Our Pints are becoming such a handful, even at this young age. They are getting into everything that they can reach but they are so incredibly sweet that you really could forgive them absolutely anything. As I write this entry it is so peaceful in the back room because mums and babies are all sound asleep whereas earlier, they were all over the room, spilling water bowls, climbing through food bowls, running away from their mums, and attempting to climb into the large, hooded litter tray. This action made me realise that up until now, the poor little children still didn't have their own litter tray set up for them so this morning, I got one of the show trays as they are very small and low enough for the babies to climb into. It's filled with litter and now it's a case of waiting which baby will be the first to get the hang of what it is there for. I really should have had the tray set up for them a week ago however with everything that has been going on, it just totally slipped my mind. The fact that all 3 Pints try to climb into their mum's huge tray makes me think that they definitely know what they should be doing so hopefully it won't take them very long at all to learn to use the trays properly.

Both entries start off the same again today and that is because the Pints and the Bush Rangers have had a slight change of housing arrangements. Yesterday afternoon I looked at the kitten box and decided I didn't like it as it was just way too awkward. The box was huge, cumbersome, and the mother's kept jumping on top of it and pushing the lid down into the box so after a moment's deliberation I made the decision to just get rid of the box altogether and give the babies a new home. They now live on some lovely comfy bedding underneath the work surface (exactly where the kitten box was anyway), they have a sheet that drops down at night to give them some privacy and security, and they no longer need a load of bedding in front of the bed so they can climb out. It is much easier all around because I can see the babies much better now, they have more room to move, they find it much easier to walk around the floor as their bedding is quite low, and all in all the set up is much better.

I do now remember though why kitten boxes are good and that is because mischievous, active little babies are less inclined to roam around whereas no box and just bedding means freedom for all concerned. All of yesterday afternoon I had Pints under my feet, under my chair, trying to climb into the big litter tray, trying to stuff themselves between the work surface leg and the wall, you name it, they explored it. We have to be so very careful now particularly when sitting on the chairs because naturally the office chairs and on wheels and we can't move the chair even a millimeter without first checking to make sure that there are no babies there. At one point this morning I had all 3 Pints climbing over the chair legs and going under them. XXXX had a lovely day today because she had some cuddles from her new owners Teresa and Gary, who came to visit her for the first time. Fortunately she made a good impression and was well behaved. It was lovely to meet Teresa and Gary and to listen to them talk about their previous fur children, I have no doubts whatsoever that XXXX will have a wonderful home when she leaves here. I now just have to hope and pray that Lusso or Amarula will produce another female for me to join XXXX at a slightly later stage. All 3 Pints now have a new favourite food, that being pilchards in tomato sauce which they absolutely love. None of the babies need encouragement anymore to eat from the plate because as soon as I feed their mums, they come running over to me because they know they will get a meal as well. I thought that so far as I keep saying how the Pints are eating real food that it might be an idea to actually prove this hence a couple of the photos below.

Our Pints haven't really been out and about so far this morning, mind you I do have the back door leading to the cat run open slightly so perhaps they prefer to stay in their box near the radiator where it is warm. When ever I peer in the box to look at them, they are either latched on feeding, or are sleeping with their mums. XXXX is really funny when she is feeding because if Ned Kelly is also feeding from the same mum, they have a real battle between them over a nipple. For some odd reason XXXX insists on having the nipple that Ned is suckling from, no matter how many times I show her (and him) that there are plenty of nipples to go around, it makes no difference at all and the battle continues. As soon as I am fully over my flu (and I am feeling a bit better today), I will be putting a lot more effort into weaning the Pints. All 3 of them will eat from the plate though which is great, I just need to get them eating other foods as well because their main diet at the moment has been their mum's milk and the Hills A/D, as well as such mashed up, soggy, Iams kitten biscuits, and on that note, I just went out to the garage to bring in some rabbit mince to defrost. I just hope they like the raw mince as it is very good for them. This is the first time (I think), that I've not weaned babies straight onto the evaporated milk mixture that I usually make up. Mind you, all 3 Pints have good weight gains, are nice and healthy and active so they are doing incredibly well and I do know some breeders who do not start weaning until the babies are at least 5 weeks old.

Not being content with just running around the back room and exploring out here, Guinness decided to take it one step further last night much to her mum's horror. After dinner, I open the glass doors so that both mums can wander around the downstairs of the house and have a bit of freedom while our other cats in the upstairs part of the house. Last night, after they had eaten, they both went for a wander while I started to do water bowls etc. for the night. Suddenly our daughter drew my attention to a tiny chocolate being wandering around the lounge room as happy as anything and having the time of her life. I turned and had a look and sure enough, much to my utter amazement, it was Guinness! She had obviously seen Drambuie and Amaretto out there and figured she may as well join them. If that wasn't bad enough, a couple of minutes later, Caffreys was also out there with her, exploring the lounge room, while XXXX was just about to follow suit. My opinion was that as they all thought they were big enough to be exploring that part of the home that I would give them a few more minutes before bringing them back in. With regards to the weaning, Guinness and Caffreys will both eat straight from the plate with no encouragement and XXXX will eat from the plate once she has tried it from my fingers first. Their favourite meal is still the Hills A/D which they all really love. I have plans to try them on the raw rabbit mince in the next couple of days. I had plans to do this earlier however, one of our fridges packed it in and until the new one arrives I don't have the space in the small fridge to keep the mince in. Fortunately the new fridge will be here today so I can start defrosting some mince. Caffreys was very pleased to find out yesterday that he would be sharing a home with Ned Kelly, who is Drambuie's red baby. Elaine had been wanting a Chocolate Point for a little while now and once she met Caffreys, she very soon fell under his spell so it's really lovely that he'll be sharing a home with someone he has grown up with. I think this will help both boys when they go to Elaine's home and have to face the dreaded naughty tortie, Gr Pr Schimmel Superhoops. There are not any photos today as the flu has hit me quite badly and I've been in bed asleep since lunch time.

Today's entries shall be rather short as I have a rather horrific flu and am struggling to type anything that makes sense. The Pints have made it very clear that early evening is their favourite play time at the moment. All 3 babies are more likely to be out of the box and running around everywhere at this time of day. Guinness is fascinated with the glass doors leading into the back room because she can see everything going on out there, including the other cats. What did make me smile was our neuter boy, Ice, who is equally as fascinated with Guinness. I am guessing that he thinks she is one of "his" babies, and I didn't have the heart to tell him that Sheridans is responsible for these 2 litters. Last night, I had to pull the tubs out from the wall. The tubs reside next to the kitten box and they contain cat food/dog food/chinchilla bedding etc. etc. and normally they are pushed right back up against the wall. However, Caffreys decided that he would see if he could fit behind the tubs and stuff himself alongside them and the wall and wouldn't you know it, of course he fit. The problem was that he then had no idea where to go from there and so he started to cry. Amaretto went bolting over to the tubs to try and get him out but she couldn't get in behind them so I pulled them all out quite a way from the wall, scooped Caffreys up and gave him back to his mum. Amaretto looked rather relieved and herded him back into the box.

Yet another difficult day today because we drove back to Cherry Tree Pet Crematorium this afternoon to bring Kahlua back home. The last few days were made a bit easier by the compassionate staff at Cherry Tree. We will always be grateful to them for the respect shown to ourselves and to Kahlua, as well as their comforting and compassionate manner. He is now resting beside his beloved Tia Maria. We have now added a tribute to our beloved man in the Schimmel Rainbow Bridge.

We all have to be so very careful now when we are in the back room because all 3 Pints spend quite a bit of time out of the box now, particularly Guinness who is incredibly fearless and goes wherever she wants to. Both mother's have given up totally on keeping her in the box now whereas before they used to run after her and carry her back. Now they just let her go off anywhere because it's obvious to all that she can find her way to the box very easily and when she has finished exploring, she just goes back in and settles down. XXXX is the first of our babies to go where she shouldn't. We had the kitchen door open last night and she went running in there, not knowing that Schimmel house rules means "non furry members in the kitchen because it's off limits". Not that it's ever made any difference in the past with previous babies as they all take great pleasure in running in there knowing full well we would just pick them up and put them back out.

This is an bittersweet day for us today because this morning, our darling Kahlua is being cremated. We drove an hour and a half yesterday after spending the entire day online searching for the right place to take him to. The reason I said this day is bittersweet is because Kathrine of Vestol Cats, the breeder of our Sokoke girl Arusha, sent me an email this morning with the good news that Arusha delivered 6 babies on Saturday morning and all 6 babies and mum are doing extremely well.

Our Pints took the "house move" incredibly smoothly and within 5 minutes of having their box placed in the back room, they were running about like at top speeds exploring absolutely everywhere they could. Amaretto and Drambuie were not impressed and the looks they were giving me made it perfectly clear that I was to blame for the Pints' newfound freedom. Drambuie was running herself ragged chasing after the babies who were running about in all directions, and as soon as she caught one of the Pints, straight away she picked them up and dragged them back to the kitten box. Poor Guinness copped it the worst though and no matter where she tried to go, Drambuie was right on her tail. I am positive that Drambuie thinks Guinness is one of hers and not Amaretto's. It is lovely having the children in the back room with me now during the day and they are helping me to take my mind of Kahlua which is not easy at all. XXXX horrified her mum by attempting to climb into the big litter tray and how she thought she could manage to get in there I do not know, but Amaretto was sitting on the work surface at the time, keeping a watchful eye on her babies and she leapt off the second she saw XXXX put both front paws up on the tray. Needless to say XXXX was marched rather firmly to the box. Unlike Drambuie, Amaretto is smart enough to know that if she wants to keep her babies in the box, all she has to do is feed them. This little trick works for the moment but once the babies are a bit older she will have no hope of keeping them in there.