What Book?

Weren't reading that, were you? Thought not...

Once again, we are the House of Plague and have taken to our beds. Indigo is very happy about this state of affairs, and has spent much of her time snuggled in beside me. Or on me, or more likely on my book! It can't be comfortable...

Things are calmish, though. The living room is back in service, so the cats have a bit more breathing space. Inds isn't happy about going into her room at night, and a nightly 'chase' ensues, followed by indignant meowing when she finds herself incarcerated. She'll get used to it soon, I'm sure. I feel bad, but the other cats are more relaxed, they were starting to show signs of stress- the beginnings of a peeathon, and Theo started chewing far more than he usually does- including right through my favourite bra!!!

I am starting to think 'kitten' again now, not sure if I'm going to mate Inds soon after Christmas, or in the autumn. Probably I will wait till the autumn as summer is always a busier time for me, but we will see. It's nice having them in the winter. The past two Decembers we've had little fat squeaking sausages around, it seems very odd not to be doing so this year, and January and February always seems to be a good time for placing kittens in homes, as there are fewer of them available. I miss not having them now. But I'm glad of it, given our general state of germiness!

Ok, heading back to my pit. Hope everyone is having a better week than we are :)

Spoke too soon...

Sigh...

Ava is apparently NOT fine. Her bloods did show a slight anomaly in that her white blood cell count is low. Not dangerously low, but lower than it ought to be. She's got to go back in 4 weeks for a repeat test and this time it will be sent off to the lab for her cells to be more closely scrutinised.

It could be nothing. It could be something nasty. We'll have to wait and see.

Incidentally that decides it- until we know what's going on with Ava, Inds won't be going off to be mated- we WILL NOT be having a litter of kittens this winter. Many apologies to anyone who was hoping we might (I know there was one person at least) and to regulars who like to read the kitten diaries! Perhaps a mating next spring or summer, but not in the near future.

I'll still be posting, though! So don't forget to check back.

Breeding

You know, I think I've worked out why I'm so reluctant to decide about when to breed Indigo.

First time round, of course she had that allergy issue. Eventually it was traced to a food allergy, I changed her food, things were OK again, but not until she'd had lots of fuss and bother having a head scrape (to rule out ringworm) and extra flea treatments that she didn't need, and I'm sure having a head full of spots wasn't pleasant for her. She had to wear that collar for ages to stop her scratching one patch in particular. She still runs a mile when she sees the collar. She also had morning sickness.

Then last time, well she seemed to be ill from start to finish! First off she had an eye issue, then morning sickness so bad I ended up rushing her to the vet, and from then on it seemed a long run of digestive issues, ear issues, suspected urinary issues... you name it, she had it. She was skinny and lethargic and I was worried. The vet suspected a low level virus that had lowered her immune system that she just couldn't pick up from whilst raising seven kittens- as soon as they had moved on she became her old self (and indeed is now 2lbs plus overweight...)

And I understand that ok, the allergy issues are sorted now, so that won't re-occur, and the morning sickness, while worrying, really is transient. It bothers her for less than a week. And the virus? Well that was just sheer bad luck, and there's no reason to believe that will happen again. But still.

I've seen other breeders comment that after every litter they swear they will never do it again, and that's what I'm feeling now. It just feels so... odd... wrong, possibly... to put one's darling cat through all the stresses of pregnancy when so much can, and does, go wrong. Fortunately, for prospective owners at least, the lure of kittens is too great. There will be more Indikon kittens, of course there will be, just as there are in other catteries. But right now I'm feeling like dragging my heels a bit.

When Will You Marry?

(Sorry about the gap between posts-  a family bereavement and other 'stuff'. You know how it is.)

So the time of year has come when I'm thinking hard about who to mate Indigo to next, and equally importantly, when.

Because it's complicated this year. Firstly time wise. My friend gets married in the spring and I am in the bridal party. I can't have a due date cat around that time, or kittens that are too young. I can't have kittens that are due to go home because I won't be about to facilitate that. I could have small-ish, still just about nest- bound kittens or older, independent kittens (both times with an experienced- with- baby- kittens person housesitting) but I wouldn't want to leave toilet training kittens. And given Indigo's illness last year, I wouldn't want to leave a pregnant cat, certainly not in the early stages.

It's ridiculous... I'm only going away overnight, but it's feeling like a military operation! And I KNOW they would be fine with someone else for a night or even a weekend, but... well, you know.

The other option of course is to not have kittens this winter at all, mate her in the Spring and have summer babies but again that would require careful timing because I take a summer holiday. Or I could skip a year entirely. (the idea doesn't appeal...)

The next thing is with whom to mate my girl. Now the problem with Indigo is that as a 5th generation Tonk, she's actually related to quite a few of the local (and by local I mean within a 3 hour drive... lol...) studs, and that won't do at all! I rang up about a stud last week, only to realise it was her grandfather! Not sure how I had missed that!

There's not a lot of choice, is what I am saying.

Now she's had two lovely litters. Her first one, with GrCh Fecheldee Harry, are now what- 18 months?- so its possible to see what they are like as adults, and I'm delighted with them. Good quality, robust cats with no health issues (that have been reported to me, anyway) who obviously give their families a lot of pleasure. So a repeat mating with Harry is a definite possibility, he's obviously a good match for Inds. And he's a proven stud, and a Grand Champion, all to the good.

Harry's an apricot mink, so those kittens could be blue, lilac or caramel (boys), all three in tortoiseshell (girls) and in mink or solid. My instinct is, if I mate Indigo this autumn, to use Harry again.

But then over at Tonkadello, they have a new up and coming stud, Louis. Now Louis isn't available yet, he's only a baby still, born, I think, in February, but by next year he will be available. Now the big selling point for me with Louis is that he is a first generation Tonk, ie his parents will be a Siamese and a Burmese. He represents an entirely new bloodline, (and many thanks to the dedicated breeders who made that happen...) and that would be a good balance for Indigo's 5th generation blood. The Tonk gene pool is small, and it just isn't healthy to get too small.

Mating Indigo to Louis will be a bit of a leap into the unknown as he won't have been a stud for long by the time Inds needs to come, but to be honest that's how it was with Monty too and that worked out really well- my Von Trapps were adorable. So if I waited until the Spring, I'd probably want to use Louis, if he was ready.

These kittens would be chocolate and lilac, if he carries dilute, (which his people may not know until he's had a few litters of course!!) in mink and solid. And yes... if I got a chocolate mink girl of a decent quality I would definitely consider keeping her. There's no hurry to keep a kitten, Inds is three now- I guess she'll have another three litters all being well (which you can't bank on) But latter litters are smaller, fewer kittens mean less choice and you can't guarantee even a female, let alone a female of good type, and then there's the question of your own colour preferences etc. So leaving it to the last litter, never a good plan.

As always I am merely rambling, and your opinions would be very interesting indeed :) Oh- sorry about the pretentious title today, but I love Gauguin and it seemed apt!

The Princess And The Pee

Ah, these towels have clearly been left here for me...

I always feel slightly alarmed when Indigo settles down on a pile of towels like this.  Firstly because she might decide to widdle on it, and secondly because I've clearly left a pile of towels accessible... she might have already done so!

Madam, I don't like what you are implying!



But I was Ok, this time she didn't, and I got the towels into the cupboard later with no further mishap. I couldn't resist the post title though, sorry... the stacked towels made me think of the many mattresses in the old fable. She looks like she's just detected a pea too doesn't she? I love how cats can look so outraged hehe.

Inds finds piles of towels, cushions and pillows a bit of an irresistable widdle-magnet I'm afraid. So 'her' room is set up to make things easier (for me) and to minimise damage. I recently changed our sofa to a wipe clean fake-leather affair and we have laminate flooring. She still widdles from time to time on her fleeces, or a blanket, or a pile of towels I've carelessly left on the table (ahem!) but thats easy to throw in the machine on a hot wash.

Its funny how cats change our space- I'm hoping to change our hall carpet soon. I got it pre cats, and it wasn't an especially expensive one then, it's a hall carpet so has seen heavy traffic. In addition, Indigo, Ava and Sofia all sharpen their claws on it, and what with Theo's incessant puking (which he doesn't do any more- odd), spraying and the ministrations of multiple kittens, it really has seen better days. Will I be getting another carpet? Not on your nelly- it will be a nice serviceable, WASHABLE lino!!!

Cats eh? Who'd have 'em? (me, me, me!)

Erm... oops!

The kittens are only five months old aren't they? Not six months. So there's no desperate hurry for the snip. I'm so sorry if I worried anyone, I miscounted! It seems like they left years ago, it really does. *sigh* Give them all a kiss from me please!

They can be 'done' now if you like though. Only you know your kitten, and what the right time is for them. Standard advice is 6 months for a girl and 6-8 months for a boy, although I wouldn't leave it as late as that for a boy to be honest. The earlier you have it done the easier it is on them anyway- Sulley just had his done and D reports he was running around in his usual bonkers fashion afterwards. It's a bit more involved for girls, but even then if its done at 6 months its no big deal.

Of course if you have a boy who starts being much more aggressive all of a sudden, develops suddenly very impressive genitalia (my goodness have you seen an unneutered Tomcat? I'm surprised they can walk!) or even *horrors* starts backing up to surfaces and waggling his tail about (spraying, some kittens go through the motions of spraying before they actually spray) then that's a very big hint that you need to neuter him ASAP! And if your girl goes into heat you'll know all about it. Tonks can do this at 6 months, so don't leave it too late!

But you have a few weeks. I'm sorry if I alarmed anyone... silly me!

Going Somewhere, Gretl?

If you are here as a result of the advert in Your Cat, hi! Welcome to Indikon, welcome to our kitten diary / blog and welcome to our new litter of babies! I hope you enjoy seeing these little ones grow up.

Hmm... bored with this 'eating' business, think I'll take a walk...

'Scuse me, siblings...

... while I just walk on your heads...

Gretl, camoflagued! Can you spot her?

And again!

Time to tromp all over Mama's head, now...

Hm... wasn't I doing something?

Oh yes, milk! Omnomnom!

Boys And Girls

How on earth...

...did she fit them all inside her???



Ok. I THINK that kittens 6 and 7 are girls. I'm not sure, but they are looking more dot-and-slit than two dots as they get older. That just leaves kitten 4, which doesn't look like either! Interestingly its the smaller kittens that are the more difficult to discern, even though they are bigger than the biggest ones were at birth.

I reckon what I'm going to have to do (because I'm itching to pick names out of course,) is just make a good guess about kitten 5, name them, and be prepared to rename one or possibly all of them depending on how the theme fits in a month or so when the gender should be more obvious. Or when the vet sees them first and tells me I've got them all completely wrong... lol.

Indigo moved her kittens last night, so I shall pack up the old nest. She's currently in a rabbit run, with front section removed and a throw over the top- it's like a cave, in fact. She seems quite happy with it.

Kittens are fat little things and putting on weight every day. Some of them have quite a way to go yet, if they are to double their weight by Thursday morning, but I guess in a large litter there's more competition. I have a kitten growth chart, and last year my brood were dipping below the average (but still within 'acceptable') at first, but by the time they were ready to go home they were massive. This year I am expecting them to be smaller anyway, as Daddy is petite and we seem to have more girls which are usually smaller even at this age.

In other news, some of the babies are starting to open their eyes, with kitten 3, a boy, leading the way. Tonks are forward little things and they are early for eye opening, 7-10 days being more usual. It gets interesting when they can actually see you, they stop being alarmed at your scent and come to understand you aren't a threat... and then get excited when they see a human approaching. Aww! Can't wait!

Colourful!

Ok, so I thought I'd do the same thing I did a few days ago re sexing the kittens- that is, take photos of their colour/ pattern development for future reference. As we all know I wasn't too hot on the whole colour question last time (although to be fair it is difficult!) so I thought an aide-memoir on here would be a good thing.

I think I can rule out having any lilac or chocolate minks. I know that they are born nearly white, and none of my kittens are that pale. A sfor what they actually are, shall we just note here and now that really, I have no idea, I'm just guessing at this stage!!!
Kitten 1

One of the 'inbetween' kittens. My guess, chocolate solid or brown mink.

Kitten 2

The teenager calls this 'The Wendell kitten' and insists he's just like him but I don't think he is really, he's too dark for a blue. I'd guess brown. He's darker than his father, coat wise, too, so I can't see how he could be anything other than a brown solid

Kitten 3

An inbetween kitten. The photo of him didn't come out, but he is most alike in colour to kitten 5. A lovely warm colour. Well his head is, his bottom is much paler! (must get a photo of him, he's odd!)

Kitten 4

Another inbetween kitten. Slightly cooler in tone.

Kitten 5

The fourth inbetween kitten. This one is a lovely rich warm colour in the light, I'm guessing this is a chocolate solid.

Kitten 6

This is the other dark kitten, nearly as dark as kitten 2. My guess, a brown solid.

Kitten 7



The lightest kitten. I don't think its a lilac solid- the tips of the fur are dark in certain lights. Given that I don't think any of the kittens were light enough to be chocolate minks, I'm going with blue mink for this baby. But I don't really know!

So there's my litter... quite, quite different to the last one, I'm sure you will agree!

Birth Story

Thought I'd write about it on here, although it was again a pretty straightforward birth with no complications.  I did think Indigo was going to go on Wednesday night, as she had a small show (when the mucus plug sealing the cervix comes away) earlier in the day, but come bedtime she wasn't showing any signs, so I bedded down for the night with alarms set for frequent intervals. The idea of course being that I'd get up at each alarm, assess Indigo's condition, and nap inbetween times. They duly went off, and I duly checked all was well, no contractions and so on. Ha ha.

I still woke at half past three with damp bedding and Indigo plus two kittens snuggled in beside me! What a minx she is!

I guess Indigo, for all she's a drama queen most of the time, is the strong and silent type when actually labouring. She wanted to be near me, or literally in the bed with me, but she wasn't too fussed about me being awake or not. (says it all, really! LOL) Nevertheless once awake, I moved her and babies over to the nest ready for the next kittens. She'd had one, which I assume was the firstborn, who was duly cleaned with placenta removed and starting to look fluffy, and one who had been cleaned but still had its placenta. Indigo showed no interest in eating this one so I clamped and cut it myself while she was busy producing the third kitten.

Anyway, it proceeded much as last time really. Rather straightforward, mostly head presentations. Couple of retained placentas, meaning the cords had to be clamped and cut, and one baby really needed rather vigorous rubbing and all that to get him breathing and moving but he made it. Indigo pushed out another kitten every ten minutes or so and that was that- she's an old pro now it seems.

After the seventh was born, I couldn't decide if she had an eighth in there or not (that she had the seventh was obvious, there was a kitten shaped lump there!) as she shuffled around for quite a while looking uncomfortable, but eventually after a change of bedding she settled down. I suspect I'd be a bit uncomfortable having just birthed seven kittens.

She fed them, washed them again, and then got out of the nest meowing at me most insistently. I was a bit thick and didn't realise what she was after at first. Then I offered a sachet of food and she nearly bit my hand off getting to it, scoffed the lot in about 30 seconds, then downed about quarter of a tin of kitten food on top of that. I'm keeping an eye on her eating though, it seems to have tapered off again today so I've been out and bought meat to cook to tempt her appetite in case the kittens stop gaining weight as they should. Decent gains so far though. Kittens should double their birth weights by a week old, so we'll see.

I weighed them, cooed at them awhile, and then came on and blogged, it not being worth my while going back to bed before it being time to wake the boy. And there it is, a nice, simple, straightforward birth, one which I managed to partially sleep through... AGAIN.

Wriggle!

I've obviously got my blog set to the wrong time zone... kittens were born on Thursday early morning and not Weds! Not sure how to fix that, will have a poke about in Blogger in a bit.

I love the transformation newborn kittens take from being damp, limp, ratlike things that hardly look alive to fat fluffy little sausages with bulging bellies a mere few hours later. And they are huge already! Look at their weight gain in just a little over 24 hours... kittens grow awfully fast!

Kitten 1:
Birth 96g
Day 2 105g

Kitten 2:
Birth 101g
Day 2 113g

Kitten 3:
Birth 102g
Day 2 120g, the porker!

Kitten 4:
Birth 82g
Day 2 86g

Kitten 5:
Birth 83g
Day 2 104g- another porker!

Kitten 6:
Birth 91g
Day 2 96g

Kitten 7:
Birth 81g
Day 2 89g

I will be keeping an especial eye on kittens 4 and 6 to make sure they are OK but they look ok, nice round tummies and feeding well. They should ideally double their birthweight in a week. As for gender, last year I sexed the kittens at birth and was correct, but this year? Oh I'm just not sure! At birth I thought we had four boys and three girls, then yesterday morning I thought we had two girls and five boys, then in the evening four girls and three boys. This morning I thought four girls and three boys too, but it was different kittens *thunks head on desk* So basically, I have no idea!!! Number one is definitely a girl, numbers 2 and 3 definitely boys (I think!)  and 5 is a girl but the other three keep being visited by the sex change fairy.

Indigo has been driving me bonkers this morning trying to move the kittens- and I was going to set up alternative nests today as well. She beat me to it! We had another battle of wills today over her moving her kittens to a most unsuitable place which I THOUGHT I had made inaccessible. Of course now I've set up alternative dens for her she won't look at them...

Morning!

Rather too early in the morning for my liking- it's not quite 7 and I've been awake much of the night- but just a quick post to announce Indigo had SEVEN beautiful kittens overnight and mum and babies are doing very well. I'm guessing at four boys and three girls, although it will be easier to tell when it's daylight.

Seven kittens though... no wonder she was large!

*happiness*

Erm, Theo?

...that kittening box isn't really for you, lad!

Indigo makes do with the little bed! Reckon I'll need to have a few words with Theo- ie remove him whenever I see him in the bed- otherwise Inds will be having her kittens under the sofa...

Google

If you type 'Indikon' into Google, I'm the third entry. Given that it's just the name of a colour, albeit in another language, I'm pretty pleased with that actually!

If you type 'Tonkinese' in, well, lets just say I stopped looking at page 20. Hehe. Ditto 'Tonkinese kittens'. The top 20 pages of images  for both don't have any of my piccies on either. Not quite conquered the market yet then...

'Tonkinese blog' puts me right at the top though... and second and third, actually. Whoo! Even 'Tonkinese diary' I'm on the second page. I'm hoping blogging is my niche- it's not that no-one else does kitten diaries, they do, but... oh I dunno. I think my families last year really liked having a daily update on their new baby anyway, so it was worthwhile to do it!

Erm... and that's today's entry. Not really a point to it, but that's just how we roll here hehe

The Great Escape

Video by S A- it's our Lotti!

http://www.youtube.com/user/suki888100#p/u/6/pB5au7buYcg well worth bookmarking this page!

Whenever I get a photo, or read an update, or see a video of one of the first litter of Indikon kittens, I feel very very proud. Look at the latest video of Lotti... what a smart, beautiful and affectionate young lady she's turned out to be, just like her mama. I'm loving that she's mastered opening the door, very impressive!

I've been spoiled with this litter, every one of the four homes the kittens went to have sent an occasional update, and as you can see Kensey and Lotti's family take excellent videos as well :) That's very unusual and I am grateful.
The time is fast approaching when the second lot of Indikon kittens will be on their way, (hopefully!)but this particular brood will always have a special place in my heart.

Right then, enough of that mush... Theo is howling at me for some attention!

Pic: Kenneth, on my lap, snuggling :) Light is different because it was on two seperate occasions. As you see, Kenneth is also developing his Mama's trick of rolling on his back in your lap. He is such a sweetheart!

Anyway. The kittens have all come over the second set of vaccinations with no issues whatsoever. In fact, they are eating so well that I had to go out and buy MORE dry kitten food yesterday. I'd calculated how much kitten food we were likely to need, and then added a bit more, but it seems that I didn't order enough at all for these Hungry Horaces!

(Does anyone remember Hungry Horace, by the way? I LOVED that game! Happy days. Reckon if I showed The Teenager he'd be decidedly underwhelmed by it though!)

It's truly amazing how much six kittens will eat. Although judging by the size of Mama's tum, she's partly responsible! Ah well, her days of munching kitten food are numbered- sorry Inds!

Family Portraits... And An Update

A couple of family pictures from recently :)

The last one... poor Mama! they all piled around her for a feed and she was left sitting there, kittens attached and slurping away, unable to move! I need to take a more recent group picture, but more and more they are not all piling up together for naps, but settling down with maybe just one other kitten. They are growing up!

This morning when I went to do the eye routine, all the pirates were clear. Not the merest hint of soreness, goo, or anything of the kind. However, Hope's right eye was looking a bit suspect. Ah well, more of the routine eh?

Indigo's head is a work in progress. It's actually looking quite alarming at the moment... bright pink and bald! But the bald patches are where the scabs were, and the pinkness is because the crusts are coming off, with new, healthy skin growing underneath. The fur will grow back (I assume, it did when she was pregnant although it never got this bad then...) and she will look beautiful again- hurrah! But even more telling for me is that she brought her pipe cleaner to me for a game of fetch earlier... she hasn't done that for the best part of a week. So I know she's feeling a LOT better :)

I've been deciding on what food to put the kittens on. I've been looking at several factors. These include

Is it a 'complete' food?

Does the food have a single or multiple protein sources?

Does it contain artificial flavours, colours and preservatives?

Is it grain-free?

Is it organic?

Does it contain 'meat by-products/ derivatives'

The price, per 100g, for comparison

None of the foods I looked at ticked every box, of course. I was specifically looking for a food with no artificial colours and preservatives, and of course a 'complete' food is a must. Price was worth knowing but not a major deciding factor. And I wanted a dry and a wet food.

In the end, I decided on James Wellbeloved Turkey and rice kitten kibble. This contains a single protein, is artificial colour, flavour and preservative free and contains no wheat and has the benefit of being easily available which is good to know- makes no difference to me as I buy all my cat supplies online and in bulk, but much more convenient for my kittens new families! And when the kittens have gone, assuming the food suits Indigo, we can graduate to Turkey and rice adult food.

Wet food was a bit more difficult. I couldn't find a single protein source kitten-specific food, so I chose Grau kitten food which has turkey, like the kibble, and beef as it's protein sources. It too is artificial colour, flavour and preservative free and has rice, not wheat, so I think it will be a good match, and then Indigo can go on to Grau adult food which IS single protein- turkey, to match the James Wellbeloved. It certainly isn't the cheapest kitten food available, but it seems to be the best match.

Of course Grau is a rather more obscure brand... but the kittens will bring samples of this home with them in their kitten packs, and should easily switch over to the wet food of your choice. They have all been eating Whiskas, for example, with no issue, it isn't the kittens who have the allergy after all... it's Mama! So whichever wet food you choose should be fine for them.

I'm very happy to have now made a decision lol... now off to order some :)

Indigo's Head

Yes, her allergy has well and truly reared its head again. She's now spotty over both her temples, and one ear is scabby... poor, poor Indigo! She looks awful, and I feel so bad for her. And of course, everything that was true about treatment she could have when she was pregnant (ie not a lot!) is still true now, because she is nursing, and anything she could be treated with- an antihistamine injection would be the first choice- would be passed on in the milk. *sigh*

So I'm going to try two things...

1) A topical aloe vera gel. This was recommended to me by another breeder and I did intend to get some, really I did, but I went online to find it and ended up ordering something else and then clicking on another link and... oh you know how it is. Anyway, I forgot to get the gel. And then it seemed to clear up. Worth a try, and I've actually ordered some this time! Hopefully it will arrive today. Indigo will hate it, of course!

2) This is a more long term thing, but I'm going to take the cats- en masse- off the Royal Canin and Whiskas that they eat now, and put them on to a more 'natural' food- no artificial preservatives and so on. Still looking into which one, exactly. I'm changing them all over because I also have Theo, with the ongoing occasional stomach issue... perhaps it will help him, too? And Theo eats everyone's food! So it's all or nothing, really.

Now, new families, worry not. The kittens are all quite happy and healthy on Royal Canin, Whiskas wet food and the occasional boiled chicken dinner, and I won't be interfering with their diet. These changes will be made once the kittens have left. Royal Canin is a very very good food, repeatedly said to be 'the best', which is why my cats get it, of course... and most cats who eat this do so with no issue at all.

Chances are, Theo and Indigo will still have the same issues on the new food... we will see. In any case, when the kittens are gone, we'll be treating the allergy much more agressively than we can at present... unless it magically clears up before then. But the diet is worth a try I feel, because whatever is bothering Indigo is no joke. It's bugging her, and I don't like to think of her feeling uncomfortable.

Of course I will record every last etcetera on here. Don't say I don't spoil you, now...

Litter Box

The kittens have got several small kitten sized litter trays to use, so naturally they want to get into the adult cats' high backed extra deep trays that are about 20 times their size..! Here's Wendell proving my point! Theo likes to pee up the back of his litter trays, and Indigo doesn't like covered trays. Of course the only trays that suit the both of them are rather expensive and is only available mail order with postage charge as well... although sometimes they have stalls at cat shows. Anyway, the kittens do sample them from time to time, despite their size!

So. Litter training. Well... it's going rather well really! In fact they are trained.

I left the vacuum in the living room the other day, for no other reason than I was too lazy to put it properly away, and there it stood for a few days. (yes, I know, bad me...) Well of course I could smell kitten pee somewhere, and in hunting the source discovered the kittens had decided behind the vacuum was a jolly good toilet, and had used it freely. Pees only, fortunately, but that was bad enough! Well I have laminate flooring, so cleanup was more simple than it may otherwise have been, but even with laminate floors pee smells can linger. So I've popped a litter tray directly over that spot and the kittens appear to be using that quite happily again.

The kittens have always been great about pooping in the litter, fortunately. The only thing that happens here is occasionally one will tread in their poop and then trot off, leave stinky footprints behind them, but there, they are only babies and it doesn't take long to clean them up again. Of course, we haven't had a bout of wobbly tummies yet...

The litter we use is silica litter, mainly because it's the litter the adult cats (especially Indigo) are happiest about using, and it's great choice for multicat households too. Not the cheapest litter, but good for smell control and very absorbent, and quite often on special at Zooplus... I buy loads when it is! I was wondering if the kittens would find it rather too hard for their little feet, but they all seem to have taken to it quite happily. The only 'problem' is that it does track rather easily, so no matter how recently I've swept we always seem to have litter round the trays... you can see it in the photos here quite often. But other than that it's great and suits us well.

Sleep

As the kittens  become more confident, they learn to see humans as fun companions, despite their giant size. They also realise they are rather warm and cuddly too. So several times a day these days I find myself with a couple of napping kittens in my arms or on my lap. Not that I'm complaining. It's rather touching really. Sweet, trustful kittens!

Of all the kittens, Hope and Kenneth are the most inclined to doze on a lap. Although yesterday I was sitting with my legs up in front of me and I had all six, napping, on various parts of my anatomy. Of course the problem with having a lapful of small purry furry things is that you're basically immobile. If you need to get up, you have to move them, and then of course they look at you all reproachfully and make you feel guilty.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Indigo gets in on the action too.

Oh and botheration... Indigo has some new spots. Three of them. Back to the vets with us, then. Poor Indigo! And I've got a prospective family over tomorrow and one the next day as well... just the right time to have a scabby cat eh? *grin*