Sometimes life seems very unfair.

After the surprise arrival of Tibblate everything seemed to be going well for Tibbs and her 2 babies, but last Tuesday I noticed that the umbilical cord on Tibblet didn't look right, a call to the vets ended with her being prescribed a course of antibiotics. The next day the cord looked a lot better but she was not right in herself and was not suckling properly, so I started to syringe feed her. By Thursday one of her back legs had swollen really badly and she was obviously not a well kitten, she had septicemia and the prognosis was poor. As she was still responsive we decided to start her on an additional course of antibiotics. Again she appeared to be fighting the infection and by Saturday morning there was definite improvement in her leg, but by the evening she was worryingly quiet. I carried on with her feeds through the night but by Sunday morning it was evident that she was losing the battle and was now showing signs of distress, so the heartbreaking decision to let her go was made. R.I.P Tibblet. Her sister, Tibblate is thriving.

A bit of a surprise

I'm sorry but I'm a bit late updating my blog, Tibbs finally went into labour on Tuesday afternoon, she produced her 1st kitten at about 6pm but although it looked perfect it was unfortunately stillborn. It was followed quite quickly by a 2nd kitten, this one was also stillborn but judging by its appearance it had been dead a little while, this did not bode well for the chances of Tibbs having any live kittens, but fortunately she then produced a strong and healthy little girl. I was so relieved for both her and myself, this is Tibbs' last litter and of course we lost Manuel just a few weeks ago so this girl was my last chance to keep their line going.

Tibbs was very content with her baby and completely settled into motherhood. A facebook friend christened the baby Tibblet, which has stuck. Today I had to go into work this evening. When I got home I checked in on Tibbs and Tibblet only to find they had been joined by a little blue and white girl, now known as Tiblate :)

Returned kitten seeks new home.

My blue kitten that had the stress hernia repair has not had the best time, she had the hernia repaired and was spayed a few weeks ago and having got the all clear from my vet she went to her new home. Unfortunately by the time she was checked by her new families vet there had been a partial breakdown in the repair which means that she is going to need another surgery, although this should be a very quick operation with 100% recovery her family made the very hard decision to return her to me. She arrived back yesterday and as can be seen she and Beetle wasted no time in starting up fast and furious play. She is still the most affectionate kitten and when she is not running at 100mph she wants nothing more than to be with people, and her purring is just non stop when she is settled with you. She is scheduled for surgery this week and once I am certain there is not going to be any further issue she will be looking for a new home. Please feel free to contact me if you would like more details about this delightful purr machine that Emily has named Floof :)

Anytime soon!

Tibbs is pregnant with her very last litter, she will be spayed after these babies as she is well into middle age now. So this litter is tinged with both anticipation and a certain amount of sadness as she and Manuel have produced some wonderful babies over the years and this marks the end of an era.

She has never produced more than 3 kittens in a litter, but she currently looks huge, of course this could simply be that she does have a bit of a problem with middle age spread. I suspect we will find out in the next 48hrs :)