Assistance dog allowed on labour ward to assist anxious mom to be

PHOTO BY JANE RUSSELL/SWNS. Amee Tomkin, Belle and baby.

NEWS AND VIEWS - MILTON KEYNES, UK: Amee Tomkin has been diagnosed with autism, anxiety and OCD. It is tough for her. She lives with a female Staffie-type dog companion called Belle. Tomkin said:

"Without her I am too anxious to leave the house."

Her anxiety is that serious which is why she was delighted that the was allowed to have Belle beside her in the maternity ward at Milton Keynes University Hospital throughout labour and delivery.

Belle is the first dog allowed on the labour ward. The first woman in Britain to have her dog beside her during birth as a medical aid was Charlotte Beard in 2021.

Tomkin was allowed to have Belle on her bed before she went into theatre and Belle was the first to meet Tomkin's son after Olly after Tomin had her caesarian.

Tomkin said:

"My midwife at the hospital was fabulous but having Belle with me is like having another midwife there all the time, to keep me calm and check on myself and Olly."

She added:

"After 12 years, I thought I'd never concede. When I did it was a very complicated pregnancy and there were times when we feared the worst. It's a miracle I'm still here and safe and my baby too. The doctors and nurses were brilliant and we have Belle to thank too."

It's beyond doubt that Belle did wonders in being beside her master and caregiver during pregnancy and delivery in the labour ward at this Hertfordshire hospital.

What is the largest litter of kittens?

This is a Guinness World Record for the largest litter of kittens born to a domestic cat. It happened in Kingham, Oxfordshire, UK on August 7, 1970. A Burmese/Siamese hybrid owned by V. Gane gave birth to 19 kittens. Four were stillborn. That is all we know. Technically it is possible that a larger but unreported litter has been born but we'll never know.

Burmese kitten. This kitten has nothing to do with the record. This charmer is here to illustrate the page, no more. Photo: Pinterest.

A female domestic cat can give birth to anywhere between 1 and 10 kittens normally. The 19 of the record is, on the face of it, unique. An average litter consists of 4 or 5 kittens.

Mel and Fiona Sunquist in their excellent book Wild Cats of the World state that the record is 13 kittens. I am afraid they were incorrect. Their book was published in 2002. 

New-born kittens weigh about 90-110 grams at birth. This is 3 percent of their mother's body weight.

Normally the weights of individual kittens declines as the litter size increases.

Kittens are born with their eyes closed. Very rarely kittens are born with teeth. Usually they are born without teeth. They have poor hearing but a good sense of smell and touch as they are able, within an hour of birth, to find 'their' nipple and begin feeding. They return to their dedicated nipple which avoids arguments. Brilliant system to create calm and better feeding.

ASSOCIATED PAGE: 12 facts about the domestic cat purr

The kittens purr to their mother while feeding to say all is well. The mother responds likewise. It is their first purr signifying contentment. Many more will come in a good home.

How many litters does a cat have in a year?

The answer depends upon whether we are talking about domestic or wild cats. And I don't think it is possible to produce a one size fits all answer to the question. In fact, you will see a variety of answers to this question on the Internet. My conclusion is that domestic cats have 2-3 litters per year. Wild cats in general have one litter per year. It is hard to find definitive answers with respect to the wild cat species because even the best reference work that I have doesn't provide answers sometimes on a species-by-species basis.

Image by David Mark from Pixabay.

However, the sand cat and the bobcat appear to produce 2 litters per year but this may not happen every year. In fact, a semi-tame bobcat in a zoo produced 2 litters but Mel and Fiona Sunquists, the authors of a great book on the wild cat species, Wild Cats of the World, said that this is probably unusual. This indicates to me that one litter per year is more normal for the American bobcat.

Theoretically domestic cats could have 5 litters per year but practically it is probably as stated above although Dr. Desmond Morris in his book CATWATCHING argues that they have 3 litters per year and if they have 14 kittens within those 3 litters then within 5 years, there could be more than 65,000 kittens!

You will see that there is a difference between the theoretical numbers and practical numbers.  Many kittens die, for example. And there are variables which influence the number of litters per year. For example, when a group of male lions take over a pride and they kill the cubs, the lionesses are brought into heat. They become receptive to mating. This artificially forces them to have a litter. 

But if their offspring become adults then usually they don't have another litter until their existing offspring have reached the age of 18 months. This would imply that they have one litter every 18 months if their cubs are not killed by incoming males in acts of infanticide.

Help! Five conjoined kittens born at Little Whiskers Animal Rescue, Arizona

🚨 🚨 EMERGENCY VET HELP NEEDED!! A few days ago we had a person come to our rescue to surrender a mom and babies and...

Posted by Little Whiskers Animal Rescue on Thursday, April 1, 2021

The Facebook post provides you with the story which first emerged about a month ago from this Arizona animal rescue, Little Whiskers Animal Rescue. The rescue still needs financial help I am sure.

 

It looks as if a cat hoarder was divesting themselves of the cats that they had hoarded (29+)  and among them was a female who gave birth to 5 conjoined kittens. I think they phoned the rescue to say they were coming in with the cats.

This presented a problem for the rescue because of the extra expense in vet bills. So they appealed for help and you can see that appeal in the Facebook post above. 

By the way, sometimes these sorts of embedded posts stop working because they are removed from the source which in this instance is the Facebook website. If that has happened I apologise. 

Apparently the kittens were joined by the skin of their belly so I believe that they have been separated although one sibling had to have a leg removed in order to separate them out. 

The prognosis looked hopeful but as is normally the case I can't right now find a follow-up article on the Internet to tell me what happened. It would be nice to know that they all survived and are doing well so that, in due course, they can be rehomed. 

The causes of conjoined kittens or of babies are somewhat mysterious. My quick research on this indicated that the experts are unsure why it happens but it is clearly a developmental problem which may be caused because of a genetic defect or possibly drugs or chemicals in the cat which interrupted the development of these kittens. 

Clearly the development of the kittens will include their separation and that seems to have stopped and parts of them has been merged. No doubt this is a rare event which is why it got a loss of news coverage online.

There is definitely a dearth of information on the internet on the causes of conjoined animals. There is almost nothing on the causes of conjoined kittens. This may be because it is so rare. There is no need to do research on this congenital defect.