Be Careful What You Wish For

(the above is my Ava about two weeks ago)
After what seemed like the pregnancy that would never end, my kitty Ava finally gave birth today.

It has been such a long time (about 13 years) since I had a cat have kittens, I did a lot of brushing up on the subject. I also relied on a good online friend who knows everything about cats.

This past week between coping with a bad pain week and the normal stresses of my life, I had Ava at night keeping me awake. Her anxiety at times was huge and she would insist that I massage her to calm her at night. The last few nights there was no soothing her. She would wake up crying and sleep up by my face.

All I kept thinking was I cannot wait for her to have her kittens so I could get some sleep. Not knowing when they would be born and if she was going to try and have them somewhere inappropriate was stressful.

Well. Long story short, I woke at 6 this morning like normal. She wandered out of my room and seemed fine. About 8 a.m. labor started. My husband wandered in around 8:30 and together we tried to soothe her while she laid on her blanket on my bed.

All of a sudden she jumped up, ran under the bed and is still there as we speak.

I saw her give birth to 3 kittens, suspected a 4th was on its way and left the room. For hours I thought we had 3 little kittens and I was relieved and happy it was over.

Hahahahaha. Not so quick. After enjoying dinner, I checked on her and realized that there was actually 4 kittens. Upon further inspection (they are all the way under the bed and it is dark and hard to see) there appears to be FIVE!

Well...panic set in. Right now they are attached to their momma but in a few weeks, well, they will be all over my bedroom.

Having an adult male cat also in the house- no not the kitty daddy - I need to keep these babies safe secluded in my bedroom. Should be a fun filled 6 weeks or so.

Very happy that all were born healthy and strong but never ever expected my tiny Ava to be housing 5 kittens.

Be careful what you wish for! (wished for a job but that has not happened yet)

Cats- What declawing your cat really does to it

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5424904/declawing_your_cat.html?cat=53

To the right is a picture of my cat Gumby. He was the inspiration behind the above article about declawing.

Before I start to get hate mail from animal lovers, let me explain...
Gumby was one of those kittens that scratched everywhere. You can just tell with some kittens that they are not going to change and they will shread everything in your home.
Believe me, I am hardly the kind who has a home that looks like it came out of a home and garden magazine, but, that said, I had lived with hand-me-down furniture forever. I knew in the near future I was going to be able to purchase something new. I love my cats but I wasn't willing to see a cat destroy the furniture that I worked so hard for.
I made many assumptions about declawing. I admit that I did not do my research. Gumby has paid for my ignorance. Gumby does not easily use the litter box anymore, this is why he is on a harness outside. He spends the day outside on and off. He actually loves the outdoors and this keeps him safe. I am posting this article to teach others what I learned too late about declawing.
Again, please no hate mail...I know declawing is wrong.

Only the black cat is declawed. The other two are not.