Day 34 - August 28, 2005

Amaretto is so very naughty and is ruining the kitten's fun! They have a hanging spider that hangs over the edge of the work surface for them to play with and I actually caught Buttons late last night batting it with her paw, they also have (had) a toy on a spring that they hadn't even played with yet. Yesterday, Amaretto started chewing the spider to bits, leaving black spider fur all over the place, and then at some point during the night she has totally pulled the toy on the stick off the spring altogether! I was not impressed. I've now put one of the cat carriers on the floor with bedding in it and this morning, the babies were in and out of them and a couple even dozed off in the carrier which is great. I think it's very important that they get used to the cat carriers long before the leave here. Then it is not such a shock for them when they are placed in one to go to new homes. As Graham was up first this morning, the babies enjoyed some lamb mince for breakfast. He assured me that they really liked it so that is a good thing. At the moment, their favourite food is still the Whiskas Junior. As I've sat here typing this, the little cow has just pulled all the spiders legs off with one bite! I am not overjoyed at this. The photos are the same in both entries today and there's only 3 of them because it is a Sunday after all and I want to relax a little too :) In the 3rd photo however, you will see the destruction of the spider. The blue things are his legs and are no longer attached to his body. The black bits all over the front of the bed is the spider's body.

Day 33 - August 27, 2005

Am frantically trying to get this online as early as possible today as I will have a few visitors here throughout the day, and Whispa and Buttons will be having a special visitor of their own named Di. Hopefully, both of them will be on their best behaviour :) So it really is quite manic today as I have other things to try and get done as well. When I came downstairs very late last night to do the last feed for the evening, I found Amaretto in bed with the babies and she was feeding all 6 and looking perfectly happy. At this point, I decided not to disturb them, I left them out some mashed up JW biscuits and I think this is the first time that I haven't done a late meal since they were all born. At the moment, their favourite toy, apart from my legs) is the little blue pyramid which they spend a lot of time climbing when they are awake. I did laugh this morning when Twix climbed in there, everyone else went running over to it and each time Twix tried to get out, someone at the font would bop him on the head and not let him out. It was really funny because you would see him get a front leg and half his head out, then he'd be smacked on the head and would go back in. He remained in there for about 5 minutes the poor little guy.

Day 32 - August 26, 2005

I have loads to get through today so it is a bit of a rushed entry unfortunately and the few photos that there I've taken, are the same in the T's entry for today as well. The babies were really unhappy with me today because I put them in the carrier, sat them in the kitchen and then spent 20 minutes hoovering and cleaning the back room. Everything got moved, and the floor was washed twice. Normally it's just a sweep and mop on a daily basis but at least twice a week, a thorough clean is necessary, much to the babies' disgust. They really do not like the hoover at all and Amaretto, as per normal, ran straight out into the cat run as soon as she saw me bring the hoover into the room :) When I was finished and put new bedding down and got the little ones back out of the carrier, Crunchie was the only baby who didn't go straight back into bed with mum, he was more interested in smelling the floor which now smells of floor cleaner and bleach. He actually went to ever corner of the room to make sure I had put everything back in it's place and only when he was truly satisfied that this was still his proper home, he then went back to feed of Amaretto.

Day 31 - August 25, 2005

I actually managed to name the babies in some of the photos which makes a change. Mind you, the photos are not particularly wonderful! When they are all running around of in a heap together in bed, it is difficult to tell them apart. The babies now seem to wake up much more frequently during the day and every time they are awake, I feed them now, regardless of whether or not they may have only been fed an hour previously. Right now the only thing I am concentrating on with all of them is just to keep getting food down them. There's been no change with Amaretto and her care (or lack thereof) of the babies and she still totally ignores them altogether. A plate of moistened dry biscuits is also left down permanently now, as well as the dry food bowl because I'm hoping that if the babies wake up and are hungry, that they will be enticed by the moistened biscuits. All it really takes is for each baby to realise that food is always left out and to realise that it's in the same spot all the time. Once they get to that stage, they will hopefully just go straight to the bowl every time they are hungry. I can't help but feel though that we are still a long way off getting to this stage. At times, like the last day or so, it seems like an eternity and that I'm making no progress with them at all. Twix gave me a giggle today. I had no idea what he was doing but he climbed up over the side of the little cat bed, he then leant right over until he was on the vet bed behind it and then started scrambling in underneath the bed where the other babies were lying. I would like to know what was going through his mind at the time.

Day 30 - August 24, 2005

There are no photos of the Chocolate Bars today due to having lost Iced T this morning. I've now put the babies back onto Hills a/d as their main diet because for 24 hours now, Amaretto has had nothing to do with the babies at all, again. She ignores them completely, won't sleep with them and certainly is not feeding them. To be totally honest, I don't even think she wants to be in the same room as them. I did bring Cacao in this morning, in the hopes that she would at least take an interest in the babies so that they would not feel as if they were orphans, however, after a few sniffs, all Cacao wanted to do was sit on my lap the entire time and the babies didn't really interest her which is such a shame.

Day 29 - August 23, 2005

We had another bedding change today and are now at that stage of the babies lives where the bedding is changed on a very regular basis..............like daily! Even though most of the babies use the litter tray, they are still so very young so obviously there are lots of accidents. I am grateful though that at least the accidents are happening in the one area and not all over the floor, apart from Iced T's little episode this morning. Buttons, Crunchie and Twix are now all leg climbers and when the babies are awake, it's not unusual for me to be taking a few steps in the room with babies swinging on my legs as I walk. I personally thing that they are actually being lazy and figure it's better to catch a ride on mum's legs as opposed to walking around the room themselves and expending their energy. They are very clever at this age :)

Day 28 - August 22, 2005

I can't believe they are a month old! Some days it feels like they have been here for 3 years. They are all much happier now that their box is gone and they have taken this as being a sign that they are "free" and can do whatever they like, which they do. Nothing in the room is safe any more and I'm thrilled to say the majority of our babies are now all using the litter tray which sits beside their bed. I was stunned last night when I saw a few of them in there and they weren't playing, they were actually going to the toilet. Normally with our babies, we really only start to look at getting litter training underway at this stage of their lives and it can be a slow process sometimes so to see the babies using the tray this early on is fantastic. I do feel a bit sorry for them though because with everything that's happened, they have had to develop much faster than they would had they been a normal litter without all the mothering problems that they've had so far. But on that score, Amaretto has become very loving with her babies again and she is spending more time with them in the bed, even feeding them which is great news for me. When they are running around though, she tends to sit up high out of the way and I can't say that I blame her because they are little demons when they are running about.