The Nemos Make an Appearance

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Kipper didn't realise she was pregnant - I spent the last two weeks of her pregnancy rescuing her from small spaces she had got stuck in, and rescuing my ornaments from certain doom as she flung herself across mantelpieces and table tops, thinking she was a skinny kitten again, when in actual fact she was like a small armoured tank.
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After the longest wait ever, the Nemo babies finally arrived on July 11th about 10 days after the vet's estimated due date. Three tiny kitties, 2 black and white and one grey and white, were waiting for me when I arrived home - I'd just missed their grand entrance by a few minutes. Nemo, Bubbles and Squishy.
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I'd given Kipper the choice of 2 boxes and a cat basket all lined with soft towels, ready and waiting. In true Kipper fashion, she chose to have the babies behind one of the boxes under a radiator on my carpet.

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Sadly, one of the kittens died after a day and half - although Nemo was the same weight as the others when born, he quickly started losing weight and despite staying up all night with him there was nothing I could do to save him. This is the upsetting side of fostering new mums unfortunately and I can't imagine it ever getting easier.

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The other two kittens are so beautiful - they have fat little tummies and at 8 days old were already purring when they were being tickled. When I am upset by sad events like Nemo dying, and wonder why I put myself through this, a purring kitten reminds me of exactly why.

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Bubbles at 5 days old.

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Squishy at 5 days old.

The Beginning of a Fishy Story

Here is Kipper, a beautiful young girl who is very pregnant and living with me for the next couple of months.

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She is due to give birth in the next couple of days, and so we are getting ourselves prepared. Kipper is doing this by purring a lot and exploring every nook and cranny in my house, while I prepare several different boxes and baskets for her to choose from in the dining room. She may think that behind the stereo unit is a good place to have kittens but I have very different ideas!

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She is a very affectionate cat, although some of that may be due to her current situation, and loves to bury her face in your hand or snuggle up on your shoulder whilst purring loud enough to wake the neighbours!

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I usually start looking after mums and babies after the birth and they would normally have been named by the RSPCA. But in this instance I will get to name them. Myself and a group of friends have been battering (did you see what I did there) fishy names around, and I think the best ones seem to be Nemo based. Nemo, Dory, Marlin, Bubbles and Squishy are the favourites so far. Let's hope there aren't more than 5 kits!

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So here we are, looking forward to the next 8 or so weeks of kitten fun.