Stress

Oh my god I feel so helpless, Sophie is really showing me how much I don’t know about kitten raising. This morning I was laying in bed after getting mostly ready for work. I had done my makeup and stuff, I just had to get dressed. Since I had a little time before hubby was ready to get dressed I decided to take a break on the bed. I heard a meow come from the closet. I laid there, then decided to check on the kittens. I had expected Sophie to be in there with them, but when I looked there was no Sophie and there were only 4 kittens. Then I heard hubby. Sophie had taken the little grey kitten into the bathroom. She laid on the floor with it near a towel that I had tossed on the floor. I sat on the floor with Sophie, the kitten, and Kenny, who was watching curiously. After a couple minutes I picked up the little grey kitten and returned him to his siblings.

A little while later hubby and I are in the bedroom and here comes Sophie carrying the little grey kitten out of the closet again. She lays on the floor by the bed with him and starts playing. Biting, kicking, rolling him around. It looked rough and he was crying so we took him away from her. She immediately went to get another kitten, and on her way out of the closet she realized the grey kitten was missing and started looking for him. I was holding him. The way she was playing seemed really rough and scared us. We returned the two kittens to their box and locked Sophie out of the room. At this point I was starting to think maybe we should take them away from her.

Hubby called our vet but the vet wasn’t very helpful. I don’t know why we bother, they never listen very well. So I turned to the trusty internet. I found a question to a vet from a person with a concern very similar to our own. That vet said that mother cats do play with their kittens and that it may seem too rough and be frightening for us, but that it’s okay. That it’s normal and not to worry about it.

We reopened the door for Sophie, got dressed, and left for work.

I can’t say I’m not worried. But really, short of taking them away from Sophie there’s not a lot I can do. It is best for them to be raised by their mother, and to have her milk, her milk contains antibodies and stuff they don’t have, they’re too young to be vaccinated. IF I find out one of those babies is at all injured though I’ll be taking them away from her and bottle feeding them until they’re weaned. I love these little babies so much!!

This morning too, it was really funny. I laid down outside their box and was peering in at them with the flashlight. My nose is a little stuffy so I sniffled a little and they jumped and started hissing and spitting at me. lol Apparently they can hear now too. Not too surprising since the ears are supposed to open up shortly after the eyes. It was so funny seeing those little blue eyes staring at me and those little tiny kittens hissing and spitting. I’d read about how they start doing this, and it’s funnier than I could have ever imagined. I’m going to start spending more time with them and handling them more to make sure they’re used to humans. I’ve seen the result of kittens not being handled enough. Kenny wasn’t, we had to chase him all over the breeders house when we went to pick him up. That and he’s still, to this day, absolutely terrified of strangers. When we have guests and I’m upstairs or something, he follows me around meowing. It takes a long time for a stranger to earn Kennys trust. I was shocked too because this woman happens to breed Siamese cats for a living. Apparently the little half-siamese kittens didn’t deserve the same treatment as her precious purebreds in her eyes, evil, evil woman.

I love our Kenny, he is such a great cat. If you are able to earn his trust you’re a good person in my book, he took really fast to our neighbors that babysit him when we’re on vacation. Kenny also cares about the other cats like you wouldn’t believe. He watched over Sally when she came home from her spay, he’d only known her one day. He checked on Sophie after she had her babies and he still checks on them once in awhile. He even watches Casper when we give him a bath. He knows when someone is in pain, or not happy and you can see the concern and love in his sweet little eyes. He’s truly an amazing cat.

Kenny:

*sigh*

Anyway. Wish us luck with Sophie. I’m sure everything will be fine. I looked the babies over this morning and they look healthy. Their eyes look good, their belly’s are plump and full of milk, they’re staying warm, their coats are soft and shiny, there’s no scratches on them or anything. I really can’t wait until they’re less dependent though. I’ll be a little less stressed out when they can play back with Sophie and actually walk around and stuff.