After a long time I am happy to post about good news, my darling daughter Diana who was pregnant in late September bore a tiny baby on the 27th of November. And up to now my entire time and energy was being diverted towards him making sure that he was growing up fine. Now that he is 18 days old I thought it would be the perfect time to introduce him to everyone.

After Diana’s disastrous first pregnancy I was really apprehensive and scared about letting her get pregnant once more since I was sure that she would not go through it safely. But It was too late for she mated just a few days after her visit to the vet, so I bit the bullet and decided to go ahead with the pregnancy. She was due in the last week of November but a week before the birth of Tristan Galen I felt something was wrong but I chose to ignore it since pregnant cats can behave weirdly sometimes. How I love the “gut feeling” for 3 days later I was sure that something was wrong as she looked visibly fatigued, uncomfortable and kept drinking plenty of water. My fear was Pyometra and since 3 days of “nesting” yielded no kittens I decided to finally get her examined by the family vet.

After an X-ray we got both the good, bad and ugly news, the good news being that she was actually pregnant with what seemed to be a developed kitten (it has been circled). But next to the kitten you can see black mass which was supposedly poop (number 2); I was shocked to hear that she had so much since she was regular with her bathroom duties. Next came the ugly truth :-

The kitten is  to the right of the big white spot (light source).. And to the left of the white spot is what seemed to be gas, the doc could not confirm whether it was from the uterus or from the intestinal tract. Basically we did not know whether the gas was because of constipation/food or because the babies had all died and rotted inside her uterus. The vet visit happened at 7 pm on the 26th November therefore the earliest we could get my cat operated on was the next day in the afternoon. The night was indeed terrifying so with Diana nestled in my lap we spent the entire night cooing to each other with lots of tummy rubs to make her feel better. Later in the morning I decided to pack my knapsack with things I might need later or probably carry her in that in case she was not fit enough to be placed inside the cat cage.

I was told earlier that the surgery would be at 2:00 pm but I need to be at the clinic by noon in case she needed to be given an intravenous. The afternoon went fairly well as I spent my time with the other clients letting Diana nap. After a visit to the bank I was told that it was time for her surgery. Me and my friend were asked to wait outside till the entire thing was over. After a grueling wait which felt like forever the doctor let me in to look at her but he said nothing about the kitten so it was assumed that it would probably be dead. But then the doctor asked me whether I wanted to see it and I immediately went over to see it…

To everyone’s surprise I saw a little gasp which set us all in motion, “Save Baby Cat” was the mission and no stone was unturned in finding a way to get it to breathe. The vet was extremely awesome!!!! He did everything from swabbing the mouth to swinging it to get the fluid out of the lungs. A makeshift incubator was made for the baby to get it some clean air but we realized that we were out of oxygen so the doctor suggested that I let it sun bathe. Earlier I had packed in a rough napkin which was really useful since we needed something that would act like Mother’s tongue. Then the frantic effort of rubbing and cleaning while sitting in the sun seemed to pay off since the kitten was breathing much more regularly.. From 1 gasp a minute to almost regular breathing in half an hour was something that excited everyone in the room.

Day 1

Tristan was apparently a really special and lucky baby since the vet ordered another oxygen tank just for him and as Diana was coming out of her trance we all headed back home. Back at home I decided to hold onto the kid until Diana felt better which would not happen for another 12- 24 hours so every 2 hours I was expected to feed the brat. It was hectic but I survived the 1st day and from day 2  Diana luckily started feeding the baby but I had to still be with her every time she fed him to make sure he did not scratch her raw skin or the stitches. A good trick is to keep a cloth over her, the kitten on top and let him enjoy but you would be surprised about how quickly he can pull it off…

From that day on, my work load reduced but the stress on my food and sleep was not though it was a really joyful experience raising him seeing him develop and grow in front of my eyes. Constipation was a major problem but he seems to be doing much better now, eyes open and crawling about. It is incredible for he has started responding to my voice so much better enjoying cuddling, kissing and napping with me. Until 2 days ago we did not know whether he was a Tristan or a Tristania so my house had 2 campaigns where my friend and dad wanted a girl while my mom was sure that it was a boy. I for one did not care for anything but his health so merely enjoyed the entire thing. The name Tristan Galen is a two word name combined using Tristan, The tragic Arthurian knight and Galen which means little and lively. So here I raise a glass of kitten feed in honor of my darling little grandson Tristan Galen

Tristan Galen 18 days old