Avril

by Arwen
(Wirral UK)

Arwen was eleven months old when she had her litter. She is a bengal and we were not expecting her to escape when she was calling, as most owners do.

I had made sure that I knew all I could about bengals, and pregancy in general, of course, she escaped one evening, when the kids were at the door, and although we managed to coax her in a half hour later, the deed had been done..

She was fed kitten food and we upped her oily fish dishes prior to the birth, at 65 days, and maintained the nest sites she had picked out for herself, removing any that we may find aukward to get to, so she was one fat happy girly... the day she started with labour, i noticed her followingme more and talking more than normal.

Bengals are chatty cats anyway, so at first I just thought she was talking to me as she always did, but that night, she didn't go to her bed and stayed with me on mine. She woke me at 5 am, and her waters broke on my bed before I had the chance to move her.

She then decided to get on my daughters bed to deliver, we had already packed into out kitten box towels, a plastic sheet, saline solution, and kitchen roll that did not give off fibres... so we got her ready to go on the bed with the plastic sheet and towels in situ..

The first kitten took a good 40 minutes for her to deliver, and she was quite vocal thoughout, wanting to get up and move about, but I kept her still as the kittens head was visible, she delivered Henry with no problems at all. The placenta was delivered directly after him, and all was well.

The third kitten was breech and she was having difficulties in delivering him, so I had fingers either side of her vulva and palpated for her pushing with her as she had a contraction. Feisty was born ok, again, no problems, the fourth was born directly after.

She took time to re-clean the kittens again and I helped her get them all positioned to feed, she was quiet for a while bonding with her babies, and I thought that the four were our lot, a half hour later, she had her last two.. All was fine and we had no discernable runt, all the kittens were a good weight, and mum was happy.

Twice we had the queen checked to make sure that her milk didn't dry up with her having six big kittens, but the vet said we had maintained her a healthy diet thoughout her pregnancy and that was the best thing anyone can do...

Henry, Harry, Hermione, Feisty, Hugo and Bella were all fine and are happy in their new homes. Harry and Hermione stayed with us, and are happy cats, and all are neutered now.

Moral of the story, if your girly manages to escape when she's calling, it's not your fault, and make sure you get as much advice as you can, and if in doubt....ring the vet, don't leave anything to chance unless you know what you're doing.

I did, this was not the first cat or dog birth I have assisted.. If you have to touch the kittens remember to keep contact to a minimum... and keep an eye on their feeding after. If the mum is underweight, the milk may not be sufficient.