# Kitty's Pride



## argonath (Aug 4, 2012)

Hello. This will be a long story but, i live in a small place, it's a two floor building, i opened a store in the first floor and i live on the second floor. As i said in the "Introduce Yourself" section, i was a dog lover, and disliked cats because i have a bad experience with a cat when i was a kid.

But then about some months ago, i took a stray female cat, *Kitty* (I'm not sure if she is a calico cat). Originally, she like to come to my place (sometimes just passing by), then i started giving her some food, in the next few weeks i saw her being chased by a male tabby cat (probably fighting, because i saw her fur flies when she run and hide in my place), i repelled the tabby cat when they enter my place.

Since then, she like to stay in my place, on a rare occasion, she stays outdoor for an entire day and return on the next day. I'm quite surprised because she never pee or poop in my place, but always go outside, she meows and strokes the door at night whenever she want to go outside to pee or poop and return whenever she is done. She also never scratch my furniture, instead, she scratch on some unused wooden materials in the storage room. She is like a trained cat. My vet said, she is _"a cat who knows how to return a favor_".

Around march this year, her behavior slowly began to change, she meows a lot and seeks my attention whenever she meet me, she always headbutting and rubbing her body on my feet. I thought she became affectionate, but i realize her belly has become bigger and bigger each weeks. So i seek the internet to confirm her situation, and my guess was right, those are the symptoms of a pregnant cat. When her belly has become so big, she became more restless and seek a dark places in the corner of a room. So i prepared a cardboard box, filled it with newspapers and place it in the corner of a room. In the next day (June 15, 2012), she gave birth to four kittens.








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I leave her and her kittens in the nesting box while providing dry foods and water near there, because the vet said, most stray cats are perfectly able to take care of everything, not only that, my "bad experience with a cat" also makes me very reluctant to approach her and her kittens (my dog shows her teeth in an aggressive stance when i try to approach her newborn puppies). So i choose not to mess with animal protective instinct, i only check occasionally for the first week. I bring her and her kittens to the vet on the third week to make sure everything is alright.

By the time of this writings, the kittens are almost 2 months old. I spend most of my days with them, a new experience for me (though their behavior is starting to get out of control, but their expressions are effective to ease the stress).

For more photos: http://photobucket.com/kittypride


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## ownedby4cats (Jan 23, 2012)

That is a great story and I love all the photos of the mom and babies! They are so cute!


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## argonath (Aug 4, 2012)

ownedby4cats said:


> That is a great story and I love all the photos of the mom and babies! They are so cute!


Thank you for the reply *ownedby4cats*! I'm glad you like the photos. 

Have you noticed one different kitten? I named her *Aiko*, as she grows older, i noticed her appearance has became different from her litter mates, is this some kind of physical defect? Because she look fat and fluffy if compared to the other kittens.









From left to right: 44 days old Yoshi, Tora and Aiko.

Here is another comparison:








From left to right: 44 days old Tama, Yoshi, Tora and Aiko.

Her weight is similar to her litter mates:


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## shan841 (Jan 19, 2012)

aw, no, its not a defect. just like human siblings dont always look like each other, kittens from the same litter can take on different characteristics. It is actually pretty common, especially since there can be more than one father per litter!


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## shan841 (Jan 19, 2012)

And I hope you are planning on getting her spayed very soon! SHe can get pregnant even while she is still nursing, and she most likely will. Pet overpopulation is a serious problem, Not to mention the health risks to her. Thanks for taking good care of her and her kittens


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## argonath (Aug 4, 2012)

shan841 said:


> aw, no, its not a defect. just like human siblings dont always look like each other, kittens from the same litter can take on different characteristics. It is actually pretty common, especially since there can be more than one father per litter!


Thank you for confirming *shan841*. I ever read that somewhere in the internet that a litter can have more than one father, but i was unsure, because some days ago, i patrolled the area around my place, looking for a cat that look fat and fluffy like Aiko and i can't find one, but i found some cats that are very similar to the other kittens. That's why i was worried about physical defect.



shan841 said:


> And I hope you are planning on getting her spayed very soon! SHe can get pregnant even while she is still nursing, and she most likely will. Pet overpopulation is a serious problem, Not to mention the health risks to her. Thanks for taking good care of her and her kittens


Wow seriously? Might get pregnant again while still nursing? 8-O. And yes, i'm concerned about the cat overpopulation too, especially those that are forced to be killed in the shelters. I once asked my vet about spaying/neutering but the cost is somewhat expensive, because i plan to neuter/spay all of the kittens too.


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## shan841 (Jan 19, 2012)

argonath said:


> Thank you for confirming *shan841*. I ever read that somewhere in the internet that a litter can have more than one father, but i was unsure, because some days ago, i patrolled the area around my place, looking for a cat that look fat and fluffy like Aiko and i can't find one, but i found some cats that are very similar to the other kittens. That's why i was worried about physical defect.
> 
> 
> 
> Wow seriously? Might get pregnant again while still nursing? 8-O. And yes, i'm concerned about the cat overpopulation too, especially those that are forced to be killed in the shelters. I once asked my vet about spaying/neutering but the cost is somewhat expensive, because i plan to neuter/spay all of the kittens too.


Thats great that you are planning on getting them all fixed! Yes, she could likely go into heat at anytime now, so if it is possible for you to keep her (and the kittens) indoor until you can get them fixed, that would be best. 

and I am not sure where you are from, but it would be worth it to look for low cost spay/neuter programs in your area.


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## kty78 (Mar 18, 2012)

So cute! My cats are fluffy like that too, one more than the other and they're littermates. That one just has longer hair. I love the slim looking little tabby with the big ears! So darn cute!!!


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## minikin44 (Aug 25, 2012)

Aww, they're all beautiful! Aiko is just going to be a long-haired cat as far as I can tell. They could even all have the same father... from what I've read, fur length is determined by the dominant L gene, for short hair, and the recessive l gene, for long hair. If both parents were Ll, they would hair short fur, but be carriers of the recessive gene, and if one kitten got and l from both parents, they would have long fur.


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## Victoriax (Feb 25, 2012)

what a beautiful lil kitty family  you are very lucky that she chose you to help care for her & her adorable babies 

really good to hear that you are going to have them all neutered it is the best & most responsible thing for you to do for them 

I have 2 brother's from the same litter, their mother is a short haired tortoiseshell, Teddybear is short haired blue & Elfie is medium haired red, they are very different in look's & personality, they are all individual & unique ;-)

please do keep us posted on your lil family xxx


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## LaurulFeatherCat (Sep 16, 2011)

You know it is possible your Kitty had been a tame housecat before she found you and somehow lost her home for some reason. It would be one reason why she has shown such good manners while in the store. Her babies are beautiful.

If you are in the USA, there are many low cost spay/neuter programs out there to help get them all fixed so you will not have more cats to feed. SNAP is, I think, a nationwide organization. I used them to get my last four stray cats fixed and it was quite affordable, thank goodness.

Keeping the cats in the area after you neuter them is a great idea because they will defend their territory against other stray cats and keep your store clean of rats, mice, large and small insects and any other things that try to make your store home. Thank you for taking in Kitty when she needed you and for being such a wonderful foster for the kittens.


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## Jacq (May 17, 2012)

I _just_ got the word play in the title of this tread.

Good job! Made me smile.


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## minikin44 (Aug 25, 2012)

How is your little family doing?


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## argonath (Aug 4, 2012)

Oh my God, i have so many replies! I am very sorry if i didn't respond for weeks. The family is good, but things has become very different.

For example, mom eating kittens' food, kittens eating mom's food. Mom uses kittens' litter box, kittens uses mom's litter box. . The mother often "calls" her kittens to the door, its like guiding them so they can go outside (i forbid them to go outside).

The kittens are getting very overactive, they are running rampant! They run here and there like there's no tomorrow, they jump to the top of the table, sometimes i found them at the top of fridge. They also bites any cardboard boxes they find, especially the edges. Sometimes a kitten attack a littermate when eating at the same bowl. Sometimes a kitten jumps into a trash can, tossing the garbage out! :-o

Today i'm lucky, because i can turn on my computer, i barely have some free time because if i have some free time, i better use it to supervise the kittens and to clean the place.

The only way which i found to be effective is to tire them out by playing with them, but of course it's also make me very tired. So once again, forgive me for my late reply.


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## minikin44 (Aug 25, 2012)

Cats loooooove cardboard boxes... I'm not sure why, but they do... I'm surprised they don't tire each other out. Do you have any toys for them?


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