at least a basketball team in there. So they needed to be born tame. The degree to which this has succeeded is beyond my wildest expectations. Momma is a great mother and a great "daughter" in that she is trusting and grateful to her human family.
I know this is a long story, but it's such an incredible relief that it all went so well! TheCatSite arrived in our lives at the perfect time! I found so much good info and great support, I felt prepared. Thanks especially to Chaucer, for sharing your story, too. That was my launch pad into this incredible community!
So now I'm off to hover some more. Will post pictures when I start taking them. Thanks again, everyone!