Welcome to the Kitten Page
Day 1, 6:30 am
Stats and Milestones: Born approximately 5:30am
Amelia: 125 grams, a Black Smoke and White female.
Abigail: 109 grams, a Silver Patched Mackeral Tabby female.
Day 2 6:00 am
Stats and Milestones: Observed first bowel activity when Mom cleaned them. Whee. 24 (Amelia) and 20 (Abigail) grams weight gain in one day, a good sign! Amelia purred today for the first time (that *I* heard anyway) while nursing that afternoon. Abigail hissed at a visitor. Hilarious.
Amelia: 145 grams
Abigail: 128 grams
Dawn of the second day finds everyone sleeping peacefully. The kittens are fat and happy.
Maggie left the nestbox for the first time, shortly after dawn, to get some water and food. The little ones search for mom awkwardly, but aren't alarmed. They recognize my smell now and don't protest when I pick them up, as they did on day 1.
Once cuddled together, they fall fast asleep.
Day 3 7:00 am
Stats and Milestones: Maggie left the nest box more than once today. She seems willing to leave as long as I'm there, and did so twice to feed and toilet while I watched the kittens. Whether she officially put me in charge or not, I don't know. She did give me a vocalization I hadn't heard before and then hopped out of the box as soon as I sat down. Yet another impressive weight gain. 21g today, 45g total for Amelia and 29g today, 49g total for Abigail! She's catching up to her sister quickly.
5:00 pm. Maggie moved the kittens for the first time. I went upstairs and she had abandoned the nestbox in favor of... under my desk. No problem, I have another nestbox that fits under there perfectly. I moved them into it and Maggie thought it was just peachy. The old one I cleaned and placed in yet another location. Perhaps she'll move them there next. (Or perhaps that's wishful thinking.)
Amelia: 166 grams
Abigail: 157 grams
Abigail nurses while Amelia burrows under Maggie's chin, just as I was ready to start taking pictures.
I dragged her out so I could get a picture. Maggie watches just long enough to see that it's me. Amelia snuggles up to her sister and goes to sleep.
Now that the babies are quiet, Maggie lies down to nap.
Tuesday afternoon, Maggie left me in charge while she fed herself and used the litterbox. Here's Abigail...
and Amelia.
And finally, two pictures of sisterly bliss.....
Day 4 10:00 am
Stats and Milestones: Maggie and I compromised about her choice of nesting places. Under the desk was just too small. I put her original bed next to the desk, and that was fine.
Amelia: 191 grams
Abigail: 174 grams
Mom and babies enjoy the warmth from the morning sun.
The easiest kitten picture I ever took. Abigail was sound asleep.
Two more shots of Maggie and the girls relaxing quietly in the still of the morning.
Day 5 9:00 am
Stats and Milestones: I confirmed that Abigail is patched. One of the pictures clearly shows the tiny red swirl on her right flank. Her mother is patched in a similar fashion, (but you'd never guess just from glancing at her either). She already has "tortietude", though.
Amelia: 209 grams
Abigail 204 grams
The next 4 shots show Amelia rolling over in that awkward manner that kittens have.
And the next 4 show Abigail doing much the same thing.
Here you can see the faint red patch on Abigail's right flank.
Maggie takes a short break from Motherhood while I change the bedding in the nestbox.
Day 6 7:00 am
Stats and Milestones: Amelia purred for *me* this morning for the first time. I was stroking her as she napped, and she woke up enough to start making a faint, hesitant purr. After a moment of practice, she got it just right and purred for nearly 30 seconds before falling asleep again.
Amelia: 232 grams
Abigail 215 grams
The first two shots were very early in the morning. In the second one, Maggie had just heard a noise outside and was investigating closely.
In the next series of pics, Maggie puts the kibosh on the photo shoot and retrieves Amelia. I have to settle for photos *in* the nestbox.
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Last modified: Feb 11 2005