And that is something we have felt for some time now. When our litters were 1 and 4 weeks, they all got diarrhea both the 2 mothers and all 7 kittens.  It took us over a week to stop this, and the kittens were very thin. We feeded them with formula in addition to the milk from their mothers and they gained weight quite fast. At least 6 of them. Little Ko Samui did not gain any weight and we took here til the Vet - again, and she got Baytril for 2 days. Finn-Ove gave her the shots, but it was really difficult for him to give them because Ko Samui was so skinny, she did not have any muscles or fat left. After 2 days she was better, and we got more Baytril from the Vet. Five more days of Baytril and we hoped that would be enough. She recovered quite well, but two days after finishing the Baytril she was really sick again. She lost 20 of her 189 grams (she was 3 weeks and 6 days old) during the day and we called the Vet again. We was shure that Ko Samui would not survive the nigth, she was like a little bird and struggled hard with her breathing. And we wanted the Vet to put her to sleep, we would not try to keep her alive too long, we did not want her to suffer. The Vet came home to us, and before she saw Ko Samui she was optimistic, but when she saw Ko Samui and hold her we could se in her eyes that she had lost her optimism. But the Vet wanted to give her a chance, and would give Ko Samui a shot with some different antibiotics. This medicine was supposed to be given in a muscle, but Ko Samui did not have any....... The Vet gave her the medicine in her neck, and Ko Samui screamed loudly while the medicine got into her body. She also got a shot of painkiller medicine, and Ko Samui acted like frantic after this shot. She had some form of cramps, and she bit me several places on my fingers. This was terrible to look at her, and I just cried and cried. We wanted this little girl to either survive or to die peacefully, and then we put her through this horror! We hoped for this little one to be better, but some hours after the Vet left we understood that Ko Samui very soon was reaching the end of her road. She died, lying in my arms, at 4.30 in the morning. Yesterday we got the result from the autopsy, and she had a most severe pneumonia caused by Pateurella Multocida. Nothing else was found.

I took Jagara to the Vet to give her the first of her 2 shots that morning, and everything went well. Two days after the shot, Jagara started to sneeze a lot. This developed quickly to a infection in her eyes with LOTS of goo, and her eyes closed up. We started to wash her eyes and hoped that this would be a minor thing. But not such luck..... Today both Jagara and Cheetara are in really bad condition, their eyes are mostly closed up except a few minutes after we have washed them. They both got a pneumonia, and their nostrils are clogged up and makes it difficult both to breathe and to eat. Lion-O has a milder infection in his left eye, and hopefully he will not have to go all the way as his sisters had. We have informed the new owners of our 3 Thundercats about this situation and told them that we would understand it very well if they choose not to buy the kitten. Time will show how this ends....

And as if this was not enough, we lost Ko samui´s sister Ko Phi Phi Lee only 10 days after Ko Samui. One of our grown up girls wanted to be Phi Phi Lee´s mother, and took her at the top of our highest schratching post - approx 185 cm high. When she reached the highest platform, she stumbled and lost Phi Phi Lee down on the slate tiles at the floor. And off to the vets again! Phi Phi Lee was paralyzed in her back, she could not move anything behind her hips. But she felt deep pain and the vet wanted us to give her a chance to see if this was something she could recover from. She got a shot if cortisone and we were to come back the next morning. At first she was better and I was not able to keep her still, she wanted to be with her sisters at the floor. She was not able to go, but she pulled herself forward with her front feets, and she did at fast as a wind! We were optimistic and thought that she migth could overcome this. But the next morning we saw that there was only one solution on this...... We had to let her go. She did not feel any pain at all when the vet tested her, and she was could as ice on her back legs.  A last picture of our little girl, lying in Finn-Ove´s arm, sleeping.   

Right now I am not looking forward to the two litters we are expecting early in 2011, and if I was able to choose, I would not have any litters for a loooooong time. This year (2010) we have had 3 litters with a total of 10 kittens, where 5 of them have died so far. This is like a nightmare! And with our two latest litters we have done everything "right" that is having the mother and her kittens in a separate room and not together with the "wildbunch" before the kittens were more than 4 weeks old, the room was washed thoroughly and desinfected before the mother and her kittens moved in, and everything in that room was desinfected before it was placed there. We also desinfected our hands everytime we went to check on the cats, and between touching every kitten. We have never been so careful with a litter before, and the only reason we did it was that "everybody" (other breeders and our vets) have told us that this is the best way to raise a litter. Well, we are not impressed!

This beautiful boy have moved to a new home! He was picked up last night in Oslo, and he now lives with a family of 4 and a Devon Rex boy. His first hours at his new home he spent in the bedroom of the teenagerboy in the family, sleeping under his quilt. For breakfast Læstefar got boiled chicken, which is his favourite meal and after the breakfast he has been cuddled with until he was so tired that he felt asleep on the sofa, under the blanket with his new catfriend Astrix. I guess he would be even more spoiled in his new home than he was here   

We wish Læstefar and his new family all the best in the future!

 

Ulrika

26 december 2010 10:16

I am so sorry to hear about your losses:-( this is the reason why I stopped breeding a while ago, so many hopes destroyed so many lives wasted. BUT I also realise this is the reality of a breeder, anyone who hasn´t been in this situation doesn´t know what breeding is. It´s a lot of hard work, time of waiting and sometimes a little bit luckiness! Don´t give up,the only way is up and forward! Hugs!

http://www.merlions.se

Lisbeth Jacobsen

26 december 2010 17:13

Thank you so much for your support!The reality is hard, sometimes to hard to take. And I can understand breeders that decides to take a break, and even those who stop breeding. But we live for the golden moments when a new kitten is born and it´s strong enough to start walking at once to find the mothers nipple and start succling on it. Or the moment the little one follows you with it´s eyes for the very first time.... and all the other golden moments when your heart is filled with joy!

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