Cosette

In June, my sister who lives in another town told us about a cat that followed her cat home.  She lives in an apartment complex near a large store and there are a lot of stray cats there.  I figure it is a dumping ground for unwanted cats.  

And then the cat started getting bigger......Stray cats don't get overweight for the most part.  Instead they get pregnant.  Which is exactly what this little girl had happened to her.  

We brought her home with us on July 27th.  It was pretty obvious she was pregnant, but I took her to the vet just to confirm.  While there our vet did a free X-Ray "just for fun" as she called it, to see how many fetuses there were.  She saw four, and said she thought the cat would be due in 2-3 weeks.  

We named her Cosette, after one of the main characters in "Les Miserables."  Cosette was an orphan, a little waif with big eyes, and so was our new little mama-to-be, so the name fit.  

With 3 weeks left to go in her pregnancy, she weighed all of 7 pounds.  My sister had, of course, been feeding her, but she still needed some fattening up.  That was no problem, as I put out unlimited dry Kitten Chow and a small can of wet food 2-3 times a day.  

Pretty soon Cosette's sides were sticking out and she developed a pregnant lady waddle.  

She took to laying on her side a lot.  I spent as much time with her in her room as I could, to gain her trust so that I would be able to handle her babies from the beginning.  I also got a thrill out of seeing her belly roll around when the babies became more active towards the end.  

Here is Miss Cozi in Mr. GV's lap, the night before her babies decided to make an appearance.

Next post:  kittens!!