Small Mammals, Big World: Dar la luz

My next few posts will have a lot about kittens, degu pups, baby birds, etc. In Spanish the phrase “to give birth” is “dar la luz”, which literally means “to give light”. Isn’t that such a beautiful phrase??

10/9/15 11:58am

We have a kitten!!! I was on my laptop in our front room when I saw the cat book it into Sara’s room. That was unusual behavior for her, she usually saunters in and looks around, drinks some water and tries to get us to give her food. She might beeline for my room where Zorro’s food bowl is, but besides that, she is usually very calm. I thought maybe she was looking for somewhere to start labor, maybe in a few days. Next thing I know, Zorro and I perk up when we hear squeaking. I peeked into Sara’s room and there was a kitten with her!!! I yelled to Sara, “There’s a kitten on your bed. I’m not kidding”. We had kinda joked that she would do it in Sara’s room, on her bed or something since she sleeps there, but we still couldn’t really believe it.

12:52pm Now, we have 4!!! About 15 minutes ago we checked on her and the number went from 1 to 3 kittens, and we could tell she was pushing. We witnessed the actual birth of kitten number 4 and it was amazing. She is such a good mom and is so sweet to us. We are careful to keep Zorro out, which is hard because that room doesn’t have a door. We’ve made a barricade to keep him out but we are still in shock about what to do now that there are kittens on Sara’s bed. He acts like Lady in Lady and the Tramp in the song "What is a baby?" If you don't remember it you should watch a video clip of it because that's how he acts! Except we can't let him in to see them or the mom beats him up. In about a week their eyes will be open and in a few more weeks they will be playing!!! This will certainly make for an exciting last one and a half months!

Sibling love :)

Kittens in Sara's bed!

He's like Lady in Lady and the Tramp

There are lots of babies around, since it is spring. We have seen nestlings around my site and the mammal team has found degu pups in their grids. I am still waiting for my degus to give birth, although I found a new female the other day that I suspect may have had a litter. I am hoping I will see or catch some pups around her burrow systems.