Ava, pretending to be mean. She isn't remotely mean, she's a sweetie and a scaredy-cat... but appearences must be upheld :)
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Mean Girl
Ava, pretending to be mean. She isn't remotely mean, she's a sweetie and a scaredy-cat... but appearences must be upheld :)
Tuesday, 23 August 2011
The Great Escape
Video by S A- it's our Lotti!
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!
Wee
Oh yes... and lots of it. Naturally not in the litter trays! Yesterday it was on the hall carpet and on a bag in the kitchen.
Living with a hormonal cat is no fun, I must say! About this time last year I swore never again... and then she finally came on heat, and we had the kittens and it was all lovely and I forgot all about it. And I'll forget all about it this time around as well because kittens kind of have that effect, but right at the moment, Indigo is being a Royal Pain in the Butt.
She's not actually calling yet, but it can't be too long before she does. Can't come soon enough for me!
Living with a hormonal cat is no fun, I must say! About this time last year I swore never again... and then she finally came on heat, and we had the kittens and it was all lovely and I forgot all about it. And I'll forget all about it this time around as well because kittens kind of have that effect, but right at the moment, Indigo is being a Royal Pain in the Butt.
She's not actually calling yet, but it can't be too long before she does. Can't come soon enough for me!
Friday, 19 August 2011
Back From My Holidays...
... and how I missed my cats!
They of course couldn't have cared less, being left in the care of my good friend J who was housesitting. A housesitter was an essential this year- Indigo really can't cope with being left alone, so it would have meant kennels for her and for Theo to keep her company. Well kennels are expensive, and I'd rather pay a pal to housesit, you know? So I did! And she watered my veggies to boot :)
Having said they couldn't care less, they did all seem happy to see me, with much purring and rubbing of heads *ignores scientific opinion that says that's no more than scent marking- I choose to believe it's also an affectionate gesture* which was lovely!
It's good to be back :)
They of course couldn't have cared less, being left in the care of my good friend J who was housesitting. A housesitter was an essential this year- Indigo really can't cope with being left alone, so it would have meant kennels for her and for Theo to keep her company. Well kennels are expensive, and I'd rather pay a pal to housesit, you know? So I did! And she watered my veggies to boot :)
Having said they couldn't care less, they did all seem happy to see me, with much purring and rubbing of heads *ignores scientific opinion that says that's no more than scent marking- I choose to believe it's also an affectionate gesture* which was lovely!
It's good to be back :)
Thursday, 11 August 2011
Don't Know Who It Is
Tuesday, 9 August 2011
Up Close And Personal With Ava
Ava would like the camera out of her personal space, please!
Ok honey. But you are beautiful, even if you don't like having a camera pointed at you!
Monday, 8 August 2011
The Mighty Huntress
And all that was left was a feather...
Heh... lots of pictures of Sofia of late! I couldn't resist, having managed to take several that didn't just come up as a vaguely cat shaped black blob. It'll be another 6 months now before I manage to get a passable one
Sofia is very brave when it comes to duffing up a feather teaser, but not so brave when when confronted wuth a live enemy! I forgot to shut the living room door earlier, and Sofia decided to saunter in. Of course Indigo objected to this state of affairs. Indigo chased Sofia up the hall and naturally much kitty foul language was uttered. Mainly by Indigo I suspect, who is never slow to let loose, vocally. A lady she is not!
*sigh* poor Sofia! I suspect that Sofia would, now, co-operate with Inds given the chance, I'm not saying they would be buddies, but they might at least avoid/ tolerate each other. But Indigo now has a total hate on both the other girls, and won't budge from that. I must say it does make things jolly difficult.
Well, unless I get the catnip out. Then it's a different story, for a few minutes, at least...
Friday, 5 August 2011
Thursday, 4 August 2011
Sweet Sofia
I had to do extremely peculiar things to the lighting etc of this photo in order to show you what I wanted to... the expression on my sweet Sofia's face. So please ignore the peculiar colours. Black cats are a nightmare to photograph, especially out of natural sunlight!
Wednesday, 3 August 2011
Genetics: Make Me Orange!
So last time we learned that all cats are basically all black cats, but the interaction of other genes or gene modifiers change cats from basic black into the multitude of colours you see in the feline population.
The orange gene is the one I'm looking at today.
Cats carry the orange gene on their X chromosome, it's a sex linked gene.The presence of the gene masks a cat's black colouring -often called brown or seal in the cat fancy- and replaces it with orange, often called 'Red' in the cat fancy.
Boy cats have one X chromosome, from their mother, and one Y, from their father, and so can have one orange gene (from their mother) Boy cats can therefore either be black (in the absence of the orange gene) or orange (if it is present) but not both.
Girls, on the other hand, have two X chromosomes, one from their mother and one from their father, and so can have two, one or no orange making genes. If they have none, the cat will be a black cat. If they have two, the cat will be an orange cat. If they have the orange making gene on ONE chromosome only, and the other chromosome does not have it, then that's when you get a tortoiseshell cat.
Boy cats only have one X chromosome, remember, so can only have the orange making gene, or not have it, they cannot be tortie (but they will still have an underlying colour (brown etc) that they can pass on genetically- this one caught me out with our last litter!) Girls can have the make me orange gene on one and not have it on the other. This is why all torties are female. Unless there's an underlying major chromosomal difference, such as an XXY cat... which is WAAAAAY beyond the scope of this blog!
The orange gene is the one I'm looking at today.
Cats carry the orange gene on their X chromosome, it's a sex linked gene.The presence of the gene masks a cat's black colouring -often called brown or seal in the cat fancy- and replaces it with orange, often called 'Red' in the cat fancy.
Boy cats have one X chromosome, from their mother, and one Y, from their father, and so can have one orange gene (from their mother) Boy cats can therefore either be black (in the absence of the orange gene) or orange (if it is present) but not both.
Girls, on the other hand, have two X chromosomes, one from their mother and one from their father, and so can have two, one or no orange making genes. If they have none, the cat will be a black cat. If they have two, the cat will be an orange cat. If they have the orange making gene on ONE chromosome only, and the other chromosome does not have it, then that's when you get a tortoiseshell cat.
Boy cats only have one X chromosome, remember, so can only have the orange making gene, or not have it, they cannot be tortie (but they will still have an underlying colour (brown etc) that they can pass on genetically- this one caught me out with our last litter!) Girls can have the make me orange gene on one and not have it on the other. This is why all torties are female. Unless there's an underlying major chromosomal difference, such as an XXY cat... which is WAAAAAY beyond the scope of this blog!
None of my cats are orange or tortoiseshell. None of them have the make me orange gene. So it doesn't explain their colouration... we'll get onto that soon. Lisl and Lottie are torties though... because I mated my 'brown' (lilac!) cat Indigo with an 'orange' (apricot) cat Harry. And very beautiful they are too.
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