Seek and ye shall find (mostly)

We found Ruby’s owner – and here is Ruby aged 10

About 12 years ago I started getting all my kittens microchipped before they left home. Good move, right? And of course they were all registered on the animal register. Following the advice of a couple of breeders I initially registered all the kittens to myself as primary contact with the owner as secondary contact. The idea was that if anything happened to any of my ex-kittens, I could be sure of being contacted. At the same time all the owner details would be available as needed. Well, this turned out to be not such a great idea. I didn’t realise this at first, but secondary contacts could not update their details directly with the register. And they didn’t necessarily contact me when their address, phone number or other details changed (even though I asked that they do this… because by some years down the track they had, understandably, forgotten about it). So some 3 years later I changed my practice and registered all kittens to the owner as primary contact and myself as secondary contact. The primary owner could change the secondary contact, but since I also entered myself as breeder, I was still in there somewhere in the notes section. I didn’t think too much more about it until…. the animal register had a substantial upgrade and it was identified prior to the changeover, that there were 127 cats registered to my details, most of whom did not actually belong to me, and all of whom were registered between 9 and 12 years ago. I also incidentally discovered that I had failed to register some of my current cats on the register at all

I asked for a list of the cats and the owner details currently held on the register as secondary contacts. And I began the mammoth task of trying to contact all the owners. You might wonder why I didn’t just transfer the cats over using the simple transfer interface on the new upgraded register? For one thing, on the list supplied to me, there was often no email address. An email address and a phone number are required to make the transfer. I was however able to track down many email addresses by interrogating my pedigree database which is in Breeders Assistant, or my own past emails (I rarely delete emails that are not advertising). However because the cats concerned were aged between 9 & 12, I was hesitant to make any transfer without first contacting the owner to find out if the cat was still alive. I knew some would have passed away and didn’t want to cause distress when the owner received an email from the animal register saying New Pet Registered! and encouraging the owner to confirm their contact details.

It was just as well I did, as I discovered that many of the email addresses I had were no longer valid. Some providers like slingshot, clear, and ihug/vodafone no longer provide email services so people had been forced to find a new email option (usually a gmail address) which I had no knowledge of. I had phone numbers for just about everyone but many landlines were no longer in use, or people had moved. Because these cat sales dated back to a time when it was harder to hold onto your number if you changed provider, some mobile numbers were also no longer valid.

I developed a process. For each cat I would first check my own emails for emails from the owner. I have had gmail for many years now and when I first switched to gmail I imported all my old emails. This search of my own emails, was partly to look for the most recent email address, but equally to ensure that they had not notified me that their cat had died. While it doesn’t occur to all owners to do this, some had, either at the time, or when going on my waitlist for another kitten. This saved me from contacting them further and I was able to simply mark the cat deceased on the register. Then if the email looked as if it might be valid (wasn’t one of the providers I knew had stopped providing) I’d send an email about updating records. If I had information about the cat’s pet name I would include this in my communication. The fact that I only needed a valid email and a phone number (the register then contacts the owner to confirm other details) made the transfers slightly easier than they would have been before the upgrade when an address was required and the actual transfer process was more laborious involving manually typing all the details into the fields for primary owner.

I kept a record on the excel spreadsheet that the register had sent me of what communication I had tried or eliminated (eg no valid email, or have texted). As I was able to contact owners and determine if their cat was still alive, I updated the register (including updating with pet name if still alive – I left the pedigree name and added aka Mustafa, or whatever) and deleted that cat from the list. If email didn’t work and there was a mobile, I usually tried texting.

I don’t really like ringing people (except my best friend) but I realised as time went on that I was going to have to bite the bullet and ring some landline numbers, and also those mobiles where I’d had no response to my text. I did this and between emailing, texting, and phoning, (and in one case tracking someone down through their work website) I have to date managed to contact the owners of 97 of 128 cats (there was a cat not listed on the spreadsheet who was incorrectly still registered to me). A gratifying number of these cats are alive and well and are now registered to their current owner. Those that aren’t are at least correctly marked deceased. I have a few owners that I have left a message for on what appears to be a valid phone number or via a valid email, that I still hope to hear back from (and will follow up). And so far there are about 20 cats for whom I (and the animal register) have no valid contact. While that’s not ideal, it’s much better than the previous situation. For those cats I’ll probably leave them with my contact details – just in case something happens and their current owner can’t be contacted.

And I must say – thank goodness – actually NONE of those cats has been found lost or injured as I would have been contacted of course, but might not have been able to get hold of the true owner, and this has not happened. I feel so much better knowing that most of these cats have now been registered to the current owner, if still living.

Matters of the Heart (part 2)

What is the worst experience you can have as a breeder? I can think of a few contenders – hearing that my first imported stud had moderate to severe HCM at age 4 – and having to contact owners of his offspring to let them know, having to make the decision to euthanise him (a true cat of my heart) when his HCM was no longer being successful controlled by medication, losing kittens that I’ve tried everything to save perhaps over a period of days to weeks. Of course the Ringworm Nightmare was up there too, in a different way. Or the time my stud (a later one) brought home herpes from a show and gave it to a visiting queen. But this recent experience might be the winner. Owners were on their way to collect a beautiful and sweet natured red silver tabby boy. (Yes, that’s him in the picture.) They were driving down from Christchurch (about a 5 hour drive). He was three months old, had been vaccinated, desexed, and vaccinated for the second time, getting a clean bill of health each time. But on the morning he was due to go I noticed that his breathing seemed quite laboured. He just didn’t look right. It was already too late to to delay the pick up. So when they arrived I told them that I was worried about him. They came into my cattery area to see him and agreed that he didn’t seem well. He was still breathing heavily. I said that I wanted him to see a vet to find out what was going on and they agreed. Luckily my vet had an appointment available almost right away and we jumped into my car and headed over. On arrival – he looked dead. As soon as I got in the door I said to the receptionist that I thought he had passed away en route and two vets came out immediately. One of them started CPR on him and they discussed other options and took him out the back to try and revive him. They worked on him for half an hour while I and the owners waited. Thank goodness, they are really great and very understanding owners, who already had one of my ex-breeding queens. But in the end one of the vets came back to say that although they had managed to get a heartbeat three times (taking turns providing CPR) each time he had crashed again as soon as CPR was stopped. His lungs were full of fluid and they had suctioned some of this off but it had made no difference. Oxygen had not helped either. Clearly, we had to let him go. At least we knew that the vets had truly tried everything to bring him back.

Now, this kitten had been vaccinated and fully examined the previous day. One of the vets who had been working on him was the same vet who had vaccinated him the previous day. He told me that he had noticed a slight arrhythmia (no murmur, just a slight change in his heart rhythm with his breathing) but these are quite common and not normally an indication – without other signs – of a problem. So unworried was he that he had not even included it on his record. I had also noticed that the kitten was a bit skinny – light for his size and a bit bony – and commented on this at the time. But again, kittens can have growth spurts and skinny periods and in the absence of other symptoms it usually means nothing. He had had no temperature and no upper respiratory signs. His coat was shiny and soft. He had no murmur. The vets’ thoughts were that he probably had a heart issue which – unusually – had not caused a murmur. It must have suddenly got worse over night as his lungs were clear the previous day. Usually a serious heart condition will show more signs sooner, but not always. This would not have been HCM (the genetic heart condition that is present in the Maine Coon breed) as that is a slow developing condition. Rather, he must have had a structural defect of some kind. Not hereditary. Just very bad luck.

As you can imagine this was an awful experience and I really felt for my owners as well who had driven all this way only to be witness to the death of the kitten they had expected to collect. I am pleased to be able to add a somewhat happy ending to this tale though. On the way to the vet we had chatted about kittens and I had mentioned that we had one unsold kitten who I had been holding back because she was very timid. My lovely owners wondered if they could take her instead and after some discussion – and meeting her – they decided to go ahead. She settled surprisingly quickly with them and made friends with their greyhound immediately. And with her human owner too. Photos and videos confirm that she’s living a wonderful life and has completely forgotten her earlier shyness.

Matters of the Heart (part 1)

Imagine this. Two kittens are due to travel up to the North Island tomorrow to go to their new owners, owners who are conscientious, concerned, and have had many legitimate and well informed questions about how you breed, what you test for, the temperaments and health of the kittens. At the vet appointment for second vaccination of the two kittens at 5pm you discover that one of them has a mild heart murmur, that had not been previously noted (but may have been present – it can be hard to hear a slight murmur if the kitten is purring). Air New Zealand are not helpful with last minute flight changes or cancellations. Well, you will have guessed that I faced this exact scenario a month or two ago. Of course I tried to contact the owners as soon as I got home both by phone and by email. I was not able to get hold of them until later in the evening but we did make contact at about 8pm. And I must admit I struggled with identifying the best option. I certainly did not want them to end up with a kitten who might have a serious heart problem. On the other hand mild murmurs in kittens are often innocent murmurs that disappear by the age of 4 months or so and do not indicate any structural heart issue. Normally we would have known about the murmur from the time of his first vaccination at about 8 weeks and I would have talked to the owners then about their options. And normally those options would have been either that he and his companion stayed here until we could tell whether the murmur was fading, or not. or that I would arrange for him to have a scan. If it was fading or disappeared completely I’d be comfortable letting him go to his new owners at that point and if it didn’t fade I would organise a scan with our cardiology specialist in Christchurch.

When I spoke to his new owners they told me that they had already experienced the heartache of having a cat with HCM (a progressive heart condition that is genetic). They needed to know whether their kitten was OK or not. I needed to know this too. But at the same time they were understandably reluctant to abandon the plan of receiving their kittens the next day. And if just one travelled up, then there would be a second airfare for the boy (if his murmur disappeared/he had a clear scan). I did have an alternate kitten they could consider (only one and she was a girl, with a different rather shy temperament), however they had become attached to the kitten they had chosen. So ultimately we came up with the following plan: the kittens would travel up as planned. The boy with the murmur would have a cardiac ultrasound scan which the new owners would arrange, but I would pay for. If he had a heart issue that would be likely to affect his wellbeing or shorten his life, they could opt to return him, or keep him and either way get a free kitten in the future.

Now, I knew this would be a painfully expensive option, compared to waiting out the murmur or even travelling to Christchurch with him to get our specialist to scan him. But it seemed like the best way forward and so I agreed to it. The new owners’ vets arranged for a referral for the scan and an appointment was provided about a month later. I am pleased to report that the kitten’s heart was completely normal. It WAS one of those innocent growth murmurs that we experience from time to time. This was a relief.

But I was somewhat shocked by the bill. We are very lucky that the cardiologist who normally scans all our cats for HCM (and will also check kittens’ hearts for us) does this at a very heavily discounted rate. So in my mind I thought I might be paying $500-$600 for a specialist cardiac consult at full price. Actually the bill was $700. Our local cardiologist is an absolute cat whisperer (he’s pretty good with owners too). Over many years of heart scans we haven’t once needed for a cat to be sedated – even the timid or stressy ones. The $700 bill for our ex-kitten included a gabapentin capsule (presumably to reduce anxiety). These retail for 20c at myvet.co.nz – but the charge for this one was $15 (!!) – I suppose a charge for actually administering it is included. Then it seems he did need to be sedated so there was a cost of sedation and a cost for hospitalisation post sedation and for nurse care. The actual cardiac ultrasound was $520 – about what I thought.

Well, it is what it is. But this story does show that doing the right thing as a breeder is rarely a cheap option. However it’s also still questionable whether I should have let the kitten travel to his new owners while we still did not know exactly what was going on with his heart. What if it had been serious and he had died en route? or soon after arriving? Read Matters of the Heart (part 2) to see why I should perhaps have insisted on keeping him with me until we knew more.

Managing a diabetic cat

If you follow this blog you’ll have seen quite a lot about my boy Finn and his diabetic story. I thought I’d pull together what I’ve learned over now some 4 years of owning a diabetic cat, whose diabetes, to date, is being successfully managed.

Maybe the worst thing about feline diabetes is that it’s a very sneaky disease. Outward signs are minimal until your cat’s blood sugars are seriously high and may have been for weeks to months. No pet owner can be blamed for missing the signs that something might be amiss because at the start, there are virtually no signs. Only when your cat is showing signs of being constantly thirsty, has lost weight, or is urinating large dilute wees outside of the litter box might you have a clue that it’s time to see the vet. I only realised Finn might have some non behavioural cause for his urinating outside the litter box when he hopped off me in the middle of an affectionate cuddle to pee on the floor. I had not noticed the 2 kg weight loss in my large fluffy Maine Coon cat whose normal weight was 10kg. His sugars were up in the 20s (in New Zealand we measure blood sugar in mmol/L and normal blood sugars are in the 4-7 range). A friend’s cat’s first sign of diabetes (probably) was vocalising at night with nothing else obviously amiss and at the time we thought it was behavioural rather than a symptom of medical illness.

Now the good news is that it is often possible manage feline diabetes successfully and sometimes even bring it into remission. Not always, there can be complicating factors that cannot always be identified, that cause insulin resistance. And unless you learn to and are able to measure your cat’s blood sugars at home, it’s expensive as they need to be monitored at the vet clinic on a weekly basis until good control is achieved and then still from time to time in case the cat’s need for insulin decreases. I’m lucky. Finn is an amazing cat and we have a very close bond. He tolerated me doing ear pricks for blood 3- 4 times a day at the start and then twice a day over a period of months. I didn’t always get it right either, so sometimes we had to have multiple attempts to get a nice bead of blood. Truth to tell this still happens sometimes. So I have a great cat who does allow me to keep track of his blood sugars at home. I would say, don’t assume your cat will not be amenable. At least give it a try. Your tools are simple. A human glucometer from the pharmacy works just fine and is inexpensive and you will need a lancet tool to do the ear pricks. Originally I got a kit that included both a glucometer and a lancet tool, but I am now using the Accu-Check Fastclix lancet tool it’s particularly easy to use (easy to load six lancets at a time and no need to prime before clicking the device to do the skin prick). Some people just use the lancets and do the prick by hand.

A more expensive option that works for some cats and removes the need for ear pricks is a continuous glucose monitoring device. These are relatively new, and are designed for humans, but have been used on cats that will tolerate the device once attached. They give a continuous record that can be transmitted to an app on your phone. The monitoring device has to be regularly changed (hence the cost), but does provide a continuous or near continuous record which allows patterns of high and low sugars to be identified. They can be particularly beneficial in the early weeks of establishing an effective and safe insulin dose. Google ‘continuous glucose monitoring’ to find out what is available now, and discuss with your vet.

Otherwise, have a look on YouTube for helpful videos about how to do an ear prick. I found it easiest to do Finn’s ear pricks when he was up on a table or storage chest, not on my lap (he’s too big) and just like other procedures such as pilling and claw clipping I can work much more easily if he’s one way round with my left arm circling him and hugging him to me, to encourage him to stay where he is. Left hand holds the ear, right hand clicks the lancet device. No priming means it’s a little quicker to administer a second prick if the first attempt doesn’t give a suitable size drop of blood. But different people find different ways work for them and their cat.

Finn’s a Maine Coon so his fur has reasonable levels of natural oils. This means that as long as he has not just had a bath the blood tends to bead which make it easier for the glucometer strip to suck it up. However if he’s just been outside and his ears are cold we may struggle to get a reasonable yield because the capillaries have contracted due to the cold temperature. I can usually remedy this by rubbing the edge of his ear vigorously, but if this a frequent issue for your cat, some method of warming the ear can be helpful such as rice in a sock that has been warmed in a microwave. I found a nice discussion here about various ear prick issues and hints: https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/struggling-with-ear-pricks.197553/

Diet is a critical part of successfully managing feline diabetes. For some reason many vets place less stress on this (perhaps because early prescription diabetic management diets weren’t that great), but it makes a huge difference. Just think about it. Diabetic cats, like diabetic humans have trouble processing sugars. Carbohydrates such as rice, wheat, and potatoes are quickly metabolised into sugars. Removing these from the diet reduces the amount of sugar the cat needs to deal with. High glucose levels damage the cells in the pancreas that produce and secrete insulin and prolonged high glucose levels may cause so much damage that recovery is not possible. So anything you can do to reduce the glucose impact while the cat is still not processing glucose effectively is a good thing. Cats don’t need carbohydrates (despite what some cat food manufacturers suggest) and are able to gain the energy they need from protein and fats. If you can’t eliminate carbs completely (picky cat) then seek out foods with low GI starch ingredients such as sweet potato and low proportions of starch to other ingredients.

There are feline diabetic dry diets. From my personal experience with Finn, these are not adequate (these days) to keep his diabetes under control, possibly because they still contain carbs. In the earlier stages of his diabetic journey perhaps they would have worked better. Here in New Zealand the choice of prescription diabetic diet is between Royal Canin and Hills. Unfortunately even the wet Royal Canin diet contains carbs (why, Royal Canin, why???? Wet diets do not need to contain carbs). The wet Hills diet (Hills M/D cans) doesn’t, and is ideal. Unfortunately Finn doesn’t like it (he’s not fussed on any canned or pouch food) but he is a stupidly fussy cat when it comes to wet food. When he initially became diabetic I tried valiantly to get him on an all wet, no carb diet. He resisted and I gave in and found a dry diet whose carb element was low GI (ie sugars are released slowly into the blood stream) and was no more than 20%. This was Nutrience Grain Free food, whose carb ingredient is sweet potato which is low GI. Be aware that just because a food is ‘grain free’ it does not mean that it is low GI – many grain free foods contain potatoes or rice, which aren’t.

Although Finn went completely into remission, and has had lengthy periods (months, to over a year) of remission, he has had periodic recurrences of his diabetes. The chances of successful remission are higher if :

• Diabetes is diagnosed early and treatment started immediately
• It first occurs in an older cat
• Glargine (Lantus) or a new synthetic long acting insulin are used
• Control is achieved within a few weeks of starting insulin

Rcecurrences can be caused by change of diet, stress, concurrent infection, or another medical condition such as pancreatitis developing.

Diabetic cats are always at risk of relapses so a) stick to the diet that has worked and b) be mindful that the diabetes can return. I found an excellent explanation of feline diabetes and chances of remission for the lay person here https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/diabetic-remission-in-cats . This article is also very good (aimed a bit more at vets, but is accessible) https://www.vin.com/apputil/content/defaultadv1.aspx?pId=20539&id=8506495

For Finn, some relapses were caused by change of food (thought I would try Royal Canin ‘Calm’ to help manage his behavioural spraying – a mistake, but I was aware it might put him off track and I did test his sugars, which leapt up immediately, another time we got better control of his arthritic pain and he started stealing the other cats’ biscuits which were on a table that he previously could not jump onto), some by stress (when I was away for days or weeks) or concurrent infection (he is prone to UTIs even when his sugar levels are normal).

About 2 years ago I finally managed to convince Finn to transition to a wet food only, raw meat diet. I started by giving him kangaroo, which he loves, and then was able to introduce more complete diets after a few weeks. He still remains quite picky and only some options are acceptable. He also eats a little Fancy Feast. From time to time we try another canned food, as it would be much more convenient if he was willing to eat canned foods as part of his diet, however to date he has not been impressed. Again be mindful that just because it’s in a can, it doesn’t mean that it is carb-free. Always read the label. For Finn even gravy style wet foods that contain wheat gluten are not good for his sugars, let alone the many canned foods that contain, well, you name it, rice, wheat, potatoes and the like. If like Finn, your cat will only consider raw meat, you need to make sure it is a complete or close to complete diet. Muscle meat without added vitamins and minerals, does not meet a cat’s needs long term, although my vet tells me that an incomplete diet for up to 6 weeks so is fine. Here are some options to consider if you are going the raw meat route:

• Commercial diet that states that it is ‘complete and balanced’ – in New Zealand, Max Cat meets this criterion. In some areas there are raw meat pet food suppliers who also advertise complete diets.
• Adding vitamins and minerals to muscle meat. I found this supplement for NZ owners http://www.petswonderland.co.nz/dogs/dog-food/raw-diets/predamax-raw-meat-diet-supplement-200g/ Overseas there are more options – just google.
• Home made or assembled diet – so either a minced mix containing bone, organs and vitamins and minerals or a diet approximating a ‘whole prey’ diet where the cat is given muscle meat, meaty bones, and some organ meat, which over a period of time such as a week matches the proportions found in a natural prey diet. A small amount of vegetable matter or tripe may be included.
• For Finn (who is adult and fully grown) I feel comfortable feeding the following in rotation – Rabbit & Hare raw meat mix that contains bone and organs (the mix I buy also contains some beef), kangaroo (because he likes it), steak and kidney, and Max Cat. The Max Cat and Rabbit & Hare approximate to a complete diet. Possum meat patties also – but Finn’s decided he doesn’t like possum.
• Many sites will tell you not to mix raw and processed commercial foods (because they are digested differently). However this practice is SO widespread among pet owners with no clear harmful outcome, that I’m not sure it’s a real issue
• This site has a lot of useful information about raw feeding. https://www.rawessentials.co.nz/education/raw-feeding-your-cat?

I would recommend immediately changing to a no carb diet if your cat will accept it. Failing that, consider prescription diabetic dry food or a commercial dry food with a low carb percentage that uses a low GI carb source.

If at all possible learn to monitor blood sugars at home. They will be more representative because your cats stress levels will be lower and you will know immediately if your insulin dosage is too low…. or might be too high.

Actually giving the insulin is not hard, it’s a very fine needle and just an injection under the skin. These days most often the insulin prescribed is a product designed for humans (Lantus) which is a slow release insulin that only needs to be given twice a day. Studies show cats are more likely to go into remission on Lantus than other types of shorter acting insulin (designed for animals). This can be given using insulin syringes, or using an insulin pen. However the downside of the insulin pen is that you can only alter the insulin dosage in whole units. This seems to be fine for Finn who is a large cat, but for a smaller cat it might be too big a change up or down. Vet instruction will be that the Lantus should be kept in the fridge and only lasts for four weeks. If you use the Lantus Solostar pen, according to the manufacturer, you do not need to refrigerate it once you have started using it but it should be disposed of after 4 weeks. I will say though that anecdotally (and confirmed by my own experience) if kept refrigerated both the vials and the pen appear to retain effectiveness for several months.

For my large cat, it has been necessary to increase the insulin dosage up to 7 or even 8 units to achieve good blood sugar levels. This is quite high. However it has also been possible during each of his diabetic episodes to eventually reduce his dosage and then eliminate it completely. Dosage changes should always be done slowly (typically after at least 5 days at the set dose). Lantus’ effects are somewhat cumulative so you cannot tell after just one or two doses what the ultimate effect will be. That said, I know my cat, so although having determined that his sugars are up, we’ll start on 4 units, I will raise the dose a bit more quickly if there is no noticeable effect. And if his blood sugar reading is below 4, I’ll reduce the dose by a unit immediately.

Most recently, Finn had a diabetic relapse likely triggered by stress (arrival of new puppy, topped off by me disappearing into hospital for a few days for foot surgery). Despite following our usual processes, making sure he had no access to biscuits, and starting insulin treatment, increasing fairly rapidly to 7 units, he was still having blood sugars in the teens every morning and this persisted for nearly two weeks. I rang my vet who suggested he may have a UTI (my suspicion too, diabetic cats are more susceptible to UTIs as bacteria feed on the sugar in the urine) and started him on antibiotics. Another clue was the fact that his coat had started getting greasy, clumpy and full of dandruff. Coat is a sometimes overlooked indicator of health, especially if there has been a change from normal. I also stepped his dose up to 8 units and finally saw some good sugar readings both morning and night. 3 days into treatment, his sugars started reading lower, and over the past few days I’ve been able to step him down to 5 units. Oh, and his coat has improved. So clearly, he DID have a UTI. It is looking hopeful for another complete remission although if we do need to continue with insulin treatment I know we can manage this.

You may wonder if I have been continually testing Finn’s sugars every day for the past four years. I haven’t. But I like to think I’m quite observant and intuitive where my cats are concerned. Once he’s been OK on no insulin for a week or so I’ll ease up on the daily testing. First time around I went on testing once a week for many weeks. After subsequent episodes I haven’t continued for quite as long. Remission is defined as good blood sugar readings for four weeks with no need for insulin, so continuing to monitor for four weeks is advisable. After that, I do watch for him guarding the water bowl, peeing inappropriately especially large dilute pees, or sometimes just ‘a sense’ that he’s not quite right.

The Fertility Files 5 (and more)

So, how did it all turn out? Did we have healthy litters? Is all well now?

On the whole, we seem to be back on track. Cascade had seven healthy kittens. Navani had three healthy kittens. Amber had eight kittens…. but 3 were stillborn. The other five have flourished. The three stillborn kittens must have died only a day or two before birth as they were fully developed, furred, and good size. It’s hard to know if this is anything to do with our former troubles. Possibly not because if so, I would expect evidence of issues earlier in the pregnancy. And Mistletoe, our maiden queen, had five healthy kittens. So overall things are almost back to normal (it’s not normal to have as many as three stillborn kittens in a litter and I do wonder what will happen in her next pregnancy). All the births were straightforward.

Meanwhile life decided to throw another challenge my way. I have been waiting for surgery on my right foot for arthritis for over a year. I really had no choice about mating my girls when I did since healthy pregnancies are an important part of improving uterine health. But in any case the way waiting lists work in New Zealand, it is impossible to know just when your date will come up. Even more so in a Covid year. Originally this surgery was expected to happen more or less 9 months after the previous surgery, in the middle of this year. But Covid delayed all elective surgeries. And then when I contacted the orthopaedic department they said they couldn’t give me any timeframe as there had been a surge in acute surgeries. So in my mind my surgery wouldn’t happen till … maybe…. early next year. Wrong. I was given a surgery date in late November. By then Cascade’s, Amber’s and Navani’s kittens had arrived. Mistletoe’s were due within a couple of days of my surgery. In addition Navani had made it clear that she didn’t want to share a kitten room with Amber (or anyone), so I had ended up moving both Navani and Amber into separate large walk in cages in my stud house. Don’t get me wrong. I’m very grateful to have had my surgery now. But it would have been a little easier if it had taken place during our dry period. One of the problems with the housing of Amber’s and Navani’s kittens is that post surgery I am non weight bearing on my surgery foot, using a knee scooter, and cannot manage steps down and up (required to access the stud house).

Mistletoe’s kittens arrived the day after I came home from surgery. I was able to check on her at intervals (and monitor via camera). Fortunately she proved to be just as good at having kittens and looking after them as her mum Amber and the birth was uneventful, as I wasn’t really in a fit state to assist much.

Perhaps you are wondering how I am looking after my cats and kittens…. I am going to admit right away that my kittens are not getting as close monitoring or as much human contact with me as I would like. I am very fortunate that I have a fantastic cattery helper. For many many years I’ve paid a student to do my once a week cattery clean. I’ve had some great students over the years and the only downside is that invariably sooner or later they move on. I am paying my current cattery cleaner to come five days a week and feed all my cats and kittens, scoop litter trays, and top up water, in addition to her once a week full clean. Because she is observant and very good with the cats, I can rely on her to notice any significant problems. She also takes time to interact with the kittens which is not strictly part of her duties. So the kittens are getting I think adequate care. Within the house, for Finn and the house cats, and on weekends, my daughter helps out. But she has a preschooler, and works part time on her husband’s business, as well as picking up most of the stuff that I can’t currently do in the house. She doesn’t have time to hang out with the cats and kittens. I’m going to also say that generally most of my kittens do have naturally good temperaments that of course benefit from fun times with humans, but have an inclination to be friendly and playful and will do well in their new homes. And I’ve been fortunate to find a home for the one kitten in Cascade’s litter that is more timid and skittish that I think will be suit her very well.

It’s a bit tricky contacting potential buyers about kittens. My ability to take photos is quite limited as I’m mobilising on a knee scooter. The kittens in the stud house have to be brought into the main kitten room and held by my cattery helper, to be photographed. Definitely detracts a bit from the quality of photos. Although I tell potential buyers that my ability to take photos is very limited due to my surgery they often ask for or expect me to take more and I do understand that it’s difficult to make a decision about a kitten that you don’t have a chance to meet in person… I have less information to offer about their nature and temperament, although I’ve relied on reports from my cattery helper. But we have been able to find homes for them and have now paid off a substantial part of my Q card balance (the last $5000 of vet costs during our fertility issues had to go on the card).

Another hurdle to negotiate was organising vaccinations and desexing for Cascade’s kittens and Abby’s solo kitten. I chose to get their first vaccination at 7 weeks, so that it could be done before my surgery. You can vaccinate from 6 weeks on but I normally do it at around 8-9 weeks. I also microchipped them while I was still mobile.My vet could not accommodate all 8 kittens on one day for desexing so they were split in to three groups. My amazing cattery helper agreed to come early (7.30am) three mornings in succession to capture the kittens with me, feed the cats, and then drop off the kittens at the vet clinic. My daughter was able to pick up them up. Yes, I did pay my cattery helper for her time but still, it’s a very early start to the day. Also all credit to her kitten whisperer skills in gathering up the kittens and getting them into a carrier, even the very shy one. Desexing was unproblematic, and we had no post-surgery issues, luckily (though admittedly these are rare, in over 20 years I’ve had literally a handful of post op infections out of hundreds of kittens). My daughter was able to take the kittens and drop them off at the vets to be vaccinated, and then later collect them for me. So everything got done. By now I was feeling less tired and pain issues had settled so I was able to muster the energy to complete kitten registration and transfer forms, register microchips and register kittens for free pet insurance.

But that was not all. Finn my (much loved) neuter boy, had a diabetic relapse which become evident during the few days that I was in hospital but had probably started before that. We have a new puppy (another result of assuming my surgery was months away) and this, plus my absence in hospital ramped up his stress which may well have been the trigger this time around as he’s still on a very diabetic friendly diet. I have been able to manage testing his blood sugars and administering insulin from my knee scooter. Luckily he’s pretty good and very tolerant of this addition to his routine (which already involved being given a giant capsule containing medication and supplements twice a day). However his relapse has been quite difficult to get on top of and after a discussion with my vet, she suggested he probably has a UTI. This can cause insulin resistance. He’s on antibiotics now and guess what, 3 days in, we’ve been able to reduce his insulin dose by one unit (from 8 to 7 units twice day) and his blood sugars are consistently good now. I’m optimistic he’ll be able to reduce his dose further or even come off the insulin completely as he’s been able to in the past.

I must say I’m looking forward to the happy times when I’m allowed to weight bear and more normal mobility returns!