BEIGATTI MAINE COONS

I has taken a long time for me to post about some difficult events in November.  A week before Olive was due, I had an out-of-town conference.  My dear friend offered to check on Olive during my absence. 

I received a phone call around noon, telling me that Olive has a dead kitten "stuck" - half in and half out.  She rushed her to the vet, and after a telephone consult, the vet and I decided to take the kittens and try to save Olive.

She had three kittens way too early, and none survived.  One was tiny and mummified, one had a cleft palate...surely there was something terribly wrong with this pregnancy and litter.  Olive made it through surgery like a trooper and was put on antibiotics and fluids at the vet.  We expected her fever to break over the weekend, and for her to come home to complete her recovery.  She never recovered, and after trying several courses of IVs and various drugs we had to made the difficult decision about Olive a week later.

After a course of antibiotics (clavamox), Olive seems to be back to her old self.  She went to visit Bandol (Dracoonfly Needabah) on Sunday night.  Over the next 48 hours she was bred several times.  I will know in about 3 weeks if the breeding "took."  Here they are getting to know each other:

^^Olive looking fetching^^

^^Bandol yearning^^

^^Bandol still hoping^^

We will know in three weeks if she is pregnant.

So this past Monday, I loaded Olive and Tasha into the car to be part of a clinical trial at Tufts University (outside of Boston) on Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) and size and nutrition in the Maine Coon.  (OK, that is not the official title, but here is a brief description of the trial.)

We got to Tufts around 10:30.  They examined Tasha first.  They poked, prodded, x-rayed, took blood, ultrasounded, and generally annoyed her.  Tasha was particularly offended at the entire procedure.

The good news:  Her heart has no sign of HCM, no thickening of the heart muscle and she can continue in my breeding program.

Next it was Olive's turn.  Olive was bred on July 10th, and I thought it might not have "taken."  A couple of weeks later, I thought she might be pregnant, then another week later, not.  I didn't know what was going on with her.  She went through the same procedures as Tasha with one exception:  they palpated her abdomen and ultrasounded her to check for a pregnancy.  Olive was not pregnant.    The fine veterinarians at Tufts noticed that there was a small bit of fluid in her uterus, so it could be "something."  hmmmm.  The result of the cardio testing revealed that Olive's heart was sound (yay!), but there was that fluid...

That night I received a call from my (hometown) vet...she had the results of the testing at Tufts and the bloodwork showed that she had an infection.  Her uterus was slightly enlarged, and there was that pesky fluid that showed up on the ultrasound.  Bottom line, she is now on antibiotics, and we are going to breed her again once the infection is cleared.

Funny thing, had I not participated in the clinical trial, I never would have known anything was wrong.

Olive is now relaxing at home, getting better, and we hope she will recover soon.  I will keep her status up to date on my kitten page.

This week was busy at Beigatti.  

On Monday, Becky (Beigatti Biscotta) went to the vet for her immunizations.  Becky is healthy and weights 15# and change. 

Beautiful Becky

Then on Sunday, Olive went to the Hudson Highlands Veteruinary Clinic in Hopewell Junction, NY where Dr. N. Joel Edwards DVM, DACVIM did an echocardiogram of Olive's heart.  This is just a routine screening to ensure that her heart is healthy before we start breeding her.  Olive's results were "normal".

Olive resting at a show

After racing back from the cardiac clinic, I checked in on Tasha.  Tasha was due to deliver her kittens.  By 9:00 PM Sunday, I knew she was very close.  Kittens started coming at 5:00 AM Monday morning.  Please check my kitten page for details!

First of all, Tasha is getting bigger every day.  We are very happy about it, but I am worried about the number of kittens she is carrying!  Today is day 52...less than 2 weeks to go!

Tasha showing off her "baby bump"...she clearly has a belly full!

Last weekend, I took Olive to a show in Ansonia, CT - near New Haven.  The showhall was hot hot hot!  By mid-afternoon on Saturday, I had bags of ice around her and a fan blowing on her.  It amazed me that she was not cranky, irritable or hissy in the heat, but her sweet, lovable self.  I was the cranky, irritable one.

Olive enjoyikng the cat show

We shared a hotel room with my friend Mary and 4 of her cats.  Here is a picture of all of the cats eating dinner after the show on Saturday night.  Just to show how laid back these cats are, Olive just met the other four that night and within an hour they were eating together.

The food that the other cat has always looks better.

Life is good.  Here's hoping for healthy babies!

Tomorrow I am driving down to the Bethlehem, PA area to go to a cat show put on by the Christmas City Cat Club.  That means that tonight I am bathing and grooming Olive, packing my bags, and packing the car.

Olive is really the sweetest girl, but she has a mind of her own.  This cat LOVES water.  Every morning, Chris fills the bathroom sink with water as he prepares to shave.  Olive comes running, as she sees this opportunity to splash and play.  After she has soaked the bathroom counter, the morror, the cupboards and herself, Chris gently lifts her out of the sink and dries her little paws.

If you happen to be in the Bethlehem area this weekend, stop by and say "hi!"

I just added a link on my "Links" page to the Maine Coon Seminar created by TICA judge Beth Hicks.  This shows the standard and what judges look for in the breed.  I love this...it shows what we all strive for.

I also added some photos taken of Olive this weekend to the photo gallery...getting ready for the show.  Remind me to clean my house next time someone takes pictures!!

This weekend, my friend Janet and I drive to Providence, RI to go to a cat show.  Olive was going to her second kitten show...there hasn't been a show in my neck of the woods for a while, so I brushed her, bathed her and drove to Providence with her. 

When we got to the hotel room, she walked out like she owned the place.  No fear, no shyness, she ate a good dinner, then fell asleep on the bed for the night.  (It should be noted that friend Janet got to enjoy Olive all night, as Olive slept with her and dissed me.)

The next day we drove to the Rhode Island Convention Center and set up for the show.  Competition was tough, and Olive only got a few points, but we enjoyed ourseves.  Unfortunately, there was a minor family emergency, and I had to drive home Saturday night...missing the entire day on Sunday.

Janet took a number of pictures of Olive, and I will post them as soon as I get them.  In the meantime, here's little Olive:

Do you remember the beautiful imagery in the Carl Sandberg poem "Fog?"

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Well Carl never had Maine Coons.

This morning at about 5:00 AM, Chris and I woke up to a cacophony!  There were cats chasing each other around the house, sounding like storm troopers.  I am a very sound sleeper, and they woke me with a start.  I stumbled out of bed, poured myself a cup of coffee and turned on the TV to catch the morning news/weather.  While listening to news about the next snowstorm, we once again heard a horrendous noise, followed by a yowl.  This was not a cat's meow, or a growl, or a yowl.  This did not sound like a cat at all.

Chris said, "It sounds like there is an animal in the house..the cats probably have something cornered."  He went downstairs to check out what creature got into the house.  (For the record, I once did have a possum in my house, so it wouldn't surprise me if something got in.)

He found Olive in the tub, soaking wet, ears back, and shaking with fear.  Something had a hold of her tail.  Becky was on the edge of the tub, watching, and also growling at the intruder.  Chris, being very brave, released the jaws of the predator from Olive's tail.

What was it?

A plastic shopping bag!

Note to self:  make sure all plastic bags are locked up so that they can no longer attack the cats.

Last night, Chris and I prepared for the upcoming cold snap.  Chris brought wood into the house from the back porch, stacked it, then emptied the ashes from the fireplace and dumped them outside.  I ran some errands, then we both sat and watched TV awhile.

We went to bed around 11:00 PM.  Chris was reading his book, then turned to me and said, "Have you seen Olive tonight?"  Hmmmmm.  Come to think of it, I hadn't.  I got out of bed and started counting cats.  Olive was definitely missing.

No problem, I'll open a can of cat food and she'll come running. 

She didn't. 

Plan B.  I started calling her.  I looked in all of the usual places:  under the beds, behind furniture, in the pantry behind the cereal.  I opened every cupboard.  Chris had the flashlight and was looking in dark closets and every nook and cranny he could think of.  No Olive.

We got worried.  Could she have gotten outside?  All of our cats are strictly indoor-only cats.  We looked outside and saw no paw prints, but the wind was howling and blowing snow...any prints would have vanished immediately.  Both of us threw on coats and boots over our pajamas.  We turned on all of the outside lights.  We went out and called her. 

We checked the garage - I used the flashlight to check in boxes, behind garbage cans and under the car.

We returned to the house.  The search became ridiculous. Chris checked the washer and dryer. I looked inside the refrigerator & freezer.  Chris looked in the fireplace. 

As I hopped down from a chair after checking the top of the kitchen cupboards I noticed her sitting in the middle of the living room, staring at me.

Darn cat.