Following on from yesterday's thread regarding the pregnant cat I am fostering, she had her babies !!

I was woken up at 4am by painfull cries and went to go and check on her, she hissed at me straight away lol but can't blame her she was very scared and had only know me since yesterday after coming from a terrible situation!

When I looked in her crate I saw two dead kittens both still in their sacks
I picked them up to check them and see if I could tell why they died and noticed that one was still warm and breathing very very lightly.

I had to remove the sack, clean his airways and remove his placenta but he made it after about 20 minutes of being rubbed with a towel and kept warm by a hot water bottle

Sadly the second kitten was already dead and nothing could be done

As we watched she her went on to have two more kittens both alive although again she left them in their sacks so we had to take over.

The last kitten was still-born we tried resusitating for over an hour but no joy.

The mother who I havn't named yet was very confused by what happened and didn't have a clue what to do with the kittens, she looked at me like I was mad when I tried to put them to her nipple.

It's now 9am though and she has started to catch on!

She has given them all a good wash and they are feeding as I type

So after a bit of a drama we have 3 very happy and healthy kittens!

I havn't checked their sexes as mum is not too keen on me approaching, she dosn't fully trust me yet but it's early days.

I think they are all male as they are all pure ginger tabbies and I know female gingers are quite rare but you never know.

I will try and get some pictures in the next few days when she has settled a bit.

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Congratulations!! Well done you for stepping in and saving the babies you could - The whole litter wouldn't have made it if it hadn't been for you.

Sorry to hear of the little ones that didn't make it RIP little babies.

I hope she's able to relax soon and realise she's safe, i'm sure she'll come round given a little time.

Well done!!

Yikes that was quick you only posted yesterday.

Well done you.

congrats!!! good luck to the remaining little bundles xx

It was quick yes!

Luckilly we got to her in time as she would have been giving birth on the roof of a derelict building.

We were supposed to wait for a trained inspector to come and get her down but they were not available until Thursday and as we were quite concerned about her I climbed the roof myself and got her down lol.

Now I am very glad that I did, we could have been finding a litter of dead kittens if we waited.

I am being very naughty however and getting attached to one of the kittens, he is the one that took 20 minutes to revive and he is quite small and weak so really hoping he pulls through and I can keep him lol.

My OH claims we have too many pets, nonsense!

I have 1 dog, 5 cats and a hamster not including the foster's I think there's plently room for more

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Oh gosh lots of room, I have 1 dog, 4 cats (soon to be 5) and think the house would be very empty without them. A lot less hairy but empty!

How do you go about fostering, do you think my local shelter would let me with having the ragdolls ? I will only be having one ragdoll litter this year?

In terms of fostering it's best to chat to your local branch.

Not all branches run a foster scheme but as we are a small and un-funded branch we rely heavilly on foster carers.

Also some branches are VERY against breeders of any kind. I approached my local branch with a view to voluntering at the centre intially and was up-front that I bred Birman's and spoke about the policies I have and reassured them that I was not an irrisponsible owner.

After volunteering for a year I began to foster pregnant cats, mums with kittens and feral kittens, they saw the fact that I have bred litters as a bonus as it meant experiance.

Now 3 years on and I am the cat re-homing officer in sole charge on all cats in our care and making decissions on bringing it cats, re-homing etc.

It's hard work but I love it and it's very rewarding!

I will have a quick look on my contacts list and see if I can find anything in your area.

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Here is the website for the Scottish RSPCA, it seems they use a cattery rather than fosterers but they may use your help still :

Volunteer | Scottish SPCA

Many Tears rescue also operate in your area and I know they use fosterer's so worth a look, they do say your own cats must be neutered but my branch also say that and made an exception after speaking to me. The website is:

Home for www.manytears.co.uk

This is East Lothian cats protection, they often use fosterer's so worth an ask as well:

Cats Protection - East Lothian & Berwickshire Branch

The Cinamon trust also operates in your area, it is not a re-homing centre but they work fostering cats for owners who may need to go into hospital etc. so would be very gratefull of some more help.

Home

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Thank you

i hope mummy and the remaining kitties do well. congratulations to you, for stepping in and helping. we would love to see pictures when you have time. when my pets got into double numbers i gave up counting them .... when people say how many pets do you have, i just say, errrrrr quite alot.

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