Okay, I’ve had several people suggest that I start a pool regarding Maggie birthin’ those babies and/ or how many babies she’s going to have. So here’s the deal – there’s now a pool. For $5 per guess, you can guess the day and time she’ll deliver her first kitten AND how many babies she’ll have. All money collected will go to Challenger’s House. There’s a Paypal link below that goes to my Paypal account. When Maggie’s had her babies, I’ll send the total amount to Challenger’s House (along with a printout so that Susan knows I didn’t go on a shopping spree or anything!).
The winner of the pool will get to name ONE of Maggie’s kittens. Caveats: name must be Irish-ish (Irish, Celtic, Scottish would all work, I know that sounds ignorant to you Irish and Scottish types out there, I apologize for being a dumb American (of Irish and Scottish descent, do I get bonus points for that?)), and the name can’t be on the list of names that have already been used by the shelter. The winner will get to choose which kitten he or she names.
Here are the rules:
1. One entry costs you $5, two is $10, 3 is $15, and so on. Make sure you include the date/ time/ and number of babies with your entry. The most important part of the guess is the date and time – the number of babies is just a fun tie-breaker in case, for instance, one person guesses 2 pm and one person guesses 4 pm, and she delivers the first one at 3 pm. In such a case, the person who guesses the correct number of babies (or comes closest without going over!) is the winner.
2. If you don’t or can’t send the money via Paypal and you still want to play, then send a check to Challenger’s House (address at the bottom of the page here) and then email me (mizrobyn (at) gmail (dot) com) with your number of guesses, and the date/ time/ # of kittens for each guess. I’ll assume you’re an honest person who wouldn’t liiiiiiiie about mailing a check, because you know and I know that if you were lyyyyyyyyyyyying about such a thing, it would make the wee baby kittens cry. You wouldn’t want that on your conscience, would you?
3. You don’t have to guess a number of kittens if you don’t want to. Just keep in mind that if you have the correct date and time and your number of kittens guess is wayyyyy off, you still win.
4. I’ve started a spreadsheet at Google Docs where I’ll list the guesses in order of date, then time. Your name will be next to your guess(es), and I’ll list you by first name and last initial, unless you’d prefer to be listed otherwise. That spreadsheet is here.
5. If we go to bed one night and Maggie hasn’t gone into labor, and then we wake up the next morning to kittens, we’ll make our best guesstimate as to when she delivered the first one. Or, if that’s too hard for us, we’ll go with whoever was closest (without going over!) to the number of kittens.
I was going to just take entries through the weekend (assuming she doesn’t birth ’em before that), but I truly do not have the slightest clue when she’s gonna blow (I really thought she’d have them last weekend!), so as long as she hasn’t gone into labor, entries are welcome.
Further down in the entry there’ll be pictures of Maggie in her current physical state, along with some description of how she’s doing/ acting, which may help you make an educated guess. If you have any questions, let me know and I’ll add them (and the answers) to the list.
Okay, I think that’s it. Y’all let me know if you have any questions about this!
It’s been almost three years since we had our very first pregnant foster cat. That was Kara (who later became a permanent), and she was only in the house about 24 hours before she went into labor. (You can read her labor story here.) She had four kittens – River, Inara, Kaylee and Zoe. Two of them – River and Inara – were adopted by longtime reader Katherine in Madison. River’s new name became Nate, and Inara’s became Dora.
This is what they looked like then:
Dora
Nate
Nate (far right) and Dora (next to him).
Well, they grew up beautiful, as you can clearly see.
Nate
Nate (left) and Dora.
Dora in the back, Nate in the middle, stretched out, and their big sister Bailey, on the heated tiles.
Aren’t they beautiful? Katherine and I always say that Nate needs to be a model!
It’s been about two years since we had Creed, Phyllis and Dwight (you can read about them here).
They were all adopted pretty quickly, but unfortunately it turned out that the 8 year-old in Creed’s new family was very allergic and getting worse. They tried bathing and the anti-dander solution, but nothing worked, and Creed had to be returned to the shelter.
This is what Creed looked like when he was our foster (and in fact the picture that always comes to mind when I think of him!)
and this is what he looks like now:
The family who adopted him had only the highest praise for him and were very sad to give him up. I remember him as being a real sweetheart when he was here, and he continued to be just as sweet in his new home. He went right to Petsmart after his re-test, so hopefully he’ll be adopted quickly.
Okay, here’s the Maggie section. First, the pictures.
(So RUDE, snapping a picture of a poor pregnant lady from behind!)
“VERY rude, lady. I oughta smack you. But I need to go back and eat some more.”
As of last night, she was still eating a lot. I gave her a can of food yesterday afternoon, and I’m pretty sure that had my hand been in way, she would have wolfed that down, too. She seems restless – I have to be very patient if I want to put my hand on her belly, because she mostly paces back and forth and lets me pet her. She has to be in the mood to flop over for a belly rub, I guess.
Her nipples are prominent but not swollen as though they’re filled with milk. Her belly is huge. I can feel babies moving around in her stomach, but I have to concentrate. I’ve also been able to see her belly moving a few times, but I have to concentrate on that, too.
She really likes to sharpen her claws on the cardboard scratcher, which probably has nothing at all to do with anything, just thought I’d throw that in there.
She weighed 9.9 pounds at the vet the day I picked her up, and a week later she weighed 10 pounds, 14 ounces on our scale. I don’t know how close our scale is to the vet’s scale, but I imagine it’s probably within a couple of ounces.
Annnnd that’s all I can think of. Let me know if you have questions!
Elwood (left) and Jake, hanging out in the back yard.
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Previously
2010: Sometimes another kitten will join in on the howling, and OH their hearts are just breaking at the injustice of not being able to get through the door, they are PERSONALLY insulted at this turn of events.
2009: Here we go, all seven present and accounted for!
2008: No entry.
2007: Their evil chicken talons don’t poke holes in the kiddie pool?
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
Thank you for starting the pool, great idea!
-AW
The butt picture made me laugh!
Thanks for the delicious, ingenious update — and good luck to handsome Creed. Meanwhile, How’s Rufus finding the great wide world?