04/28/2026
“VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED”
Hi everyone! We hope you’re all doing well.
We’re sorry we haven’t posted in a while. We wanted to take a few minutes to update you on what we’ve been dealing with over the past couple of days.
As some of you may know, Smokeshow was pregnant and due this month. She’s a daughter of Sakari and Apollo and had her first litter last year, where she proved to be a natural, nurturing mother. She raised five beautiful kittens almost entirely on her own.
We were expecting kittens one day last week, so we had been checking on her at least once overnight. However, since she did so well the first time, we were a bit more relaxed then we should have been.
We checked on her around 2:00 a.m. Friday night into Saturday morning, and there were no signs of labor—she was just relaxing on her running wheel like usual. When we checked again around 9:00 a.m., we found a kitten with gastroschisis in her nesting box. Based on its condition, we believe it was stillborn.
Smokeshow was clearly in labor but was walking around as if nothing had happened. When we checked her litter box, we found four more kittens side by side, fully covered in inches of litter. At first, we thought they had already passed—they were stiff, cold, and showed no signs of breathing or a pulse.
While tending to them, we noticed two of the kittens gasping for air every 30 seconds to a minute. Lauren, always staying positive, insisted we try to save them. We immediately got their airways clear as best as possible and covered in a heating pad.
Not too long after, the kittens were warming up, breathing more regularly, and even letting out small cries. Over the next few hours, we syringe-fed them and saw their energy return to what we’d expect from healthy newborns.
That evening, we began reintroducing the kittens to Smokeshow. She was very interested and gentle with them but wouldn’t lie down long enough for them to nurse. So we continued syringe feeding while allowing them to spend time with her between feedings.
We are sorry for the long read, but if you are still with us, the story doesn’t end there!
The kittens stayed with us overnight and were fed every two hours. After their morning feeding around 7:00 a.m., we checked on Smokeshow again and found her in her nesting tent with four additional kittens (one stillborn), which she had sometime after 4:00 a.m.—the last time we checked on her. A few were already nursing, while the others needed warmth and milk replacer. We’ve heard of interrupted labor in cats and even experienced it before, but never that long!
After a few hours, these new kittens were thriving alongside the ones born the day before. Around noon, we introduced all seven kittens to Smokeshow. Now that she was comfortable and no longer in labor, she fully settled in—cuddling them, nurturing them, and feeding them ever since.
Most of these kittens had a very rough start, and they’re not out of the woods yet. But compared to where they began, we’re incredibly grateful for their progress.
For years, we hesitated to share difficult experiences like this and only showed the “perfect” moments. But this is the reality of any ethical breeder—it can be physically exhausting and emotionally overwhelming.
Some breeders may say we should have paid closer attention or recognized the interrupted labor sooner. Looking back, we can see there were signs that we should have picked up on. But in that moment, our focus was on saving the kittens who were fighting to survive.
Like any challenging experience, we’ve learned a lot, and we’ll continue to keep you updated on these miracle kittens.
