Who wants to wait whilst my kittens are born!

[Kittenwatch]

My girl is having her kittens! First one is here squeaking and healthy!

Second is imminent.

I think she’ll have 4 🤞🏽🤞🏽

And if you’re in the London area then I’m happy to PM you the details for mine. I’ve sent them to other MNers.

Oh they look so beautiful, I LOVE the hidden stripes’

More Pics

They are wobbly walking and starting to play. They are perfect. DH is still calling Scrump
’my one’ but is detaching 😭

They’re getting more gorgeous by the day. They are maturing so quickly! You’ve got a lovely few weeks ahead!

Gorgeous! The mum looks very proud.
❤️ Scrump

Awwwwwww. They’ll look like real tubs of trouble. 🤣😘.
Do they walk with their baby tails sticking up. It’s so cute the way kittens do that.

Mum is starting to look a bit tired 😁

I want people to stop breeding cats when rescue centres are full

I want to be able to adopt a kitten without the shelters telling me there are none to adopt while also insisting they are overwhelmed with kittens.

They are starting to play fight and be really scrappy. I have a big crate arriving on Wednesday as we will be starting weaning and they will need more space but to
also be contained at times.

They have brought so much happiness to us.

Mum now gets in to feed them but leaves them alone most of the time. I read this is normal development as they are encouraging independence. She currently sleeping about 2 feet from the nest pretending she’s totally chill.

Oh gosh they are so precious

I want people to stop breeding cats when rescue centres are full

The trouble is, rescue centres are not full of pets.

They are full of:

• stray or semi feral cats
• kittens/offspring of feral and semi feral cats, often who have not had enough human exposure in the early weeks to make good pets
• cats with difficult traits like spraying
• cats that will not tolerate children
• cats that will not tolerate other cats
• cats with expensive health conditions
• very elderly cats

What they tend not to have:

• healthy kittens from well domesticated queens, who've been exposed to people early on and are comfortable with them
• healthy tame young adult cats

Rescues are also laughably picky not allowing you to have a cat if you have children, insisting you take two etc.

If you go to a rescue where the cats are fostered in people’s homes rather than kept in pens, you have a far better chance of getting a well socialised cat / kitten.

@Kittenwatch thanks for the new photos. That black kitten is so fluffy

Do they let you foster if you have existing cats and children?

I would foster kittens if that was allowed. My children are both very gentle with them and my two cats are very relaxed. I would love to do this is the future.

@Davros all three black ones are super fuzzy like stuffed toys, and the tabby markings are getting so pronounced - I’ve never seen a black tabby before.

I’ve asked my friend if the dad cat has similar markings - he looks totally black to me but I wonder if he’s got tabby undertones that are more subtle.

My guess would be that it varies depending on the rescue & the cats!
I had to stop fostering when I adopted Kitty because I’ve got a one-bed flat & she’s not keen on other cats. If I’d had enough space to keep her & any fosters separate, I could have carried on.

A lot of black cats are genetically tabby with excessive melanin. I know a black cat with longer hair who becomes more brown in the summer sun, and you can see some faint markings - but only in the summer.

Suspect you won't see it so much in the kittens as their coat matures. But the patterns can remain visible - look up black smoke tabby.

You can tell for certain whether a cat’s a tabby by seeing if it has an M on its forehead. https://www.purina.co.uk/find-a-pet/articles/cat-types/fur-type/what-are-tabby-cats#:~:text=that%20are%20striped.-,Cats%20with%20'M'%20on%20forehead:%20the%20mark%20of%20a,markings%20starting%20to%20show%20up.

I had a black cat who used to turn brown in the summer she looked like a brown cuddly teddy bear but as she got older she stayed black,

My current two black cats, who are brothers from the same litter, had feint stripes as kittens but those seem to have disappeared.

They are all looking gorgeous! Mum looks so proud of her babies, but will, as OP said, start to distance herself from them.
Kittens are always cute and amusing.
I have an old black and white boy who is grumpy and sleeps most of the time 😏

Look at these babies. I can’t bear the idea I have to give them to new homes 😭

Accidentally posted the same pic as before! Sorry.

Oh, it's hard x I shed a little tear every time I waved one of my four off x They'd started getting really cute and snuggly with me and it was a real wrench!!