Towards the end of May we trapped 3 ginger female adults at Garth Farm. One was heavily pregnant and gave birth at SHUA 2 days later.
Our vets examined all 3 cats on the day we trapped them and alerted us immediately that the other 2 females had litters - their mammary glands showed that they had been suckling kittens recently. The Farm owners had not told us this! So we hurried back to the Farm with the 2 young mums and a frantic search for kittens began!
We found one litter of 2 kittens and matched them to the right Mum. Unfortunately, we could not find the other litter. We had no choice but to release the other Mum so that she could go back and look after her babies.
The female who gave birth at SHUA is called Mummy Garth. She is approx. 5-6 years old and is also mother to the other two ginger adult females. Her latest litter is 4 kittens: 3 boys (1 ginger, 2 cream) and 1 girl (ginger). The cream with the blue hairband is called Frank and he has already been reserved. Their 7 week health check will be done around the 19th of July (they can be viewed after this) and they will be ready to go to their homes at approx 9-10 weeks old, in early August.
Daughter Garth's kittens were born on approx. 20th May. She has a ginger boy and a cream girl. They are to be rehomed together as a pair. Daughter Garth's kittens have had their 7 week health check and will be ready to go to their home at 9-10 weeks old, towards the end of July.
Mummy and Daughter Garth were brought to SHUA as semi-feral cats. They are definitely intelligent and quickly learnt who we were and that we meant them no harm. They were grateful for a secure environment in which to care for their kittens, with warmth and an endless food supply. With us, they are little more than nervous mums. They both adore their babies and are excellent mothers. As you can see from the pictures, all 6 kittens are doing really well.
Mummy and Daughter Garth are going back to the Farm once they have finished nursing their kittens. The new Manager there has promised to take good care of them now. All 3 adults have ben spayed and without kittening to worry about, they could not ask for a more idyllic life than living on a farm with a good food source.
SHUA have a strict neutering policy and this absolutely must apply to these kittens. Daughter Garth's kittens have developed relatively slowly, which is quite possibly due to inbreeding. This is not uncommon in cat colonies (and to an extent, all animals are inbred) but where it is known to have occurred, inbreeding should be stopped as soon as possible.
If you are thinking of adopting any of the Garth kittens, then please get in touch.
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