Vancouver Feline Hospital - Cat Veterinary Clinic

He gave her IV antiobiotics during (after the kitten was delivered) and after surgery. Bluebell's vitals remained steady as a rock the entire anaesthesia, she woke quickly. Disorientated and distressed, with that mother cat's instinct to eat anything bloody, she pulled out her IV line. We consoled her and offered her kitten, however she would not take her kitten without aggression until later that afternoon. Immediately I could safely leave Bluebell recovering, (before she staggered up and started eating everything in site), I took the kitten from the oxygen cage, where she had been placed in a preprepared warm receiving box. I wiped her dry and clean, and took the clamp from her drying umbilical cord. When kittens are born naturally, they are followed by their placenta - very differently than humans! - and derive oxygen and nutrients from that placenta for minutes after birth. Mom will then eat the placenta and then the cord is severed, sometimes a little way from the body. It then dries up and falls off. Kittens do NOT need their umbilical cords clamped and ligated like humans. That was the first photo - an hour old and definitely neither of us was posing. Linda then acted as human incubator until late afternoon, and transferred kitten to me. I went and sat with Bluebell and she eventually accepted the kitten without aggression. What a relief! We had already fed the yelling mite several meals of kitten milk replacer, but what she really needed was mum's first milk to get essential colostrom and antibodies before her gastrointestinal tract started sealing off within the first few hours. I still wasnt sure if Bluebell was letting down milk, and so on Monday morning I was still prepared to supplement. Not necessary- that little pork-pie was still sampling every single available teat. We made it easy for her - all shaved, no fur and a happy mum. Mum was very anxious if anybody took her baby, and I realised that she had gone under anaesthetic with a dead kitten (did she know?) and later received a live kitten. All she knew is that I had her kitten. I do not know if she knew they were different kittens. This one thrived. I have never seen such a contented butterball. She loves tummy rubs as much as her mother (it is a kitten reflex). Bluebell turned out to be one of the best kitten mothers ever.  Bluebell and her perfectly healthy black female kitten went to their new home when the kitten was 5 weeks old. They went together, so we could do that. At 5 weeks the kitten has only two speeds - on and off - and is starting to explore her world. Bluebell was herding her around the Hospital, but is now relaxed and playing, as two kittens should, in their new home. In a year's time, the age difference between mother and daughter will not be noticeable. They should be lifelong buddies, because mother-daughter relationships form the core of cat colonies.