Hey Everyone,
Well we have babies! She delivered last night.
I asked my fiance' to take some more pictures of her yesterday because she was huge and I'm trying to keep a visual diary of the whole process.
Well he comes out and says he thinks the babies are on their way because he noticed a wet spot on the futton near where she was laying and it looked like mucus (i'm guessing her mucus plug) was starting to show in her vagina.
So we looked her over and she hadn't eaten the wet food I'd just put out for her (very unusual, she eats like a horse) and she wasn't "talking" to us like she always does.
We were actually running late for a dance recital of a friend and because she wasn't in hard labor yet and because I most likely would have kept bugging her, we left to see the recital. We were gone for about 3 hours and the first thing we hear when we get home is babies fussing at mom!
We went in to see 4 little newly wet babies all squirming around. A few were crying because they were having a hard time getting to a nipple. So very carefully (to not upset Chalupa and get bit/scratched) I reached down to move them into a better position.
She was great about it. She didn't get upset, she even repositioned herself so we could place the babies in better spots. And she just purred and purred the whole time.
After we got her better situated with some more towels (you can see she pushed them away in the photo) and a warm rice sock, I called my mom to tell her the happy news. After being on the phone with her awhile, I went in to check on everyone again and see if the little kitten I thought might be grey, actually was.
Well, while looking at everyone again I became confused. I was seeing two grey kittens, when I was sure that there was only one before. Then I realized one of the grey ones was wetter than the others and she had actually just given birth to the fifth kitten!
We visited them this morning and Chalupa is back to her chatty self. She came out to see us and eat a can of wet food and use the litter box. While she was doing that, we took away the birth towels and placed a kitty bed with walls in their place (she gave birth on the floor in a small space between two items of furniture) so that the babies could be up off the floor and not be able to crawl away.
So we have 5 lovely babies. Two are all black like mom, one is a tuxedo kitty and the other two are grey with slightly darker tabby stripes. One of the grey ones also has a few white socks.
And, because I saw a thread asking about tail criks a bit ago, Chalupa has a small, but visible tail crik at the very end of her tail, and it seems that at least two of her babies have the exact same crik in the same spot at mom. So I'm guessing that hers is a genetic defect then and not the result of an accident.
So, any advice for us now that the babies are here? Chalupa seems to be doing a great job and I'm so proud of her.
Thanks to everyone's advice on here!
oh, one question I do have, when can Chalupa be spayed? It would be good to set up an appointment for her now.
Well, thanks for reading through this long post, I hope everyone enjoys the pictures, there will be more soon!
Thanks,
~Julia
Well we have babies! She delivered last night.
I asked my fiance' to take some more pictures of her yesterday because she was huge and I'm trying to keep a visual diary of the whole process.
Well he comes out and says he thinks the babies are on their way because he noticed a wet spot on the futton near where she was laying and it looked like mucus (i'm guessing her mucus plug) was starting to show in her vagina.
So we looked her over and she hadn't eaten the wet food I'd just put out for her (very unusual, she eats like a horse) and she wasn't "talking" to us like she always does.
We were actually running late for a dance recital of a friend and because she wasn't in hard labor yet and because I most likely would have kept bugging her, we left to see the recital. We were gone for about 3 hours and the first thing we hear when we get home is babies fussing at mom!
We went in to see 4 little newly wet babies all squirming around. A few were crying because they were having a hard time getting to a nipple. So very carefully (to not upset Chalupa and get bit/scratched) I reached down to move them into a better position.
She was great about it. She didn't get upset, she even repositioned herself so we could place the babies in better spots. And she just purred and purred the whole time.
After we got her better situated with some more towels (you can see she pushed them away in the photo) and a warm rice sock, I called my mom to tell her the happy news. After being on the phone with her awhile, I went in to check on everyone again and see if the little kitten I thought might be grey, actually was.
Well, while looking at everyone again I became confused. I was seeing two grey kittens, when I was sure that there was only one before. Then I realized one of the grey ones was wetter than the others and she had actually just given birth to the fifth kitten!
We visited them this morning and Chalupa is back to her chatty self. She came out to see us and eat a can of wet food and use the litter box. While she was doing that, we took away the birth towels and placed a kitty bed with walls in their place (she gave birth on the floor in a small space between two items of furniture) so that the babies could be up off the floor and not be able to crawl away.
So we have 5 lovely babies. Two are all black like mom, one is a tuxedo kitty and the other two are grey with slightly darker tabby stripes. One of the grey ones also has a few white socks.
And, because I saw a thread asking about tail criks a bit ago, Chalupa has a small, but visible tail crik at the very end of her tail, and it seems that at least two of her babies have the exact same crik in the same spot at mom. So I'm guessing that hers is a genetic defect then and not the result of an accident.
So, any advice for us now that the babies are here? Chalupa seems to be doing a great job and I'm so proud of her.
Thanks to everyone's advice on here!
oh, one question I do have, when can Chalupa be spayed? It would be good to set up an appointment for her now.
Well, thanks for reading through this long post, I hope everyone enjoys the pictures, there will be more soon!
Thanks,
~Julia