Hello all! So Mama-kitty had her kittens a couple of days ago... Monday I think it was, and I got to see them last night.
Though it wasn't exactly for a happy reason.
The day started off pretty good, had a nice time in my classes, and had dinner and a movie with my cousins and their puppy, who was quite happy to run up to me and give me kisses. Lots and lots of kisses.
I got back to the dorm at about 10:30 or so, and was surfing the web and such for another hour after that. Fruit Bat was reading in bed, and I was thinking about taking a shower and going to bed. then Fruit Bat got a call from the lady who is looking after Mama-kitty. Apparently, since she's had her kittens, she'd been really mean, and wouldn't even let the lady open the door of the cage to feed her- she had to poke the food through the bars and Mama still swiped at her when she did.
There are four kittens, two are the creamy-orange color that Solstice is, one is a tortie and one looked gray to me, though FB says that its actually a tortie as well due to the color splotches on the paws. Anyway, this lady was calling because Mama-Kitty had pushed the gray kitten away, and she wasn't sure it was moving anymore. It was hard to tell, especially since Mama got agitated whenever she saw her.
FB and I were instantly worried, and rolled out, stopping by the store to pick up nutrient-rich kitten food to help Mama produce milk,some milk-supplement in case bottle-feeding the kitten was necessary and a cat-cube, since at the moment Mama's keeping her kittens in the litter box. It's our hope that she will move them to the cat-cube, FB thinks it would be less stressful for her if she could feel as though her babies were better hidden.
The lady watching the cats lives about twenty minutes away from campus, I think it was about 12:10 when we got there (and I can just hear mom and dad complaining about it being a school night.) She let us in and took us to the garage where the cats were.
Mama-kitty and kittens are in a large wire dog cage (not a crate, this one isn't for transportation so much as a place for your dog to sleep where they can't get into trouble) that has two litter-boxes in it. One is an actual litter-box, where Mama has sequestered the kittens, the other had been filled with shredded paper in hopes that she would nest there, but she pulled out all the paper and stuck with the other box.
The minute that Mama saw FB she started purring. I have never heard Mama-kitty purr before, but she purrs LOUD. It filled the whole garage. Fruit Bat put the cube in the cage, Mama watching her, never letting up on the purr. I was really impressed that she trusted FB so much that close to her babies without even a protest- but what came next simply blew me away. FB carefully reached in and picked up the gray kitten that had been pushed away, a motion that took her very near Mama-kitty and the other kittens, and Mama-kitty just watched her do it. Unbelievable.
Little gray was alive, and warm, FB couldn't see anything wrong with it, and handed it to me while she and the lady went to go mix up some milk supplement.
I've never seen a kitten that young in real life before. She has the extra dewclaw that some of Mama's kittens get occasionally, and from her dad, the infamous Capricorn, she's inherited some light facial markings that outline her eyes. The eyes themselves were, of course, closed. I may not know exactly when, but I do know that kittens and puppies are born with their eyes closed and don't open them for a while. I want to say a couple of weeks, but don't quote me on that.
I found it interesting that even though her eyes were closed, she was more comfortable sticking her head into the sleeve of my jacket where it was darker. She sucked on the skin of my hand, trying to nurse. I really can't get over how cute she was.
The whole time that FB and the lady were fixing the supplement, I held the little kitten, and watched Mama-kitty (still purring) watching me. She sat up and let the other three nurse that way.
FB and the lady came back, and the lady gave us pointers on how to nurse the kitten, since neither FB nor I (definitely not I!) have ever done it before. The kitten wasn't interested in the supplement, and FB and the lady left again to warm it up.
Having warmed it (and having a discussion as to whether or not it was too warm) we tried again. I think I felt her swallow some, but she really just wasn't that interested.
Finally FB decided that we would just try putting her back with Mama. She reached in (again!) and put the kitten in with the others. For a while the kitten just lay with its head on Mama's hind leg, but after a bit it moved to nurse, though it had to shove the two creamy's out of the way, since they were hogging the food supply.
It was so hard to convince ourselves to leave. We sat watching them for a long time, Mama getting sleepier and sleepier the longer that we sat there. I've never seen her so relaxed or happy.
We did have to leave though, again, it was a school night. Didn't get to bed until about 1:40 I think. Oh well, I consider it to have been worth it. Especially since the two classes I had today don't really require mental backflips.
I keep wanting to name the kittens, and I have to keep reminding myself a.) We don't know the genders yet. and b.) They are only a few days old and don't even have personalities yet!
We still don't know why Mama pushed away the gray, but it's heartening that she took it right back.
