So Here's What Happened...

Originally posted on my private blog- posted to http://indikon-tonkinese.blogspot.com/ on 06/01/11

Six of them! I have no idea where she put them all, but six there are. One little dark guy, who I am presuming is a solid coat, and five pale beige babies, who I am assuming will be 'little t' tonkinese coats. Of course that's just for fun... really I have no idea. I THINK we have four boys and two girls... haha... I'm fully expecting that to change in the next few weeks though.

This will be a long blog entry... so much to say.

So the birth. Well, I first need to admit that I slept through the birth of the first two! In my defence I've had a stinker of a cold all week... complete absence of anything resembling a voice, (still got no voice, although I can do a penguin honk quite well by now...) high temp/ chills, rattly chest and all, the full works basically, and I was feeling very unwell. I'd been sleeping on the sofa anyway to be close to Indie, so the pillows and duvet were there and it was late and I just... zzzzz.

I'm a bit disappointed in myself actually, I did feel like I'd let her down a bit especially considering her mother had a stillborn kitten in Indigo's litter, but am trying to be pragmatic about it. It's sheer bad luck that I was feeling so poorly, and some queens deliver their whole litter at night without their people being aware of it. (I guess. I still feel bad :( )

I noted in my blog that Indigo had been acting differently on the Wednesday. Well later on that evening, she got into her kittening box, dug around for a bit, purred and generally made herself at home- she stayed in there for two hours. Excellent, thought I, as she had only gotten into the box previously to wee in it, and she'd been making concerted efforts to get under the sofa earlier that week, a virtual impossibility with her bump, which led to me stuffing the cavity with soft toys, towels and bedding lol.

So, she got out, ate a whole sachet of whiskas kitten food- I'd read that queens stop eating in the 24 hours before birth... not mine!- had a leisurely wander around, and at that point she snuggled up next to me on the sofa and appeared to go to sleep. Which is when I dropped off too, darn it.

Fast forward to several hours later. I awoke to a VERY LOUD SQUEAKING- kitten one, (the little dark one) protesting. There in the box was mama, kitten one, kitten two and mama was straining and quickly produced kitten three. Now, my opinion is that the birth of the first three kittens happened very quickly indeed. Kitten one was still very damp, Indigo had chewed his placenta off but not eaten it, and number two looked as though he had only just been born, still in his sac, placenta attached and all, looking exactly like the third, he couldn't have been more than a minute or two old himself.  Poor Indigo was thoroughly overwhelmed and just wanted to clean up the first baby! I guess he was squeaking because he had had a nice mama fussing over him and suddenly abandoned him... he did sound very put out!!

Between us we got the three sorted out, the third kitten's placenta didn't deliver so he had to be clamped and cut, thank goodness I'd bought in a good quantity of kittening supplies 'just in case'. Number 4 was born after a reasonable interval, Indigo dealt with him on her own and then settled down to feed her offspring. I'd honestly thought she was done at this point, she had a long-ish rest while I took some more medication, made copious but messy notes, changed the bedding, weighed the babies, gave them a good check over and waited the delivery of placenta 3.

To my surprise, I noticed her straining again, and kitten 5 plus placenta was delivered, shortly followed by kitten six, which Indigo detatched with the placenta still inside her. Within half an hour, one of the retained placentas had been delivered, and 10 mins or so later the other one appeared, to my relief. At which point I changed Indigo's bedding again, weighed and checked the last two, updated my notes, took more paracetamol and collapsed into a pathetic heap on the sofa! More zzzz!

Up again at 8 to weigh and check them, and then I spent most of the day in a medicated haze, sleeping, and checking on Indigo and the babies and updating this blog and TRYING to do a bit of work between naps. Ugh to this horrid cold!

Needless to say, Indigo is being a fantastic mother, very attentive and happy with her brood, the kittens are adorable and visibly bigger each day, I'll post some weights etc tomorrow. I'm waiting a little while to make sure I'm sure (ish) as to the gender before telling you their names- babies 4 and 5 I'm very unsure of, in particular, and I've changed my mind several times- for the last 24 hours though it's been the same so fingers crossed.

Bump

Originally posted on my private blog- posted to http://indikon-tonkinese.blogspot.com/ on 06/01/11

I don't know why they say an expectant cat won't be any bigger until about 6 weeks. By my reckoning, Indigo is at max. 4 and a half weeks and already has a noticeable bump.

Ok, I admit I took a series of photographs and picked the two where her bump is most noticeable. Some of the other pictures weren't as obvious. But she looks bigger to me already.

Maybe it's because Tonks have fairly short fur. Perhaps if it were one of the longer haired breeds, or a shorthair such as a British or an exotic, which have longer fur than Tonkinese, it wouldn't be noticeable.

I'm not concerned, every cat is different and of course I don't know the size of the litter yet. And of course it might not be related to litter size- she might just be portly *grin* Perhaps Indigo is liking the kitten food just a shade too much? She certainly seens to have her nose in the food bowl pretty regularly!

The Cost Of Cats

Originally posted on my private blog- posted to http://indikon-tonkinese.blogspot.com/ on 06/01/11

'Yeah, yeah. You know we're worth it.'

There's no money in cat breeding. If you are reading this, thinking of becoming a breeder and expecting to rake in the cash, think again. There's a reason why the taxman counts dog breeding as a business and cat breeding as a hobby! Yes, it's true a pedigree kitten will set you back £350 or more, but rarely will the breeder be making a profit.

Now most breeders households will consist of a mix of breeding queens and retired or neutered cats, so although I only have one breeding Tonk in a community of four felines, I reckon my household is normal enough. So, just to give you a taster of my cat bills this month...

First there's the ever present food and litter bill. I've just recieved an order from Zooplus, price £150. My cats eat a very good quality food, Royal Canin, which is of course expensive. Plus another £20 at Pets At Home for wet food. And a £50 order at Vetmeds for Feliway, plus a few other things I needed.

Vet bills. I could argue they've been higher than normal this month, about £300, but even in a good month there's regular checkups, vaccinations and so on- I spend quite a bit on veterinary care. I have pet insurance of course (another £50 a month) but I have to pay an excess on any claim, which I haven't quite exceeded yet.

Indigo has been to stud- that was another £200, and the four hour round trip, twice, to take her and collect her was also expensive...

So that's £800ish spent on the cats this month alone- and that's not unusual. I haven't even counted the £75 prefix application and the £50 ten year membership of The Tonkinese Cat Club as they are one off costs... I've only counted the normal monthly outgoings of a houseful of cats. The next few months, if Indigo is pregnant,  I will probably spend even more, what with buying in kittening supplies, extra food, vet bills, buying a pen, heating the house (kittens need a constant 22 degrees C) washing bills, plus every kitten will need costly vaccinations and pedigree papers...

All this for one litter of kittens per year. The average litter size is 3-4 kittens. Well, you can do the maths for yourself. Even if all my cats were breeding age females I wouldn't cover my costs.

So no, there is absolutely no money to be found in cat breeding. We do it for other reasons, but never for money.

Such A Bad, Bad Girl

Originally posted on my private blog- posted to http://indikon-tonkinese.blogspot.com/ on 06/01/11

Yes, I mean you, Indigo! (but so adorable too...)

Indigo has continued to be unsettled, and when Indigo is upset she has an unpleasant habit (for me) of weeing in inappropriate places. This morning it was on my bathtowel as I was in the shower. Fortunately I noticed before I wrapped my hair up in it!

I think it's territorial- she wees to mark certain objects and places as 'hers', and not for the other cats. Unfortunately the things she wants to claim are things that I might use... she's very attached to me and I think it's her way of 'claiming' me and asserting her dominance. (Thank heavens- and crossed fingers- Sofia has never responded in kind, as I would struggle to cope with two weeing cats.) Indigo has also been aggressive with the other two girls, actively seeking them out to yowl at them, much to their consternation, and even Theo the placid has seemed a little ruffled.

So Indigo is currently spending her time in the living room, seperately, to chill out. I noticed my Feliway is empty so I'll be off to the pet shop tomorrow to get a refill, either that or I'll order one online. I'll continue to keep her away from the other girls for a bit and spend a lot of time going from one group to the other to transfer their scent (although it's Indigo who has the problem actually, the other girls are fine and Ava has made friendly overtures- she tries so hard, bless her- and been hissed at for her troubles) and be generally reassuring all round. And I'll fill up the water spray, just in case the hissing degenerates into a full on fight... which is very very rare here, I might add, but the spray bottle is most effective.

So we've had hissing, yowling, inappropriate urination and general feline dramatics...sheesh! Give me a nice neutered cat any day- queens are Hard Work.