And suddenly this afternoon we have four kittens! No one was expecting that! The other three were born about 3 days ago.
After mom and babies arrived, I spent time with them, then gave them some peace and quiet for awhile. I checked on them once and all was fine. I checked late afternoon and saw blood and fluid on the pad. Yikes! But no one seemed distressed – babies were nursing. Maybe it’s a post-birthing issue with mom.
Birthing. Wait a minute. Count them. So I counted: 1, 2, 3, …4! Well, that explains it!
The new little kitty seemed strong and feisty, so that was good. I’m calling him Coda, because he was added after the rest.
He still had an umbilical cord, attached to a placenta. We had so many kittens while I was growing up, but that was many years ago, and I wasn’t sure what to do – or what was normal. The umbilicus looked pretty shriveled, and not “alive,” so I decided it would be ok to cut it.
George brought scissors just in time, because Sylvie decided to suddenly roll over and get up, flipping Coda over and somehow wrapping the umbilical cord around her tail. I quickly cut it and disentangled her.
Sylvie sniffed the placenta, and licked it. I thought quickly about whether it’s ok to eat the placenta, and decided that many animals do, and that it’s probably a good thing. Important nutritional boost. Seems gross to me, but I try not to project my issues onto a system that has been working fine without me for thousands of years.
