Week Three

3/20/2011

 
The kittens are getting bigger and more alert now.  They are gaining coordination of their limbs and love lying on their backs playing with their toes in the air.  They are beginning to run although this usually ends in a Bambi on ice moment with the kitten collapsing, limbs everywhere.  One of the apricot boys worked out how to pounce but could only get his front paws off the ground and ended up going round and round in circles rearing up and falling over.
It is lovely to see the kittens grow and develop their personalities.  However there has also been great sadness this week as I lost one of my tortie point Siamese girls.    She needed an emergency operation in the middle of the night after becoming very unwell and unfortunately the operation failed so it was decided to put her to sleep rather than let her go through any more suffering.

Week Two

3/20/2011

 
The kittens have continued to thrive and make good weight gains.  To help Emunah I am topping up every 3-4 hours but Emunah is doing a super job caring for the kittens and being very protective.  Nearly all the kittens have their eyes open now and they are beginning to move around.  Their back legs are still very weak and shakey but the kittens can sit up a little and crawl around.

Meet the kittens

2/27/2011

 
Picture
Apricot Oriental Boy
This is a very special boy as he was born with a kink at the end of his tail.  Traditionally kinked tails (and cross eyes) have been well known Siamese faults surrounded in folklore.  Legend says the kinked tail originated from the Kingdom of Siam when the Royal Princess kept her rings on the tail of her Siamese.  Another legend says a Siamese cat guarded a golden goblet for the King by wrapping her tail around it until it became permanently kinked.  Siamese cats do occasionally have kinked tails although this has mostly been bred out, however in the history of the Siamese, it was once required at cat shows for a Siamese to have a kinked tail.  This little boy's tail is actually fractured, rather than genetically inherited, due to being so cramped in the womb and he will always have a bend at the end of his tail.  He will not be able to be shown but will be looking for a very special pet home.

Picture
Apricot Oriental Boy
This little boy is the second smallest but making steady weight gains.  He loves his milk and suckles greedily on the syringe when I feed him.  He was born with his eyes open and looking very blue but has since gone on from strength to strength.  As well as the being the first kitten to have his eyes open he is also the first kitten to try to purr.

Picture
Red Oriental Boy
This kitten was the first to be born and the one that was stuck as a true breech.  He has made steady weight gains and is now one of the largest kittens.  He is beginning to toddle around his box and opened his eyes very early at a day old.

Picture
Siamese Tortie Point Girl
This little girl is the smallest kitten but is making super weight gains and beginning to catch the others up.  Her nose leathers are developing a dusky colour that will eventually show what colour point Siamese she is but I am expecting blue, caramel or lilac tortie.  She has also opened her eyes very early and will suckle milk from the syringe so strongly there have been a fews times she has managed to suckle the teat right off.

Picture
Siamese Tortie Point Girl
This kitten again has made good steady gains throughout the week.  She is developing a dusky darkening of her nose leathers and I am expecting her to be a blue, caramel or lilac tortie point like her sister.

Picture
Siamese Boy
This boy would not stay still for his photo to be taken!  He has gained the most amount of weight going from one of the smallest to one of the biggest kittens.  He has a lovely chubby tummy and a huge head.  He will be either a red, apricot or cream point but judging from the colour of his nose leathers he will most likely be a red point.

The First Week

2/27/2011

 
Emunah has been a super mum caring for her kittens however this week has been exhausting for me caring for mum and kittens.  Emunah hasn't had enough milk to feed her kittens so I have been topping them up with kitten milk day and night.  They are now beginning to make nice weight gains and grow in strength.  Sadly we lost the Lilac Tortie girl on Wednesday.  Now we are at a week old the kittens are having most of their milk from Emunah and I am only having to top up a little.  They are moving around and have lovely rounded tummies and there are lots of scraps at milk time.  Most of the kittens openned their eyes every early at a day or two old and now they are even beginning to purr.
Emunah has shinned my lovely new heated kittening box, prefering instead to have the kittens in my underbed drawers.  Luckily she allowed me to take the clothes out and pop some vet bed and a heat pad in first!

Week One Weights
Apricot Oriental boy- 134g
Apricot Oriental boy- 143g
Red Oriental boy- 157g
Siamese Tortie Point girl- 126g
Siamese Tortie Point girl- 131g
Siamese boy- 148g
 
Saturday 19th february 2011
Picture
Emunah had seven kittens on Sunday 20th February 2011.  She was due on the Thursday and started to show signs of labour on the Friday night.  Although it was  an anxious, sleepless night for me, Emunah slept through and showed no signs of progressing.  She was checked by a vet in the morning who said everything was going normally.  The Saturday evening she showefd some more signs of labour but I was becoming concerned and took her to the emergency vet for another check.  The vet was happy to keep her going a little longer but had her booked in for a caesarean in the morning if things hadn't progressed.
I took her home and things started to progress rapidly however after half an hour of pushing with no kitten arriving it was another midnight dash to the emergency vet.  The kitten was stuck as a true breech so thankfully the vet was able to pull him out with out the need for a caesarean or any harm to mum or kitten.  A birthing box was made up for Emunah on the surgery floor and we sat down to wait.  The next four kittens were born within an hour and Emunah did a super job of caring for them.  She was beginning to get tired with two kittens still inside her and she needed an injection of oxytocin to help her.  We were preparing for a caesarean when Emunah eventually was able to push her  last kitten out by herself.  I took mum and seven big healthy babies home at 3am.

Birth Weights
Apricot Oriental boy- 100g
Apricot Oriental  boy- 98g
Red Oriental boy- 98g
Lilac Tortie Oriental girl- 84g
Siamese girl- 87g
Siamese girl- 103g
Siamese boy- 89g


Picture
Emunah's Pregnancy Diary
To find out about Emunah's pregnacy please click on the photo on the left to go to her pregnancy diary.

    Emunah's Kitten Diary

    Meet Emunah's kittens and follow their diary entries as they grow.