Lizzie just typed her name.
Guess what! We have five new babies at our house this morning! 5 new baby kittens, that is. Our cat, Cinnamon (who is only 10 months old herself) just gave birth to her first (and last) litter of kittens. Here's how it happened:
Russ and I were awakened at 0145 this morning by a screaming Ethan. When we ran in to see what was the matter, we saw Cinnamon on his bed (actually it was Matt's bed--he'll love that) next to a kitten with it's placenta still attached. For some reason, I never thought of the kittens having placentas--I just imagined them all being born by themselves I guess. Anyway, I stayed with Cinnamon and after a few minutes of watching, Russ took Ethan back to bed with him. I stayed up the rest of the night with Cinnamon--the last one was born around 0530.
A little while ago I asked Ethan what he first thought when he woke up and there was a kitten in his bed--did he know it was a kitten? He said, "No! I thought Cinnamon had just brought me a dead mouse! A slimy dead mouse. I didn't know it was a kitten." Gross! No wonder he screamed. The funny thing is, I made two different nests for Cinnamon--one under Matt's bed and one in the back of my closet. Instead she choose to climb up in bed. Interestingly enough, I remember reading an account of my grandmother, Laraine Jones Nielsen, in which she recalled as a girl waking up one night in the bed she shared with her sisters. She said "There was a mewing, wet mess at our feet--our cat had kittens in our bed!"
The next surprise after discovering that each kitten had it's own placenta, was that the mother cat EATS the placenta! She chews through the umbilical cord and then chows down the afterbirth, before she evens licks off the kitten! So, cats eat throughout labor--why can't people? Thank goodness we have other options on our menu. Ew.
The first baby was tan, the second, gray; the third was the runt of the litter--a very small tan one. The fourth kitty was also tan. The fifth kitty has her mother's coloring: a dark orange, with some stripes.
It's a good thing I stuck around watching with Cinnamon, because she had trouble with the fifth birth. I actually had gotten our old Sony Hi8 videocamera out, and thought I had filmed the fourth birth, but I forgot to press record. Yes, retarded, I know. But, I figured it out in time to film the 5th one. I actually had to set the camera down and help her with that one--she was really meowing and moving around alot, and it was stuck with just it's hind legs hanging out. I tried to help gently tug on it, and finally had to use a towel because otherwise it was too slippery. I was afraid I might damage the kitten, so I didn't pull too much--besides, Cinnamon turned on me a few times and I didn't want to make it more painful for her. She was in distress though. The others all came out with one or two pushes. This one took a lot longer. Finally it did come out, but the afterbirth was still partially inside the cat, when Cinnamon decided to jump down off the bed. Since I had backed off and was holding the camera, I didn't see her about to jump until she did it. I thought the fall might have killed that newborn kitten, but thankfully it didn't. Maybe the drop to the floor helped the rest of the afterbirth to come out. Cinnamon licked the baby some, but then started chomping down the placenta, so I took my towel and helped wipe off the kitten. I was afraid from the way it's chest was moving so deeply in and out that it wasn't breathing, so I kept stroking it with the towel until Cinnamon took over. Eventually it did start to mew. After she cleaned it off, I put it up in the bed with the other kittens.
Now it is later morning, and I showed Cinnamon the bed I made for her and the kitties in my closet. I used a dresser drawer, with a towel folded in the bottom, covered by a towel changing pad liner, which fit perfectly. I know that the mama cat likes to move her babies herself, but I didn't want her to have to move them off Matt's bed. I carried the kittens in a towel to my closet, near but not in the bed I had prepared. Hopefully Cinnamon will just move them there herself, and we can call it good. I figure that's the safest place for them, where it's quiet, dark, warm, and protected from children.
For some reason, Russ didn't want to see the video of Cinnamon eating the placenta. I think it's fascinating; he thinks it's gross. I don't know how to get my Hi8 cassette onto my computer, or I would upload the video for all my "avid readers". In fact, I don't even remember how to hook it up to my tv so I can make a videotape of it. Any help?
Matthew will be excited to see the video. I'm sure if he was here, he would have stayed awake with me, watching the whole thing.
