Well, it's day 3 for the kittens and all are doing pretty well. Weight
gains have been good for some kits and not so good for others. Little
bluecream has gained 16 grams in the last day, little fatty, and
thankfully, little cream boy who had been losing in dribs and drabs
has gained 7 since last night. The others are gaining, but the 24 hour
weight gains are much smaller. Still, a gain is a good thing and so
I'm not fretting. It's no wonder bluecream gained so much though.
She's a right little scrapper. I watched her this morning fighting for
a spot at the milk bar. She wanted the one that someone else had, and
when they wouldn't give it up, she turned on her side and literally
scrabbed and sarabbled at them until she bodily hauled them off their
teat and then promptly stole it for herself. She grumbles all the time
she's drinking whenever one of the others tries to muscle in on her
spot. It's so funny to hear as it's not even a propper meow and you
can clearly tell she's having a good old grizzle.
I spent a lot of time up with cream boy last night. As I said, he'd
not been gaining and as he lost 3 grams yesterday, I was a bit
concerned really. I did exactly what I did with Hamster this time last
year, latched him on, then stopped the others from pushing him off.
However, where Hamster would suck but not latch, cream boy will latch
readily, but his suck is lazy. I found myself having to prod him or
jiggle him quite frequently to remind him that he was supposed to be
working at getting milk , and found that the most effective way to
keep him alert and on the job was to tug him very, very gently so that
he felt as though another kit was trying to wrestle him off. It paid
off in that 7G weight gain, so the bags under my eyes are definitely
worth it. Fingers crossed he's gained further today.
Millie continues to be an excellent mum and has found her voice again.
That cat will talk to absolutely anything. She's the cat in our house
who will sit down and have a full conversation with a wall, then get
very angry and smack the poor wall if it doesn't answer her back! I'd
noticed she was getting a bit fed up yesterday and couldn't quite work
out why until I came into the room later and she gave me the most
pathetic, fed up meow. Now, I talk to my cats as a rule, so of course,
I responded. Immediately she got very excited and literally tried to
climb through the pen. Now, I don't pen my cats if they don't want to
stay in there unless I'm worried about them moving kittens, so I took
this as a sign that she wanted out. I dutifully provided an escape
route, then spent the next 10 minutes getting the most enthusiastic
cuddles and a full diatribe about what she'd been up to in my absence.
It was then that it hit me. She'd probably been talking away to things
in her pen and they hadn't been talking back. She gets very upset when
that happens, and the first day, I'd left the TV on so that she would
think she had company. I'd forgotten to do that yesterday, but this
morning I remembered and put the radio on. I've had many a sneaky
chuckle today as I stand quietly outside that door and listen to her
having a very animated conversation with a radio DJ. She must think
this is heaven. Someone who talks to her all day long and never gets
bored of it! Who said Persians were some of the quietest cats? I have
the horrible suspicion that she'll teach this gift of the gab to her
babies. Now, one Millie is enough to keep conversation lively, but can
you imagine it when the other 5 start too?
Well, she's shouting which usually means she thinks it's time for a
cuddl and a stretch of her legs, so that's it for today. Keep checking
back as I should have more pics soon.
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