A very short entry due to a severe lack of time today. Our Oceans are doing okay and I did have a quick look last night with regards to sexes. It would appear that we actually have 3 girls and 2 boys but it was only the briefest of looks. On Sunday, it will hopefully be a more relaxing day and I will be able to confirm definite sexes and take some individual photos.

Considering this is a litter of five, our Oceans are a relatively quiet and peaceful litter and the only time you actually hear them is if they wake up and are hungry and Koko is not in the bed with them. They do also protest when I am weighing them but that is to be expected. Generally speaking, they are a very content and happy bunch of babies but then, they do have a superb mummy who caters to their every need.

As the babies are now 4 days old we decided that really should give them names, so we would now like to introduce you to..............

I've not looked at the babies' genders since they were born and have been meaning to do this but somehow, it just doesn't seem important at this point in time. I've also been meaning to take individual photos of the babies but again, it's not really a priority. Our Oceans seem to be doing okay and Afrikoko has barely left their side since they were born. All of their cords have fallen off now and I'm starting to see the merest hint of tiny little eyes opening up. It's always a wondrous moment when eyes first open and our babies can see the world and even though the kittens don't do anything at all at this early stage of their lives, they are proper little time wasters :)

We are now up to Day 3 and the babies all seem to be holding their own and are doing okay. Afrikoko seems perfectly settled in the pen now, thank goodness, and whenever I am in the room, if she isn't feeding then I open the pen roof and she goes for a wander around the room etc. This is preferable to having her penned 24/7. Unfortunately I can't leave the pen roof open permanently because the Deserts continually climb up the pen and play on top of it and twice this morning Gobi has climbed up the front and then fallen into the pen <sigh>.

Weights yesterday were not bad and all 5 babies had made gains during the past 24 hours so we are hopefully off to a very good start and Afrikoko truly is a perfect mum, exactly like her own mum, Toussaint.

My day has not gone as planned because having spent an almost sleepless night because Afrikoko will not use the litter trays in the bedroom, the final straw was waking up to find she had gone to the toilet on the carpet and in the Pug's bed. She can not stay in the bedroom any longer. I've spent this morning with the carpet cleaner up in the bedroom.............again, and then I have had to set up a kitten pen in the downstairs kitten room where our Deserts currently are. I absolutely hate using kitten pens however the Deserts will not be moving out of the kitten room for another week or so yet, and I can't have them mixing with newborn babies as they are so much heavier, hence the use of the pen for a week or two.

What I didn't mention previously was that this is actually the first time she has been since she went into labour. It's no wonder we had the mess that we did this morning poor girl, and she does appear to be rather relieved bless her :)

I am having to check the kitten room every 10 minutes because Koko is totally stressed out about the house move and I am concerned she may inadvertently harm one of the babies. To try and make it a bit easier for her, I have not changed the bedding so that it still has the same smells in the kitten pen that it had in the wardrobe. If she doesn't settle down with them then they will have to move straight back into our room. So between doing our carpet and setting up kitten pens etc. my day is just totally manic. The one and only bonus to moving Koko and her babies out of the room is the fact that I get my wardrobe back and will be able to find my clothes and shoes again. This will be rather nice, particularly as we have no more litters planned now so it is great to have the space back again.

No, our babies still don't have names yet, soon, hopefully soon........................

This is not a long entry at all as I am incredibly behind in absolutely everything and it's going to take me the rest of the week to catch up and get back on track.

Today has been a relatively easy going day for our babies. All 5 have survived the first night and Afrikoko continues to be the perfect mother. When I weighed the babies this afternoon we had 2 gains and 3 losses. I'm not concerned at the moment because losses within the first 24 hours are perfectly normal and none of the kittens has dropped below 100 grams and they all appear to be thriving.