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Three Days Old
All the kittens have continued to make really good weight gains and if they carry on in the same ilk are all on target to double their birth weigh by the end of their first week of life on the outside. They all take after their Mum and luurrve their food. You would think with just the four of them and eight teats to choose from that there wouldn't be any punch ups over who has what teat, but WRONG. The two oriental girls are very laid back, and will have what ever is going, but the two Siamese are not happy unless they have had a fight for it. There have been boxing matches galore, especially over the two teats one up from the bottom set, the favourite being whichever side is on top. Boy there have been some scraps for that particular teat. Maybe that those have better tasting milk than the others. Or maybe it is just a bit of Siamese elitism.
The little Siamese girl now has one eye open. This may be happening to the two orientals as well, although it is harder to see as they have dark eye liner. The little Siamese girl is also developing a hint of colour on her nose and the very edges of her ears. At the moment it looks a chocolatey colour, but time will tell. Buster will be a red, cream or apricot point, so he won't have any colour on him for a long time.
When the two orientals were first born, they had what looked like white patches on their faces and paws, but these are slowly turning into a pale red. I have taken some individual pictures of them all, although these aren't very good, as they won't keep still. |
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Siamese Girl |
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Black Tortie Oriental |
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Chocolate Tortie Oriental |
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One Day Old
Well they all made it through the night and have put on weight overnight so they have all been feeding well. That is in spite of the fact that Millie was quite unsettled and kept wandering the bedroom crying. She appeared to be looking for more kittens, and kept giving me an accusatory stare as if to say OK, where are you hiding the rest. Finally it did twig that she did not want to go through this alone and wanted her daughters with her. I wasn't sure how Dot and Florrie would react to new babies so had kept them away. Florrie was most unimpressed but Dot thought these little bundles were excellent fun, but very dirty and set about giving each one a thorough wash.
I have been able to have lots of cuddles and chats with the babies today. I was a little concerned when as I had the little chocolate tortie oriental cupped in my hand she sounded as though she was a bit clicky when she was breathing, fearing the worst, I held her up to my ear for a better listen, but she was purring, lovely baby purrs. What a sweetheart. |
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Birthday
Although cats can go anything from 60 to 70 days gestation, I have always found that planning around 65th day from the middle day of mating works best. As this is not an exact science and Mother Nature does everything in her own time, I usually plan to work from home from around 60/61st day until the kittens are born then take holiday from then on. Well, as it was a Bank Holiday week I booked the whole week off, deciding not to work for a couple of days, and going on Millie's other two litters she has been very obliging having them on 65th and 63rd day respectively, I decided she would be due around 1st June. After that I would be able to fit in some much needed gardening and make a start on redecorating my dinning room. Well I am sure you can guess where this is going, yes she hung on and hung on. Friday came and went and panic was beginning to set in, but Millie looked very content and happy and the kittens where very active, for days there had been various body parts sticking out of both sides of her tummy. Then finally at a little after 5pm a contraction wooooohooooo - what a relief. Eventually at 19:05 pm the first baby made its way into the world, a gorgeous black oriental tortie, just like her Aunty Alice. She was checked over for problems but was perfect, so was placed in the drying room. The drying room is a fleece nest bought from the Old Style Siamese Club. They have a little pocket in the bottom for a mircowaveable wheat pad, that heats the whole hat, and any kitten inside is kept lovely and warm whilst Mum is still in labour. They go in wet and come out lovely a dry and fluffy.
No sooner was little black tortie safely ensconced in the drying room but there was number two a beautiful Siamese girl, born at 19:13 pm, also perfect. Millie then had a little break, giving her time to inspect her babies and check them over, she too pronounced them perfect, but then we are both definitely biased. She likes them in the nest and lays with her head in it so she can keep an eye on them.
Short break over and she was off again, and at 19:50pm the first boy appeared a huge Siamese. A fine strapping lad, who just had the name Buster stamped all over him. As their personalities develop they will have nicknames until they leave me, but Buster was evident right from the start. No sooner had Buster gone to the drying room and Mils was off again and at 20:11pm her fourth and final kitten was born, a stunning chocolate tortie oriental - ahh just one gene different and my dream lilac tortie would have been realised. Oh well maybe next time. |
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