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!

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!

Registration

FINALLY got round to sending off the registration form today, after agonising over the colours this past week. I've been looking at Kenneth and wondering if he's caramel too, but decided he looked far more like Monty than Kensey. Ditto AnnElise, but she's down as a blue, too. Of course, colours can be changed, everyone who breeds Tonks, especially mixed caramel/ non caramel litters will be well aware that kittens can take a long time to determine, and many a breeder has taken their apparently blue or lilac kitten to a show only to meet with fierce discussion from judges and other breeders as to whether it really is a Caramel! But I've done my best, anyway!

Only just in time, too. Processing can take up to 4 weeks, and I have them here with me still for.... oooh, about four and a half! Nothing like leaving it to the last minute eh, but like I say I was agonising over the colour... I really wanted to get it 'right'. I had to do the form twice, as I made an error on the first and there's no room for correction on the form, plus it's confusing and that's how mistakes are made. I suppose i'm lucky I only had to do it twice!

Anyway, off went the form, the mating certificate from stud Harry's breeders (proving I mated Indigo with another registered Tonkinese and not a random tomcat from up the road!) and the fee, and I shall look forward to getting six 'pink slips' through in the mail... My first Tonkinese, all registered and official. I feel very proud.

On a less pleasant note, this is my poor Indigo's head. The lesions extend into her ears, and over both outer ears, and as you can see are red, raw and sore. Those of you who have seen her recently will appreciate just how quickly this has flared up. She's had a collar on for 24 hours now, and I THINK they haven't worsened any in that time, (because she can't scratch them, probably) and I'm hoping the collar plus the soothing gel will break the itch-scratch-bleed- scab- itch cycle and let them start to heal. Plus we have the vet on Tuesday. I'm hoping now she's only nursing sporadically there will be more options for her. And I'm busily researching preservative and dye free food for the big switcheroo once the kittens have moved on.

 Kenneth's new family were due to visit him tomorrow, but they very kindly contacted me after yesterday's blog entry to ask if I'd rather they postpone. Considering I expect they are dying to see Kenneth again, it was very kind and I did appreciate it- thank you very much S and D!

I had someone coming over tomorrow to look at AnnElise and Kensey, but I've let them know what's going on as well... they may well wish to cancel too. We'll see how it goes. Of course the worry (apart from my concern for Indigo which is, of course, the most important thing!) is that this might dissuade people from taking a kitten from me- understandably, of course, but fairly hard lines for me as the kittens are fine!

There are two other people currently interested as well, (one in the pair, one in AnnElise) and I've let them know about Indigo's head, and offered to help find them another Tonk litter if they wanted as well... I figured that was the right thing to do, but really, of course, I'd like to stomp my feet like a little child and shout IT'S NOT FAIR! After two weeks of not a lot, suddenly I get a rush of genuine interest in the kittens... and this happens!!!!!

Ah well, that's breeding for you, things go wrong and you just have to deal with them. *grin* I feel a bit better after my virtual stomp, anyway!

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...