Take another picture and I cut you, lady...
Yup. She's pregnant. Or at least I think she is!
I'd decided some time ago that the next litter was to be her last, but have been weighing up in my mind what would be the best timescale. Ideally I wanted her to have a litter before Lucy did because then Lucy would have an idea as to what it was all about, help out a bit without being entirely responsible, and so on. But then Indigo is, as you know, pretty chunky, so I was torn between this and putting her back on the Ovarid till next year, in order to lose some weight.
I took the advice of several other breeders and the general consensus seemed to be to do it sooner rather than later, as Ovarid itself is not without its risks. And then Indigo went into call, even earlier than I had expected, and rather forced the issue.
With the next call, she went to stud, but, whilst she was friendly enough with her mate, she appeared to have gone out of call. No mating or post-coital behaviour was observed; no encouraging noises were heard. The stud quarters were in their house this time, and... well let's just say Indigo isn't known for being quiet about these things. Cats mating can get pretty rowdy! But nothing. The stud owner and I decided to end the visit early and try again in a few weeks. Home she came.
However, it would appear her boyfriend and I had us fooled all the time and they DID get it on during their brief period together because...
Nipples!!!! All pink and rosy and plump and pregnant- looking.
I know, I get all excited about nipples every year. But really 'pinking up' is the first definite sign of pregnancy. She's also very tired, and super cuddly, purry and knead-y. She just has a look about her that yells 'pregnant'. And there's some odd little quirks of hers as well that I would never have noticed had I not made notes on each pregnancy (yes, on a nice little table for comparison!)- things like this:
That's Indigo, emptying my shelves of bedding and taking up a rather possessive, growly residence there for a few days. I thought it was amusing, till I happened to look at my chart and saw last time she got similarly possessive about the cat tree cubby. That was about a week ago, until then I was fully expecting her to go back into call. Of course she plays in the wardrobes all the time, so that could be coincidence... but I don't think so.
There was another very early sign. About a week back from stud, Lucy and Indigo seemed on very bad terms, with Indigo growling at her and even whapping her on occasion. Then I saw what was happening before each time- Lucy was attempting to nurse. Lucy hasn't nursed since she was five months old, but SOMETHING was making her feel kittenish. Some smell, perhaps, that humans aren't able to pick up? Of course Indigo was having none of that nonsense!
Other than that, she seems very well and hasn't shown any signs of nausea this time. My hope is that, because she wasn't with the stud for very long this time, she may have a smaller litter. Of course it doesn't necessarily work that way, but I can but hope!
Not telling. I just sleep here for the next 6 weeks yes?
*****
Weights this week were Inds 4.97kg, Lucy 3.87kg. They have been eating Animonda Carny, a mixed tray, of which all flavours seemed to be quite acceptable, and Bozita salmon, which was similarly appreciated. Somehow I don't think Indigo or Lucy are picky cats...
No comments:
Post a Comment