When I went to bed Tuesday night, I slept fitfully. I woke up around 2:30, went into the kitten room to check on Margeaux.
She was like “What?”
And the kittens were like “What?”
I figured she really and truly wasn’t going to have her kittens any time soon, so I went back to bed and fell sound asleep. I woke up a few minutes after 5, stretched, turned over, and almost went back to sleep. Then I thought I should check on Margeaux, just to be sure.
And there they were. I thought at first that there were 5, but then looked closer and found that there were 6.
Vigorous, squirmy, healthy kittens. Yay!
The bedding – as you can see – was pretty saturated with blood and other birthing goo, so when I walked into the room with a plate of canned food and Margeaux shot out of the crate to eat, I took advantage and changed out the bedding.
(Usually the bedding would include an adorable baby blanket, but it’s fairly warm in that room, and baby blankets aren’t exactly cooling, so I’m using washable bed pads for now.)
Basket full.
Francois came to check things out.
I had moved 5 of the 6 back to the crate, and Jacques came over to take a look.
Pile o’ cute.
Amelie looks like a GIANT.
::thlurrrp::
Milk bar, open for business.
Margeaux is a very relaxed mother – she spends plenty of time in the crate with the kittens, but doesn’t hesitate to come out and just hang out with Katriane and the other kittens. Katriane has been very sweet – she climbed into the crate at one point yesterday and gave Margeaux a bath. She’s not interested in the kittens, but she’s sweet to Margeaux.
The kittens HAVE NOT BEEN NAMED. They HAVE NOT BEEN SEXED. That will not happen for AT LEAST A WEEK. They have, however, been marked so that I can keep track of their weights. Meet them now…
The kitten known as Yellow weighs 3.4 ounces.
The kitten known as Gray (because with 2 gray kittens, I only needed to mark one of them) weighs 3.3 ounces.
The kitten known as Blue weighs 3.3 ounces.
The kitten known as Pink weighs 3.6 ounces.
The kitten known as Green weighs 3.4 ounces.
And the kitten known as Brown weighs 3.7 ounces.
Average birth weight for kittens is 3-4 ounces, so these kittens are well within normal range.
I’ll be weighing these guys twice (maybe more) every day to keep an eye on their weight and be sure they’re gaining as they should be. I don’t expect any problems, but if I need to supplement with kitten formula, I’m happy to do so. Except for a brief visit from Antoine yesterday, I haven’t seen any big kittens actually in the crate. Antoine climbed in and curled up in a corner to nap, then went along his way. He gave the little ones a quick sniff, but that was it. None of them have tried to go into the crate and nurse at all. I worried more than a little before this, because I remember how rambunctious the older Olympian kittens were last year, and Deanzilla would often run into the crate and run right over the kittens – but the older kittens were only 4 weeks older than the younger ones. These guys are 9 weeks old, and a little more leery (and a little more careful) than they were.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Something appears to have annoyed Khal.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Previously
2018: I am not sure I have it in me to do this every 3 days.
2017: Roux put on her Ears of Annoyance and said “No, seriously. Lady, make it stop.”
2016: We are here at Crooked Acres, where we’ve secretly replaced a kitten with this Squirrel Monkey in a kitten suit. Let’s see if anyone can tell the difference!
2015: Sugarbutt.
2014: Jake was all, “Where’d they COME from?!”
2013: “Oh. I didn’t know YOU were up there.”
2012: “I put on my Stranger Danger floof, and I arched up and I gave the STRANGER a look so he’d know not to mess with me.”
2011: That’s quite the little pile of kittens, no?
2010: No entry.
2009: No entry.
2008: I adore this picture, because it looks like Zoe is airborne, that the purple thing is the rug and she’s in a mid-air Matrix move.
2007: Break my heart, why dontcha?
2006: No entry.
2005: I swear, Oy bounces around so bright-eyed and full of energy that it’s hard to get him to stand still.