Last Weigh In

Pretty AnnElise

Last weigh-in and last vaccination, yesterday. All these 'last' things... time seems to be going past awfully fast!

All went swimmingly, all are healthy, and even Hope had a good weight gain in the past 10 or so days- her last gain wasn't brilliant but this week's more than makes up for it. Yay Hope!

So there we are... the kittens are vaccinated, wormed, flead, chipped and just killing time now before coming home. I have the pedigree slips back from the GCCF, I have the free insurance slips ready to go, the microchip numbers are off with Petlog and will be with the new families shortly. I just have to assemble the kitten packs/ documentation now.

*sniff*

So anyway. Weights. I have two big kittens, three average ones and one titch... so all in all a pretty even litter!

Wendell

Birth 103g

1 week 217g

2 weeks 294g

3 weeks 362g

4 weeks 463g

5 weeks 593g

6 weeks 763g

7 weeks 907g

8 weeks 1045g

9 weeks 1240g

10.5 weeks 1390g

12 weeks 1630g

Kensey

Birth 91g

1 week  196g

2 weeks 255g

3 weeks 346g

4 weeks 437g

5 weeks 604g

6 weeks 777g

7 weeks 975g

8 weeks 1149g

9 weeks 1310g

10.5 weeks 1470g

12 weeks 1720g

Kenneth

Birth 94g

1 week 192g

2 weeks 274g

3 weeks 382g

4 weeks 480g

5 weeks 589g

6 weeks 757g

7 weeks 902g

8 weeks 1045g

9 weeks 1230g

10.5 weeks 1340g

12 weeks 1640g

Monty

Birth 90g

1 week  198g

2 weeks 290g

3 weeks 390g

4 weeks 524g

5 weeks 600g

6 weeks 792g

7 weeks 1012g

8 weeks 1157g

9 weeks 1340g

10.5 weeks 1530g

12 weeks 1830g

AnnElise

Birth 92g

1 week 188g

2 weeks 262g

3 weeks 338g

4 weeks 437g

5 weeks 539g

6 weeks 716g

7 weeks 897g

8 weeks 1017g

9 weeks 1240g

10.5 weeks 1350g

12 weeks 1600g

Hope

Birth 83g

1 week 182g

2 weeks 257g

3 weeks 340g

4 weeks 458g

5 weeks 562g

6 weeks 712g

7 weeks 832g

8 weeks 962g

9 weeks  1070g

10.5 weeks 1130g

12 weeks 1360g :)

Insurance

Unrelated picture of mama feeding- she'll still let them, occasionally!

Ok, so I'm going to waffle on about insurance today, and this is a post specifically for my new kitten families. The kittens come with four weeks free insurance with PetPlan. I'll activate this on the Monday or Tuesday before they come home, so that the paperwork should be with you (or at least on the way) by the time you bring home your kitten. This gives you a couple of weeks in which to sort out your own insurance.
My kittens will come home at thirteen weeks, to the best of my knowledge, fit and healthy. They will also have been vet checked five times (six for Wendell and Kenneth!) and had the usual kitten course of vaccinations, flea treatments and worm treatments. It's hard to imagine anything going wrong and yet it happens, cats get sick just like people do and there's no pet NHS to cover the cost.

I'm a big fan of cat insurance, and I would advise you to both to insure your cat and get the best one you can afford, rather than the cheapest going. One must be pragmatic about this... some are pricey- I would love to be able to afford Petplan, for example, but it's a little beyond my means. The one I have isn't as comprehensive, admittedly, and the very cheapest ones are, naturally, quite limited, but my thoughts are that some insurance is better than none at all.

It isn't nice to think about, but some insurances will cover the cost of the cat, if it dies- which leaves you with a sum of money ready to buy another kitten, when you are ready. Some insurances will pay out if your cat goes missing too, with a certain amount for costs incurred whilst looking for the cat. So I can't really recommend a specific insurance as it will vary according to your needs. I have Tesco's 'Extra' cover.

One last thing... I have heard that you can't claim for the first week or so of a new insurance, so don't wait till right at the end of the four free weeks to start the new one or you will have a gap. So unless you are continuing with Petplan, have an overlap of insurances for at least a few days to make sure that you are covered at all times.

The Cost Of Cats

Originally posted on my private blog- posted to http://indikon-tonkinese.blogspot.com/ on 06/01/11

'Yeah, yeah. You know we're worth it.'

There's no money in cat breeding. If you are reading this, thinking of becoming a breeder and expecting to rake in the cash, think again. There's a reason why the taxman counts dog breeding as a business and cat breeding as a hobby! Yes, it's true a pedigree kitten will set you back £350 or more, but rarely will the breeder be making a profit.

Now most breeders households will consist of a mix of breeding queens and retired or neutered cats, so although I only have one breeding Tonk in a community of four felines, I reckon my household is normal enough. So, just to give you a taster of my cat bills this month...

First there's the ever present food and litter bill. I've just recieved an order from Zooplus, price £150. My cats eat a very good quality food, Royal Canin, which is of course expensive. Plus another £20 at Pets At Home for wet food. And a £50 order at Vetmeds for Feliway, plus a few other things I needed.

Vet bills. I could argue they've been higher than normal this month, about £300, but even in a good month there's regular checkups, vaccinations and so on- I spend quite a bit on veterinary care. I have pet insurance of course (another £50 a month) but I have to pay an excess on any claim, which I haven't quite exceeded yet.

Indigo has been to stud- that was another £200, and the four hour round trip, twice, to take her and collect her was also expensive...

So that's £800ish spent on the cats this month alone- and that's not unusual. I haven't even counted the £75 prefix application and the £50 ten year membership of The Tonkinese Cat Club as they are one off costs... I've only counted the normal monthly outgoings of a houseful of cats. The next few months, if Indigo is pregnant,  I will probably spend even more, what with buying in kittening supplies, extra food, vet bills, buying a pen, heating the house (kittens need a constant 22 degrees C) washing bills, plus every kitten will need costly vaccinations and pedigree papers...

All this for one litter of kittens per year. The average litter size is 3-4 kittens. Well, you can do the maths for yourself. Even if all my cats were breeding age females I wouldn't cover my costs.

So no, there is absolutely no money to be found in cat breeding. We do it for other reasons, but never for money.