Breeding is alot of work, alot of joy but also sometimes very hard. I have had some terrible heartbreaking days, and decidet a 5w update was not something I manage to do this week.
Even breeding for 19.5 years, I never get use to it, when joy turns to sorrows. We are dealing with alive animals, so it is expected that sad thing happens once in a while. But have to make a hard dessision on PTS 3 kittens in 2 days, who already has reach 5w of age is hard.
There is alot of scenarios in a cattery.
Viruses, bacterias, some genes that not fit together of course. Unknows bloodtype issues, home accidents that are maybe not fixable. Infections after birth passing on to the babies from a mother - the list goes on an on.
An infection is something you can see, and then with help from your Vet, you might can fix it with the right medication. Some weak kittens might not make it, you can loose a whole litter, or maybe some few. Example for this is : Navel infections, G.strep or other bacterial stuff. Pneunomia, eye infections , Upper resporaritory problems.
Bloodtype issues are not a big problem for SIA/OSH. But we did actually, without knowing it first - bought an OSH with different bloodtype. And out of many kittens , only 2 survied. The Vet checked the bloodtype - and then we knew the problem. The cat was neutred ASAP. We didn't want this problem in our Cattery. That line was not so important that we wanted to deal with more problems like that.
If you are having a genetic problem, you can choose to close that line for further breeding. We are breeding with only healthy animals, but noone can control mother earth!
But what do you do when everything seems pretty normal, but there is still serious problems that don't appear until later ? You might have a hunch, but you can be a control freak also , and there is maybe nothing to worry about after all ?
As a breeder you can only do your best, but not everything is fixable. And sometimes bugs shows up not from birth, but many weeks later.
Like kidney,liver or heart issues. Maybe you don't know about it before your first Vet check. But have the kittens reach that age, many of them can have good petlife in the right homes - where the owner follow up their baby often with Vet controls and with the right feeding etc. That can be a sad onetime happening, or a line problem. If it is a line problem - close that line please!
I want to tell about our 3 little angels that got a very short life.
 |
| Sparks |
When Sparks was born he was a normal kitten. Some vage red flags popped up in my mind when the sight and hearing started. He could sudden be very afraid or even angry over movements or sounds if he wasn't aware of it. But he was happy in his milkbarn and grow week by week. I had my eyes very close on him from that time. I might be wrong, but my stomac feeling was 50-50. Maybe he couldn't hear and see well either because of his scitchy behaveiour.
 |
| El Nino |
 |
| Dirty Shirley |
These two were our little micro kittens from start. But I have had some in the past who just needet a bit of extra feeding. They needet time to grow, but they made it with no problems - and are happy adults today. So I wasn't worried in the start. Then the weeks went by, and they were gaining so so slow. Shirley changed the milkbar, and moved to Pebbles. Just beause her kittens was in the all kittensafe plexirun . She was so little she would walk easy out if the puppyrun. The transition went perfect, and Pebbles loved her extra baby right away.
Somewere between 3 and 4 weeks when kittens start to wanting to explore more of the world - start walking,eating,littertraining etc - then the 3 showed me there was something else they struggled with. With Sparks I have a feeling of a severe brain damage/ or maybe lack of oxygen during birth.He didn't want to eat,drink or use the toilet on his own.
The two smallest had probably some digesting problems - so their bodies didn't work like it should. They got food, but their bodies didn't use it as they should to grow. Maybe some organs or their digesting sympthomes was a problem from already laying in the uterus.
Because of their sizes I didn't dear to start with solid food. I was hoping they would start eating when they were ready.
I told about them on FB, but not in details. I also wrote I do alot to help every kittens who need some extra help in a period. But with helping it is usually giving them extra milk and later food in a syringe. That is what every breeder would do in a period - and in a while they manage to do everything their littermates are doing. They just need some extra time.
But these 3 angels above couldn't be helped , even I did my very best. Their mind were still on the newborn stage in many things. Then I made the dession to PTS in the best interests of the kittens welfare.
If they had been just a little different they might could grow up to maybe special need kittens , with small adjustable problems - we could have found wonderful forever pethomes for them with friends. Special need kittens are not for everyone , and they are absolutly NOT kittens we sells. We give them away, to special and dear friends - and friends knows the kittens story. And with help from a Vet - they can provide good homes for them.
But I choose different this time - because I was really not sure what their future life would become. Would it be a life with good qualitee ? There were just too much going on with them.
The sadest part is that they apear ot be normal the first weeks of life. And because of that, there is abolutly not a rule that say PTS because of a maybe ? That would be cruel!
I don't know if it apears in the catworld , but few years ago some dogbreeds were PTS because of maybe coat lenghts or a colour or just a itty bitty tiny problem or defect. So sad and horrible.
I did my very best, and I don't regret my sad choice in the end. I just wish all the signs would been visable much sooner. The longer we have them , the more we love them.
And for those who have not read on the FB page. This is one of the reasons why we ( and many other breeders) never are in any hurry with reserving a baby. We want to know it is healthy first. Then a deposit can be taken some weeks later, witch is refoundable if there is something wrong found at the Vet check. But 99 % of the time it goes well - thank goodness.
And at last - why did I write about it ? Well, I usually make updates about our babies from week 3. And wouldn't it be strange if sudden there was no update on all ? And again, I am not afraid of beeing open. We are breeders , not magicians.
Some breeders like to keep it private, and that is also totally ok. There are also other kinds of breeders. Breeders who sits on their high horses - jugding everyone else - always knows best and have all the correct answers. And those breeders are there no hope for!! Rude people is really not my cup of tea!
Some breeders might suffor in silence also because of those jugdemental breeders above. They don't dear to speak open about things.
But how can be learn about things, if we are not sharing experiences ? Not everything can be read on internet or in a book. Some is learning by personal experience.
We will talk more about all this together with our closest breederfriends - and hope and pray this was a sad onetime experince.
The 6 weeks update of our other babies are comming this weekend.
Thank you everyone who wanted to read all this.
