Phoenix’s Kitten Diary October 2009

Litter by Schimmel Call me Chaos out of Schimmel Shining Phoenix

Calcifer is now quite often in the nest box with Phoenix and the Teas.  If there are visitors, he will put himself at the front of the box so that Phoenix can relax and feed her children without having to keep tabs on the humans.  It is just wonderful to see, and a testament to the temperament of both the cats.  Credit to Kat and Sue!

Calcifer has also managed to find his way into a lot of photos today.  He said he was feeling left out, and wanted to be in the diary.  So here he is.

Day 4 – Wednesday 14^th October

You will have noticed that I have been carefully avoiding mentioning the sexes of the babies.  There is a reason for this.  I’m just not sure!  Obviously our Lotus is a girl – being tortoiseshell.  (Unless she is going to prove me wrong by being the statistical anomaly of a tortoiseshell boy.)  I keep looking at these babies and trying to make my mind up.  At the moment, it looks to me as if everyone is a girl apart from Assam.  This does seem particularly unlikely, and I can’t help but wonder if this is my wishful thinking.

At last we have some more photos, although as my dearest Mad Aussie keeps telling me, they are rather rubbish <sigh>.  

 
Peko

Oolong

Oolong
















China



Assam

Chai


Ceylon


Lotus




Day 3 – Tuesday 13^th October

Having spoken to Kat about the Teas, I now keep looking at the sunshine babies in every possible light whenever I can get my hands on them.  Two of the reds are showing a spotted pattern on their sides – Pekoe and Ceylon.  Assam and Chai however, have spotty tummies, but no clear spots on their sides.  This could mean red classic tabbies, which I am keeping everything crossed for.  A red classic is something I would love to aim for breeding, so to have a couple just pop up like this would be wonderful.

Oolong on the other hand, is showing seal nose leather, and is beginning to get dark ears.  So we are looking at a seal point Siamese, or just possibly a tortoiseshell point.

I can tell you China is still black, and I am not changing my mind about that J

It’s quite interesting to see that already there are different little personalities.  Whenever I hear squealing and squabbling at feeding time, I know China and Oolong are having another battle over one nipple out of eight.  The reds are happy little children and strangely seem to end up piled up together a lot of the time.  My little Lotus is a very special child.  She has such an appeal and sweetness about her.

Phoenix has decided that she would like some support with her childcare.  Calcifer has become her companion – she was so pleased to see him when he came into the bedroom with me, that I realised that she needed some grown-up conversation.  When I’m around, Calcifer is allowed in the bedroom to keep Phoenix company.  She seems more relaxed when he is around, and more inclined to get up to stretch her legs, use the litter tray, and even run downstairs to say hi to the other guys and let off a bit of steam.  She is never away from her babies long though.

Day 2 – Monday 12^th October

I did not want to go to work today and leave my gorgeous tiny new family at home.  I made sure everyone was snug in the nest box with clean blankets, and a range of food to keep Phoenix going throughout the day.  It’s just amazing how she has naturally taken to being a mum.

At some unearthly time last night, I was woken up by Phoenix’s first post birth pee.  This sounds a little odd until you know that she kindly put it on my feet, soaking the duvet and me <sigh> I can’t be cross with her though.  Phoenix never pees in the wrong place, and she has just had seven children after all.

Phoenix and the Teas had visitors today - Megan and Harry (Tony's niece and nephew.).  Phoenix knows them both, so was happy for them to take turns sitting next to the next stroking her and the babies, and everyone had a little cuddle with a couple of the babies.  I'm hoping Megan will let me share some of her pictures to put on here!

One thing I am over the moon with is Lotus’s face.  It is a trait in the Schimmel lines that the tortoiseshells often have a red flash (or flame as I call it - making them little hot-heads) on their foreheads.  Phoenix has a beautiful one herself.  It turns out the Lotus is carrying on this tradition in fine form. 

Day 1 – Sunday 11^th October

Some of the babies aren’t a day old yet today but I wanted to do the first weight checks tonight, and the diaries have to start on one day or the other, so this is it!  It was fantastic to see that all of the kittens had made weight gains during their first day.  For a litter of seven, I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that everyone is feeding and doing well, and Phoenix is coping with them all herself.

I was catching up on some sleep this afternoon, and I hope Phoenix managed to as well.  Whenever I look at her with her children she is being a wonderful mum, and has such a contented air about her.

We now have names for the kittens, so here’s a little introduction to The Teas.

Baby	Birth Time	Colour	Birth Weight	Day 1 Weight
Pekoe	22.56	Red Tabby	79g	83g
Oolong	23.16	Siamese	87g	92g
China	02.48	Black	97g	105g
Assam	02.55	Red Tabby	94g	101g
Chai	03.20	Red Tabby	99g	101g
Ceylon	03.28	Red Tabby	97g	98g
Lotus	04.35	Cinnamon Tortoiseshell	101g	102g

 

Birth – 10^th & 11^th October

At 10pm on Saturday evening, Phoenix was sitting next to me on the sofa, and the first contraction came along.  The contractions weren’t far apart, so we all moved into the bedroom and Phoenix checked out all the possible places for her nest.  Thank goodness she chose the nest box we had prepared for her with the heat pad in, rather than in my wardrobe – which she had been paying LOTS of attention to recently.

For a few days now Phoenix had been keeping us in suspense.  She had been showing early signs of being ready to go into labour since the beginning of the week.  She wasn’t overdue, or in any distress, so we knew there wasn’t a problem – she was just making us wait <sigh>.

I was really pleased that our wonderful friend Janette was visiting this evening.  She has been through every stage of Phoenix’s pregnancy with us, and Phoenix loves and trusts her ‘spare mummy’.  We were settled with the three of us humans in various places on the bed and floor, and Phoenix on her heat pad and blankets in her box by around 10.30pm.  At 10.56pm, baby number one put in an appearance.  As Kat and I both guessed, it was a beautiful sunshine baby – our first red Oriental.  What better way to start?!  We disturbed poor Kat and Graham one last time for the evening to let them know the news, and settled in for the night.

First baby had slid out really smoothly, closely followed by the afterbirth, which Phoenix ate.  In fact she started with the afterbirth, so I did the cord for her just to be on the safe side.  Baby number two was taking a little more effort to be pushed into the world.  When the birth sac appeared we could see why – a full breech presentation with both back legs tucked forward towards the nose.  Phoenix still managed admirably, and the second baby was with us at 11.16pm.  This time, I was surprised to see a Siamese kitten.  Up until now, we haven’t been sure if Valentine carried the gene for Siamese, but now we have our answer!  She then took some time to clean and investigate her new children.

Baby number three took a lot of effort, and wasn’t with us until 2.48am.  This was a large black kitten, and I’m not sure who was most relieved when it had arrived!  Hot on the heels of number three came number four – another red, who came into the world at 2.55am.  Again Phoenix’s instincts kicked in, she ate both placentas, and started to look after the next children.

I took a quick break, and came back to find Phoenix and Tony had brought number five into the world at 3.20am.  Another red sunshine baby J  While we were weighing this one, number six arrived at 3.28am!  Again, placentas followed with no problem, and Phoenix ate them.

By this time Phoenix was getting really tired.  She was cleaning, and bonding with her babies, and they were beginning to learn how to latch on and suckle.  With one last effort, our last baby was born at 4.35am.  This one was another wonderful surprise – a cinnamon tortoiseshell. 

It had been a long exhausting night for Phoenix, and I sat for another hour watching her with all her amazing new babies.