On Saturday afternoon, after catching her third mouse of the week, Tilde gave birth to four kittens! Having read up on birthing, we knew she would choose an out-of-the-way place, so we had set up birthing boxes in distant corners of the house, and made sure she knew where they were. Somewhere away from the main traffic arteries of the house, the book said.
Not having read the book, Tilde had other ideas. I was sitting on the sofa reading, Kate, the Red Mother, was in the kitchen baking bread. Tilde suddenly jumped up on the sofa next to me, put her back against my leg, and started to push.
I was so proud. She had chosen to give birth with me! I called out to Kate to come and see. Big mistake. Kate, you see, had given birth to four young herself, and based on these flimsy qualifications, thought that only another mother could help Tilde now. Father banished to the waiting room.
So I ended up in the kitchen watching the bread, whilst Kate crooned and soothed and sympathised with contractions on the sofa.
No way, I thought. The bread can burn without my supervision. I find a place on the other side of Tilde on the sofa and get a towel under her. Soon, the first ’bubble’ starts to appear. Kate bursts into tears, shortly followed by me. With surprisingly little mess, the first kitten is born, and Tilde looks a little puzzled. Lack of movement worries me, and I give the tiny thing a little stroke down its back. It starts moving, and Tilde begins to lick it, as she should. One of the kids, Mads, is a big animé fan, so the first kitten he called Ichi, Japanese for ’one’.
Comes the second kitten. Tilde, now an ’experienced’ mother, knows exactly what to do, and takes care of her baby immediately. This one is a tortie, with an orange stripe down the middle of her head. We call her Gizmo.
Instead of hiding away in a private place, the Little Mother ends up giving birth right there in the living room, next to the guitars and stereo and bits of old Volvo, with the whole family standing around going Ooh! and AaH! and especially Eeeuw! when she starts eating the afterbirth.
Several of the kids had not been too enthused about the prospect of kittens in the house. Totally different story now! We are all in love.
After a 20 minute break, number three arrives. The little thing is round as a football, so is named Tubby. Mum is an expert by now, and number four baby is just routine. It has a white tip to its tail, so with typical lack of imagination, it is christened Tippy. We wait for number five, but what seem to be further contractions are thankfully only aftershocks.
She has chosen the place, so her box is placed right there on the sofa and Tilde and kittens are scooped up and placed in it. Before long, she has them suckling. It takes a bit longer for her to figure out that lying down is a more comfortable position for this activity than sitting up, but we are so impressed that this first time mother did so well. I had read about so many things that could go wrong, and what to do if they did, that I was ready to dive in there and start biting umbilical cords through and administering CPR.
Stupid humans - cats have been doing this for thousands of years without our help!
Mother and babies are all doing fine. Tilde is eating 4 or 5 times a day, and only comes out of her box to tell me she is hungry, or to nip outside for a quick pee. We are trying to resist the temptation to pick the tiny things up and stroke them, but at least we can sneak a good look when mum is feeding.
Oh my, what a fantastic experience! The whole house is on end, and the kids are helping to keep an eye on things, coming to tell me whenever Tilde has been out of her box for more than 5 minutes. I feel like a proud grandfather!
Pictures are on the way, promise. Randi took some good ones.
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All of the kittens sound adorable and I can't wait to see pictures.
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