This page is dedicated to Donna Garness, a very good friend of mine who ran KDT Cattery,  who requested that I put the kitten birthing  information back on my site. Thanks Donna ! It is always nice to know that your pages and hard work are appreciated.

Just in case you have not had the opportunity to see a newborn kitten, this little female is 1 minute old in this shot. Kittens are born deaf and blind but their  sense of smell is definitely there. Even a newborn kitten will hiss at you when you come close to it.

This is a picture of Shaded Tails Last Tango at 2 days old. 

This page is to tell you about our experiences at birthing. You do not have to do what we do by any means but each birth is unique and Shaded Tails would like to tell you about our kittening successes and failures. Our input may help others when the time comes.

To start off with, let's talk about breeding itself. Many breeders will put the female in with the male for 3 days continuously. Our rule is to put the female in with the male, stay with them while they breed, remove the female and repeat this process a few times during the next 2 to 3 days. We do not feel comfortable leaving especially a new female in with a male for that length of time. Some males are much more aggressive than others and we would not want any injuries to take place.  This method of breeding could be called hand breeding and has its' advantages. We record how many times the pair actually breed, thus giving us a better idea of exactly when to expect kittens. We check the female at 3 weeks gestation for the pinking up of her nipples. This is one sign of pregnancy.

We do not give any shots or medications to pregnant females just in case of kitten deformities. There are exceptions to this rule as sometimes you have no choice but to medicate a sick mother. This has not been our experience though.

As gestation can range from 59 to 68 days, we start our moms on kitten food after 6 weeks gestation. This gives the mom and kittens an extra boost in vitamins etc... We have had one female go 74 days at which time we chose to do a c-section to prevent any kitten deaths. We continue giving mom kitten food for about 6 weeks after delivery so she stays in good health.

Also about 1 week prior to delivery, we get mom used to a cage or playpen, as all our kittens are usually born in one. If the mom is a good one, we move her to the nursery where she can raise her kittens in a large box with a lid so she has plenty of room. We have had kittens suffocated by moms who lay on them, even though they had plenty of space. Some moms will feel a baby moving underneath them and just assume they are alright. Later you will find out that was not the case so we check on our kittens every time we pass the nursery as well as many times through the night. Many moms will try to move babies from place to place but this is a normal instinct for them. Out in the wild, they would do this to prevent predators from finding them by smelling the area. This is why it is important to change bedding frequently.

A couple of days before delivery, we clip moms' nails and trim away the hair from her nipples. Since Himalayans have such long hair, babies get tangled in it quite often. We will also put vegetable oil on moms' nipples if they have become crusted with wax. This is normal especially for older moms. The vegetable oil seems to make mom pay more  attention to the nipples, thus keeping them free of any wax etc...

Now on to the fun part ! Mom is having contractions, what do I do ? If mom is in her birthing box or cage, do nothing but watch her. Make sure the area is quiet, again important for first time moms. You might notice your female going to the litter box often and licking her hind end a lot. This is a sure sign that a kitten is close to being born. We choose to take the litter box out of the area just in case a kitten is born in one. They are sure to die if you are not around and this happens. It did happen to us and luckily we were there to find it, where we quickly ran the kitten under warm water to remove any litter. All we saw was this clump in the litter box. When I picked it up, it was as hard as  a rock and only had a hole where the mouth was. This kitten was called Kismet !

Most kittens are born with no problems but with Himalayans having such big heads, we make sure we are here to help out. Many times the kittens' head is stuck in the birth canal and would have died if we had not been around to assist mom.

The first thing you will see is the sac which contains the kitten. If the kitten is delivered without incident, let mom take care of things but if she has not, you have to intervene. Some cats are good mothers, some are not and you have to be prepared for either. You cannot be squeamish if you are going to help in the birthing process. Mom will lick the kitten to remove the sac. If she does not, gently tear open the bag around the kittens head. There will usually be an afterbirth attached with each kitten. Sometimes a baby will come out with no sac or afterbirth. Do not worry, this is ok as the afterbirth will come out on its own. Try to keep track to make sure you account for each one, as a retained afterbirth can cause serious infection in the mom. If mom is doing nothing to help out, you will have to cut the cord to remove the afterbirth. Please do NOT cut the cord with a pair of scissors. This makes too clean of a cut and baby may bleed to death. Some people will tie a small piece of thread around the cord about 1" away from baby's tummy and then cut the cord. I prefer to do what mom does naturally. I take the cord in my fingers and push any blood in the cord towards the baby and then I gently tear the cord with my fingernails about 2" away from baby's tummy. Always pull towards baby! This way you are not causing any damage. With this method, I find the cord is torn like mom would do it and you do not end up with a clean cut that can bleed. If you do see bleeding at all, tie the cord off with a piece of thread but do not make it too long. We would not want any babies or mom to choke on it.  We use a small bulb syringe to remove any mucous from the nose and mouth to make breathing easier for the kitten. If the kitten is breathing on its' own, give it to mom to let her bond with the kitten and finish the cleaning process. Before we do this, we check the sex of the kitten and weigh the kitten. We keep charts for this purpose for future references.

People seem to think that all kittens come out head first - WRONG ! We have a 50% rate of kittens that come out back end first and in these cases, moms and kittens do need help. We have lost a couple of kittens that have come out backwards due to that big head again. If kittens are stuck too long in this position, they actually suffocate so timing is everything. When mom is contracting, you gently pull with the contraction. We try to grab the kitten by the skin on the sides of the body so a leg does not get broken in our attempts to assist.

If a baby is NOT breathing, we never stick the baby in cold water, then hot water, as many breeders do. We vigorously rub it with a dry face cloth to stimulate it. If this does not work, we hold the baby, in a face cloth, cupped in our hands with the baby's head at our finger tips and feet pointing towards our body, face up. We then bring our arms up pointing at the ceiling, and swing the arms down until they are between our legs, stopping quickly. You do NOT want to drop the baby which is why we use a face cloth. You may have to do this several times to get the baby breathing but it usually works. There are going to be times where you just cannot save a baby no matter what you try. This is devastating but we have come to terms with the fact that some things are just not meant to be. It does not comfort us, it just relieves us a bit to know that we did everything possible to save the little one and it still did not survive. It does happen. Many kittens are stillborn also and you cannot blame yourself all the time that you did not save it. You will drive yourself crazy !

We weigh all our babies morning and night for the first week and then once a day for the next 8 weeks. This way, we know if there is a problem before it gets too severe. Many times you will not notice that one particular kitten is not feeding or gaining weight unless you are weighing them regularly. Many people say I am crazy to weigh them like this but I need to know I have healthy, thriving kittens.

Fading kitten syndrome takes the life of quite a few kittens and again you cannot beat yourself up over it. You may think everything is going fine and one day you get up to find a dead kitten or one that is beyond saving. This totally devastates me to the point where I sometimes say I will quit breeding but then you look into the tiny faces of the ones you saved and the healthy kittens running and playing together and I just could not quit.

We always keep a heating pad ready and waiting so the kittens do not get chilled. It is also good if mom is having kittens very close together and she does not have time to completely dry her babies off. Many times we will have 3 or 4 kittens on the pad while mom finishes giving birth. This has saved the life of many of our kittens since we  have had some inexperienced moms that literally try to eat a crying baby. If this happens, we remove all kittens until mom has finished giving birth. Then we slowly, one by one, return her babies to her. This seems to work well for us. Normally, mom will lay back and be content to feed her babies for hours after birth. We have now added a very high tech incubator for our newborn kittens so we can better regulate the temperature. This unit has the heating element on the top so babies can never burn themselves on the heating pad. This was definitely worth the cost, even if it saves one baby. It also has a humidifier so we can use it for kittens that get severely stuffed up. It is large enough for an adult cat as well.

Once birthing is done, we remove all the soiled towels etc... and replace them with warm, dry ones. We do this twice a day for a week and then we do this every day since babies will soil the towels. Moms always like to be in a clean area to raise their babies. 

Please do not forget about mom. You need to make sure she is ok after all the hard work she has just done. You want to make sure she is eating and drinking well. I have had cats not go to the litter box until the next day but watch that she is using it. If mom is breathing irregularly or has a very foul smelling discharge or is bleeding excessively, call your vet, do NOT wait until it is too late. You also want to make sure that mom has plenty of milk and does not have red sore looking nipples,  as this might indicate mastitis which is extremely sore for the mom. If everything appears to be fine with both mom and babies, routine checking in is all that is required along with of course, bed area cleaning, litter box cleaning, spilled food clean up, soiled rear ends and the list goes on !!!

As long as babies are gaining weight and eating well from mommy, you usually will not have problems but if you do, I have found the best nurser yet. It is called the Mothering Kit, made by Top Paw and is found at Petsmart. It consists of a polystyrene syringe with 3 silicone rubber nipples. Cost is about $6 Canadian. I don't know about anyone else but I have tried every bottle out there and they are either too hard or you cannot get the nipple hole the correct size. With this feeder, you can't get it wrong. The hole is the perfect size and kittens nurse with it quite readily. As a matter of fact I have had kittens suck so hard and fast that they actually cause the nipple to come off so you really have to watch for that. If they are strong feeders, you can gently push on the syringe tip to get the formula into the kitten but once they catch on, they are quite efficient at feeding quickly without choking. The nipples can be sterilized but not the syringe. I found this out quite quickly !

The home made formula I use is 1/2 cup regular Carnation Evaporated milk, not the 2%, 1/2 cup water, 1 egg yolk and about a teaspoon or so of honey. I had to syringe one of my kittens from day 2 until she was 10 weeks old. She loved the formula and is in great health today. This kitten was also fed Science Diets AD formula canned food. It has tons of vitamins and minerals and you do not need to feed excessive amounts. Although this does not happen regularly, it is nice to know that someone had the smarts to make a feeder that would and does work for kittens. 

Along with all the feedings you will have to do, you also have to remember that babies need to be kept warm. We always use our incubator or a heating pad under a towel if you have no incubator, to keep them warm, especially if you only have 1 or 2 kittens. If kittens are orphaned, you will need to feed them every 2 hours for the first few days and yes nights also. As time goes by, the feedings get further apart and you can finally get a full nights sleep. We wipe the baby's rear end with a warm wet washcloth several times a day to stimulate it to urinate and defecate. Mom would usually do this but with orphans, you have to do everything for them. 

First time moms will often not let their milk down so your vet can give mom a shot of Oxytocin to help this but this has to be done within the first 24 hours after birth. 

Once our babies are walking around in the nursery, we put moms' litter box on top of our climber/slider combination so kittens cannot get in to eat the clumping litter. We start all of our kittens off with corn litter. This way if they eat it, they will not get sick or worse, die from the clumping litter. Once the kittens realize the difference between food and litter, we slowly switch them over to the clumping litter. When our kittens are old enough, we attach a towel, without fringed edges to the slide, with velcro so the kittens can run up and down. They love this toy as it has large holes to climb in and out of, 2 levels and can be used as a bed as ours do when we put a blanket inside.

This is the time to kitten proof your entire house. Kittens can get into absolutely everything and everything is a danger to them. We do not have bed skirts on our beds anymore since the strangulation of an 11 1/2 week old show kitten. No one has to tell me this was my own fault and I will blame myself forever but I just want to be very clear, ACCIDENTS DO HAPPEN, so be extra cautious about anything in your home that could cause injury. We now wrap all phone cords, electrical cords etc... because kittens do chew things. I have a very good friend who lost a puppy to electrocution this way. We have thrown out plants that were harmful, removed curtain cords, made sure that cold air returns had no loose screws etc... to ensure that our babies will be safe playing in our home. Please do the same !

I have heard over and over again that breeders do this for the money. If those people only knew the pain and the extent you will go to, to save a kitten, they would think twice before making such a foolish comment. Every cent we make from our kittens goes right back into the next bunch as any other breeder is aware of. This is not a get rich scheme by any means. You have to literally LOVE what you are doing and love the animals. We have been known to have expenses well over $20,000.00 for one year, yes one year. I am not a person who is in this for the money. I have been an animal lover all my life and will never be without a few of them.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about our experiences. We have surely had our ups and downs but like I said, you only have to gaze into those little eyes, to fall in love all over again.