New arrivals!

So, on Sunday the day after we got back from the beer festival I had an email letting me know my pen was needed for another cat. I got straight back to the Welfare Officer and said no problem, it was ready and waiting to go. The information I had was that a 2-3 year old pregnant female, due in approx 1 week needed to come in - very exciting!

The people who had been feeding the cat for some time, and had already dealt with 1 litter of kittens, couldn't continue to have her around as the dog didn't like her and the family found keeping the dog, cat and kittens separate quite stressful. On the Monday the Welfare Officer gave me the contact details and we arranged for the lady to bring the cat round that evening. Well, Scarlett didn't go back for food until quite late and it wasn't until Tuesday that I had the call to say that the family had her. I called back to say I was in and they could bring her round and I was told that she was in labour....! A mad dash followed and she was with me 30 mins or so later!

Scarlett was panting but settled down and didn't seem about to pop which was reassuring. Over the next day she didn't eat and didn't do a lot so I guessed she was near to popping and when we got back from the pub Wednesday night I heard pitiful squeaking - there was a kitten! I stuck my head in and saw a little black and white kitten all on its own and Scarlett not really interested. I moved the kitten and then left them to it. When I went back later I realised there was more than 1 kitten, maybe 2 or 3 but as it was dark and they were dark I didn't know for sure.

The next morning when I went down to inspect there were 5 kittens, all looking like they were doing well and Scarlett eating for all 5 of them!

So we have a Scarlett O'Hara theme going on for 4 of the temporary names:

Rhett (boy, black)

Ella (girl, black)

Bonnie (girl, tabbly/white)

Katie (girl, black/white)

and Wispa (boy, chocolate brown)

I have to say that I was slightly nervous about having a pregnant cat and the cat giving birth but it all went smoothly and she needed no help at all! It's such a privilege to be involved with these kittens from the very beginning!

Kittens and Beer

How useless am I?? I didn't realise that it has been well over a month since I wrote. I think it's being married that does it, I don't get huge amounts of time to myself to blog any more....

Maia and Orion have now been with us 6 weeks, making them around 15 weeks old. They are little terrors - I had forgotten how destructive kittens are! The net curtain is no longer at the front window, photo frames are either broken or on the floor and there is litter everywhere. On the plus side there has been no real agro with Pepsi. There was hissing and a little boxing of ears but on the whole things have gone well so far!

We have just got back from our annual visit to the CAMRA Great British Beer Festival. We worked Thursday, drank Friday and worked Saturday. We worked behind beer bar W1 both days and had a good time - not huge amounts of time for beer drinking, unlike Reading where you can keep a beer ready to swig from under the bar..... Still, well worth volunteering - free entry to 1 session, discounted beer vouchers and staff t-shirts! They also pay up to £30 per person towards accommodation which was £28 / night at the Etap Hotel in Houslow - bargain!!