Week 4: More new experiences!

  

Kitten Watch 2024: Caramel and her sweet kittens

By Week 4, the kittens are ready to be introduced to wet food alongside continuing drinking their mother's milk. They also do a lot more walking, playing and even running! Kittens may start to show interest in the litter tray too. This is an exciting age for the kittens as they are getting used to their surroundings and developing strength in their bodies.

Chai testing out the litter tray.

But first, an appreciation of the amazing job that Caramel is doing as a mother for her kittens. After her risky experience during pregnancy where if she had gone unfound, could have resulted in her giving birth on an industrial estate near a very busy road, she is flourishing in the safety of the maternity corridor here at Wales Cat Centre. It is thanks to our dedicated supporters, staff and volunteers that we are able to rescue cats like Caramel from sometimes dangerous situations.

Beautiful Caramel, safe and sound now.

Did you know? A mother cat needs a lot of the right nutrients while she is nursing her kittens, to help keep both her and her kittens strong. It is best to feed the mother a good quality kitten food while she is nursing, as it is more nutrient and energy dense.

Around four weeks of age, the kittens will be ready to start trying wet kitten food too! This usually involves introducing the kittens to kitten milk in a bowl, and slowly mixing in wet kitten food over time. Gradually over the next few weeks, the ratio of food to milk in the bowl will be increased, all while the kittens are continuing to suckle from their mother.

Sweet Cinnamon showing us her lovely blue eyes.

Whoops! Costa doing a roly-poly.

Cuddly Coban - look at his little milk teeth coming through!

Thank you for joining us for Week 4 of Kitten Watch! We will continue to follow the kittens' progress week by week on this blog, right up until they and their mum are ready to go to their forever homes.

 

Please note, these blog posts are not in real time, the kittens are a little bit older at the time of writing. However, we hope you enjoy following along with their weekly development from day one. You will get to see how they grow, change and blossom into lovely young cats with the support of their amazing mum, Caramel, and our dedicated team of cat care staff and volunteers here at Wales Cat Centre.

 

If you would like to donate towards the care for our cats, including those like Caramel and her kittens, you can do so on our website here. Anything you can give, big or small, can really make a difference. Thank you for being here for cats 💜

 

See you next week for Kitten Watch: Week 5! 🐾

Week 3: Introducing the kittens!

 

Kitten Watch 2024: Caramel and her sweet kittens

It's Week 3 of the kittens' lives and while they are still a bit wobbly on their feet, they have started to walk around, play and show their personalities! The kittens are in the important socialisation period at the moment, which takes place from two to seven weeks of age. At this stage the kitten's brain and sensory system are still developing, so the experiences they have during this time will teach them what is threatening and non-threatening. Positive experiences with different people and different things will teach them that these experiences are non-threatening. However, any negative experiences, or no experiences at all, can cause a kitten to become fearful – a feeling that is likely to last into adulthood.

Caramel and all four kittens and a little toy mouse!

Now that the kittens are starting to become more active, this is a great time to introduce you to each kitten and find out a bit more about their personalities.

First up, we've got Chai! She is a tabby female and is slightly greyer in colour. She has white tips to her feet and more of a V-shaped marking on her forehead. She is the most confident of the kittens and loves to play and fight with her brother Costa. She also enjoys climbing on Caramel and biting her ears!

Cheeky Chai, a confident tabby female.

Next, we have Coban, a tabby and white male with a coloured patch on the side of his nose. Coban is the shyest and sleepiest of the kittens. He loves cuddling up to Caramel or sweet Cinnamon, who is the gentlest of his siblings.

Cuddly Coban, a tabby and white male

The other male is Costa, who is a slightly browner coloured tabby with more of a W-shaped marking on his head. He is quite a confident chap and loves playing with Chai. They are very happy rolling around together and like to follow each other around the pen.

Mother and son: Caramel and little Costa 

Last but not least, we have Cinnamon (rightmost kitten below). She is a very sweet tabby and white female just like her mum! Sweet Cinnamon is just starting to play, but is not as boisterous as Chai and Costa.

Caramel with Costa, Coban and Cinnamon (looks like Chai is behind her too!)

We hope you enjoyed meeting each kitten and learning a bit more about their personalities! We will continue to follow the kittens' progress week by week on this blog, right up until they and their mum are ready to go to their forever homes.

 

Please note, these blog posts are not in real time, the kittens are a little bit older at the time of writing. However, we hope you enjoy following along with their weekly development from day one. You will get to see how they grow, change and blossom into lovely young cats with the support of their amazing mum, Caramel, and our dedicated team of cat care staff and volunteers here at Wales Cat Centre.

 

If you would like to donate towards the care for our cats, including those like Caramel and her kittens, you can do so on our website here. Anything you can give, big or small, can really make a difference. Thank you for being here for cats 💜

 

See you next week for Kitten Watch: Week 4! 🐾

Week 2: Starting to explore!

 

Kitten Watch 2024: Caramel and her sweet kittens

In their second week of life, the kittens are starting to take their first steps and get to know the world around them a bit more! By now, all their eyes are fully open and their ears are uncurled. The ears are still very small and round compared to what they will look like when the kittens are a bit bigger.

Open eyes! All kittens wiggling around starting to explore.

Did you know? All kittens are born with blue eyes, which is because of lack of pigment in the iris. Within their first few weeks to months of life, a pigment called melanin is distributed throughout the iris, which causes the eyes to change colour. Usually this happens in both eyes, but if the cat has heterochromia, melanin is only distributed in one iris. This leaves the other iris blue. You can find out more about some interesting cat eye facts on the Cats Protection website here.

Cinnamon (female) and Coban (male) playing together - don't they both look so much like their mum!

Little Costa, one of the male kittens.

And now for a special treat! We have a short video to show you, of the kittens cuddling with Caramel and wiggling around - learning how to use their legs and paws!

We will continue to follow the kittens' progress on this blog over the next few weeks, right up until they and their mum are ready to go to their forever homes!

Please note, these blog posts are not in real time, the kittens are a little bit older at the time of writing. However, we hope you enjoy following along with their weekly development from day one. You will get to see how they grow, change and blossom into lovely young cats with the support of their amazing mum, Caramel, and our dedicated team of cat care staff and volunteers here at Wales Cat Centre.

 

If you would like to donate towards the care for our cats, including those like Caramel and her kittens, you can do so on our website here. Anything you can give, big or small, can really make a difference. Thank you for being here for cats 💜

 

See you next week for Kitten Watch: Week 3! 🐾

Week 1: Kittens' first week!

Kitten Watch 2024: Caramel and her sweet kittens

It's Week 1, and Caramel is already such a wonderful mum! She has been carefully looking after her four kittens: Cinnamon, Coban, Chai and Costa, and getting to know them in the safety of her maternity pen. Here they all are feeding and snuggling with Caramel, while she gets some well-deserved comfort on her soft bed.

Caramel and kittens enjoying their first week together.

All kittens are born with their eyes closed and ears folded. This means they can't see or hear anything, and rely on their mother completely. This shows just how vulnerable newborn kittens are, and how important it is that they stay with mum as they are growing. Around seven days of age, the kittens' ears can be seen unfolding, but most kittens' eyes are still closed.

The kittens have closed eyes, and ears are starting to uncurl.

By one week of age, the kittens can hold their heads up, and they crawl around to move - like when looking for a place to suckle. Did you know? Kittens need to feed every two to three hours, and in between feeds the kittens can often be seen sleeping - getting their energy ready for the next few weeks of important changes! Kittens get all of their nutrition from their mother in the milk, until they are ready to transition to solid foods at around four weeks of age. You can read more about kittens and feeding on our kitten advice pages here.

Some sleeping, some feeding, Caramel watching over them.

Over the next few weeks, we will follow the kittens' progress week by week on this blog, right up until they and their mum are ready to go to their forever homes. It's great to have you here sharing in their journey!

 

Please note, these blog posts are not in real time, the kittens are a few weeks old at the time of writing. However, we hope you enjoy following along with their weekly development from day one. You will get to see how they grow, change and blossom into lovely young cats with the support of their amazing mum, Caramel, and our dedicated team of cat care staff and volunteers here at Wales Cat Centre.

 

If you would like to donate towards the care for our cats, including those like Caramel and her kittens, you can do so on our website here. Anything you can give, big or small, can really make a difference. Thank you for being here for cats 💜

 

See you next week for Kitten Watch: Week 2! 🐾

Kitten Watch 2024: Caramel gives birth

Kitten Watch 2024: Caramel and her sweet kittens

Caramel is a 1-year-old sweet tabby and white female cat who came to us in early July after she was found heavily pregnant at a retail park by a busy dual carriageway. We made sure she had a safe, warm and comfortable space to give birth to her beautiful kittens, and access to the care she needed here in the maternity corridor at Wales Cat Centre.

Pregnant Caramel giving a head-bump 'thank you' to one of our cat carers.

The maternity corridor is where all our pregnant queens and new mothers in our care are housed to give birth and raise their kittens. Did you know? Most cats are able to deliver their litter of kittens without any help, and prefer to do so privately. The best thing to do as a human to help a cat during the process of giving birth is to watch quietly and discreetly from a distance, ready to get help from a vet if things don't seem to be going according to plan. You can find out more about how to be a good cat midwife and what the potential signs of complications could be on our Birth and Kittening advice page here.

Caramel resting in her birthing space getting ready for the big day.

On Saturday 20 July 2024, Caramel's 4 healthy kittens were born! They are 2 males and 2 females called Coban, Costa, Cinnamon and Chai. It is essential that kittens stay with their mothers for at least 8 weeks to learn from her and be cared for during these vulnerable first stages of their lives. This is exactly what Caramel and her kittens will be doing here with us, to ensure they get the best, most healthy start to life possible.

Stay tuned for next week’s post to reveal the kittens!

Over the next few weeks, we will follow the kittens' progress week by week on this blog, right up until they and their mum are ready to go to their forever homes. We can't wait to share their adorable first steps in life with you!

 

Please note, these blog posts will not be in real time, the kittens are a few weeks old at the time of writing. However, we hope you enjoy following along with their weekly development from day one. You will get to see how they grow, change and blossom into lovely young cats with the support of their amazing mum, Caramel, and our dedicated team of cat care staff and volunteers here at Wales Cat Centre.

 

If you would like to donate towards the care for our cats, including those like Caramel and her kittens, you can do so on our website here. Anything you can give, big or small, can really make a difference. Thank you for being here for cats 💜

 

See you next week for Kitten Watch: Week 1! 🐾

Microchipping Event at the Senedd

 All for Cats!

Yes, that’s what we are and what drives us. And if you are reading this, then it probably applies to you too.

You may be aware that microchipping will be compulsory in England from 10^th June 2024 and although it is on the agenda and in the Animal Welfare Plan for Wales no date has been given for microchipping to be enforced in Wales.

To push the issue up the agenda, Daryl Gordon the Cats Protection Advocacy and Government Relations Officer for Wales arranged an event at the Senedd, Cardiff Bay to bring the matter to the attention of parliamentarians. He was joined by Madison Rogers, Cats Protection Head of Advocacy, Campaigns & Government Relations and members of her staff from Head Office, Jenna Butcher, Deputy Manager, Bridgend Adoption Centre (BAC) and me, Theresa Cooper, Volunteer at BAC. We were fortunate to be sponsored by Huw Irranca-Davies, our local MS.

Theresa and Jenna at the Senedd

The drop-in reception event was to raise awareness of the importance of microchipping pet cats, to answer questions on microchipping and to encourage the Welsh Government to pass legislation which makes microchipping pet cats compulsory. MSs came and went throughout the event and in conversations with them we were able to ask if they had a cat, point out case studies of cats being reunited with their owners and using a fluffy toy cat and scanner, demonstrate how scanners work. They were offered a pledge board to have their picture taken with and we didn’t have any refusals.

KEY STATS ON MICROCHIPPING

According to the Cats Protection CATS 2023 report:

·        71% of owned cats in Wales are microchipped.

·        25% of owned cats in Wales are NOT microchipped.

·        4% of owners are unsure.

This means there are potentially 180,000 owned cats in Wales that are not microchipped!Hence the need to highlight to Welsh Government that they need to pass this legislation asap.

We were also joined by representatives from Dogs Trust, RSPCA, Blue Cross and Battersea Dogs and Cats Homes, so they could see the type of advocacy work carried out by Cats Protection. And to thank and encourage parliamentarians for their interest, there were some goodies (Cats Protection branded!) to take away and tasty treats of Welsh cakes and slices of bara brith.

Most of those I chatted to did have cats in the family or had experience of owning a pet. There was a great deal of interest shown, appreciation for all the work carried out by Cats Protection and a general willingness to move forward with the Animal Welfare Plan as early as possible.

As a volunteer I was thanked numerous times for my commitment and (a first for me) took part in a live video blog on Huw Irranca-Davies’s Twitter (or X) page. It does reflect the attitude of the MSs we met in that 26 attended, almost half the total number of Senedd members - a new record for a Cats Protection event!

Hopefully, we did raise awareness of welfare matters, and that it’s a human issue too. As we know, it can be devastating to lose a pet and not know what has happened to them or where they are.

Theresa Cooper, Volunteer Bridgend Adoption Centre

Fostering with CP Bridgend!

Hello, I am Marie, I have had the privilege of fostering cats for Cat’s Protection Bridgend Adoption Centre for three years. I could use all the usual superlatives and say how rewarding it is etc., and it is, but it is also a bit scary and emotional at times. 

 As a fosterer you are not alone. The Centre staff and Volunteer Coordinator are incredibly supportive and go above and beyond for cats in their care and for you as a foster volunteer. Even the smallest thing is never a problem, the staff are always there at the end of the phone, or just an email away. The training is incredibly thorough and fascinating, both at the induction stage and ongoing with developmental workshops. You may have looked after cats all your life but I can honestly say, you know nothing! But as long as you care then fostering is for you. 

When people find out that I foster cats the usual comment is’ how can you let them go, I’d get too attached?’. Well yes, I do get attached, that’s human, and there is always a grieving process once a cat in my care has been homed. However, I know that it’s found it’s forever loving home and there are always so many other cats who are waiting to be helped. Moving on is just a part of the process and a reward in itself, I really wouldn’t change it. Being a foster carer is the best experience ever. 

One of my foster cats in Rainbow, the first time I met Rainbow was after I’d received a phone call to ask if I would be willing to foster a cat who needed to lose weight but it would be on a longer term basis. I arrived to collect her from the Bridgend Adoption Centre and I knew immediately she was a special girl when all the staff came to say an emotional farewell to her. This was understandable as Rainbow had been at the Centre for nearly six months, receiving all the TLC and care she needed to begin her on her weight loss journey. Rainbow had Already lost 2.5 kilos, falling from a dangerous 12.7 kilos to 10.2 kilos.

Being the gentle and trusting soul she is, it didn’t take Rainbow long to settle in. However, it was impossible for her to display any of the natural cat behaviours such as playing or chasing because of her obesity. She was unable to walk more than a short distance or even jump up onto the settee without help. As she gradually lost weight exciting milestones were reached that began to transform her life. Her pain medication was gradually reduced to nothing, she became more alert and responsive. A video of her playing was a must when she started chasing her baby toy mouse across the floor, it became easier for her to jump onto the settee with less and less effort. 

Small things but a massive achievement for Rainbow. When her weight eventually dropped to just over 8 kilos she was assessed as ready to be homed and her health was in less danger because of her size. It was a thrilling and exciting moment for all those involved in Rainbow’s care. Her weight loss now meant that she was able to live a more normal cat life.  I will never forget you Rainbow, well done, and thank you for all the joy you gave us getting to know you. 

Rainbow has since been adopted and is happily settled with her new family and has continued with her weight loss programme. Sarah and Matthew, her new owners have said: 

“We took her to the vets on Friday for another check-up and weighing. The vets are so happy with her progress so far and we are so pleased that she has lost more weight again, she is now 7.1KG! We know she has a lot of loose skin now but so far this is not affecting her moving around at all…. she’s even running down the stairs when she knows it’s breakfast time! 

Rainbow is grooming several times a day now, she’s got several favourite sleeping spots around the house and she’s so cuddly, just loves chin tickle, resting her head on our hands with me and matt fussing over her…. which we do A LOT she’s just so adorable! She still loves her fish puzzle feeder and she has several Cat nip toys which she loves cuddling into. 

We think she loves her crinkle matt the best though as she is always lounging around on this. We just love her so much, I know we’ve said this before but it feels like she has always been a part of our family and we can’t thank you all enough for giving us the honour of looking after her and giving her, her furever home.

To find out more about fostering or to apply to be a fosterer please click here