First-Ever February Kitten Birth at Woodlands Animal Sanctuary Marks Historic Event

Woodlands – Woodlands welcomes the first birth onsite of 2025.

Woodlands Animal Sanctuary have welcomed their first litter of kittens who were born on site.  This is the first time EVER, in their 20-year history that they have had kittens born in Feb! They did already have 1 litter of 5 being hand reared, 3 mums with kittens, plus two other slighter older kittens who are with a fosterer.

Bonnie is a first-time mum, who has been with the team since 14th January, after she was admitted from a vet practice, who had seen her as an abandoned cat who had been found in a garden.  At this point the vets scanned her as being around 4 weeks pregnant.  Bonnie had been showing nesting signs since lunchtime, on the day she finally gave birth, which tipped Lynn, their Animal Care Manager off that she may not be far off delivery.  The first kitten arrived safe & well.  Unfortunately, the second kitten was very small & stillborn.  There was then a long gap until the next one arrived safely.  There then ensued a long period with no activity.  Bonnie was therefore given Oxytocin to encourage proceedings & 30 minutes later she passed a mummified foetus of approximately 6 weeks gestation.  Their vet could still feel at least one more as yet undelivered kitten & so the decision was taken at around 8:30 pm, to take Bonnie & her new family to a veterinary surgery for a possible C section.  This meant that Lynn started her 12th hour of her workday & Vickie one of their founding trustees, abandoned her evenings plans to rush Bonnie to Ribble Vets.  As it turns out, the journey was just enough to get things moving again for Bonnie and a third live kitten was born without the need for any further intervention.

Bonnie is now absolutely fine and loving all the extra fuss she's getting with her 3 beautiful kittens.  So, a mainly happy ending for this young family and hopefully setting the tone for the rest of the year.  Kitten Season has started at Woodlands, and the fundraising efforts have been brought forwards in an effort to accommodate the increased costs so early in the year.

What a start to their 20th year!  You can follow their story and support the work Woodlands Animal Sanctuary does by following them on social media or visiting their website:  https://www.woodlandsanimalsanctuary.org.uk/