Quick update

No new photos but just to let you know how the kittens are doing...


Miranda and Nicholas went home on Friday. They were shy and scared for most of the afternoon, but by the next day had decided they were home and investigating all the nooks and crannies and- ah- the vertical properties of the curtains, apparently. Sorry about that S and B! They are going to be called Maya and Mingus.


Ariadne went next, all the way to the top of Norfolk! She has four big sister kitties who she will be meeting over the course of the next days and weeks, for now her Mum reports she's having lots of cuddles as she's feeling a bit scared with all the strange noises and smells. She's bonding well to her new humans though which is fab, and I think they are planning on keeping the name Ariadne (Ari)


Michael went home too, he's going to be called Reber after the German brand of chocolate. His new Mum brought me some Reber Mozarts, which.... well let's say if they were readily available here I would be several stone heavier!! Reber has already become buddies with his new brother Tonk, Barny Doofus, who I am told is practically quivering with joy at his new buddy, and his sisters (also Tonks) are also getting used to an interloper in the house albeit rather more slowly.


Leo and Desmond are with us till next week which is lovely as I've been sorely in need of kitten cuddles this week, both boys have been happy to oblige! I've let them into the main house increasingly because they have needed more space,  so they now have a few hours out of the kitten room in the morning and again in the evening. It's working well.


Lucy is recovering well from her spay, it will be Indigo's turn at the end of the week

Sadness

Some sad news, I am afraid. Lucy delivered six-seven kittens over the course of the day, the last ones with the help of the vet. It was touch and go as to whether she would need an emergency spay but the second lot of oxytocin did the job. Even then we decided not to wait till Monday for the spay and she will be going in tomorrow.


Two of them fought awfully hard to live, poor little mites... what looked like a brown solid boy and a blue tortie girl. Absolutely beautiful.


We are, obviously, very upset. Lucy's kittens were to be our last litter for reasons I will no doubt share at a later date, but it seems it was not meant to be.


Collection of our Halloweens starts this weekend, so there are happier goodbyes to be made, and after that I'll be taking a break from blogging for a while.

Leo gets his charm on

Hellew!

Aww, Leopold. He's very photogenic! Such a winsome little face, and he often holds still for photos, unlike certain siblings I could mention (*coughmichael* *coughariadne*) I do think, now, that I've made a mistake in registering him as BCR, his body has lightened considerably while his points have gone darker, there's now quite a contrast between the point and base colour. You can see it especially on the paws. My definite BCR's don't have anything like that contrast.


Tonks are so difficult!!! Ah well, registrations can be changed. We'll wait to see what he is like as a mature cat and then have a rethink, if his Mum and Dad are bothered.


There was no post yesterday because my car broke down! Ugh, we had to be towed, in the dark and rain in rush hour traffic! I HATE being towed and by the time we had walked back from the garage I was fit for nothing! Ugh ugh ugh. I was met by a noisy little group who lost no time in telling me they were LATE FOR OUR TEA LADY WE IS HUNGRY!!! despite having lots of kibble down. Spoiled little monkeys! Ah well, I will give them lots of fuss today to make up :)


Some people have asked me what food/ litter/ etc I have used for the kittens. Food wise, I like to use a good kibble, a premium wet food and a more readily available (supermarket) wet food, so this time we have used James Wellbeloved kitten fish kibble, Grau kitten food and Whiskas kitten sachets, all varieties, and there will be samples of these in the kitten packs. They also have treats aka bribes (lol) which will be in the packs too. With the food, stick with what I give you for a few days while they settle in and then you can start changing it over to what you want them to eat, ultimately. Do this over several days- first day 1/4 new stuff to 3/4 old, day after half and half, the following day 3/4 new to 1/4 old, this should avoid any wobbly tums although occasionally the stress of the move can upset them slightly. I would say put down about 50g of wet food per kitten at each sitting, so that's half a sachet or half/ quarter of a tin of Grau depending on which size tin I give you in the packs. The rest will keep in the fridge until the next meal.


Litter wise, again I use several varieties for the same reason, don't want to kittens to get too fussy! So we have used Sanicat gold clumping(comes in cardboard boxes), Tesco premium clumping litter (which comes in a handy plastic bottle, easy to pour!) and all varieties of the Pets At Home premium range- ultra is my favourite, I don't like the scent of the scented one but it does the job, and the antibacterial is also good. These come in plastic pouches. I tend to go for the expensive varieties because of the sheer traffic my litter boxes have to deal with, I find the cheaper ones just don't cope, but you can experiment with other ranges. The kittens have all been into the adult litter boxes (silica) but I haven't seen any evidence they have used them so I would stick to clay clumping at first.


When you get the kitten(s) home, I would put them into the litter box straight from the carrier. They won't use it at first, but they will then know where it is and orient themselves from there. I never quite relax until they have had something to eat and 'gone'- they don't do either unless they are reasonably settled- so do let me know when these things have happened!


Right, off to get some more cuddles in while I can. The weekend is fast approaching... what am I going to do??

7.5 week bump

Taken at 7 weeks- Friday

Back to the vets today with Miss Lucy, who has stopped bleeding (whoo!) but still has some odd symptoms we don't like much. But things are looking much better than they were ten days ago, for sure.


She had another scan today, and the vet actually brought all the equipment into the consultation room so I was able to see. Oh my goodness, wriggly little skeletons... Indigo never needed a scan so it was the first time I had seen kittens in utero. It was pretty special. I don't know how many there are but the vet had a good look and they looked active and healthy. I wasn't able to get pictures as Lucy wasn't feeling especially cooperative and really, we didn't want to stress her out.


I say I don't know how many there are. Lets just say I counted at least four! Also when I fondly suggested a small litter given Lucy's neat little bump, the vet and the nurse both looked at me and laughed. Ah... that'll be a no, then?


Realistically, if we can get to Thursday of next week before she has them, we have the chance of a successful outcome. She's due Sunday next week... so just hold on, Lucy!!!

Argh!

We're all here and OK. Been having trouble accessing my account. Will post later if I can get in with a proper update. Tsk, computers!!!

12 week stats!

Congratulations to the Halloweens who are officially my biggest litter ever! Little chunks!

That's nice lady. More fuds, please?

Just a quick post today as we've just got back from the second jabs and time is running away from me. All went well and the kittens are currently sleeping off the excitement. Desmond had a lot to say for himself today and had the vet in stitches!

Leopold

Birth: 98g

1 week: 177g
2 weeks: 242g
3 weeks: 325g
4 weeks: 385g
5 weeks: 520g
6 weeks: 635g
7 weeks:770g
9 weeks: 1030g
10.5 weeks 1465g
12 weeks: 1760g

Ariadne
Birth: 91g
1 week: 187g
2 weeks: 285g
3 weeks: 387g
4 weeks: 470g
5 weeks: 560g
6 weeks: 670g
7 weeks 825g
9 weeks: 1022g
10 weeks: 1250g
12 weeks:1500g

Miranda
Birth: 92g
1 week: 171g
2 weeks: 255g
3 weeks: 338g
4 weeks: 395g
5 weeks: 505g
6 weeks: 605g
7 weeks 725g
9 weeks: 929g
10.5 weeks: 1245g
12 weeks: 1440g

Michael
Birth: 106g
1 week: 187g
2 weeks: 275g
3 weeks:348g
4 weeks: 415g
5 weeks: 595g
6 weeks: 750g
7 weeks: 915g
9 weeks: 1290g
10.5 weeks 1625g
12 weeks: 1930g

Desmond
Birth: 104g
1 week: 208g
2 weeks: 303g
3 weeks: 401g
4 weeks: 480g
5 weeks: 600g
6 weeks: 725g
7 weeks: 860g
9 weeks: 1150g
10.5 weeks: 1400g
12 weeks:1740g

Nicholas
Birth 94g
1 week 187g
2 weeks: 274g
3 weeks: 377g
4 weeks: 465g
5 weeks: 570g
6 weeks: 670g
7 weeks: 845g
9 weeks: 1128g
10.5 weeks:1475g
12 weeks: 1730g

Kittens in order of size:

Birth: Michael, Desmond, Leopold, Nicholas, Miranda, Ariadne
1 week:  Desmond, Nicholas Michael and Ariadne, Leopold, Miranda
2 weeks: Desmond, Ariadne, Michael, Nicholas, Miranda, Leopold
3 weeks: Desmond, Ariadne, Nicholas, Michael, Miranda, Leopold
4 weeks: Desmond, Ariadne, Nicholas, Michael, Miranda, Leopold
5 weeks: Desmond, Michael, Nicholas, Ariadne, Leopold, Miranda
6 weeks: Michael, Desmond, Nicholas and Ariadne, Leopold, Miranda
7 weeks: Michael, Desmond, Nicholas, Ariadne, Leopold, Miranda
9 weeks: Michael, Desmond, Nicholas, Ariadne, Leopold, Miranda
10.5 weeks: Michael, Nicholas, Leopold, Desmond, Ariadne, Miranda
12 weeks: Michael, Leopold, Desmond, Nicholas, Ariadne, Miranda

Comparison by litter:

Birth REM litter 83g-103g. Average 92g

Von Trapp litter 81g-102g. Average 91g

Narnian litter 72-90g. Average 83g
Halloween Party litter 91-106g. Average 98g
 

1 week
REM litter 182g-217g Average 195g

Von Trapp litter 150g- 205g. Average 175g
Narnian litter:151-186g. Average 174g
Halloween Party litter: 171-208g. Average 186g

2 weeks

REM litter 257g-294g, Average 272g
Von Trapp litter 220g- 280g, Average 240g

Narnian litter 227g-279g. Average 256g
Halloween Party litter 242-303g. Average 272g

3 weeks
REM litter  338g-390g. Average 359g.
Von Trapp litter 250g- 341g. Average 286g.
Narnian litter 286g-366g. Average 323g
Halloween Party litter: 325g-401g. Average 363g

4 weeks

REM litter 437g-524g. Average 466g
Von Trapp litter 325g-448g. Average 365g
Narnian litter: 340-444g. Average 397g
Halloween Party Litter 385g-480g. Average 435g

5 weeks
REM litter 539g-604g. Average 581g
Von Trapp litter 394g-570g. Average 457g.
Narnian litter 486g- 560g. Average 527g
Halloween Party litter 505g-600g. Average 558g


6 weeks
REM litter 712g- 792g, Average 752g
Von Trapp litter  516g-740g, Average 606g
Narnian litter 595g-703g, Average 653g
Halloween Party litter 605g-750g. Average 676g

7 weeks
REM litter 832-1012g. Average 921g
Von Trapp litter- No data available for this week
Narnian litter 728g-905g, Average 827g
Halloween Party litter 725g-915g. Average 823g


8 weeks
REM litter  962g-1157g. Average 1063g
Von Trapp litter 780g-1020g. Average 883g
Narnian litter 860g-1060g. Average 962g
Halloween Party litter No data available for this week.

9 weeks

REM litter 1070-1340g. Average 1238g

Von Trapp litter 950-1220g. Average 1057g
Narnian litter 1030g- 1280g. Average 1141g
Halloween Party litter 929g- 1290g. Average 1092g

10.5 weeks

REM litter 1130-1530g. Average 1368g

Von Trapp litter 1130g-1460g. Average 1268g

Narnian litter 1240g-1585g. Average 1416g

Halloween Party litter 1245g. Average 1410g
12 weeks

REM litter 1360g-1830g. Average 1630g

Von Trapp litter 1260g-1550g. Average 1386g
Narnian litter 1375g-1800g. Average 1577g
Halloween Party litter 1440g- 1930g. Average 1683g

Pixie Girl

The other day I followed Ariadne around with my camera for a bit, trying to get a decent shot of her. As I may have mentioned before, our Ari is a busy girl, and doesn't have time to pose for silly pictures, thank you very much, but this time I was determined to get one.

(excuse the dust in these pics... my bad!)

Well, you can see for yourself how that went down!

No, I'm just kidding. She looks cross but she's actually purring her head off. She likes the camera, well, she likes batting at it and chewing on the wrist strap anyway!

One of my favourite things about miss Ari is her little chin- tuft... you can see it on the picture above. It makes her look like an elf or some kind of mischievous sprite; I often call her Pixie as a nickname, or, frequently, 'Naughty Pixie'.

The other photos weren't much better...

Not looking at you lady

 

Nope....

  

Are you still waving that box around???

Bless her!

We were back at the vet today, and there is nothing to report with Lucy. She has been given a second course of antibiotics and we're going back next week for another ultrasound to see what is going on in there. In the meantime I'm keeping her quiet (HA! She's a Tonk...) and crossing my fingers.