April 8, 2008. Cocoa’s Kittens Day 1
Cocoa had her kittens tonight. Right on my birthday!
She had a blonde (like his daddy), a strawberry blonde, a redhead, an iron gray kitten, a black and gray tabby and a black and gray with white swirls and brown highlights.
Two boys and four girls.
I think.
They all have a white splotch on their faces, they are going to be really beautiful cats when they’ve grown. The blonde and the red kitties are runts so I’ve been placing them at Cocoa’s teats until they latch on, they don’t have the strength to do it themselves.
At 5:00 Cocoa was twitchy and seemed to be getting minor contractions and her temperature had dropped to 97 degrees (Cats temperatures drop within hours of labor, by as much as five or six degrees).
Knowing she was going into labor I called the vet. The vet said give her a box with some towels and leave her alone, cats are great at letting mother nature take over the job. So, that’s what I did.
Then I peeked into the room from the sliding glass door and saw she was lying next to the door I usually enter through, crying for me. She was waiting for me to come back into the room. Since this was her first pregnancy, I thought maybe she was scared at what was happening to her body.
So I went into the room and she jumped into the box right away. She kept pulling my hand in so I would rub her belly, calming her down. And she went into labor in earnest.
The first kitten came out and she was terrified. She screamed in pain and shock and jumped out of the box with the kitten hanging from her butt. So much for mother nature!!
I very carefully picked them both up and put them back in the box while I continued to console her.
She realized something was wriggling behind her and was a little confused by it. She didn’t start cleaning it right away and I didn’t know how much time the kitten had before it would need to breathe. Since Cocoa wasn’t showing any signs of cleaning the sac, I cut it open very carefully and removed it. With a wet washcloth I very gently cleaned the mucus off the kitten’s face so it could breathe.
Then she had the second kitten. I cut the sac again, but just over the face. It seemed to me that she understood now what was going on, so I left to let her handle everything, I didn’t want to distract her.
Around midnight I went back in, just as she was pushing out the last kitten. I don’t know how she was able to keep it all so organized, cleaning each one, chewing through umbilical cords, all the while having contractions. Then, much to my surprise, she had the seventh kitten, but unfortunately, this last one was stillborn.
At one point she shifted her body and laid on top of some of the kittens, so I lifted her up and pulled the kittens out from underneath her. Then I saw one kitten had stopped breathing and as I checked, I found it had a cord wrapped around its neck. I got some scissors and ever so carefully cut it away. Phew! Just in time! She/he started breathing again.
Pretty soon they were clamoring all over each other to get to one of Cocoa’s teats. The firstborn was the strongest and most aggressive while the poor little redhead was struggling. I took a washcloth and dipped it into warm water and started to wash the kitten using the same gentle kind of strokes Cocoa would use. This seemed to stimulate it and it began to get a little stronger, squirming around a little in my hand.
They began to nurse, and after a few minutes, would doze off, still latched on to a teat.
When I finally left, Cocoa was purring deeply, I know she’s going to be a great mother.
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April 9, 2008, Cocoa’s Kittens Day 2
I knew she was going to be a great mom, I just knew it!! She’s affectionate and loving, but she is really amazing me today.
Yesterday she would allow me to take the runts and hold their little noses at the teat until they latched on. They were too weak to struggle against their brothers and sisters on their own.
Today, as I reached in to get one of the runts to help them, she put her head in between the kitten and my hand as if to say, “It’s alright Mom, I got it.�
Then, with her paws, she pulled in the kittens in toward her belly. To my absolute delight, the two runts latched right on along with their litter mates.
Then she decided since I was there looking after them, she’d get a bite to eat and a good long drink of water. After she left, the six kittens were huddling up against one another, searching for their mom (their eyes are still closed).
They started piling up on one another, wrestling for the warmest spot. It was a moving mass of kitties, kind of like watching a rugby team as they huddle up and move downfield.
While I was there she cleaned their little behinds…while many vets casually attribute this behavior to instincts, I am utterly amazed. It’s like God whispered in her ear, “This is what you need to do.�
I still worry about the runts, they say that two weeks is the cut off point…if they survive the first two weeks, usually they’ll be fine. Since they’re a little stronger today I’m very hopeful for them.
Another benefit is that I don’t have to go in there every hour, so I’ve cut back to every few hours, getting some sleep in between. I am a very tired Grandma.
To think just a few months ago Cocoa was this helpless kitten on death’s doorstep, and now, she’s all grown up and a wonderful, wonderful mom. I’m so proud of her it brings tears to my eyes.
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April 11, 2008, Cocoa’s Kittens, Day 3
While the kittens look pretty much the same in size I can notice subtle changes in them. First, they are twitching more when they sleep. I think it’s their nervous systems developing. Secondly, they are sleeping more and not as desperate to find Cocoa’s teat as soon as she climbs back in the box. I can also see their eyelids becoming more and more defined, they are almost ready to begin opening them.
From what I’ve been able to count, Cocoa’s kittens are 4 boys, 2 girls. The black and gray tabby and the redhead are the males of the litter. It’s hard to keep count though, as soon as I pick one up and put it back down it squirms back into the kitty pile, so I never know who I’ve counted and who I haven’t.
I’ll wait until they’re a little more independent to check the gender status of the group.
The runts (the blonde furred and red head) are stronger and doing better, although still weaker than the others.
The up side is that I think they are going to be just fine. When I picked them up to bring them over the crowd to Cocoa’s teats, they both latched right on without fussing and clawing. It’s like they were searching for something they knew was there, and they knew they needed it, but couldn’t figure out how to get there..
April 12, 2008, Cocoa’s Kittens Day 5
I can see the kittens’ growth every day. White is filling in where pink used to be and while they are still wobbly they’re getting around better and better. Their eyelids are becoming more defined and should be opening in the next few days I would guess. I wonder if this is how animals hone their instincts, being born unable to see and completely reliant on their natural impulses.
I’m still worried about the little one, he’s still very weak and small compared to the rest. I hold him at Cocoa’s teat several times a day…he’s made it this far, he’s just got to pull through!
I think I have their genders figured out, finally! It’s 3 and 3 at last count! The blonde is male, strawberry blonde is female, redhead is male, iron gray is female, white swirls is female and black-striped tabby is male.
I haven’t given them any names yet, in order to do that they need to have distinguishable personalities. They do in a very primal way…black-striped tabby is most aggressive, iron gray keeps falling over, but trying really hard to walk. She’s smart enough to get a lower teat, they are easier to get and hang on to. White swirl has a spotted belly like a snow leopard, strawberry blonde is the quiet one who gets to a lower level teat and hangs on. Blonde has two racing stripes running the length of his back.
Redhead is asserting himself more, here’s how it goes: Eight teats, six kittens.
Three wind up on top, three on the bottom. One lets go of a teat and begins searching for another, pushing aside or coming up underneath the kitten already there. So that kitten goes in search of a teat, knocks off the next kitten who goes to the neighboring teat…and it is this way down the line until they get to the last teat. When that kitten gets pushed away, it goes in search of the bottom row of teats. He or she nudges a kitten away and the whole process begins again.
I can see how these actions strengthen and coordinate their clumsy limbs, and I see that it’s getting easier for them, once rolled off onto their backs, to right themselves.
Kitten Tactics and Strategies
I’ve noticed that the kittens are using their arms more it their battles for a teat, and they are beginning to use hem as they try to walk. In the beginning they would propel themselves solely by their hind feet, their arms naturally drawn down to their sides and left ignored. This allows the kittens to nose their way into the huddle, pushing others away to get to a newly available teat.
After a couple of days they began to use their front paws a little for strength and balance as they climbed, and once on top, they move their arms up and down rapidly, scratching and clawing to get some footage and to push the kitten on the teat away.
I noticed today they have soft whiskers already and their nails, while not retractable, serve their purpose in intimidation tactics.
Such brilliance! I’m embarrassed to say that I think these kittens are smarter than I ever was as a kid…if only they had opposable thumbs!
It is abundantly clear to me that Cocoa loves being a Mom. When she leaves the nest sometimes I’ll pick up a kitten and if it cries just once, she is right back in the nest, sniffing me and the kitten as if to say, “Hey, whatchyou doin’ to my kid?!� Then when she realizes it’s fine, she goes to eat, drink or do other business. When she comes back she lies down and pulls the kittens in toward her so they can nurse once again.
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