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Darkie's 9.2

Because Ruusu's plans are still open, but Nala stepped up as a mandatory 'must mate now', is Nala's planned mating with Aatu numbered 9.2, this means that Ruusu's next mating attempt with entirely new stud will be with a new number.

Nala's first, and possibly the only, litter will be made with a higher inbreeding percent with Aatu, as Nala's mother Haiku had to be sterilized before her second litter. This means that the line that continues from these two need to be paired further with extra care. I aim to avoid line breeding to the last possible point, but this time I will take the risk, full well knowing the risk is there, and I intend to be open about this.

Due the situation that developed with Aatu's kidneys, he was put aside from stud duties permanently and Aatu's real-life-copy of a son from Dollgarden's cattery came to our aid. Kapu is taller, longer and heavier than his father - but especially skull-wise he is more slender. Kapu is a lot younger than Aatu, which means he still has a lot of time to grow out to even more gorgeous. ♥

Nala spent a steamy date with Kapu between August 10th and 13th, succesfull matings were witnessed during August 11th and 12th - so now we wait! If she was inpregnated, she'd be due on around October 15th. :)

The litter was born on it's due date! Though during nighttime, on October 15th at 4 am Nala started pushing and gave birth to 7 babies! 5 girls and 2 boys, one of the boys was born with twisted hindlegs and looking a bit weird on his overall shape. He is under constant observation.

FI*Darkie's Color and gender Status
Horagai "Cookie" chocotabby bicolor (tortie?)/ ♀ Reserved
Kokyu "Zoe" chocotabby colorpoint (tortie?) / ♀ Reserved
Koto "Vaahtis" chocotabby bicolor / ♀ Fostered
Shinobue "Bella" chocotortietabby mitted / ♀ Fostered
(Taiko) "Mokka" sealtabby bicolor / ♂ Deceased 23.12.2022
"Kippura" (twisted leg) redtabby bicolor / ♂ Deceased 8.11.2022
Biwa "Ditto" chocotortietabby colorpoint / ♀ Available

From the combination of

Nala ja Kapu

CH FI*Darkie's Haikai, "Nala" (RAG h 04 21) x FI*Dollgarden's Kalimeris, "Kapu" (RAG n 04)

Parent's pedigrees (inbreeding 2,76% in 10th generation)

Pairing is PG-free.

6.11.2022

Yesterday the kittens got their very first solid foods! The food seemed to be to their liking, atleast for those who dared to try the new food. Not everyone tried it on first glance, or even the second, but those who tried it out liked it!

Even Kippura ate the porrige happily, still for some reason his weight has only gotten up by 4 grams. He has eaten multiple spoonfuls of food during the day, even drank some milk during the morning, but after he got the taste of this porrige he wasn't that much into milk anymore. He's been served milk multiple times during the day, but he doesn't care for it for some reason. Can't be helped but to try offer him all the food he wants to eat and just observe if his weight starts going up. :( As I've been awake for the most parts of past 3 weeks I must say I am completely drained for energy. I wish there would be a clear change - either to good or bad...

1.11.2022

After 30 minutes fighting I got Kippura's legs all taped up! The idea with the tape is to get the twisted legs under the kitty - stop them from sliding to the sides and to behind. He started to step so much better instantly after his legs were forced to go under him!

The tapes will be there for some time (from few weeks to a month) and usually at that point the muscles should know which way is which. :)

31.10.2022

Kippura got to visit a vet yesterday at the ripe age of 2 weeks. We've been observing his growth and feeding him round the clock, while measuring and marking up when and how much he has been eating at the accuracy of ~0,5 ml and we've tried to train him to return to his mother's teat. Couple of times we've been succesful but I wonder if it is because of he's gotten used to getting his belly full from the syringe, way faster than from a teat and maybe he got frustrated by the work required to get the same amount naturally. Training his legs has not been a priority now, as it's been 2-3 hours between feedings and I have not gotten much sleep during this time, 4-5 hours at best if my spouse has helped me with Kippura's feeding. As I am studying for university at the same time, it feels like I'm burning the candle from both ends.

Kippura's situation looked a bit better for a while, but yesterday, during Saturday when the litter turned 2 weeks, Kippura just wasn't in the mood for eating. He was just not 'in the mood'. He was tired, cool but had still enough energy to run around and purr, he just won't tell me if he's purring because he's feeling nice or if he's in pain... His flat chest causes a bit obstacles to his breathing, but on Saturday he was really struggling to catch a breath.

His breathing was very labored and he was breathing with his whole body. I took his temperature and he was hypothermic. On the clinic they went through him and gave him fluids while he was warming up on the heating pad. A slight diarrhea was also noted, but wasn't certain if it was due measuring his temperature rectally or just something he had. After a slight mention we got a course of antibiotics for out boy to try out all the options. Synolux for 5 days, thrice a day for 0,05 ml per serving. I really hope he has gotten better after the first day's doses, but it might be that I am just hoping for the best.

At the clinic they didn't say anything about his heartrate or breathing rate, but at home his breathing was double of that of his sister.

28.10.2022

I've been thinking this for a while, and really hoped I was wrong... But yeah, I was right; Kippura seems to be a flat chested kitten along with all his other problems. :(

I've had two flat chested kittens before; Santtu from the third litter and Manu from the fourth litter. Santtu is living a rather normal life, already 10 years old and overall healthy, whereas Many died on a clinic because of fluid buildup and heart failure at 10 months old. It was never figured out if it was something he was born with or even because of a virus.

Every deviation in kittens is always alarming, now for the third time I am thinking of horrendous thoughts and fear the worst...

24.10.2022

The whole litter seems to be tabbies, most of them bicolors. Means that Nala is a dominant tabby. :)

23.10.2022

They are finally opening their eyes. ♥ World, here we come!

22.10.2022

First week done! Most of the kittens seem to reach their goal weight (doubling their birth weight). Yellow and red/green managed to double their weight last night, yellow/red during this morning and the biggest, red and green kittens are not far behind from their goals. The furthest from his goal is our baby Kippura, and I don't think he'll meet his goal in a while. We've been fighting against constipation and dehydration for a couple of times. :( Thrice I've given subcutaneous liquids for him and his milk formula has added oil in it to support the bowel moment. I heard it's not unlikely for the kitten to get constipated when they're completely fed with the formula, it's just something I haven't experienced yet.

17.10.2022

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Overall the litter is doing well! Nala is still finding out what it means to be a mother, like helping the yellow/red kitten to pee - the girl has been wet multiple times due Nala not being active enough. We're trying to help all we can at the same time we're feeding the whole litter. Mainly all the kittens have gained weight nicely, but the kitten with twisted legs (2x green) has caused most reason for concern. Feels like he's super busy all the time and maybe his poor hind leg coordination lessens his will to fight against his siblings. After all he's been eating from a syringe by himself.

I asked for guidance to how to work with his legs from other breeders, and the guide was to excercise his legs multiple times a day, gently persuade his legs to correct position and give some physical therapy at the same time. The position of the legs isn't the worst possible, but it still weakens his movement.

'2x green' kitten was quickly named as "Kippura" and he's been under observation since he was born. In the beginning his weight just dropped and was not raising at all by himself. Also 'yellow/red' girl has been under observation and been extra fed since he's been struggling with the bigger kittens.

Since Nala's sister, 'Mini', died I've been extremely cautious and I've been quick to act when it looks like they're not doing so hot. After all, Kippura's round expression and somehow 'wrong' overall appearance just caused some worry and got me thinking "what is wrong with this kitten". Can't be helped. I just need to observe and act accordingly.

Kippura has been extremely hungry and has quickly learned that scent of human = food, and eeven climbs on our palms when we go and offer a milk scented finger close to him. He's also been given puppy booster to give extra boost and help him to carry on.

Kippura 2 days

15.10.2022

The labor started at around 4 am, just as I was about to get some sleep after being on watch for two days. Just as I was about to shut my eyes, I checked Nala for the last time and saw she was pushing. I had planned on birthing live on Facebook, but as the labor started so suddenly in the middle of the night, I wasn't able to fix my phone to anywhere where it wasn't in the way, since my selfie-stick was broken since the last birthing.

She started pushing at 4:17 am and the first kitten was out at 5:22 am and the SEVENTH kitten was pushed out at 8:03 am. Nala had a calm birthing, bathing kittens and cutting the umblical cord wasn't on her to-do list unfortunately and I had to clean all the kittens and cut all but one of the cords. The kittens were all weirdly tired when they came out, but they were all quite big. Everyone started eating after taking a slight nap as well as started keeping some noises while I was drying them.

Sixth of the kittens was born literally green, apparently he had broken his feces-bag just before being born. He was also cramped in the uterus, causing him to have twisted hind legs. I have never had a kitten with twisted legs, so I'll have to ask help from other breeders. The overall appearance of this specific kitten was a bit different from his siblings; he was rounder in his shapes and overall expression just.... weird. Let's see what he'll turn out to be or will he turn out.

The birthing times, weights, genders and marked colors.

What has happened so far