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!

By The Way, Kittens...

It's nearly time for your 'special visit' to the vet!

I know Mr Sulley has already lost a couple of ounces (hee!)

Indigo

People ask: Will Indigo miss the kittens?
Well, I'm not a cat, (lol, obviously) and without being one I couldn't say for sure. And cats who are brought up together or who have a close familial bond can have incredibly close relationships all their lives and can in fact grieve very deeply when one dies. And anyone who is around cats will know they experience frustration, affection, fear and a range of other emotions.

But at the end of the day (sorry came over a bit Jeremy Kyle there) a cat is a cat. It has a brain the size of a walnut. It is not human, and whilst the temptation to anthromorphise is strong (and I do it here, often, because it's fun) it's ultimately unhelpful when we are trying to find out how our cats might be feeling

In the wild, a mama cat loses her 4 week old kitten, she is distraught. She will call and call for it, searching until she is exhausted. But by the time they are ten weeks she's like what kitten was that, sorry? Oh she'll care for her brood, she'll feed them, bathe them and administer smacks where necessary, but they aren't her life any more. In nature she's in season again, looking for a man, or more likely she's pregnant already, gearing up for her next litter. Cats are extremely efficient baby making machines- grow 'em, raise em, turf 'em out ready for the next lot. People, please spay and neuter- moggy cats are not likely to be an endangered species any time soon...

Will Indigo miss the kittens? I can't say for sure, but if I had to take a guess as to her state of mind right now I'd say she's probably rather... relieved. She's been a diligent Mama. She's birthed, fed (with a little assistance) and raised seven beautiful kittens, at some cost to her own health. She's attended to their manners and morals and stood aside whilst they monopolised my affections. But now they've moved on and she has too. She can catch up on her sleep again (she's been napping pretty much solidly!), get back into the peak of condition and be a carefree cat again.
In fact it hasn't taken her long at all- she's moved back into her rightful place... which is of course my lap :)

Oh, Behave!

In the comments section, Amanda Cox wrote:

How do they behave? I've found training older kittens (ie stopping them climbing curtains and getting on kitchen surfaces etc) very difficult, I'm going to see an older Tonk kitten at the weekend (way more than 13 weeks) and I only hope its not been allowed to run riot!
We got Dom from a home where all the cats were allowed to do what they liked because some rooms they were simply locked out of, but we dont lock or shut rooms so Dom has to learn boundaries. But its hard work. He even got into the fridge today and wouldn't get out!

And I thought it would be a good subject for today's post! *sniggers at thought of stroppy cat refusing to come out of the fridge* (Hope you had a good weekend visit AC, how did it go?)

Well, I must admit that at the moment, the kittens en masse can seem pretty overwhelming (less so now the boys have gone) As I open the kitten room-the living room- door of a morning, they pour out like a tidal wave, meowing their little heads off for breakfast.  And letting them into the kitchen has become awkward now because keeping an eye on all seven (five now) whilst cooking or whatever is positively dangerous. Even when I'm just getting their dinner plated up they can and do jump onto the work surfaces and if I let them in I am continually chasing them off. Apart from the safety issue, it simply isn't practical. So I leave kitchen behaviour in the main to the new owners who will only have one or two to deal with!

They aren't generally allowed into the bedrooms, as this is not only my older cats' space but they might be going to a home where the family doesn't want bedroom access. However they are occasionally allowed in, one by one, for some time spent learning how to meet and interact with strange cats. I discovered, accidentally, with this litter that Ava doesn't mind meeting and greeting the kittens as long as its in the bedroom- her territory I guess. If she meets a kitten in the hall she's horrified! Poor Ava!

Here's Kurt last week, actually, he's just touched noses with both Ava and Sofia, and now he's sitting at the far end of the bed keeping a respectful distance!

*glare*

Ava glares at the kitten from the security of her cardboard box!

The bathroom- well they are allowed in when I am in there. Again its a safety thing, after Marta jumped in the toilet one day I've really cracked down on that. All my cats enjoy visiting me in the bathroom though, and the kittens are no exception, they like to prowl along the side of the bath as I am washing, and fortunately no-one has fallen in yet!

This isn't to say they aren't taught boundaries- they are. Gretl's penchant for curtain climbing was heavily discouraged, for example- I've not seen her do that for weeks now. Freddie used to bite (not hard) almost constantly, and now he's just an occasional nibbler. And ALL the kittens know that if I clap my hands loudly together I jolly well mean business!

For me the trick is lots of one on one time with each of them, which as you can imagine is incredibly time consuming. Julia over at Rameses (read the website, so informative) says that a breeder should really spend half an hour PER KITTEN PER DAY as a minimum, and I reckon she's spot on there. That's a lot of time you have to spend socialising. Ok, some of it can be combined with other things- stroking and talking to a snoozing kitten on your lap whilst watching CSI of an evening is something I love to do lol- but a lot of it is time you have to specifically find to play with and interact with the kittens.

Of course it's a journey isn't it- I start the (hopefully) good work, the new family will continue that to fit in with their particular needs as a family (bedroom access etc) and fingers crossed by adulthood one has a well rounded adult cat! Of course Tonks are intelligent, which can make them mischevous, and that's part of their charm. And they are highly social, which can make them needy, which can make them misbehave when they aren't getting that attention and that's not so charming but that's Tonks for you. And all kittens have a toddler phase ( at the breeder's) and an adolescent, bratty, test the boundaries phase (at around 6 months, and again neutering on time plays a BIG part in keeping this in check) so when it's time, don't delay!

Any good breeder will tell you the same though- raising kittens well is hard work!

A Grand Day Out

I had a mail the other day that made me giggle. It was titled as this blog entry is, a title I have unceremoniously pinched,  and it read as follows...

'Hope you're well. Just to let you know the boys had their 'special' vet visit today. I've just been to pick them up, and they're doing great. If it wasn't for the little shaved areas I wouldn't know anything was different- Jonah just wants his cuddles and Jacob is looking for food!!'

ROFL! I am SO calling it a 'special vet visit' from now on!

Anyway, here are the boys, looking stunning as ever.

Photo- and title- CF.

Thoughtful

Sweet Kenneth, half asleep. I love his serious little face!

I'm feeling fairly thoughtful myself. I took Indigo to the vet last night. The lady I saw today was much more clued up about allergies and the like, and she agrees with me that it looks like a food allergy. (finally! A diagnosis!) To what she couldn't say, but she agreed that eliminating dyes and artificial preservatives would be a good start. She also recommended buying food with just one source of protein, rather than multiple sources like most cat foods.

So Indigo needs new food. Because it's come on so badly, she also recommended I change it now, rather than wait till the kittens have moved on, so contrary to what I said before, we've changed food after all. There wasn't an awful lot of choice in the food despite the vet being in a large pet store, but I eventually found a complete kitten wet food and a complete kitten kibble, both chicken, for them to have temporarily. This will give me time to decide on what food i want them to go on with, and make an order from an online specialist. Zooplus, probably!

Which means, incidentally, that I have a whole, unopened, 4kg bag of Royal Canin Babycat (rrp about £30!) and half a big packet of Royal Canin kitten, probably about the same amount. I can't use them but I'm not throwing them out, as it's good stuff so I'm off to the Cats' Protection sometime in the next few days to see if they can use it... bet they can!

As for where this allergy came from? Well, it seems to have been precipitated by her pregnancy... so be warned, any random reader, if you are thinking of breeding your cat... just... don't! Seriously, just don't, unless you are VERY serious about it. Don't do it 'just once', for fun, please. I know my kittens' families won't, so I'm not talking to them now but I mean anyone else who has happened on this blog and is reading... don't put your girl through it and risk her health. Bottom line is, if I hadn't mated Indie, she may not have developed this allergy, and I feel very guilty about that. On the other hand, if it was dormant then it might have started any time, if she was ill, for example.But she'll need special food from now on for life.

I did ask if allergies were hereditary, and the vet said not. Cue a huge sigh of relief all round I think! I also googled last night to make sure (yeah, I know!) and to be honest there's not a lot of info on it... but from reading it seems that whilst there may be a small hereditary component for some airborne allergies- pollen, etc- food allergies are not known to be heritable. It's just MY cat who is dramatic, it seems!

So, a few changes for us here. I've switched the dry food, I've got a few sachets of wet food I will feed the kittens over the next couple of days (keeping Indigo away!) and then I'll switch that over too. I'm to carry on with the aloe inside and out, and the vet was most impressed with the comfycollar! Indigo's also got a course of nursing-safe antibiotic, so hopefully with all those things together, we should see an improvement before too long.

I did comment to someone yesterday that I thought it had improved a little already, unfortunately Indigo slipped out of her collar and scratched herself raw again... silly girl!

On a more positive front, she's got a rather round belly now, a far cry from the appetite issues and general skinnyness of Christmastime, and other than the allergy issue, seems to be blooming. She's going to get a shock when the kittens are gone, and she no longer gets three plated meals a day plus biscuits... my cats are mostly kibble fed with just the one wet food meal per day as a treat. Guess she'd better enjoy it while she can!

Indie As A Kitten

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

Well, about 6 months I think here. Just about fitting on the kitten tree but only just!

As you can see she was quite rotund, bless her. She was a chubby little kitten, only slimming out as a mature cat. She's still got that 'kittenish' look to her face here as well.

I can't remember what she was looking at. I did think to myself 'probably shooting hate rays at Sofia', but Indie didn't start getting challenging in that way until she was sexually mature. In fact she had been known to snuggle up with Ava quite happily *sigh* and respected Sofia's Top Cat position without murmur. I shall probably bore everyone silly saying this but it really is a good idea to neuter your cats if they aren't breeding animals... Indigo was much more mellow before her hormones kicked in!

It sounds daft, but I don't have that many pictures of her when she was small... because, like most Tonkinese, she never stayed still enough for me to take her photo! I have a better camera now though, so hoping to get lots of her kittens.

Introducing... Theo

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

This is Theo, our blue point Birman neuter boy. His pedigree name is Taratyn Theodore and he's almost two and a half years old. He's a colourpoint cat, with a creamy white coat with blue (cat-speak for grey!) 'points'- his ears, face, legs and tail, and he has pure white socks on his paws.

Theo is also known as Theo-boy, Handsome boy, Hairy, Old Floof and... ahem... Mister Furryknickers.

"see what I have to put up with?"

Theo is basically an overgrown kitten and lollops around annoying his kitty colleagues, but he also has a close relationship with them too. All the other cats in turn will join him in mutual grooming and snuggling. He's so placid the girls' sniping goes straight over his head and whilst, in theory, Sofia outranks him (and will put the smackdown if provoked) he doesn't let the pecking order prevent him from doing exactly as he pleases.

He'll tolerate being picked up and cuddled, but his chosen affectionate gesture is the head rub. He likes the outdoors, my only cat who is remotely interested, so he comes out daily on a cat harness for a walk. He's very fluffy and whilst I love his floof, I couldn't be a longhaired cat breeder... it's very prolific and gets EVERYWHERE.

He loves to come and greet visitors and is super friendly and confident. I'd recommend any breeding home to make room for a male neuter as well, if they are anything like my lovely soppy boy, they will be a credit to your household.

Such A Bad, Bad Girl

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

Yes, I mean you, Indigo! (but so adorable too...)

Indigo has continued to be unsettled, and when Indigo is upset she has an unpleasant habit (for me) of weeing in inappropriate places. This morning it was on my bathtowel as I was in the shower. Fortunately I noticed before I wrapped my hair up in it!

I think it's territorial- she wees to mark certain objects and places as 'hers', and not for the other cats. Unfortunately the things she wants to claim are things that I might use... she's very attached to me and I think it's her way of 'claiming' me and asserting her dominance. (Thank heavens- and crossed fingers- Sofia has never responded in kind, as I would struggle to cope with two weeing cats.) Indigo has also been aggressive with the other two girls, actively seeking them out to yowl at them, much to their consternation, and even Theo the placid has seemed a little ruffled.

So Indigo is currently spending her time in the living room, seperately, to chill out. I noticed my Feliway is empty so I'll be off to the pet shop tomorrow to get a refill, either that or I'll order one online. I'll continue to keep her away from the other girls for a bit and spend a lot of time going from one group to the other to transfer their scent (although it's Indigo who has the problem actually, the other girls are fine and Ava has made friendly overtures- she tries so hard, bless her- and been hissed at for her troubles) and be generally reassuring all round. And I'll fill up the water spray, just in case the hissing degenerates into a full on fight... which is very very rare here, I might add, but the spray bottle is most effective.

So we've had hissing, yowling, inappropriate urination and general feline dramatics...sheesh! Give me a nice neutered cat any day- queens are Hard Work.

Smug Sofia

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

When you have a community of cats, especially in a limited space as I do, you must be very aware of the cat dynamics, potential issues and how to ensure your feline family remains calm and mentally healthy. For example, Ava and Sofia were littermates and are still quite closely bonded. Theo likes everyone, but he's not above jumping on them, kitten like- Indigo likes it and responds in kind, Sofia will swat him on the nose determinedly and Ava will utter an agonised howl and run for safety and so on. Sometimes, there will be a clash.

In our house, it is Misses Indigo and Sofia, who face off from time to time, apparently to their mutual satisfaction. I believe the reason is this: Sofia has been top cat since she was 7 weeks old, despite being the tiniest of her litter she was markedly more confident than Ava when they came home. When Theo arrived, she added him to her dominion. However, in the wild, entire (not neutered and spayed) cats have an advantage over their altered counterparts and naturally, an entire female will come higher in the pecking order than a neutered one. So naturally Indigo, as the only entire cat in the house, feels SHE should be top cat. And so she is in a way, she lords it over Ava (everyone lords it over poor Ava) and Theo is so easygoing anyway he couldn't care less. But no-one told Sofia about this natural order, and Sofia isn't about to relinquish HER dominance any time soon.

(Incidentally, this is why the FIRST thing you should try, if your cats are clashing and if they are not breeding animals, is to neuter them... it's often the answer)

So they occasionally face off, circle each other, yowl... Indigo is more energetic about it, floofing her tail out and prancing round Sofia, howling, whereas Sofia parks herself on her fluffy behind and keeps up a low growling and refuses to back down. They are separated at night (more about that another time) and we use Feliway (and more about THAT another time as well) which keeps the situation well under control and the cats' stress levels down. As any breeder will tell you, caring for a multi cat household is not easy!

Anyway to cut a long story short, Indigo has been away this week and for the past few days Sofia has been, without doubt, super smug. If a cat could smirk, she'd be doing it.

Sorry Sofia. Indie's coming home in a bit to burst your bubble!