You know that old saying - Be careful what you wish for? It was said to me yesterday by another foster mom, Jen, who called me Miss I-Need-a-Kitten-Fix. Yes, I Am. It's no secret I've been waiting for kitten season since last fall. I was so thrilled to get Elsa last week and thought she was very close to giving birth. Five days later, no kittens. Not even any of the usual signs since she faked me out the day she came. I'm not feeling kittens move, her nipples aren't pink and filled, she won't go in the birthing box, and other signs I won't go into.
Elsa has a hairy back end, called pants, that she can't reach to clean because of the kittens, but she won't let me clean her, either. I took her to the vet yesterday so they could shave her pants, and they did her tummy, too, and trimmed her back nails. They also took an x-ray so I'd know how many kittens to expect. The vet called me into the exam room and had the x-ray on the screen. I figured there were six, but wasn't expecting Marcy to tell me Elsa was carrying EIGHT kittens! She's not as close to delivery as I thought because there's eight instead of six and she's just bigger. She's got a couple weeks to go and should be HUGE by then. In the four years I've been with Heartland, I don't remember a cat having eight kittens.
I feel better about being gone all day today, and having meetings Saturday and Tuesday. Tuesday is my monthly quilt guild meeting that I had to miss twice last summer for kitten deliveries. I just knew Elsa would wait till Tuesday, but now it looks like I'll get to go to my meeting.
Elsa is so sweet and beautiful. I named her after my wonderful grandmother, who everybody in town knew as Elsie. It wasn't until I started doing genealogy 15 years ago that I found out her name was really Elsa in English, but she was baptized as Ilsa, the German form of the name. Like Ingrid Bergman's character in Casablanca.
I think you will fall hard for her she is such a beauty. Good grief, 8 kittens. I think there will be lots of assisting her during meal time. Hope all goes well. Deb
ReplyDeleteShe is beautiful! You are such a good "cat mom" so she is in good hands. Hope all goes well and she doesn't have too much pain with her labor.
ReplyDeleteEight? Oh, boy.....Purrs from the boys that all goes well with the delivery and that all the babies are healthy.
ReplyDeleteOh she's a pretty thing, I hope all goes well with the kittens.
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