MILLIE'S STORY: 'Part Three'

Millie and Co

Champion & Premier Janzanco Howsweet Thesound (Millie)
- she is now a Premier as well as a Champion.

Vania’s Success as a Kitten
From Millie’s first litter, I kept Vintarn Vania, a lilac tortie. The two girls remain very close to each other, although Millie usually has the upper hand (or should that be paw?)!

Vania was to follow her Mum’s footsteps on the show bench and at her first show, the Burmese Cat Society, 6th November 2004, judge Joyce Green placed her 1st & Best of Breed and Joyce’s critique said, “What a little cracker! A lovely kitten in all respects, a real sweetie!” Vania went on to win four more firsts & BOBs in her kitten shows, making me very proud of her.

Vania, aged 8 months by Alan Robinson

My First Champion

Vania travels well and enjoys being shown. Once she became an adult, she made Champion at 12 months, thanks to her judges, Michele Garrod, Anne Gregory and Lynne Dixon. The 18th June 2005 was a truly memorable day for me because Vania is the first Champion I have bred myself. Her Mum, Millie (bred by Jan Bowen), is the first Champion I have owned. On 12th August, the three breeders ‘behind’ Vania, Jan Bowen, Paula Clarke and Annette Quincey, took out an advertisement - making Vania a ‘Front Cover Cat’ on OUR CATS front page! This is a very precious cutting in my album!

At the time of writing this article, Vania is ‘resting’ from the show bench as I hope to take her to stud at the end of the year. Hopefully, Vania will have her kittens in the early months of 2006.

Millie’s Second Litter

In December 2004 Millie was ready to be mated again and I took her to Champion Artro Chocolate Carysma (bred by Barbara Parry & owned by Annette Quincey), aka ‘Carter’. The two cats ‘hit it off’ after just one day and the kittens were due in February. Millie’s first litter were born without any trouble at all, but the arrival of her second litter was not so straightforward. On the 61st day of pregnancy, Millie started ‘spotting’. My vet examined her and was unconcerned, as she was fit and well. The spotting continued to the morning of the 63rd day (9th February) and my vet decided to take prompt action.

I accompanied Millie to the surgery and a caesarean section was performed at once. Surgery revealed that one kitten was lying laterally, across the birth canal, preventing any progression of labour. This kitten and the other six were safely delivered but were ‘very flat’. The kittens took an awful lot of reviving and were given Dopram drops, ‘Nutridrops’ and oxygen by mask.

Despite all this, they were virtually unresponsive and their breathing was very sporadic and shallow. My vet (my former employer) had kindly allowed me to assist the resuscitation process in the theatre and agreed to my suggestion that we employed a hairdryer, set on high, in addition to the heated pad which was already in place, underneath the kittens. The application of heat from the hairdryer did the trick! Suddenly the kittens started to ‘pink up’, move about and mew!

Millie was given antibiotics and we brought her and her new babies home to their nursery. I asked my vet, Dave Walker, how he rated the kitten’s chances and his reply, “very poor” dismayed me, as he said he was “doubtful that they would survive” and he was also concerned that they had been deprived of oxygen during their birth.

Millie & her seven kittens, 24 hours after the birth

Intensive Care

The kitten’s nursery was very warm and cosy as it had been recently redecorated; a new vinyl floor covering laid and I had purchased an electric oil filled radiator to keep the temperature constant. Dave advised me to keep the kittens very warm, night and day and wished me luck in hand rearing them, until Millie’s milk ‘came in’. I used Royal Canin Baby Milk to feed the kittens, by syringe, rather than the bottle provided in the pack, as the kittens were so tiny.

For the first twenty four hours I fed the kittens every hour, on the hour. In addition, I gave them a drop of Nutridrops every half hour, for the first six hours. During the following 12 hours, I fed them every 90 minutes and then every two hours for a further 12 hours. The nursery was kept at 80° and I wore shorts and a T shirt! I was very warm indeed and in between feeds, I rested on a mattress on the floor, beside the nesting box.

Sleep was just not an option and I really do not know how I kept going. My husband provided me with food and I had a flask of coffee on the go, constantly. Barbara Parry gave me a wonderful tip to encourage Millie to bond with her kittens – this was to smear sardine oil on Millie’s teats and on the kittens. This action resulted in Millie managing the kittens toileting needs herself, freeing me up, to make up the next feed.

Exactly 48 hours after the caesarean section, Millie’s milk ‘came in’ and, bless her, she took over from me completely! What a relief it was to see all seven kittens suckling with gusto. I continued to ‘top up’ the two smallest kittens for another day, but was able to stop this too when the weighing scales convinced me that all the kittens were gaining weight.

The kittens at 2 days, note the ear tips and tail tips, showing darkened areas

A Mystery

Three days after the birth, I noticed that the kitten’s tail tips were navy blue in colour and they had darkened spots on their toes and ear tips. I was aghast! Was this a result of over zealous revival using the hairdryer? I took a photograph and showed this to Dave, the following day.

Dave reassured me that these symptoms were not my fault but he believed they were caused by the oxygen depravation due to the difficult birth. The condition is known as ‘Peripheral Ischemic Necrosis’. [The peripheries relate to the kittens extremities, Ischemia is a condition in which blood flow (and thus oxygen) is restricted to a part of the body and necrosis refers to tissue dying off].

There was nothing I could do to remedy this condition, other than continue to keep the kittens at a constant, warm temperature. It would be a case of ‘wait and see’.

Kittens at 16 days, note the short tail of the cream kitten

A Tale of Tails

Within another week, the kitten’s toes and ear tips were completely normal in appearance but five of the seven kittens’ tail tips remained blue/black. Over the ensuing weeks, those affected kittens’ tail tips dried up and eventually the dead tissue fell off. Three kittens had noticeably shorter tails, two lost a tiny tip and the remaining two had full length tails. The five kittens with shorter tails were not unattractive but for show purposes, they fell short of the Burmese Standard of Points, which meant they could not be shown in the future.

When prospective owners came to see the kittens, they all thought the short tails were an endearing and unique factor, especially when they realised how lucky these little mites were to be alive at all!

Vintarn Lady Velika, aged 6 months by Alan Robinson

Another Daughter Joins the Clan!

Millie’s second litter comprised of two cream males, four lilac torties and a chocolate tortie. I had not really intended to keep a kitten from this litter but, to cut a long story short, the chocolate tortie has stayed! She is one of the two kittens whose tails remained totally intact and she is a very pretty girl! I named her Vintarn Lady Velika (Chloe) and she and her sister, Vania, are ‘double trouble’ and wonderful company for each other. Millie is very proud of her two girls and the three make a very loving trio.

Making a Decision

Following Millie’s caesarean section, she developed a hernia on her midline. I asked my vet to repair this and she had surgery at the end of June. Dave felt that Millie could go on to produce another litter without problems in the future. I weighed up the pros and cons of this advice and decided that I would prefer to have Millie speyed as I could not bear the thought of risking her having to undergo another abdominal operation (however unlikely) and I would be devastated if I risked her life in such a way. So, Millie returned to the surgery in August and was speyed on her flank, to avoid any complications. As I write this, I am looking forward to Millie making her debut as a show neuter, at the end of the year.

Vintarn Lady Velika makes her Debut

I started showing ‘Chloe’ this summer and to date, in three shows, she has won 1st Open & BOB and been placed 1st in the Breeder’s kitten class each time, as well as being Best of Variety Burmese Kitten at Gwynedd Cat Club show and was nominated for Best in Show at the North West Cat Club Show.

Chloe’s success went beyond my wildest dreams when she won Best in Show Kitten at the Burmese Cat Society show on 5th November 2005. Soon after, she started in the adult classes and became a Champion on 11th March 2006, when she won her third Challenge Certificate. I am very proud of all our lovely girls!

Millie & Co, relax together!

Millie & Co

Millie was well worth ‘waiting for’ for all those years and she has rewarded me with two really beautiful daughters, Vania & Chloe and Vania’s daughter, Whispa. Once she was neutered, Millie ‘blossomed’, her face become ‘softer’ and she is a very affectionate and cuddly girl. However, much to my regret, she would not become friends with Rosie and Dixon, so was unable to enjoy the free run of the house and garden in her ‘retirement’, as I had hoped. So, after much soul searching, Millie has gone to love with friends in Burnley, Lancs and is now very content living with a chocolate Burmese and a very loving young family – but we do miss her!

My sincere thanks go to Jan Bowen, Doreen Somerfield, Paula Clarke, Annette Quincey and Barbara Parry. All these friends have been with me every step of the way, over the past few years and I owe them all a debt of gratitude for their advice, support and above all, loyal friendship.