Kitten Watch, Sponsor Cat Daisy Gives Birth!

The weather might be confused as to when spring is starting but Daisy, the star of our kitten watch had no doubt in her mind the 1^st March was the first day of Spring!   As the grounds at the centre were being covered in a blanket of snow and the wind was howling outside, she was calmly giving birth to her kittens.  Daisy went into labour at 8 am in the morning just as several team members who had braved the weather arrived at the centre, and soon after gave birth to her first kitten. 

The secret of being a good midwife with cats is to watch quietly and not to disturb or make them anxious.  From watching Daisy we soon realised that she had everything under control, this was a big relief as the last thing we wanted to do was to travel her to the vets in the freezing cold conditions.

The birth of each kitten takes around 30 minutes, this was the case with Daisy for her first 3 kittens, as each one was born she would lick the kitten to clean it and encourage it to breath.  Daisy seemed to settle after the first 3 kittens but she wasn’t quite done, a couple of hours later she gave birth to her 4^th and final kitten.

Daisy licking one of her kittens clean

Daisy is a very relaxed mum and soon her kittens were all dry, clean, settled and suckling contentedly on her.  We were very glad all the kittens were feeding well as the first milk Daisy produces is colostrum, this is rich with antibodies and will help kittens fight against diseases.  Kittens can only absorb colostrum during the first 16 – 24 hours of life and need to feed within 2 hours of birth, we all gave a big sigh of relief when this hurdle was over.  The kittens will now feed every 2 – 3 hours until they are around 2 weeks old

Daisy settled with her kittens

Kittens are born with their eyes shut and ear canal closed so they are blind and deaf, this doesn’t stop them developing a really close bond with their mum.  You would think that after seeing 100’s of mums give birth at the centre over the years we would be immune to the charm of watching what an amazing bond mums have with their kittens, but this is something which never gets old.

Kittens are born blind and deaf

The kittens can’t regulate their body temperature at this age, they will depend on Daisy and litter mates to keep warm.  Fortunately we have under floor heating in our pens so they are nice and cosy, although we did have a bit of a scare this morning when the power went off.  Thankfully a call to the power distribution board to explain the situation and how important it was for us to have power due to the number of cats in our care soon saw the situation resolved and we could all breath another sigh of relief. 

A couple of last interesting facts about kittens is that they are all born with blue eyes, these change colour around 6 weeks of age. They also need help pottying, the mum licks them to stimulate them to go to the toilet after meals, they are generally ready to begin litter training around 4 weeks of age.

You can help contribute towards the cost of caring for Daisy, her kittens and other wanted cats by becoming a Cats Protection sponsor, to get started, please visit here
Alternatively you can make a one off donation to our kitten appeal at http://bit.ly/2GDxM7P or by texting BRKW48 followed by £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10 to 70070. 

Daisy is one of the lucky cats who has found her way into our care, sadly every year many cats give birth out doors with no proper shelter and care.  Although we all love seeing mums with kittens at the centre, we would always advocate getting cats neutered as this is the only effective way to reduce unwanted cats in the UK.  A fact which surprises everyone is that one female cat can be responsible for a staggering 20,000 descendants in just five years!   For help with neutering your cat, please click here

Watch this space for our next kitten watch blog!