Nooky's Litter


Nooky litter, 4 kittens
born 25th May 1964
we kept two of them

Nooky's kittens

Nooky's kittens
born 25th May 1964

Although our boys grew up with cats, they had only experienced kittens in the flesh when visiting various school friends whose families had had litters. We had deliberately left Nooky fertile as we considered it good for children to not only have the fun and joy of young animals, but also the firsthand experience of seeing a pregnancy develop and the animal eventually give birth. Thus it was that in May 1964 when Mike was 8 years and Eric 5 years old, they witnessed Nooky giving birth to her four kittens. To give her a quiet space, we made a bed for her in the space under the bathroom sink where she could feel safe and we could keep an eye on her as the time grew near.

All went well and she gave birth without any fuss and started cleaning and suckling the four kittens without any help. After a few hours we allowed other cats to wander in to inspect them and get used to their presence. As they developed Mike and Eric kept track of them all and after a few days we made a comfortable bed in the living room with high sides to keep the kittens safe, and moved them all to that. As they grew and their eyes opened all seemed well and they started crawling around until they each could climb out of their bed to start their individual lives of adventure! Apart, that was, the black and white boy. He could pull himself up the side of the bed but struggled to get any further as it seemed that his back legs did not work and he spreadeagled himself like a little frog.

I took the whole family to the vet for a check and the poor little froggie was diagnosed as having rickets. We were very worried but Mr Amsden said, no worry, he just needs added calcium in his diet to help his bones grow better. Back home we started him on a course of calcium tablets. As we knew that calcium carbonate is a main ingredient of chalk, naturally the black and white boy became Chalky. He also became our own little pet as we had looked after him so intensively, and didn't think that any new owner would be pleased at having a "weakling", which we had been warned he might become.

Sara was named after a friend Sarah, but we changed the name a little out of politeness! We did not originally intend to keep any of Nooky's kittens, but Chalky was inevitable. It then seemed a shame to give his sister away, and as there was noone looking for a black girl at that time, she stayed with her remaining brother.

As the mother and two kittens lived their whole lives with us and Nooky has her own page, Chalky and Sara must have theirs and thus follow on here.

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