Why the long face, Bailey?

Beautiful boy. Thanks, M!

Beautiful Bailey

Enjoying a few rays of sunshine. Yup, we had actual sunshine earlier in the week, didn't we? Back to snow again today though.

Didn't he grow up to be a beautiful boy? Aww!

I'm feeling much better after my friend's death, and am back to blogging now. Thanks to M for the picture. Sorry everyone, I have been very lax about posting your update pics of late, must definitely do better!

Mojo

Although I wish this handsome young man was one of mine, either a resident or one I'd bred, he isn't. This is Tallica Mojito, Amanda's (reader, commenter) tonk.

Mojo was thought to be a chocolate solid, but Amanda thinks he looks more like a chocolate mink, so has given me permission to post his piccies on here to see... and hopefully as he grows there will be more pictures and we can see what he eventually settles into.

Mojo is currently only 5 months, so plenty of time to settle into his final colouration... remember the shenanigans over the REM litter when they turned about one? And C reports that Jacob has recently lightened, whilst Jonah has darkened into their (presumably) final colour. in fact it can take a Tonk several years to settle into their final colour and even then colour can keep on developing- mature browns, for example, can get very dark indeed.

Mojo's body colour now. I have not had chocolates here, so I couldn't say one way or another. His body is still pretty pale, but chocolates are pale anyway, he has a lovely creamy belly but it isn't almost white, as I've seen in a mink, but that could be the light.

His eyes look pretty aqua though, which would be more typical of a mink.

For comparison, here are Pasha and CoCo (Liesl and Brigitta) at 2(ish) months- Pasha, front, is a brown mink and CoCo a solid, but their eye colour is pretty much the same. By three months though, the eye colour is starting to look pretty different. You can't really see from this pic, but CoCo is a lot darker in the body.

Here's Bailey, a brown solid like CoCo, a month or so later:

You can see his eyes are already starting to look green/ greeny-yellow compared to Pasha's, below... Pasha is a mink and had very nice aqua eyes at 3 months...

Back to Mojo! Those eyes look much more like Pasha's than they do Bailey's don't they? If I had to guess, now, and with all the usual provisos about really not being terribly good at colouring kittens, I'd say he was a chocolate mink. But as always, opinions welcomed! M, your Dylan is a chocolate mink isn't he, is Mojo similar in colouration or is he darker-??

Blue or lilac?

Now you know me... I am the first to admit that colouring kittens? Not something I would list as an achievement. I do seem to have a particular issue with lilacs- I think they are blues. Apparently I can't recognise a lilac if it jumped up and purred at me.

But I think I could be forgiven for the confusion here.

I mean, that's a blue kitten, right? That's absolutely a blue kitten. (if anything its sister Lola who is looking a bit lilac-y there, and that's a whole nother post!)

Haha...

That is not a blue kitten. It is a lilac kitten, or rather, a lilac cat, because at the grand old age of 6 months, I suppose they would be terribly offended to be thought of as babies (they will always be babies to me!) Lottie, here, looks just like Mama Indigo.

And again, I would say that was a lilac cat too. As an aside, not sure how old they are here, but I'm assuming they've both stayed smallish cats- they were both small as kittens weren't they? Well, the whole litter was smallish but Lottie and Lola were the smallest of the lot! Maybe not though- Bailey, who was average sized (but the biggest in the Von Trapp litter) is getting to be quite a big cat, I think Sulley might be as well. But my diddiest kitten from the REM litter, Lisl (Hope) stayed small, so I assume L and L will do so too.

I don't half go on... back to colour now...

But here? Here she looks more blue.... but not as blue as I would have expected given her earlier pictures. But still blue!

As I said yesterday, and as you can see in the picture above as well, they have a sufficiently different eye colour now to let us assume Lola is indeed mink and Lottie is a solid (so I am improving!!!) but oooooh I am undecided about Lottie's colour now. Grr!

Any opinions? Lottie and Lola's family don't mind a bit (remember Lottie has already distinguished herself by being undecided as to whether she was male or female for many weeks, she was thought to bea girl, then a boy and she was going to be called Charlie as in Charlie and Lola!) but it is a source of never ending frustration to me to not have this whole colour thing a little more secure in my mind than I currently do.

*grin*

But they are beautiful, and this post has given me an excellent excuse to post more lovely Lottie and Lola pictures. Which is always a good thing! You must be very proud of them K and family- I know I am.

Brothers

Awww look, its Bailey and his new brother Dylan. And they are snuggling! What a lovely pair they make don't they?

Now I know, I know, kittens grow into cats, but I still think of Bailey as a diddy little thing. Even so, WOULD YOU LOOK AT THE SIZE OF HIM NOW???? LOL his back foot is bigger than Dylan's entire head!

I'm sorry its been a week since I posted, the good weather  and a couple of weeks off work has caused a flurry of activity down at the allotment and a flurry of non activity here as the cats soak up some sunbeams and generally move as little as possible. What a life eh?

Gloomy

Giving me cattitude

Sorry Inds... wasn't me who turned the sun off again!

Bailey has a little brother! M's new little chocolate mink boy Dylan was finally old enough to come home. Apparently he- Bailey- hasn't been too thrilled about it and has been hissing up a storm but that's lessening now and there's even been some positive interaction going on now. I have no doubt they will be best friends before too long.

I am jealous of these chocolate mink kittens... oh for a bigger house! I would love a chocolate cat. One day!

That Bailey

*swoon* he's a handsome one...

Pssst.... Bailey hasn't had an 'incident' for ten days now... fingers crossed he's turned a corner eh? M is still being very careful, no unsupervised bedroom access etc, but her perseverance does seem to be paying off. Thank goodness and touch wood frantically!

I also have some CoCo news just this moment! She's very confident, and her and her big sister Matilda are getting on like a house on fire- like yin and yang, R says, always curled up together. What is even better is that Matilda has stopped pulling out her own fur... she's found an interest in CoCo and seems to be recovering from her loneliness now that she has a playmate. Hurrah!!!!!

Update

Sorry, mad week, poorly child, work 'restructuring' (which will resolve itself in more work for less pay I suspect!) and things ramping up at the allotment. Will I ever get it dug in time for the spuds to go in? And why, despite telling myself I will ONLY grow what I absolutely need this year, do I find myself with 29 tomato seedlings- oh and 11 aubergines? I need about 6 and 2 respectively lol!!!

Cats are all well, Indigo's feline acne is clearing nicely now- she's on the Ovarid again. She didn't get it nearly as badly this year anyway, perhaps she's growing out of it. It tends to be the younger queens who are the most susceptible, and Inds is only just 3 so pretty young for a cat. Last year you could see it from a distance, her chin was covered in black scabbiness, but this year her chin just looks a little grubby up close. In a darker coloured cat, you'd not even notice.

Kittens all seem to be well and healthy, got a few pics to share next week. Bailey is still not safe in the bedrooms though... he uses the box appropriately otherwise but it's so frustrating for M (and me too!) Come on Bailey sort it out boy! M's had some good advice from her vet and is a seasoned Tonk owner herself, so I know Bailey's in good and sympathetic hands- but it is becoming an issue so please keep your fingers crossed for them that it all works out. Bailey's getting a brother in May all being well, so if his issue is one of overattachment and 'marking' (which I think it is, he clearly loves M very much and there's no evidence to suggest he's unwell or unhappy, quite the opposite!) I'm hoping a playmate will help calm any seperation anxiety he may be feeling.

Last year, Alfie had some similar issues, his stopped after a short while though- although I am sure it didn't seem like a short while to D and S! I'm trying to find out what, if anything, I can do to improve MY practice. What I am finding, though, is that it's not a rare issue in the 'intelligent' breeds- Orientals and Foreigns, and the same sparkiness and zest that makes their characters so desirable can also make them anxious, nervy, overattached etc at times... I've often commented that Indigo, my Tonk, is by far my most 'needy' cat. That's Tonks for you, you can't have one without the other, and I do try to communicate that here on the blog, Tonks are such a specific 'flavour' of cat and being social and communicating and loving you is what they do, only occasionally one will do this by peeing (because in the wild, that's what cats do!)

It's interesting that both Alfie and Bailey are boys, and they are boys who went 'solo' IYSWIM. I don't know if that's relevent, and I don't have nearly enough experience to be able to say whether it's a trend or just coincidence, but it's something I'm recording here for future reference. Are lone boys more prone to anxiety than any other combination? I wonder.

http://www.ramesescats.co.uk/health/page111/page111.html this page is still under construction, but I can't tell you how relieved I was to find it! As you know I very much respect this cattery and aspire to be like it, and to read between the lines I'm guessing this breeder has had a few piddling kittens herself in her time. Certainly enough to have some good advice to give! Hallelujah, I'm not the only one! (seriously, I've been having doubts as to my fitness as a breeder, bad times!)

Warm

Cats and radiators... the modern take on curling in front of the fire I guess!

So, M and I have been trying to find out why Bailey is making a nuisance of himself piddling on the beds. M doesn't want to have a cat who is only allowed in certain rooms, but obviously bed- peeing isn't something one can easily ignore is it? So we've been discussing how best to tackle the issue, and I thought some of the info might be of use on here just in case anyone stumbles on this site and are having similar issues. So here's some general advice.The following spiel will be very bitty and garbled as it's cobbled from several sources, but here we go...

Kittens weeing on beds:

It could be anxiety related? Some of the responses here seem to suggest it could be http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080623024743AA1LLFH incidentally I do NOT agree with rubbing a kitten’s nose in urine, as one idiot suggests here!!! Anxiety and 'settling in' nerves is the reason I don't think a kitten should have bedroom access for the first little while.

Marking? Amanda suggested this as a cause in the comments yesterday.  http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080601213157AA4h7nM suggests early neutering might be a plan if the issue persists I am not a fan of this as a general rule, but if a cat is marking persistently, I think that might be a good enough reason...

Illness? This suggests he’s choosing the beds as they are soft and smell comforting (ie of you) so he might be feeling unwell? Vets for a UTI check maybe? http://jennifercopley.suite101.com/how-to-stop-a-cat-from-peeing-on-the-bed-a274246

Also at the above, suggest using feliway (a plug in cat calming thing) and feeding him on a tray on the bed, (now that is a clever idea as they won’t generally wee where they eat) On Indikon's Facebook page, D also recommended the Feliway, as Alfie had a few accidents at first- they stopped pretty soon though.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Cats-1606/kitten-peeing-bed.htm suggests getting some ultra cheap shower curtains or something to cover the beds to make them less attractive? Some bed coverings (cotton, silk etc) feel nice and scratchy, and the scratching stimulates the peeing reflex, so covering the bed with something soft and fluffy instead can stop that reflex kicking in.

  

Another idea, kittens start off their lives piddling in their nests, kitten might see your bed as your ‘nest’ and therefore his (as he’s treating you like a littermate, a companion) and he’s reverting to baby behaviour, putting his scent in the 'nest' to assure his place in the litter. Except for making the bedrooms off limits, I can only suggest getting lots of cheap litter trays and having one in each room he’s piddling in to reinforce that the tray is where we go not ‘the nest’- also try putting a cat bed with a waterproof base on your bed and encourage him to sleep in that (cat beds are smaller and easier to wash than whole duvets!)

Also over on Facebook, S said that if she didn't scoop every day, her Lotti would pee on the carpet just outside the box. Some cats just will not use a soiled litterbox. so that might be a cause of inappropriate wetting as well :)

Hope that helps someone at some point, and if anyone has any hints and tips to add, I'd love to hear them!

Updates

Rough, rough life, Liesl...

James P Sullivan II, aka Freddie is having a whale of a time with his new boy. I'm told Mum went into the boy's bedroom one night to find Sulley howling dismally, unable to work out why his partner in crime wasn't playing with him! LOL! He's also made friends with the other household cats, although I am advised that they are having rather more 'outside time' at the moment! Hee!

Bailey, aka Kurt is NOT distinguishing himself I'm afraid. Oh he's cute, he's adorable, he's tearing up and down the stairs like no-one's business and hungrily eyeing up the parrot... but he's had another weeing incident, on someone elses bed this time! He is currently banned from the bedrooms and as a result is now 'going' where he ought to. Still, he's being super friendly, a bit too friendly it seems, M says they've already had 'kittygate' in the house, where Bailey was buddying up to their lodger more than he was to M.

Lottie and Lola, aka Louisa and Gretl have only just gone so it's early days, but are doing fine. Lottie is being a bit more shy and spent the first day hiding but has been out and up the cat tree etc so she's clearly coming round fast. Gretl was much more comfy from the off and spent some time napping in her young lady's lap.

And finally CoCo, aka Brigitta, is being super- bold and has befriended her big sister really quickly, to the point they were playing with the dangly toy together almost straight away!

So there's just the two left, and I shall make sure I enjoy them this week as come Saturday that will be it for kittens for at least nine months! *sigh*

Twins

Marta and Louisa, my two blue solid girls. They really look very much alike. Marta's face is rounder though, she favours, slightly, the Burmese genetic strain I think. She has a very sweet, open face. Louisa's is more classically Tonk-y and Marta is still darker than Louisa but for all that I still confuse the two at times. Good thing Louisa has a red mark renewed every so often, so I can tell which she is eh?

I think Marta's been the subject of my post three days in a row now! That's just how the photos come out I guess! I'll feature someone else tomorrow, I promise!

Kurt- now Bailey- has been distinguishing himself... by piddling on M's lodger's bed. *sigh* Only the once though, and he's been OK since, so fingers crossed all round that he just got confused. This was after snuggling up with said lodger in the bed all night so what he was thinking I have no idea. He's stopped being nervous now and is very active, especially, it seems, at night. Everyone's feeling a bit sleep deprived at the moment I gather! Really having a small kitten is like having a toddler! (this is where having the one is more tricky I guess, or one way anyway) Hopefully Bailey will cotton on very soon that people become really very boring indeed in the middle of the night, and playtime is best kept to more sociable hours!