03/12/2021
Why we can't give more precise waiting times. A long read, but if you're expecting rat kittens amazon primed the next day, here is why they aren't.
I thought I'd do a little write up on my, Mimble's and Filigree's litters from our last matings, done recently. We mate around the same times, in case things go wrong and foster mums are needed. They aren't always, but better safe than sorry.
Who we mated up (I'm using pet names for the sake of writing):
Azarath - Six, Yumi and Wendy
Filigree - HoneyLemon and Gogo
Mimble - Beans and Noli
If we say on average, each litter should be about 10 kittens. We should expect around 70 kittens from all of us. This is not how it went.
Six gave birth first, having 6 lovely kittens, not a bother. Then HoneyLemon, who had 8 (her first litter she had 15 and she won't be mated again) and sadly lost 1 at a week old (this happens). Then Gogo was due, sadly, Gogo ended up reabsorbing her litter at some point after day 20. Completely natural, though still a multitude of emotions happen with it. Next was Beans, who gave birth to a litter of 10. Beans damaged her knee at some point whilst on her babies (how in an Alaska, but things happen!). After we all had checked her out and supported Helen, she continued under careful watch, feeding her bubs. Beans started applying weight again after 2 days, much to our relief, however, she isn't out of the woods as she has started feeding the kittens over herself. Hopefully she rouperates in the coming days, but HoneyLemon and Six will take in fosters if Beans needs some support. Then Yumi. Yumi sadly got to day 23 and when checked after suspected birthing was done, there was blood in her nest, but no kittens. Yumi still felt "full" at this stage and sadly hadn't reabsorbed/birthed everything needed. After going on antibiotics and closely watching her for a few days, she did manage to pass/reabsorb everything else. She is currently doing well and back in her group. Then Noli went, Noli didn't look large at all and at times we weren't sure she was pregnant. She gave birth to a lovely 10 kittens. Lastly and most dramatically was Wendy. After a long birth and me thinking she was reabsorbing. Wendy gave birth to 1 alive kitten and 1 dead 1. Wendy herself was fine, she managed to get the first few feeds into the kitten, which is very important. We tried fostering some of Noli's kittens onto Wendy, in the hope it would keep Wendy's milk supply going. Unfortunately after 24hours all the kittens weren't fed. So I had to whisk the kittens up to Noli, sadly removing them from Wendy (this is soul destroying to do, but she will get over it with help of her cage mates and plenty of treats). All kittens have now been fed as of tonight (this just happened today). So we have our fingers crossed for Wendy's little Solo bub.
34 kittens we have (some are days old and aren't guaranteed to survive). Out of a possible of 70.
We will likely keep between us 12.
Buck homes that were used 2.
Potential to go back to breeders 8.
That's 12 kittens to pet homes.
12! That's 5 homes if pairs and less for trios.
When we say our waiting list can be between 3 and 12 month... this is why. Wolvern and Filigree last time, homed to 14 homes out of 3 litters. Mother nature, is just that.
***have some Six kittens as tax***
