Last night at about 8 o'clock Queenie settled down in one of the " kittening boxes" I had placed around the house. She chose the one on the landing, so I grabbed a glass of wine and my book and made myself comfy on my bed so that I was close by to offer moral support. After about half an hour, she decided that she would rather be RIGHT next to me, so jumped up on the bed and settled at my side. It quickly became apparent the she was is labour and was going to have the catlings right there on my bed. I grabbed some towels in a futile attempt to protect the bed, but wasn't about to lift her at this delicate stage...let's be honest, I have a washing machine and my mattress is 15 years old and desperately needs replacing anyway, so no biggie. Catling #1 took about 45 minutes to arrive and is the biggest...it's the one at the top of the picture below. You can't really see it here but it has little white paws and and some white on the chest...taking after daddy tuxedo cat methinks. I've had a quick peek at the nether-regions ( or should I say "down below" as my Grandmother would have? LOL ) and I think this one is a girl.
Catling # 2 (on the left) arrived within10 minutes.....then we had a 40 minute wait for # 3 , then 20 minutes until # 4 arrived. 2,3 & 4 look to be all "black" (Queenie looks black but she is actually really, really dark brown)
One of them is definitely a boy, but I haven't really had a chance to confirm the others yet. I feel really honoured that Queenie feels comfortable enough with me to was to have her babies right next to me, it was a fabulous experience to watch them being born, but I don't want to take liberties. I'm just trying to work out how I can clean my bed up though :o) Baldrick is a little puzzled by it all....he doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body, but I will keep an eye on him near the kittens until I see whether he's comfortable with them. Pet count is now 10 with 4 chooks and 6 kittehs...I think I have now attained official cat lady status! Now I need to think of cat and chicken names....any suggestions?
Congratulations! Well done Queenie!
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful :-) Happy birthday to the kittens :-)
ReplyDeleteLovely! How nice that she chose to give birth with you by her side. Good luck finding suitable names, I can't offer any suggestions but perhaps you should give them a bit of time and let their characters develop and get some ideas from the kittens themselves!
ReplyDeleteoh my - how wonderful !
ReplyDeleteShe clearly adores and trusts you - well done for getting your priorities right - quilt covers can be washed or replaced - little scraps of life can't.
Ahh!! how gorgeous are they and I know your bed probably suffered but you were so lucky to be there by her side.
ReplyDeletethankyou all...kittens doing well, eating, sleeping & growing. Queenie is a great mum and the bed linen and duvet all went through the washing machine so no biggie. Mattress got away with it :o)
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