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.

It's been very busy here.  The kittens are growing, and Tasha is such a good mom, she is using all of her resources to take care of them.  Last Sunday, she became dehydrated and landed at the Vet's.  We went to Jockeyport Animal Hospital (they offer emergency services on Sunday) where Dr. Sarah Grote gave Tasha fluids, an anti-nausea drug, and lots of love.  

So the kittens need to get used to "real food" so we can give Tasha a break.  Unfortunately, Tasha doesn't want to leave them.  A mother's love is strong. 

The kitten cam has been on and off sporadically.  Although I try to have it up every day from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM, I also need time to clean the kitten room , play with the kittens and use my computer!!  Please check it out.

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!

Tonight I took Tasha to the vet for a checkup since she is in heat and will be bred soon.  We go to Schoharie Valley Veterinary Clinic where Dr. Diane gave her the once-over.  All systems are "go".