"The first kittens are thrown into the water"

Have you ever heard of the saying "the first kittens are thrown into the water" ? It is used here to say that start was bad, but in a comforting way, as it was supposed to be that way, and it is okay. When I was little I never liked this saying, it sounded way too cruel, even though I know it was just metaphorical, not literal.

Unfortunately, last week, I discovered it literal meaning. Mila gave birth to six kittens, and five of them died the next day, only one was left. I know this saying is related to cats having their first kittens. First of all, if they are younger (less than a year old) that can cause problems, if there are too many kittens, that can also be a problem for mother cat, and when it is first time, the cat doesn't have "mother instinct" yet. I have to agree on the last one, because Mila was so rough with them. She was constantly stepping on them, and everyone was convincing me that it is fine, I really didn't like it. The only instinct she had was to be around them and not to let other cats come near. I can't know for sure what happened, it was all over night, and nothing we could do, but this saying wasn't helpful and comforting to me at the time.

As I am the way I am, I already took many photos of kittens and some adorable videos as well, and I never thought something like this could happen. I was looking forward to share great news, but it all turned around. I decided to post this anyway, because this is also part of the life, it is just how it is. Mila's sister Dobrila is also about to have kittens, and she is even bigger. I am scared she will have even more, and the same thing will happen. But I need to stay positive.

When we got Mila and Dobrila, it was Maza's first kittens, but there was only two of them, and she immediately took them away, and take care of them all alone, so we didn't expected this at all.

When I write about something, I like to look it up. Therefor, I look this saying up, to see how it originally was made. What I discovered was quite disturbing, and I hope it was not true. Apparently this saying started long time ago, during Ottoman Empire. This is related to the time that our country was under their power. Territory was divided into unites, and each unit had an aga who was in charge. They had unlimited power over enslaved people. When two people got married, aga was the one that bride had to spend the first night with. This is the reason why they couldn't know who is the father of first child and why they were rejected, and not uncommonly, killed by throwing to the water. I was shocked to discover this, and I never heard it before. I always thought it's related to weakness of kittens in their first days of life. I hope this is just old and made up story.

Anyways, I will try to avoid these sad and negative subjects from now on. I feel like there was too much of it lately.

Photo I used in article, and lead photo are original photos taken by me.

Thank you for reading my post ^^