Day 4

Day 5

Purrs, Frankie

Yawn…Kira out.

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I was very lucky to get these pictures. Poppy tolerates me at a distance, but won’t let me near her babies. Thank goodness for the zoom on my camera.

Day 2 — Look at that little face!

On day 3, when I took some soft food into Poppy, she ran out and was hissing like crazy. Usually, she hisses but then chows down and ignores me. I didn’t move because I didn’t know what was going on. Finally, Poppy ran back into the condo and that’s when I saw the kitten lying on the floor. She was evidently nursing and was still latched on when Poppy came out.

As you can see by the picture below, Poppy wasn’t sure what to do. She was in the condo protecting the other 3 kittens, but her focus was on the one out of the box.

Day 3 — Kitten out-of-the-box!

Come back for more photos and an update on Poppy and her kittens.

Purrs, Frankie

Kira here. Yeah cute. YAWN! Kira out.

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Look at the little stripped kitten in the middle. When my husband saw this picture he said, “Wow, we don’t have one like that.” LOL A true cat lover if I’ve ever heard one.

I love the look on Poppy’s face in this one. Sort of a resigned look, don’t you think?

Cat Pregnancy Facts
1. Pregnant cats give birth between 57 and 70 days after conception.

2. There are usually no visible signs of pregnancy until after 5 weeks (35 days). It was very hard to tell that Poppy was pregnant at first. Since she is feral, she stayed no one could pick her up to see. By the time she was captured in a heart trap and I started fostering her, she was too far along for an abortion. Yes, I would have considered abortion because millions of cats and kittens get killed in shelters every year.

3. Cats can be impregnated by more than one male, which is why kittens can look so different from their moms and from each other. I’d have loved to see the male that sired the little stripped kitten.

Come back for more pictures of Poppy and her kittens. I’ll also include info on TRN (trap, neuter, return) programs, caring for mothers to be and kittens, and lots of other info about pregnant cats, new moms and kittens.

If your cat is pregnant and you don’t know what to do, who to turn to for expert advice and information, then this is a must read How To Take Care Of Your Pregnant Cat.

Purrs, Frankie

CoCo here. Poppy is pretty cool. She runs up to me whenever she sees me. She doesn’t let me near her kittens either. But that’s okay. I’ve got lots of brothers and sisters to play with. CoCo out.

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She was part of a feral colony. She was used to being fed by a volunteer so she was fairly easy to catch in the heart trap. The goal is to at least to get the babies socialized, tested, spayed/neutered, and get them forever homes. I hope we can socialize Poppy too. She’s still fairly young. If she can’t be socialized, we’ll spay her and return her to a feral colony to live out her life. Below are a couple of pictures of her:

Poppy actually looks bigger in these pictures than she looks in person. She has a tiny face and tiny paws. The only thing that was big was her belly.

We have her in a old utility room between our kitchen and garage. Initially there was a window seat in front of the window, a cat bed on a board covering the large utility sink, a cat condo, a table, scratching post, a litter box and water dish.

Days 1 - 3: She hid in the little cat condo and would not come out in our presence.
Days 4 - 6: She came out to get the food we tried to entice her with — hissing until we left, then she’d eat.
Days 7 - 10: She came out and ate with us sitting there. Sometimes hissing but not all the time.
Days 11 - 12 She would actually come to the door when I called my other cats for their afternoon treat of soft food. I would open the door, she’d hiss and run back in and wait for me to give her food.

During this time we discovered that if we had the door open and one of our cats would come to the door, Poppy would come out immediately to greet them — ignoring us. She would talk to them and walk right by us to get to them. She forget she was feral and even rub up against our legs and we could pet her. She’d arched her back and rub then suddenly, she’d look up and hiss and run off.

She had her litter yesterday morning. There are 3, maybe 4 kittens. Poppy hisses now every time we enter the room. And, she’s eating a lot. I leave water and hard kitten food out 24 hours so she gets all the nutrients and protein she needs. Since she loves soft food, I take her some every 3 or 4 hours. She comes out quickly to get it hissing all the way. Even though she will eat it with me there.

I have been taking pictures from the door with a zoom and will begin posting them in the next post so come back and see how Poppy and her kittens are doing.

Purrs, Frankie

Lee here. I like that little Poppy. She’s a little fat, but Mom’s says that’s because she’s going to have kittens. I wonder how that happened? Lee out.

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The scratching post should be several inches taller than your cat stretched out fully when he stands on his hind legs. This gives him the best stretch and really exercises his body. Keep in mind that a kitten will grow, so spend the money now instead of replacing the scratching post later.

This 32 inches tall scratching post is simple, made well of fibrous and durable sisal, which is perfect for conditioning nails. Sisal is considered to be superior to carpet which snaps nails and encourages scratching on carpeted surfaces in your home.

It has a sturdy base and great workmanship. For more information on it, click the picture or 32 Inch Scratching Post

Purrs, Frankie

Lee here. I love my scratching post. I used to scratch on the furniture, but Mom and Dad showed me the error of my ways. Now I can scratch to my hearts content and not get into trouble. Next to eating, scratching is one of my favorite past times. Lee out.

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Mary

What was the problem?
Mary is my friend’s cat. My friend was taking care of her very sick husband, so I took Mary to the vet. The conclusion was that Mary was too fat to clean her butt! It seems that this little cat could not reach her bottom to clean, so it got infected and her hair fell out.

The solution?
1. My friend will clean Mary’s butt a couple times a day using a Baby Wipe. This will keep the area clean and the Baby Wipes have a salve on them that will ease the burning of this raw area.

2. Mary has also been put on a diet. She weighed 10 pounds, but for her size, should only weigh 6 pounds! Instead of food being left out all day long, Mary will be fed 1 to 1-1/4 cups of food per day — split in half, so she gets about 1/4+ cup twice a day.

Hopefully, Mary will be able to clean herself soon!

Purrs, Frankie

Kira here. That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard! Too fat to clean her own butt! I’m a svelte 7 pounds myself and I can clean myself quite easily. Now, Lee’s another story. I’m surprised he can reach his fat butt. I’ve noticed Mom and Dad feeding him less so maybe he’ll slim down. I’ll still be able to out run him anyway. I’m the indoor champ in my house! Hold it — something is happening at the other end of the house. Gotta go. Kira out.

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Why are they doing that you might ask. Because they want to clean up the Capital before the Olympic Games! To that end — to kill the most cats — the government has issued warning that cats carry terrible diseases and may have contributed to the SARS outbreak in 2003! They have people so paranoid that owners are turning their cats lose to be captured by special collection teams.

Below is a picture of one of the collection teams working. Be warned, it is appalling. I normally would not show any type of picture like this. But, it shows the way the Chinese are doing their so called clean-up or what I’d call a cleansing.

I have been so appalled at China’s barbarism this past year — killing thousands of dog because a few people died of rabies — and other atrocities committed on animals, that I’ve been boycotting everything that says “made in China”. I am NOT going to participate in the 2008 Olympics in China in any way — I will not read about the games, watch them on TV, or make any monetary contribution to them. If I was an athlete scheduled to go, I would not go in protest to the way the Chinese treat animals.

I’ve began boycotting everything made in China last year when I learned about bile farming of Asiatic Black Bears (also called moon bears). See Asiatic Black Bears Are Caged & Their Bile Harvested For Sale! for more information.

Please boycott China AND sign the petition at:
Boycott China Show them that we care about the animals in the world. And, that what they do to animals will affect their profits!

Purrs, Frankie

Kira here. The Chinese scare me silly. I gotta go get a hug from my mum. Later, Kira out!

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I have a couple of cats who are unaffected by catnip and several others who absolutely love it and will roll around a rub their faces on whatever has the smell. One or two even get to the point of being glassy-eyed and drool. Those last few really concerned me so I looked into it.

Here’s a picture of a cat who had too much catnip. LOL

Just What Is Catnip?
Catnip is a herbaceous perennial in the Lamiaceae family group. Although it is a perennial, it can be grown year-round. Catnip has heart shaped green to grayish leaves and a sturdy stalk or stem. The plants can have tube shaped flowers — usually pink, blue, white or lilac. Sometimes the flowers have tiny purple dots.

How Does Catnip Affect Cats?
Some cats react more strongly than others. And, some do not react at all. Some cats can become sedated and will fall asleep or just lay around. Others can become hyper and start running around, meowing, jumping or rolling in the catnip. Pupils will also become dilated.

What Causes The Reaction?
Nepetalactone is the primary active ingredient in catnip. It stimulates the cat’s olfactory system and many believe it may also stimulate the cat’s pheromonic receptor. A pheromone produces a chemical reaction in the cat which affects it behavior.

Is Catnip Dangerous?
Catnip is not toxic or harmful. Since a cat usually inhales catnip rather than eating it, overdosing does not occur. A cat will throw up if they do ingest too much and it upsets their stomach. Young kittens (under the age of 3 months) and senior cats usually do not respond to catnip at all.

So, now you know — catnip is safe for your cats. In fact, if you know your cat’s response is to calm down, you could use it when you need to take them to the vet’s office or when they are too rambunctious.

Purrs, Frankie

Kira here. Yeah, give me catnip. I love the stuff. It makes me feel, well, very good to say the least. I hog it all to myself. I hate to share it. Gotta go and see if I can find some now. Kira out.

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I had one cat, Patty, that really loved my friend’s underarm. So much so, that it got really embarrassing one day when she climbed on his lap and started nosing into his armpit. She just wouldn’t stop. We’d pull her away, and she’d go right back.

Purrs, Frankie

Kira here. I remember Patty. She was already old when I got adopted. Hey, what am I saying, I think she was 12 years old. Heck, I’ll be 14 in July. I guess she wasn’t that old. Back to my point. I thought she was pretty cool. I learned how to spit and hiss from watching her. I used to jump at her from behind things just to watch her jump and hiss. She went to Cat Heaven when she was almost 19 years old. I miss her. Later, Kira

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