Schimmel Siamese & Oriental Cats are Oriental cat breeders based in Oxford, UK. We sometimes have Oriental and Siamese kittens for sale. We also have 2 Oriental Stud Cats and online kitten diaries.

We are 7 weeks old now!

Day 48- September 11, 2005

Most entries are the same today, incredibly short with no photos sorry as I have had people here off and on all day and quite a lot to do.

Neither Amaretto or Drambuie are particularly happy with me at the moment because when I feed the babies now, I put them out of the room and they don't get to eat the kitten food. There are a couple of reasons for that with the first reason being that the mum's are gobbling up all the kitten food and while they do that, the babies are trying to feed off the mum's instead of from the plate. The other reason is that because the babies are getting quite a lot of different varieties, the food is upsetting the mum's digestive systems as they are used to a much blander diet. The Chocolate Bars and The T's are still prone to the Whiskas varieties but fortunately, they are nibbling at the dry kitten biscuits much more often now which is great. At the moment, they are little terrors and into absolutely everything. Meal times are horrific because as soon as they see me get up from my chair and go into the kitchen, they come running in after me and I can not get the door shut in time. Poor Graham was trying to make breakfast this morning while I was preparing their breakfast and next thing you know, both humans and 12 kittens are all in the kitchen at the same time which was an absolutely nightmare. It's just as well that once the newspaper rattles, everyone comes running back into their room because they know they are going to get fed.

Day 47- September 10, 2005

I have now removed the smallest food bowl from the room because of Whispa's odd dining habits. There used to be 3 dry food bowls in the room but now we just have the 2. One larger bowl sat at one side of the room next to the large water bowl and then there was a smaller water bowl and 2 smaller food bowls next to the kittens' bed. However, Whispa has the incredibly bad habit of using the smallest food bowl as a chair while she eats from the next size up food bowl. Each time he ate the biscuits, she would physically sit in the smaller bowl. Naturally, no one was particularly keen to then eat from the smallest bowl once Whispa's bum had been in it. Amaretto is still spending lots of time with her babies which is lovely although she, like Drambuie are very lethargic due to the heat. Fortunately though, they are drinking the correct amounts of water and still eating quite a lot which is a good thing. I was tempted to put the air conditioner on in the back room yesterday afternoon but I do think the noise might have frightened the babies as they really are not used to it. I found Crunchie exploring on top of the food/litter tubs this morning after breakfast. The blue pyramid still sits near the scratch post so the babies can't get up into the chair so Crunchie figured he may as well explore the top of all the tubs then. He climbed up to the top of the little pyramid and then jumped up onto the tubs and he was doing really well until he almost fell off the back of one of them (I caught him just in time). You really do need eyes in the back of your head with this many babies.

Day 46- September 9, 2005

For the next couple of days, diary entries may be a bit shorter with slightly fewer photos as Sambuca gave birth yesterday which means I am quite literally run off my feet with babies at the moment. I will do entries each day but as I'm sure you can appreciate, they are very time consuming and I can't let the diaries take priority over the babies and the time I spend with them.

I'm pleased to say that Amaretto now loves the babies again and for the past 24 hours has been helping Drambuie to feed them thank goodness. During the day now Amaretto feeds her babies on the cat bed while Buie feeds the Dancers on the office chair. All of the Chocolate Bars are in feisty moods today and have been running around like lunatics and playing wrestling games with each other, and the Dancers. Whilst the Dancers are as big as them, the Chocolate Bars have the advantage in being that little bit more mature and better at the pouncing games as they have had much more practice. Poor Buttons had an incident with the small water bowl this morning as she was being chased by Crunchie and Buttons wasn't looking where she was going and ran straight into the bowl, head first! She was fine though, a bit of drying off and she was ready to play again.

Day 45 - September 8, 2005

One good thing now about the Chocolate Bars (and the T's) is when they are hungry, if I put them in front of the plate with the "softer" JW kitten biscuits, they just start eating straight away. They also go to the plate themselves when they are hungry and just start eating. This is a relief. The problem was that all of yesterday afternoon, every time that Drambuie fed the Dancers, the Chocolate Bars all tried to push in and feed as well and I really just don't want that to happen because it's not fair on Drambuie to suddenly be mum to 12 kittens. So each time the babies went to her yesterday I picked them up and put them back at the food plate which actually worked after a while. Mind you, darling Whispa just wanted to sit next to a "mummy" that would love her. Amaretto spent no time at all with the babies yesterday, she didn't want to know them and it must be so sad for them when they see the Dancers getting groomed, fed and loved constantly by Drambuie. I hate seeing the Chocolate Bars feeling so rejected because of Amaretto's behaviour. Having said that, when I came down during the night for one of the late feeds, I am sure that when they heard me and the light was switched on, both Buie and Amaretto came from the same direction which was where the giant bed is where everyone is together now. I am hoping this is the case because it means that it's possible, during the evening, Amaretto is also sharing the bed with everyone and helping to feed the babies. As usual, photos are all really the same today due to lack of energy and being run ragged by 12 babies.

Day 44 - September 7, 2005

To say I am exhausted is an understatement. With 2 sets of babies now downstairs with me, (I count the Chocolate Bars and the T's as one set), it is absolutely manic. I spent the first half hour removing the Whispa and Cute T from the Dancers box. Now that both litters are in the same room, it's so very easy for me to see just how small the Chocolate Bars and T's actually are as there is not much of a size difference at all between the babies. It is no surprise though at all when you consider the horrific start in life that the first 2 litters had and compared to the Dancers who had a very normal start in life it's no wonder really. Fortunately though, the Chocolate Bars and the T's are all happy, bouncy babies who love to play and love to eat so there's not really any concerns with them thank goodness. Twix and Crunchie were not interested at all in their new room mates, they couldn't have cared less. Buttons and Whispa on the other hand were extremely nosy and wanted to know who they were and where they had come from, and why they had a new home in the form of a box. So naturally they kept going into the box and I had to keep taking them out and putting them on the other side of the filing cabinet. The only way I could finally appease them was to give them totally new bedding. This made them feel as if they too had a brand new home and they were much happier then. There's very little in the way of photos because while we're now going through the "settling in" period for all the babies being together in one room and time is something I really have very little of.

Day 43 - September 6, 2005

All diary entries really are the same today, and with no photos also. The reason for this is that I've been out for the majority of the day and have had very little time and am now way behind. This really was my last opportunity to leave the house as Sambuca is now due in 3 days time so I am housebound whilst I wait for babies to be born. The Chocolate Bars and The T's didn't seem to miss me too much today and they obviously had a little party while I was out because upon arrival home, there was scattered litter and dry food all over the place! I am pleased that the babies have now caught on to the "screwed up paper ball" games. Late yesterday afternoon, I flicked one across the floor to Crunchie and he caught on straight away. He is such a clever boy. He started batting about the floor, jumping in excitement every time the paper ball moved across the floor. Obviously it wasn't long before Mrs T also decided to join in and they had a great time. While this was going on, I had to smile at Whispa because she was sitting in the cat carrier, obviously wanting to join in as well so she kept putting her front paw out, whenever the ball came near to the carrier and she kept batting the air with her paw. I did put the ball in the carrier with her which delighted her but obviously as there is bedding in the carrier, the ball wouldn't roll well so I took her and the ball out of the carrier so she could play with it properly.

Day 42 - September 5, 2005

At long last the babies are finally starting to take an interest in the contents of the dry food bowls which is such a massive relief. Six weeks of age today and I was beginning to think that they would never eat dry food. Mind you, I am sure I have had other litters who aren't eating dry food at this age so it's entirely possible that I'm still very paranoid. They are funny when they eat the JW kitten biscuits because they put both front paws in the bowls to eat. Of course we do still have the odd baby who will just sit on top of the biscuits in the bowl as well.