The Miracle of Birth

No matter how small or how large, the birth of any creature is nothing short of miraculous and wonderful. I know, I know. The actual birth scenario may not be all that pleasant to anyone. But once you get past all the blood and ... other gruesome details, the reaction of the new mother to its young, and the young ones slowly gaining in strength with every suckle, and the promise of what's to come - there lies the happiness.

Especially when the young ones turn out to be a litter of kittens.

Three days ago I was called by dear Z to midwife her G1P5 queen. For those of you who have not read up on cats nearly as much as I have, a queen refers to a pregnant or nursing cat. With the entire family freaked out of their minds with the whole event, the poor thing must have been more nervous and scared than when she herself was born. When I had got there, one jetblack kitten was already born and somehow had fallen on the cold, balcony floor. Someone who probably never witnessed or had anything to do with cats felt it necessary to give the advice that if you touch a new born kitten it will never open its eyes. I say pooh to that. My kittens were touched from day one and they opened their eyes within two weeks. .... Ah, those where the days ...

Anyway, back to point. Mum didn't know she had to pick up the thing that had just left her, or may be she didn't know how to do it, or didn't have enough strength. I put him in his place and within minutes he found exactly what he needed. An hour later, at about 9:50, came the second, then the third while we weren't looking at about 10:30. She didn't look quite so big to bear too many so I left at 11 ... pm.

The next day, when I went to visit my furry little patients there were four kittens! Joy of joys! ... well, almost. It turned out altogether there were 5. With so many in a first litter not all are likely to live.