The Trouble with Triplets

Griselda’s triplets are three of days old now and the harmony did not last long. I arrived home on Friday afternoon (yesterday) to find the little female kit asleep on her own on the heat box and the two boys, one on either side of Gris, suckling contentedly. I very gently woke the female and placed her near her mother who groomed her and cleaned her all over - so it was not a rejection problem. When a female ignores a kit it is often a sign that the kit has some form of weakness or disability which may not be apparent to us - the kit, once rejected, does not normally survive without intervention and even then, if there is an underlying condition it may well slip away despite our best efforts - some kits are just not meant to survive (that is natures’ way).

I took the biggest male kit out for a little while and watched the other two, while he slept in my cupped hand. After half and hour I popped him back in and he immediately started causing havoc - it was clear he was the dominant male and wanted his mother all to himself. The other two were more than happy to suckle from their mother with no squabbling; one on each side of a sleepy Griselda.

So I began rotating the kits 2 hourly and topping them all up 4 times a day when they were not in with their mother. I did try putting Thug (poor kit, I have a horrible feeling his nickname might stick!) in with the twins’ mother but, despite him smelling of her kits, she was not having any of it. She is more than happy to accept her kits but she would not have anything to do with Thug at all.

Sleep deprivation here I come!