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“Tasha's” delivery of this litter was pretty drawn out. She is usually such a mellow cat and spent the day uncomplaining, but going in and out of the nesting box, litter box and up and down the bed, flopping from one side to the other. Because she is so long, we guessed the litter size to be three to five and after about 12 hours of pre-labour
restlessness, she started real contractions. At one point I called the emergency vet because, though she wasn't distressed, she seemed to be taking so long and when the delivery finally arrived, she shot out three kittens almost all at once. Because of the rapid delivery, she really didn't have time to attend to the kittens and clean them up so I cleared the noses and cut the cords.
That is when I discovered the two kittens attached to the same placenta and knew I had twins. I guess the third kitten just came out with the momentum from the twins.
These kittens were all born around midnight and the subsequent kittens were born from 5am the next morning, so she had quite a space between the first horn.
Eventually, all seven of the kittens were delivered. Five girls and the two twin boys.
I hope to bring the boys to the next CATZ show at least for display, but I'm hoping the owners will want to show one. It hardly seems necessary to show them both! One is certainly more outgoing than the other, but both are just the nicest little kittens and have a
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wonderful home with a midwife, who just couldn’t resist having identical twin cats!
The kittens were like living Lladros, just gorgeous, I loved them! I have missed being able to bench anything this year, but with luck, I'll have something next year. In a moment of extreme weak-ness, I ended up selling all of the kittens in this litter, which is a shame because they were the most outgoing, wonderful, beautiful laid back litter of kittens.
However I am anticipating the Siamese boy and girl that I hope will arrive from Hawaii in late August. I decided that I probably would want to keep a kitten from the new girl and a kitten from Tasha, aka Pure Pistachio, mated with the new boy, and because I don't have a cattery I can only have so many cats in the house.
The mother is Enzela Pure Pistachio, (aka Tasha), and the dad is Australian Import, Yarriamba Lowen Star.
Both are lilac points.
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About Siamese Twins in humans!
Conjoined twins, also known as Siamese Twins, a rare type of twinning, have long been a source of curiosity and controversy. Conjoined twins are monozygotic multiples that do not fully separate from each other due to the incomplete division of the fertilized ovum. The individuals will be connected at certain points of the body, and may share tissue, organs or limbs.
Monozygotic -- also known as identical -- twins form when a single fertilized egg splits into two embryos. This split can happen anytime after fertilization; as more time passes, the twins are more likely to share commonalities. If the split occurs more than twelve days post conception, the embryos do not fully divide and the twins may share body parts.
Conjoined twins are always same sex (either both boys or both girls). It is estimated that 70% of conjoined twins are female.
It's a fairly rare occurrence. Exact statistics are not known, but are estimated to be about 1 in 85,000 births. About 1 in 200 sets of identical twins are born conjoined.
Famed twins, Chang and Eng Bunker, were born in Siam (now Thailand) in the early 1800's, although they eventually settled in the United States. As they traveled the world, they became known as "the Siamese twins."
While they were the first conjoined twins whose medical history was documented, they were not the first conjoined twins. Records reference a set of conjoined boys living in Constantinople in 945 A.D. Another well-known set, Mary and Eliza Chulkhurst, lived in England in the twelth century.
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