Still No Home For Kensey And AnnElise

Now, I know I've still got five and a half weeks till they are ready to go. That's over a month... loads of time. And I know that it's a 'good' time of year to have kittens available, before the inevitable kitten season descends. AND I even have a back up plan in case one or both of them end up staying for a little longer, which is to poke my toes into the world of showing.

So why am I worried? Dunno, really!

Over the past few weeks I've had five or six people expressing an interest in a kitten... and each one has come to nothing. So frustrating! Yesterday I was waiting in for a visit, and they called last minute to say they'd chosen someone else's kitten (another Tonk, so fair enough) and wouldn't be over after all. Which is fine, they wanted a kitten ASAP and the one they chose would be ready next week. Frustrating for me though... ah well, at least the house got tidied!

I've had a couple of other disappointments as well, a few emails that didn't go anywhere, and another approach from someone wanting a kitten on the active register, who like the last one didn't reply to my email asking a few questions about their plans/ setup for breeding, and no response. Now this annoys me- for one thing it's rude. I'm a bit old fashioned I'm afraid, and manners cost nothing! For another, surely one would expect questions to be asked! Breeding is a lot of fun, but it's also Hard Work for the breeder, it's hard on Mama cat, and things can go wrong. It's not just a question of sticking a box under the bed and leaving mama cat to it, selling them off a few weeks later to anyone who will take one! And thirdly, presumably the lack of response means they have actually found a breeder, somewhere, who will give them a kitten on the active register with no questions asked... very, very worrying indeed.

Oops, that turned into a bit of a rant didn't it? Sorry! But Indigo's breeders asked me a shedload of questions, and then they discussed it with another breeder and were totally honest with me about their own experiences with Indigo's litter- one kitten stillborn, one kitten not finding a home, so they kept her... and several emails and a visit later, they decided to let me have Indigo. But it wasn't 'easy'... although they were very nice about it.

And breathe...

Oh, Kenneth!

There's Kensey, posing beautifully for the camera and you had to go pull a silly face. Humph. There's always one in the litter...

Profile Dip

So, I was sitting on the sofa the other day, spending quality time with the teenager (ok, playing Monopoly on the Wii!) with Kenneth taking a nap in my lap, and I suddenly thought to take a look at Kenneth's profile. As I've written about before, Indigo's main 'fault' in terms of the Tonkinese breed standard is she doesn't have a very definite profile dip- the bit that goes down, between the forehead and the nose. It's a bit too straight. Harry on the other hand, the stud Indie was mated to, has a very nice profile- well he would, wouldn't he, being a Grand Champion. Anyway, it suddenly struck me that I haven't had a good, objective look at the kittens' profiles to see how they have fared.

Kenneth's (above) is fine, incidentally, allowing for a bit of kitten fluffiness. You can see the plane of his forehead and the plane of his nose are roughly parallel, with the bit inbetween following a slightly different angle.

So anyway, yesterday I annoyed the kittens no end, trying to get a good look at (and pictures of!)  their faces sideways on. I managed three pictures, so better than nothing.

Wendell's (above) is the most like his Mama's... a bit straightish. His face in general really reminds me of Indigo's at the same age/ bit older... especially round the ears... a bit bat-like. Indigo's Mama's pedigree name was 'Jablook Batfink' so clearly the resemblance runs in the family hehe

AnnElise (below) has a very nice dip and she has a nicely defined whisker pinch as well. Or rather, I THINK she has... in fact, if I don't manage to find a new home for her, I may put her in for a show or two, to see if I'm right lol. The others are all OK as well.

Of course, this only matters in terms of the show standard... it makes no difference to the kittens' potential as family pets, their loving natures, their playfulness and so on, and I don't think any of the three homes we've currently found intends to show anyway. It's just, y'know, interesting. And useful to me, as a new breeder hoping to be rather less clueless at the end of having this litter!

Ava, Etcetera.

Nope, I haven't forgotten about her! Or her sister.

With the kittens about, I've rather neglected mentioning my two sister cats on this blog of late. They don't have anything to do with the babies, and as I've busily blogged about their antics, both Ava and Sofia have rather taken a back seat. Never mind, there'll be plenty of time to write about them when the kittens have gone.

They're fine though, both very well. Ava is a little old lady in training, she's a rather solemn puss who likes the quiet life. She came across a kitten not one week back (usually they are kept apart) Ava hissed at the kitten, the kitten (one of the girls, Hope, I think) hissed back with spirit and Ava ran for it... silly girl.

Sofia is a bit more lively, and has her usual 'mad half hour' when I come to bed, when she goes absolutely bonkers and rushes up and down the cat tree like a squirrel, chirruping away to herself. Then she settles down and can often be found in the middle of the night, behind my head purring into my ear.

Theo is as daft as ever, and he loves the kittens, in fact I think he will be more upset when they leave than Indigo. She will supervise the kittens from on high, but it's Uncle Theo who actually gets down and plays with them, and he'll wash them and snuggle with them too.  Big soppy boy cats are just wonderful!

Anyway, here's dear Ava, purring and making happy paws like the sweet thing she is.

Can't Believe They're 7 Weeks

Much excitement for me yesterday... my blog has a follower! Hurrah! Yes, yes... it doesn't take much to please me as I am very sad and have no life *grin*

Weights for this week! As ever, take the accuracy of them with a little bit of a pinch of salt... I do try to catch then when they are sleepy, but it doesn't always come off!

Wendell

Birth 103g

1 week 217g

2 weeks 294g

3 weeks 362g

4 weeks 463g

5 weeks 593g

6 weeks 763g

7 weeks 907g

Kensey

Birth 91g

1 week  196g

2 weeks 255g

3 weeks 346g

4 weeks 437g

5 weeks 604g

6 weeks 777g

7 weeks 975g

Kenneth

Birth 94g

1 week 192g

2 weeks 274g

3 weeks 382g

4 weeks 480g

5 weeks 589g

6 weeks 757g

7 weeks 902g

Monty

Birth 90g

1 week  198g

2 weeks 290g

3 weeks 390g

4 weeks 524g

5 weeks 600g

6 weeks 792g

7 weeks 1012g

AnnElise

Birth 92g

1 week 188g

2 weeks 262g

3 weeks 338g

4 weeks 437g

5 weeks 539g

6 weeks 716g

7 weeks 897g

Hope

Birth 83g

1 week 182g

2 weeks 257g

3 weeks 340g

4 weeks 458g

5 weeks 562g

6 weeks 712g

7 weeks 832g

More About Litter Boxes

Unrelated picture: Kensey snuggling. And a very happy little Kensey he looks as well. Aww! There's actually four kittens in this picture!

When I woke up today there was litter ALL OVER the floor. Whoops! Someone must have stood on the edge of the litter tray and flipped it right over- probably Indigo, as I don't think the kittens would be heavy enough.

The other day, I found a dark corner had been adopted as another kitten toilet. No problem, I just put another tray over the spot (hurrah for laminate flooring...) That, incidentally, is quite a good idea if you have a cat who has urinated in the wrong place and you think it was just an accident- kitten pee smells more strongly than the human nose can detect, and kittens are drawn to going in the same place- putting a tray there reinforces the fact that this is the toilet, this is where you go.

'Urine-Off' spray is good for removing pet wee smells, as is biological washing powder... some cleaning products still smell like cat wee to a cat, so can make problems worse... it's worth investing in a proper pet spray because... well kittens are the equivalent of toddlers, and the odd accident will happen. Getting cross with a kitten never works, it just teaches him to worry about elimination, making it more likely he'll go somewhere secretive.

Another trick, if you really don't want a litter tray in that spot, is to put the food bowl in the same spot after cleanup. Cats are very clean animals, and rarely will they toilet in the same area as they eat.

Of course, this will only work if it was an accident. Occasionally cats will avoid the litter box (ahem... Indigo!) because they are trying to tell you something- they are poorly, or they don't like their litter, or even that it's high time you scooped the box! In this case it's best to try and resolve whatever is bothering them. Like I say, cats are instinctively very clean animals and want to go in the same, designated place regularly, so if they don't it's usually the only way they can communicate to you that something is making them unhappy.

Anyway, the whole point of this waffling was to say the box I put down was an old one of ours, a covered box, and the kittens LOVE it. I'd put all our covered boxes into the shed, as Indigo hates them, but the kittens think otherwise and it's now the most used box in the room!

Watching

Hi mama!

For the past few weeks, Indigo has been sitting on the top of the mini cat tree. It's been high enough for the kittens not to constantly hassle her for milk, yet still give her a good view of where they are and what they are up to.

So she was not at all pleased when AnnElise decided she'd join her. She 'huffed' impatiently a few times, as AnnElise tromped all over her, made a few displeased noises and eventually got up and walked away.

Today she'd taken up ra watching position on the middle sized cat tree instead. I'm not convinced that'll work for her though...  Kensey got all the way up there yesterday.