We have exciting news……
Terapiya has exciting news that we have had 4 kittens with Vera! They arrived early around 2am on Tuesday morning. It was also lucky we heard them, as Vera had 2 kittens and another 2 a few hours later. We were able to ensure the first 2 arrivals were supported, warm and ready to take to the nipple.
Birthing can be an incredibly stressful and taxing experience on queens so ensuring they are comfortable and checking them every few hours the first few days can be crucial at keeping nerves settled and managing complications. However, like her last litter the kitten are currently happy and healthy with no issues. We are thinking we have 3 girls and 1 boy, which is a relief due to the current high demand for females!
The weather and timing couldn’t be more perfect as we are still getting some of the cooler winter nights dropping below 5 celecius. This is pretty typical for the Central West and Riverina but due to kittens being unable to thermoregulate when just born, it is essential conditions are monitored with would they are coping with their body temperature. It isn’t unmoccom for us to get the occasional frosts right through to November before it truly warms up.
From here, we have all their desexing, vaccines and microchipping booked in for the coming months, so timeframes remain on schedule. As the weather warms up, Valentina’s litter won’t be to far behind Vera’s now. We will also be mating Veronika later this year as we bring Russian Black’s further into the breeding program. Currently, the waitlist we have is quite long and there has been increased demand for Russian cats, likely with a lot of the NSW pet law and tenancy changes. We have therefore been recommending that people book their meet and greet calls ahead of time to avoid disappoint when waiting for a kitten.
It is likely Valentina’s litter will be a few weeks later than expected as the colder snap we had a few weeks ago seemed to push things back a little, but she is pregnant! Also be aware to ensure that if you have current cats and are welcoming a kitten into your home that their vaccines are up to date, they are flea and worm treated and check for ticks. It is the time of year where both disease and ticks become a major threat to new kittens and older cats can pass things on without the proper checks.