I have for you a birth story.
Before I get on with it, though, a couple of you have asked if it’s possible that Momma Kitty’s got owners who are missing her and heartbroken. Sure, it’s possible – but the impression I got from talking to the shelter manager is that Momma Kitty showed up on this woman’s porch, was pretty much living there, then disappeared for a while and showed back up pregnant. Before any cats are turned over to the shelter, all attempts are made to find their owners. Last year, Fred’s coworker had a cat show up at his house (he lives way out in the country with no one else around and has issues with people dropping cats off near his house) and it was such a sweet and friendly cat that he wanted to know if we could foster it and the shelter could adopt it out. I asked the shelter manager, and before she’d agree to take the cat, the coworker had to do his very best to find the cat’s owners, including asking his closest neighbors and keeping an eye on ads in the paper. (In the end, the coworker ended up keeping the cat himself.) So yeah, it’s possible that Momma Kitty belongs to someone, but all attempts were made to find owners with no success.
Preggo Kitty is now the proud Momma to four little bitty babies. One’s a gray tabby and the other three are, I think, torties. It’s kind of hard to tell at this point, but I know I’ve seen orange on at least two of them, so we’ll see what they look like when they get a little bigger.
So I spent all day in the foster kitty room with Momma Kitty yesterday. She would get up and pace and peer under the door, and if there were other cats out there, she’d growl ’til I ran them off (a blast of compressed air under the door does wonders) then she’d pace some more and then lay down to have her belly rubbed, then she’d nap and get up and pace and start the whole process all over again. She checked out various places in the room – we’d set up a moving box in one corner of the room, covered the top with a towel (with the towel hanging down to make the box darker) and lined the box with towels. She checked that out, she checked out a kitty condo, and she checked out a pyramid bed. She didn’t do any serious nesting, though, just kind of looked around to see what was what.
Poor miserable Momma.
I have never assisted in the birthing of babies in any way shape or form, though when I was seven or eight, I had a cat who had kittens, but my sole contribution was being woken up in the middle of the night to see her laying with her babies on my parents’ comforter, then stumbling back to bed. As you can imagine, I was a little nervous, so I said “Miz Google, I’ve never birthed no babies! Tell me what to do!” And after Googling around for an hour or so, I decided that what I’d do is just stay the hell out of it unless it looked like there was a problem, then I’d run around in circles screaming until Fred did something.
That’s what usually works well for me in an emergency.
Fred got home at 3:30, gave Momma Kitty a belly rub, and then went out to ready the old chicken coop for the little chickens. I stayed in the room with Momma Kitty ’til 4, when I had to go make dinner. Momma Kitty howled sadly a few times at the door then gave up. I made dinner, cleaned up the kitchen, did a few more things, and then after dinner I asked Fred if he’d mind carrying Momma Kitty into my room and staying with her while I vacuumed the foster kitty room. I should have done that Wednesday before I went to get her from the vet, but I was in too much of a rush to get my hands on her. I knew that once Momma Kitty gave birth, I wouldn’t be doing any vacuuming in there for weeks, so I wanted to get it as clean as possible before the birthing began.
We went upstairs around 5:30, maybe a little before. I was plugging the vacuum in and Fred was in the foster room getting Momma Kitty, when he called “Bessie, her water broke!”
“Just now? When you picked her up?” I asked.
“No, her whole back end is wet, it was already broken.” Fred wrapped a towel around her and carried her into my room and shut the door. I vacuumed and vacuumed and vacuumed some more (it had been a little while since I’d vacuumed, so I got a LOT of cat hair up), then I refilled her water dish and made sure she had food, and Fred brought her back in.
I came downstairs and grabbed the camera and my bottle of water, then went back up to wait for it all to begin. I’d read that if contractions don’t start in 2 – 4 hours after the water has broke, it could be a problem. I needn’t have worried. Momma Kitty (who I’ll call MK from here on out) asked for a belly rub, did a little pacing, and then she laid down in the middle of the floor, looked at me, and I wish like hell I could have gotten a picture of her face, because she puckered her lips (I have never seen a cat do that in my LIFE) and pushed. I was worried that she was going to birth those babies right in the middle of the rug (which I don’t care, it’s not like it’s a nice rug or anything, she’s free to stain it up, I just didn’t think it was a particularly comfortable place for baby kittens to lay), but what came out what her mucus plug. Much as you’d imagine from its name, the mucus plug was mucusy and green. I wiped her off, and she paced a little then laid down again.
Fred came in to see what was going on, and she went over to him and purred as he rubbed her belly.
Fred left the room and she went over to the box and settled in, and then she started panting, meowing, and pushing. I called for Fred, who came right back in, and we sat and watched her yowl and push.
Starting to push.
The yowling and the pushing went on for less than a minute, and then she started licking something. She was sitting with her back to us so we couldn’t see anything – DAMNIT – but eventually she turned around, and we got to see the baby, who was squirming and wiggling around.
Chewing through the umbilical cord.
After waiting for a little while, Fred had to go finish what he was doing outside, so he left and I sat with MK and the baby. MK stayed busy, between the licking of the kitten, the chewing through the umbilical cord, and whatever she was doing with the placenta (I have a firm don’t-ask don’t-tell policy when it comes to placentas, thank you.). I think it was less than twenty minutes later that she started pushing and yowling again.
Less than a minute later, she delivered number two.
She did her thing, industriously cleaning and chewing and making sure her babies were okay. About five minutes after number two was born, I had to leave the room because the freakin’ camera battery was dead (ain’t it always the way?) so I came downstairs, switched out my camera battery with Fred’s, got a drink, and by the time I got back to the room (it was less than two minutes, I’d guess) she was yowling and pushing again. A few seconds later, number three popped out.
In about an hour, she’d given birth to three babies, and after number three was out, she made sure all the kittens were clean, all the umbilical cords taken care of, and then she settled down for a nap while the babies nursed.
At my request, Fred felt MK’s abdomen to see if there were any more kittens in there. He said he thought he felt another couple, and we sat in the room with her for a while longer, then decided to leave her alone for a while and watch Survivor.
We watched Survivor, pausing a couple of times so Fred could check on the kitten situation. About fifteen minutes before the end of the show, he reported that she was laying with her back to the opening of the box, licking something, so it was possible that there were four kittens. Once the show was over, we went up into the foster room and did our best to figure out how many kittens there were. After sticking our heads in the boxes (but it was too dark to see anything) and taking a picture, Fred felt around and decided he felt four distinct little heads.
Fred felt MK’s abdomen and said he thought there was another kitten in there, but I reminded him that he thought Miss Momma was pregnant last year (right before we had her fixed) and swore he could feel a kitten’s head, but it turned out she wasn’t, that he’d just felt her liver or something, so he conceded that maybe MK was done.
I thought about going back in and keeping MK company after Fred went to bed, but decided to just leave her alone and check on her through the night. I knew if she started yowling again I’d hear her – since I was just in the next room – and off to sleep I went.
Not only did I not wake up and check on her through the night, I slept like a log the entire night through and only woke up when Fred called to me from the foster room. He’d gone in to check on MK and the kittens, and when he went to leave the room, MK saw one of our cats in the hallway and rushed the door, hissing and growling. I had to shoo our cats off and then Fred was able to come out of the room.
The final report: four kittens, she hadn’t had any more during the night. I went in a little while later with half a can of cat food on a plate for MK and to take a few pictures. She wolfed that plate of cat food down in no time flat, so I went back downstairs to get more cat food and some clean towels. While she made short work of the second plate of cat food, I pulled the towel (with the kittens on it) out of the box, put clean towels in the box, and lifted the kittens onto the clean towels. MK came over to see what I was doing, and she kept an eye on her babies, but she was perfectly fine with me handling them.
I’ve been back in to visit a few more times, bringing canned cat food every time. MK’s voraciously eating everything I give her (and she has dry food available to her at all times, too) and the babies are always either sleeping in a little pile of adorableness, or rooting around trying to nurse.
They are seriously cute, and I worry that I will squish them, because I just want to squeeze and hug them!
Momma Kitty was a champ during this entire process, and she’s a good, protective, sweet mother. I cannot wait to see the kittens’ personalities develop over the next few weeks and months!
(And, no. We’re not keeping them!)
Previously
2007: I don’t know that I’ll know how to act when I’ve got internet whenever I want it, it’s been so damn long since I’ve had it!
2006: No entry.
2005: Taking the week off.
2004: No entry.
2003: Fred: That was a cowardly yellow-dog liberal DEMOCRAT thing to say.
2002: Things are getting back to normal.
2001: One of these days I’ll get my ass in gear; I just never know when that day will be.
2000: Squooshiness begets squooshiness, you know.
Thank you! This was awesome! I remember when my Esmerelda (R.I.P.) had kittens, she ate tons of food. It takes a lot to feed kitties!
I love living vicariously through others.
Well done, MK!
wow! fantastic news – thank you for sharing and for doing such a great job helping get the kitties here safe 🙂
AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
bebe kitties, I love me some bebe kitties
This made me cry Robyn. Thank you for sharing it and thank you for being the people you (and Fred) are. This momma could have had these bitties outside with no food or water or warm place and it just melts my heart…
What was so gross in the one picture that you had to blur it out? And I hope you still comment on HW of NYC and Survivor, Survivor was GREAT wasn’t it?
Hmmm… she was Preggo Kitty, which made me think of Prego spaghetti sauce, so I suggest that the kitlings be named Marinara, Alfredo, Linguine, and Meatball. (Oh hey, and isn’t it Prego brand whose catchphrase was “It’s in there”? And they certainly were in there!)
How exciting!! I am so looking forward to hearing all about the new little family and seeing pictures!! You guys rock!
Awwww. I wish I could come visit (in a week or so) to give them some lovin. These are going to be some very spoiled young’ns. Congrats MK on a job well done. 4 babies is the right number – not too many to handle.
Oooh…I was hoping when you hadn’t posted for so long if this was the reason! Thanks for sharing, Robyn! It was very interesting and also so sweet.
oh how sweet! We took in a pregnant stray about a year ago and 2 days later she had kittens…under my couch! I didn’t realize she was *that* pregnant. It was a great time having those kittens around and watching them grow and change so quickly! We missed them after we found them homes and I still regret not keeping the mama cause she was so awesome. But I know her new family loves her too!
Can’t wait to see the updates on your kittens!
What a wonderful thing that she found such a soft place to land and have her babies – like she was waiting for the perfect setting where she would be comfortable and taken care of. You guys are kitty angels. I would love to hold all of those babies…. It’s so nice that she trusts you two so quickly, too. You’d think that a pregnant cat would take an extra long time to warm up to new people, but she knew she was safe with you. Well done!!! Sweet little babies.
Christine: That was the placenta. I know some people like to read my site when they’re eating lunch, so I thought I’d be kind. 🙂 And I’ll definitely be commenting on RHoNYC and Survivor. Fred and I were cheering at the end!
Such a lucky MamaKitty to land on your safe animal haven. Robyn, thank you so much for those spectacular photos! There is a special place in heaven for people who are good to animals. You and Fred will be leading that space.
Congrats momma kitty, those are some seriously cute kitties.
Stormy, the stray we took that had kittens, let us handle them right away also. And not only that but, Tody, our male cat that we already had she allowed to come right up and sniff and lick the kittens too.
I remember one day about 2 weeks after they were born he brought each one downstairs to the living room where she was sitting on the floor in front of us. He plopped each one right in front of her and after the 5th he sat down and looked at her with a much reproachful look. Like he was upset she left them upstairs by themselves.
Dear Robyn,
I have read a lot of birth stories on the Internet and this is the only one that made me teary.
Love,
Catie
The babies are so cute! What a good mommma. We’ve had two feral mothers deliver babies in our house. One delivered while we were at work, the other did it while we were home. It was an amazing sight to see how well the mommas take care of their babies.
My favorite part is when the babies start saying “weeeeee”! My husband and I joked that–“oh, the kittens must be on the rollercoaster again!” 🙂
Wow, what a wonderful surprise story to read this morning. Congratulations! She sure is a good momma. We have a boy kitty who was bottle raised I must say he is the most even tempered socialized kitty I have ever lived with. I cannot wait to watch them grow.
By the way, started the morning today at 5:30 with an earthquake and then went in for a job interview during which we had an aftershock. Not sure if that is a good sign or bad.
Serious cuteness!!! We had a dog who we were told was fixed — we saved her from the pound…and soon after we adopted her we came back from vacation and asked my mom who was watching her what have you been feeding her??? Well turns out she was pregnant!! About a week away from giving birth!! We took her to have an ultrasound (HA!). Your experience reminded me of this. It was VERY interesting to watch her go thru the birthing process…we had 6 puppies born and she ripped open her bed and put each one inside the bed. When I was cleaning her area afterwards…she did not like me touching them and also I almost didn’t see one stuffed way inside her bed when I was tossing it out! She ate like a horse for a month or so — that nursing must take it out of you!!
So cool! I’m sure I’d have the same policy about placentas and, frankly, the umbilical cord, as long as I wasn’t involved.
One of the things I learned with our first mommy kitty was that giving them kitten food is a good idea. I gave her Science Diet liver and chicken kitten food and when the kittens decided it was time to eat solid food, they took to it like, well, cats to food. No problems at all. I also, for a bit, mixed it with KMR when she seemed to be having trouble keeping her milk supply up and it helped.
Isn’t it amazing when they let you handle the kittens like that? I felt so trusted and really felt like Arabella and I were partners in parenting those babies!
Enjoy!
Congratulations! How fun is it going to be for you guys for the next 2 months or so??!!
Wow..this is so precious. Thank you for sharing the pictures.
Oy, I’m at work and can’t look at all the pictures until later! Great story! She found you and Fred just in time.
Thank you for taking us through the kitty birthing process. They are adorable! It’s a REALLY good thing we don’t live close to each other… or I’d have a houseful of cat/kittens too.
I usually wait until I get home to read journals, but I had to come and see if there was a kitten update on my lunchhour today!
Such cute lil’ kitties!
Robyn (and Fred) – Reading of your animal care and keeping always warms my heart, the way that hearing of your daily adventures and discoveries has kept me coming back for years now.
Oh and much like ¨shoots out a poo of displeasure¨ could be in the running for a BPoo tagline, so could ¨Bitchypoo – running in circles, screaming¨
M
I’ve witnessed my share of cats giving birth to kittens, and every time I’m impressed all over again at how well they care for their kittens. All the strays that found me and gave birth (before I had them spayed) also trusted me immediately, as if they could sense a human friend/partner, just like MK.
You’ll have fun the next 6 weeks, and I look forward to the photos and progress reports!
AWESOME post, Robyn! This made my day. Thanks for all the pics and the play-by play!
So cute! and thanks for blurring out the ickies. 🙂
I love MK – her facial expressions are just perfect.
Ha ha – when you called her MK – I thought of Mary-Kate Olsen and then I thought – you should give them all names from Full House. I am so lame, the first step is admitting.
Are those your NEW purple towels?!
What can I say? MK and her little ones are adorable! You and Fred are great for taking care of them!
Thanks for sharing.
PS I’m not a cat person, although I did have a kitty (she had me?) who lived to be 17. She was a sweety!
Awww! Thank you for recording everything in pictures — MK and the babies are adorable!
Awe, so sweet!
Awww, so sweet! MK sure looks like a tiny cat. But then maybe it just seems that way to me because our three cats are all huge.
Cute babies!
Robyn, I was wondering…. My roommate has 2 cats and I’m new to this whole cat thing. I ordered the FURminator after you mentioned it a while back (on eBay) and it just came today so we haven’t used it yet. It never occurred to me until just now that maybe the SoftPaws would be a good idea too. I was wondering how you determine whether you need small, medium or large though. Her cats are almost a year old or just about. She got them in July…. and I have no idea which size we need to order. So if you end up posting the comments answering extravaganza and can happen to answer my question, I’d be appreciative cuz I’m lost.
Addendum, I just wanted to buy them for the cats as a surprise for the roommie, and I have no idea how much they weigh. And I just realized that’s how you determine the size. I guess I’ll have to ask her how much they weigh. So…. nevermind. I guess I should think before I post.
OMG I just noticed that the first person who posted a comment — Lanna Lee — her cat’s name was Esmerelda — that was my first cat’s name when I was a girl. Crazy! I’ve never met another person with the same cat name. Only in Bitchypoo-Land! 🙂
Congrats on the baby kittens. So sweet! I think you should keep them ALL. 😉
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHXBL6bzAR4
My husband told me about this and when I watched it I thought of you. Especially during the “corporal cuddling” part.
Enjoy!
So so sweet!!!
Beeeeeeeeebiiiiiiiiies!!!!! Now I want me some, too, thankyouverymuch.
Too bad that you guys live so far away. I’m in love with Momma Kitty …
HELLO, I AM THE PERSON THAT BROUGHT THE MOMMA KITTY IN TO YOU GUYS THE OTHER DAY. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR FOSTERING HER AND HER KITTENS! THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL! I HAVE 7 CATS INDOORS, SO I WAS UNABLE TO TAKE HER AND HER BABIES (I DID THAT ONCE BEFORE, THAT’S WHY I HAVE 7 CATS, LOL! MY HUSBAND WOULD HAVE BEEN VERY UNHAPPY TO SEE 5 MORE! LOL!) I LIVE OUT IN THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE OUT HERE ARE JUST DROPPING ANIMALS CONSTANTLY! THE SHELTER HAS TAKEN ANOTHER ONE, ONE WENT TO MY MOM, AND UNFORTUNATELY, ONE WAS HIT AND WAS KILLED. YOU GUYS ARE A GODSEND! I APPRECIATE YOU VERY MUCH! ONCE I AM OUT OF NURSING SCHOOL, I WILL HAVE THE TIME AND RESOURCES TO DO VOLUNTEER WORK WITH YOU GUYS, WHICH I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO. THANKS AGAIN AND GIVE HER AND HER BABIES A KISS FOR ME!
OH, JUST TO PUT EVERYONES FEARS AT REST AS TO THE OWNERS OF THESE MOMMA CAT, SHE CAME TO MY HOME VERY SKINNY AND PITIFUL LOOKING. SHE WAS VERY WILD, I WOULD PUT FOOD OUT AND IF SHE SAW ME WATCHING HER OR TRYING TO SPEAK TO HER, SHE WOULD DISAPPEAR. SHE BEGAN PUTTING ON WEIGHT AND AFTER SEVERAL WEEKS WOULD ALLOW ME TO STAND AT THE SCREEN DOOR AND TALK TO HER. AFTER SOME TIME, I COULD SIT ON THE PORCH WHILE SHE ATE, THEN SHE BEGAN COMING TO MY BACK AND RUBBING AGAINST ME. THE FIRST TIME I TOUCHED HER WAS ABOUT 3 WEEKS AGO AND SHE WAS ON A SCHEDULE….EVERY NIGHT AT DARK, AROUND 8PM, HER AND ANOTHER CAT WOULD BE ON THE PORCH WAITING FOR ME TO FEED THEM. THEY WOULD ONLY COME AT NIGHT (I COULDN’T LEAVE FOOD OUT ALL THE TIME BECAUSE THE DOGS NEXT DOOR THAT ARE VERY WELL FED WOULD COME UP AND EAT EVERYTHING). THE OTHER DAY I CAME HOME FROM SCHOOL AND SHE WAS THERE AT 3PM TRYING TO GET INSIDE MY HOUSE. I SAT ON THE PORCH WITH HER AND CALLED THE SHELTER. WHEN I WAS WAITING ON HER TO FIND A FOSTER HOME, I WENT AHEAD AND GOT HER IN A CARRIER. SO, AS FAR AS I KNOW, SHE DOES NOT BELONG TO ANYONE AND IF SHE DID, THEY DID NOT CARE FOR HER AT ALL. SHE IS A SWEET BABY AND NEEDED A LOVING AND SAFE HOME!
Hey, I wish Fred had gotten the “cam” he mentioned for the chicken egg brooding, then you could switch it to show us what’s happening 24/7 with the kittens like this cam:
http://kkellogg.camstreams.com/
Happy Birthday to the kitties. They are so beautiful, as is their Mummie.
Thanks for sharing the birth story and pics. I’ve never seen kitties being born – they are so cute.
I think I “need” one of those kittens. I am craving a kitty lately and I said never again. Those are some precious newborns. I am glad all is well and they are here! 🙂
Test comment.
I am late to the party because I was out of town all weekend (with no computer AUUUGH) but I just wanted to add my congratulations and say that it makes me so happy to know that one little stray Momma Kitty found her way to Robyn and Fred and was able to give birth in a safe and warm place.