Rollin, rollin, rollin...

Out of the gates after just turning three weeks old, the kittens are now starting to move around. The torties still lead the way, and moms are having some blessed relief from constant nursing.

So cute to see them start to play, groom themselves and walk unsteadily in the foster room. It is like having tiny replicas of full grown cats and four of them are very dainty...all of Marmee's girls look like they will be small cats, somewhat like Meggie, who weighs about eight pounds.

Two of the kittens have been reserved, and one visitor is coming this weekend to see my favorites, the torties.

The moms serve as stationary play equipment, with the kittens climbing over the top, wending their way through back legs or just plopping down to nurse when the mood strikes them. In the pictures, top left Laurie and Jo curl up together, top right, Meggie with Lulu peeking over the top and bottom left, Marmee with Minnie, Amy, Jo and DemiJohn....

"Out of the closet (the nest)

The kittens are becoming a little bit mobile, though awkward, as they head into week three and are very curious about what is happening in the big wide world right outside the closet where Marmee and Meggie have been feeding them and taking care. With a motion like a snake, with heads bobbing, several of the kittens have begun to climb out the short barrier around the nest and venture out into the world.

Looking more like kittens every day, so I have taken some updated pictures. We are having a few visitors today, one to meet the moms and the other couple to see the babies. Hard not to fall in love with any of this crew.

I will be uploading the pictures of the remaining kittens in tomorrow's post...today we have the little gray boy, Demijohn, the smaller white girl named Lulu and the tortie with white, Amy.

We are family...

"I've got all my sisters and me" would be the theme song of Marmee's litter, as to this untrained eye they appear to be all girls, and are named Beth(dilute tortie), Minnie (tortie), Jo (brown tabby) and Amy (brown tabby with orange and white) and little Louisa May (lulu, all white). Things may change in the future but right now it is an all girl family, while Meggie has two boys, Laurie (white) and Demijohn (gray tabby). Demijohn's twin is Daisy, also a gray tabby.

In the second week of life, the kittens are in heaven, eyes opening, moving around some though staying close to the nest, and two nursing mommas who do not distinguish between kittens. All are nursed and groomed regularly by both the girls.

Visitors are watched closely, but I am handling the kittens all the time now, to get them used to their human friends.

"Birthday"

Marmee, a longhaired orange tabby girl and her daughter from a previous litter, beautiful torbie Meggie, were abandoned in a foreclosed home in March. No food or water was found in the home and at first the cleaners who came to the home were not aware there were three pregnant cats residing there.

A rescuer was called when he became aware that several cats were hiding in the home and these two girls came into foster care under the auspices of the Feline Foundation of Greater Washington (ffgw.org).

Once the girls knew they were in good hands, their affectionate personalities emerged and they settled into foster care awaiting the arrival of kittens. Neighbors reported that Marmee had numerous previous litters and that many of the kittens had died. For that reason, Marmee was closely monitored to assure that the kittens would arrive safely and be healthy.

On April 2, 2009, in the mid-afternoon Meggie began delivering her kittens. They were large and healthy and the first one was a white male, followed by two gray tabbies. Marmee did not pay much attention to the process...she seemed tired and about ready to give birth herself.

Two days later, on April 4, 2009, I went into the foster bedroom and found that Marmee had begun to give birth. A brown tabby kitten had presented back feet first and Marmee was crying out loudly so that I decided to ease the kitten out. It was then that I noticed something I have never seen before...Meggie was joining her mother to assist as midwife at the birth of the kittens.

Over the next couple of hours, Meggie attended her mother, grooming her between kittens, licking her when a kitten started to be born, and both moms would break the sack, cut the cord, stimulate the newly born kitten with licking and settle down to nurse when it was safely delivered. At one point in the birth process, Meggie's kittens began to cry and I tried to take her into the bathroom with them to feed, but she was so intent on helping Marmee that she meowed at the door until I took them all back in and placed her kittens alongside the birthing Marmee.

Into the night, Meggie and Marmee worked on the new litter, and a total of five kittens were eventually born to Marmee. The two moms make no distinction between the litters...they just curl up on both sides of the "kitten pile" and nurse their babies together. I will continue to post about this amazing group of moms and babies as the kittens grow.