Kittens !!!

Last week, I suddenly found myself pulling kitty midwife duty....

I came home at lunch and discovered our kitty was in labor. She kept meowing rather loudly at me trying to get me to follow her. Once I did, I discovered she wanted to have her kittens in the clothes hamper. So I was forced to put her birthing box on top of the hamper, and it took some time to convince her it was better than the hamper.

Once we agreed on the birthing center, I was stuck.... If I even started to act like I was going to leave, she let me know of her disapproval.

After a few short hours of trying to find a comfortable position, she finally began the actual "birth" part. The first one took longer than I thought it probably should, so ran her to the vet as a precaution. While there, they graciously suggested an xray, so I'd know how many to expect.

I was somewhat shocked to discover we had a total of 4 on the way.

So, after successfully birthing the 2nd one, they sent us on our way. She did really good until the last one, then I had to help it along and play surrogate mother to get it breathing. I still wasn't convinced the last one would make it, cuz it just kinda laid there.......it wasn't the least bit interested in nursing or anything. Thankfully, by the end of the night, it was moving around and nursing with the rest of it's litter mates, and you couldn't even tell which one it was.

Belknap has turned out to be a great mommy, which is good since she's so young. She is very attentive, and really likes to snuggle up with them. Once we got her and the kittens moved into a bedroom, she doesn't like them being out of it, for any length of time. I took them all out today so that I could change the bedding, and she waisted no time at all trying to carry them back to the bedroom !! I had to hurry and carry them all back, and once there, she snuggled right in again!