I'VE GOT KITTENS!

Just over an hour ago I got a call that a stray cat had gone into someone's house and had four kittens on the bed. Could I help? Yes, I could.

Basement student flat about a mile away. This young cat (six months they -the three students- thought when she first appeared) had been visiting regularly. Today she had kittens. So I brought them all home and put them in the conservatory, leaving them in there with the cat carrier door open and the carrier itself covered with a blanket to help the young mother feel secure. Food and water is next to the carrier

I've taken some photos but they aren't very good so you can't really tell that there are three black and whites and one ginger with the mother being a mixture.

You can count on reading any developments very soon.

NEW KITTEN UPDATE

7.00am to 4.15pm

When I got up this morning I found that the new kitten had been pushed out of the cage and the other three were snuggled up to their (not biological) mother. So the cage went into the living room. The kitten was cool but otherwise okay. 

I contacted the vet around nine and was told to keep an eye on the mother to see if she gave birth to more kittens or was straining or other. Neither happened.

Shortly after eleven I received a welcome visit from Jean Frost, an experienced cat rescuer who had organised the whole cats and their kittens care in the first place. She reckoned that Aoife (ee-fuh) as I've called her still possibly had some inside and arranged to take Aoife and her new kitten and me to the vet's. I'm summarising around an hour's efforts here.

Once there, Wendy the vet checked her out and then scanned her and I could actually see what I was told was a tiny kitten's heart beating. Wendy kept mother and kitten in and gave Aoife something to stimulate birth. I went home for lunch and a nap.

Just under half an hour I got a call to say that Aoife had given birth to one more kitten, that both were larger than is usual, and she didn't have more inside her. Now I'm off to pick them up.

4.15-5.15pm

And off I went. 

Carole (see many many previous posts) had been there all afternoon helping Aoife and some tiny underweight puppies. Wendy brought out the mother and kittens and the new one was, to my delight, grey. Aoife was, apparently, conscientiously nursing her new babies which is a good start. 

The bad news is that Wendy discovered that Aoife has enlarged kidneys which might mean a shortened life span. I'd been vacillating between keeping her, putting her in the cat re-homing centre, or letting her go back to the shed and the two ladies who'd been looking after her and the other strays. Well, now that's been decided once and for all -she's staying with me.

I've provisionally named the kittens, assuming one male and one female and in keeping with the Irish name I've given to their mother, Finn and Fiona. And here, with apologies for the crappy images -I promise to do better next time, they are.