Jan 16 2022

The Long Delivery

  • January 16, 2022

Six little spuds

Lola gave birth to six healthy kittens on January 5th. It was a long, six hour labor, but thankfully she decided to pop them out during the day. All of the kittens are eating well and growing like crazy. We had to switch them to a bigger nest today because they’re just so chunky and mobile.

Fezzik, the father, is proud to have sired twice as many kittens as his first go-around as a stud (with Starry Night). He’s strutting around like he expects to father twelve next time, but for his next girlfriend’s sake we hope he isn’t THAT virile.

All of these kittens are reserved. 

Permanent link to this article: https://atlastcats.com/the-long-delivery/

Dec 26 2021

Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car

  • December 26, 2021

Hungry babies!

Starry Night gave birth to three beautiful kittens on December 14th. Fezzik, the father, is very proud and ready to go on another date with Starry as soon as she is ready (in a year).

It was quite the dramatic night (and morning). Starry was in labor for an hour, but no kittens were coming out. She seemed to be anxious and since we knew the kittens were big we were concerned that the first one might be stuck. We made the decision to take her to the emergency vet, and set out a bit before midnight. Marie was in the back seat watching Starry, just in case she decided to give birth on the way. And at about 12:15AM, that’s exactly what she did!

I pulled over so Marie could tie off the umbilical cord, and then we headed home. Starry gave birth to the second kitten a few minutes after we got home. She took a long time to deliver the third kitten, but it finally appeared around 2:30AM.

We’ve had some easy deliveries the last few times, so I guess we were due! Since the first kitten was born in a Honda the leading contenders for names are ones like Accord, Civic, Prelude, Pilot, Fit. I suppose we could name a kitten CR-V, but that would be weird.

The kittens are all doing well, eating a lot, and growing very fast.

All of these kittens are reserved.

Permanent link to this article: https://atlastcats.com/get-outta-my-dreams-get-into-my-car/

Dec 26 2021

That’s a Dam Nice Litter

  • December 26, 2021

I approve of this liquid refreshment.

We’ve named Sara’s litter after famous dams around the world. Why, you might ask? Well, around our house Queen Sara Saturday is also known  as the Water Commissioner. Whenever it’s time to change out the water, Sara will plant herself next to the bowl and paw at us as we take it away and put it back. Apparently this water replacement activity was not approved, she’ll have you know!

We thought of naming the kittens after rivers or oceans, but finally we decided on dams.

Anyway, that’s the backstory. Here are the kittens! They are all walking and eating solid food. They have not quite mastered the litter box yet, but they’re getting there. They’re very big into purring when we pick them up, and they are curious about everything. As I sat on the floor and photographed each kitten there were another three or four crawling all over me.

All of these kittens are reserved.

Oroville (boy)

Hoover (boy)

Garrison (boy)

Aswan (boy)

Samara (girl)

Cochiti (girl)

Permanent link to this article: https://atlastcats.com/thats-a-dam-nice-litter/

Dec 04 2021

Six for Sara

  • December 4, 2021

Happy (if protective) mama

Queen Sara Saturday gave birth to six large, healthy kittens on November 26th (the day after Thanksgiving).  They are growing impressively fast. Seriously, we weigh them twice a day and we’re pretty astounded at the numbers.

We believe that there are four boys and two girls. All of these kittens are reserved and we will be contacting the lucky adoptive parents soon.

After getting the news that Sara was definitely pregnant, Maximus (the father), arranged to be neutered and moved to his forever home in Maine, no doubt to avoid making kitten support payments. As if he couldn’t tracked down over state lines. But he’s always been a lover, not a scholar.

Getting chubby!

Permanent link to this article: https://atlastcats.com/six-for-sarah/

Nov 07 2021

Goodbye, Blush

  • November 7, 2021

That face.

Our girl Blush passed away last week at the age of fifteen. She was from our first litter (with Gizmo and Fargo), a litter of all red kittens (hence the name Blush. All of the kittens had names that had something to do with “red”).

Blush had a non-hereditary heart defect, aortic stenosis, which gave her one heck of a heart murmur. An expert cardiologist in New Jersey told us that she had two or three years at best, at which point she would probably just keel over. We weren’t going to make anyone else go through that grief, so we kept Blush as a pet.

Instead of keeling over she adapted, thrived, and gave us fifteen year of love. Unless you were a vet with a stethoscope to her chest you would never know she had a problem. Ironically, her heart was strong through to the end, and it was cancer that took her.

She’s a kitten!

Ready to play

Just surveying my kingdom.

Sleepy

I’m just going to blend in.

Oh, you see me.

Check out my tail.

Permanent link to this article: https://atlastcats.com/goodbye-blush/

Sep 26 2021

Hello, Mariah!

  • September 26, 2021

We have a new member of our household, and we’ve named her Mariah! She comes to us from Koonstler Cattery, courtesy of Genoa Shepley and Doug Nickel. We’re excited and thankful to have her in our cat family. We know that she will make beautiful babies, and we’re especially curious to see what will happen when she and Fezzik go on a date someday (he is also a red silver).

We named her Mariah because she sang to us the entire ride from Rhode Island. She is very outgoing and curious and wants to be in your face, on your lap, or between your feet. We have to keep an eye on her because she will run between our legs and trip us up. (I jokingly call her Blunt Force Head Trauma, because someday she will succeed and I will whack my head on a table).

We managed to catch her in a rare moment when she was sitting still, so here are some pictures!

She was sleeping…

…and then we woke her.

Permanent link to this article: https://atlastcats.com/hello-mariah/

Sep 26 2021

Love is in the air

  • September 26, 2021

Max and Lola had some romantic dates this week, and if all goes as planned they’ll have kids around Thanksgiving.

Usually when a boy and girl mate, the boy is ready to go again right away. The girl… not so much, and she will definitely express her displeasure if he boy approaches her with amorous intent. (We’ve lectured the boys about consent, but the message never seems to stick). Eventually, the boy gets the idea and learns to give the girl her space.

Here’s Max and Lola a few minutes a few minutes after they had sexy times. As you can see, he’s learned to keep a respectful distance afterward (but he’s not letting her out of his sight, either). Once we saw Max approach Lola and she just gave him a look and he turned around, no hissing or movement required.

The waiting is the hardest part

Queen Sarah Saturday also had dates with Max when Lola wasn’t with him. (I think we heard him singing “Torn Between Two Lovers”). We don’t like to have breedings so close together, but it’s been a weird year with the girls not going into heat most of the summer, so we have to accept when the girls say it is time. Luckily, big old houses like ours have lots of rooms to keep everyone appropriately separated and unstressed. Except for us. We’ll be plenty stressed!

 

Permanent link to this article: https://atlastcats.com/love-is-in-the-air/

Sep 07 2021

The Goodbye Litter

  • September 7, 2021

Tiger Lily’s kittens are doing great, walking (and running) around. Whenever we come into their room a bunch of them just come running over. They aren’t too interested in solid food just yet, but they are very, very curious.

Since this is the last litter that Buster fathered, and he has said goodbye to breeding (and his testicles) we decided to use different words for “goodbye” for the theme for this litter. (We’re keeping Buster as a pet, so no he’s not available!).

All of these kittens are reserved.

You can skip over this part and get right to the pictures if you want. It’s just some of the weird stuff that happens with cats and running a cattery that you might find entertaining. However, there’s more than the usual poop and pee talk, so we won’t blame you if you bypass it.

So, for a couple of days after she gave birth Lily wasn’t using the litter box at all. We took her to the vet and they found that she was really constipated, which was in turn putting pressure on her bladder. They gave her an enema and expressed her bladder, and all was well.

Except two days later she still hadn’t used the litter box. So we were back at the vet again for the same treatment (and since the weekend was coming, an enema to administer ourselves, which was… an experience).

At her next visit she did her thing in the vet’s cage without an enema or him expressing her bladder. And she did more in the carrier on the way home. So, problem solved?

We had a follow-up appointment late in the day two days later in case she still wasn’t using the box. And, of course, she wasn’t. But since she had an accident in the carrier on the way home the last time, we had an idea. A few hours before her appointment we put Lily in a larger carrier and put a little litter box inside and took her for a car ride. Within five minutes she had relieved herself both ways, so we cancelled the appointment.

Two days later it was the same thing, and and another car ride induced her to use the litter box. For about a week it became part of our daily routine to take her for a car ride.

Finally, this past weekend we decided not to take her for a ride one day and see if she might finally use the litter box on her own overnight. And she did! Then, after we scooped she decided to poop. After that she started using the litter box consistently and that part of our life went back to normal, such as it is.

We really don’t know why she needed the car ride. Our best theory is that she might have still been sore after being stopped up and only the stress of a car ride would cause her to release. Or perhaps she didn’t want to do her thing in front of the kittens (despite the litter box being far from the nest). We noticed that she would get in the box, dig around, sit for a second without pushing or anything, and then run back to the kittens. We’re just glad that we didn’t have to send her to a cat psychiatrist!

Okay, enough of that… here are the kittens!

Adieu (girl)

Aloha (girl)

Toodle-oo (boy)

Cheerio (boy)

Ciao (girl)

Sayonara (girl)

Seeya (girl)

Permanent link to this article: https://atlastcats.com/the-goodbye-litter/

Aug 21 2021

Buster goes out with a bang

  • August 21, 2021

Chunky babies

Tiger Lily gave birth to seven kittens on August 6th. That was a few days early and they were a little small,  but they are very good eaters and have more than doubled in weight in the past two weeks.

Last year Lily also gave birth to seven kittens and she had trouble keeping up with their milk needs, so we supplemented them with formula every few hours for a month (that was not a good month for sleep!). This time she is giving them all the milk they need. We only needed to give formula to a couple of the smaller ones for a few days because they were being crowded out of the nips by their bigger siblings. The extra feedings helped keep up their strength and they have no problem getting what they want now!

The father, Buster, was neutered a few weeks before the delivery (we are keeping him as a pet). While he kind of misses his testicles, he is very happy that this is the last time he will have to pay child support. His son, Fezzik (from his litter last year with Lily)  is taking his place as a sire.

Here are a few pictures from the Kitten Cam to show the progress of Lily’s kittens.

All of these kittens are reserved. 

The day after they were born. So tiny!

Getting bigger!

Good eaters!

Happy mama

Permanent link to this article: https://atlastcats.com/buster-goes-out-with-a-bang-lily/

Aug 01 2021

Hello, Clyde!

  • August 1, 2021

Pixel’s kittens have gone to their new homes and we can stop, take a breath, and… update the website.

First of all, we’ve been remiss in introducing you to our new boy, Clyde! He came to us from Mainelyclassic Maine Coons in North Carolina, and we’re so thankful and happy to have him!

He’s a show cat!

Clyde is short for “Clydesdale” because he has such big paws. He has had a clean genetic test and heart echo, so as soon as a girl is willing, he’s ready to make some babies! He’s replacing Buster, who is retiring and is recovering well from his neuter. (Before you ask, we’re keeping Buster as a pet).

Ready for his first airplane ride.

He’s been to one cat show so far and he made finals in most of his rings. He’s already a Quadruple Grand Champion!

Being good for the judges!

Besides being an awesome-looking cat, Clyde is just plain lovable. He would happily sit on your lap and get belly and head rubs 24/7.

After the cat show, Clyde does not want to go to Flavortown while at the hotel.

Permanent link to this article: https://atlastcats.com/hello-clyde/