Tiny Kittens' Corsica went into labor at 4:50 PST. She has had one ginger kitten already.

[tblue37]

Live streaming on YouTube:

The birthing/nursing nest of Evolene, whose kittens were born just yesterday afternoon, is right across the room from Corsica's nest.

[tblue37]

1. Because Evolene was so malnourished when rescued, and because she had such a

Last edited Sun Apr 9, 2017, 12:31 AM - Edit history (1)

long (5 hours) and difficult delivery (all breech births!), she has not been producing enough milk for her kittens to gain weight. Therefore, Shelley and her assistant Gwen have been supplementing the kittens with bottle feeding. One of the kittens--the third one born, was only 62 grams at birth, so getting her to gain weight is really crucial.

Corsica is in much better health, so she is delivering more easily.

Evolene was so weak and exhausted that Shelley had to help her deliver, and had to help her clean the sac off most of the kittens. Corsica is also more feral than Evolene, so Shelley is monitoring Corsica's delivery by camera, so as to not stress her out if the delivery goes smoothly.

Corsica and Evolene are from the same colony of ferals, and Corsica could be Evolene's daughter or granddaughter. Certainly they are related. Evolene was probably a former pet cat who was abandoned at the farm where the colony is. She is about 6 years old. Corsica about 4.

These cats will be spayed after they wean their kittens, so after about 18-19 litters for Evolene, and about 12 for Corsica, they will never have to go through this again.

[ginnyinWI]

9. I believe only two of the five were breech births.

The first one and either the third or fourth. The first one was the difficult one, of course.

I think the births exhausted her, plus she is an older mom, and was malnourished before coming to Tiny Kittens. So not surprising that she's having trouble with producing milk. At least the babies were born alive, and can get human help from now on.

There needs to be a cat smiley!

[tblue37]

2. The first kitten, a ginger, comes at 5:12 PST. The second, maybe a torbie, comes at 5:34. nt

[montanacowboy]

3. Bless their hearts

Good wishes to Mommies and Kits

We had a Feral Mommie for 2 yrs living in the wooded area around us - we rescued 4 litters over the last 18 mos and was able to home each one of them through local Vet. We finally got Mommie caught and spayed. She stayed in a foster home after her last litter and was able to find a forever home a month ago with an older single lady. She and all her kits were polydactals. I sure miss them coming around but it all ended well for them, not the usual ending for these poor babies. I would have loved to kept Mommie but we are full up with 5 rescues, 2 cats and 3 dogs.

Keep up the good work!

[joeybee12]

4. Here's hoping everyone does well. Knr

Last edited Sun Apr 9, 2017, 08:04 AM - Edit history (1)

[tblue37]

5. I don't think you mean "dies well"! However, I do want to say hi to you, Joeybee. It has been

a long time since I last saw a post from you. Several weeks ago--maybe even a couple of months ago--I posted an OP asking whether you were OK and whether anyone knew why you were not posting. Someone told me you had not posted since the election. I was worried something might have happened to you!

How is that sweet little Siamese kitten you rescued?

[joeybee12]

11. Yikes. Is it too late to edit ?

He is doing very well, fixed in January and is now about 8 months old. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body. I have an older rescue cat in.my bathroom now, very sweet but she and the other adult females really fight when I try to introduce them. She's pretty old and right now is content to simply have her own bed and food so I'm not rushing it.

[tblue37]

6. #3--another dark kitten--born at 6:32. nt

[tblue37]

7. #4, black, born at 7:15. I give the times so anyone who wants to can

go back on the feed to watch the births.

[tblue37]

8. #5--Ginger--7:39. nt

[ginnyinWI]

10. I couldn't watch--too nerve wracking!

I did watch Evoline's yesterday, because Shelly was right there if anything went wrong. With her being in the next room from Corsi, I was just too worried. But tuned in later to see the new fam!

[tblue37]

12. Corsica is babysitting 3 of Ego's five. Shelley is bottle or tube feeding Evo's

because Evolene isn't producing enough milk because of her poor health and chronic malnutrition. After Shelley feeds them, she puts them in with Corsica to be pottied and cuddled in the kitten pile. Next to Corsica's fat, healthy kittens you can see how small and fragile Evolene's are.

Shelley and the others will do everything possible for Evo's kittens to give them a chance. If Evolene had not been brought in to give birth, those kittens would have died, and Evo probably would not have survived the birth, either.

[ginnyinWI]

13. two of Evo's five kits have died.

Not too surprised as they had a very rough start. May not have had much if any milk their first 24 hours.

[tblue37]

14. They were being bottle and tube fed, but they had a rough start and just never

got off the ground, as it were. Oddly enough, Peep, the total runt who was just 62 grams at birth is still alive, though fragile. She and her two surviving siblings are being bottle fed and tube fed, and then returned to foster mama Corsica for warmth and pottying.

Poor little Evolene couldn't produce milk because her own health was so poor and she was too exhausted to bathe and take care of her kittens. Corsica is being a good foster mother to Evolene's surviving three.

Meanwhile, Corsica's 5 are fat, sassy, and healthy kittens, and a couple of them are hilariously fierce about smacking each other around for a preferred place at the milk bar! One kitten is also always loudly squeaking and squawking Talk about a song of woe!

[tblue37]

15. A third has died now--the one born second. The tiniest one, the one they call Peep, is

still alive, but not doing well, and they are worried that one won't make it either. Very sad.

[ginnyinWI]

16. From what Shelly said,

It seems like more than just not having mother's milk right away. They don't/didn't seem to be nursing properly--not vigorous and not acting like normal newborns. Which points to some developmental deficiency. So even if Evo had been nursing them normally, they still might have had "failure to thrive'.

Poor little pumpkins. But as Shelly wrote, this happens every day and we just don't see it.

[tblue37]

17. Ginny, they lost little Peep, too. Only Evo's 4th kitten is still alive, but

it is not thriving, so I am guessing that Evo's malnourishment throughout all but the last couple of weeks of her pregnancy and her super rough delivery doomed them. Shelley and the others did everything they could for them, but to no avail. I keep hoping #4 will survive, but I honestly don't have a lot of hope.

At least I hope Evo gets well enough soon for her dental surgery so her mouth won't hurt any more. Dental pain is the worst. Poor little girl. Imagine what sort of person would abandon such a sweet cat.

[ginnyinWI]

18. now all five are gone.

Corsica's five are doing well: one is black, two are tabbies/torbie, and two are ginger boys.

[3catwoman3]

19. Beautiful momma, and pretty babies.

They look like they are thriving so far.

Shelley has a huge and tender heart.