We are 2 weeks old now!

Day 13 - July 13, 2007

It really doesn't seem possible that tomorrow, our Nuts will be 2 weeks old already. I can't believe how well they are doing. Okay, they are not the biggest babies in the world, but we have plenty of time for them to catch up and I'm just so thrilled with all 4 of them. Yet another 24 hours has passed without having to feed Macadamia and he continues to make good weight gains without any assistance from me now which I'm delighted with. I'm not quite sure exactly whether or not our Tabby babies look like their dad with regards to "type". Some days I think I can definitely see similarities, yet other days I'm not so sure. You may have noticed that patterns have not been discussed recently and the reason for this is that I've been kept so busy during these past few days that I've barely actually looked closely at their patterns but intend to do so on Sunday to see just how we are progressing. They are all very sweet, and very happy little children, apart from when the nipple battles are occurring and this is when our tiny kittens suddenly turn into ferocious wild cats.

Day 12 - July 12, 2007

Many apologies but there is no entry at all for today as it's just been manic here and I've not had a chance to get any entries online.

Day 11 - July 11, 2007

For the past 24 hours I have not syringe fed Macadamia. He was showing signs of doing quite well on his own so I took a risk and stopped all feeding and waited to see whether or not he would make any gains if he were solely relying on the 2 mum's for milk. I'm thrilled to say that yes, he he did gain so I am going to be monitoring him extremely closely to make sure this continues. Of course if he starts to fall behind in the weight department, I will re-commence the syringe feeding straight away. Our Nuts are darlings and I absolutely must get some individual photos of them this week. I'm just so pushed for time at the moment but I really must find the time because even now, they have changed so much since the last individual photos and as each day passes, they are beginning to look like actual little kittens with features, well maybe not Cashew because bless him, he still looks like a bit of a black blob at the moment. Amarula is looking a bit better now, she doesn't look great, far from it, but she is improved compared to what she was like a few days ago. Tomorrow she is going back to our vets to have her sutures removed so at least I can have her checked over at the same time and see if Jo would like to give her anything.

Day 10 - July 10, 2007

There are no photos today sorry as we had a friend visit us and we also have an outside queen here to hopefully have a honeymoon with Ashanti so most of my day has been spent doing the syringe feeding, and spending time with the "bride to be" and Ashanti.

Our Nuts are all holding their own at the moment and I am still feeding Macadamia although she is getting there, day by day. They are such a very sweet litter and Pecan is going to be a philosopher as he spends so much of his time watching and thinking. Every time I'm in the kitten room and I'm feeding, if he is awake, he lies there, watching everything that I do and when I talk to him his little ears start moving as if he's really taking in everything I am saying. Amarula continues to be a fantastic mum, although she still looks rather bad in my personal opinion. I am just counting down the days until Day 21 when I early wean which will take some pressure of her but we still have 11 days to get through before then.

Day 9 - July 9, 2007

Before I do any entries, I must mentions photos. There are not many photos today and what we do have is rather awful. The reason for this is that we had a vet appointment at around midday for Ashanti to be blood tested as he is having a lady visit him soon and she is not one of our own ladies, and we also had to have Shelley, our dog vaccinated. As well as that we had to go to the tip and a few other places, all within the space of 2 hours so I could be back for the feeds. This morning, all I had time to do apart from the trays etc, put the washing on, cook the fish and roast chicken, then clean the upstairs part of the house, feed everyone, and it was time to go out. Then when we came back the first thing I had to do was go straight upstairs with food for the older litters and I had to syringe feed the baby people belong to Amarula and Tia Lusso. So it has been totally manic and it's actually a miracle that there are even diary entries for today, let alone photos.

At this morning's weigh in, all four Nuts had made gains, some small gains, some bigger gains, but still they were gains so I am pleased. None of our Nuts are bothered at all that their little family of 4 has suddenly grown to become a family of 9 and every now and then I have to step in to remove a Detective from Amarula's nipple where he/she has latched on because at the moment I am trying to keep the right babies on their own mum's nipples. Mind you, I think Amarula would prefer to feed Lucy's children as her own children are quite vile when it comes to nipple battles. We do still have a long way to go with our Nuts and it will be case of seeing whether or not their weights are affected (in a good or bad way) by sharing their box with the Detectives and Lucy.

Day 8 - July 8, 2007

It's not a very long entry today due to the arrival of new babies in the home, an event which Amarula and the Nuts were part of. There was absolutely no point whatsoever removing Rula and her Nuts from Lusso's box because every time I did, Lucy went back to get the Nuts and so did Amarula. So the Nuts, whilst being babies themselves, were able to witness the birth of brand new children into the world. Goodness only knows what they though, actually I don't think they thought much at all, because to them, there was suddenly an extra milk bar! I have spent a lot of today taking babies off the wrong mum's nipples and putting them back on their own mum. Due to the events during the past 12 hours or so, I wasn't expecting weight gains by our Nuts however I was pleasantly surprised and Pistachio is really starting to leap forward in the weight department now. Everyone else is still holding their own and continue to gain so at the moment, things are okay.

Day 7 - July 7, 2007

Well, I do not know how, but we have made it to Week 1 of the Nuts' life. Surely by the grace of God only. This last week has been so incredibly hard, for Amarula, and for her Nuts (oh that does sound a bit rude doesn't it) and if you had asked me on about day 3/4 how it was going, I would have said that if we still have 4 babies alive by Week 1 it would be nothing short of a miracle. The past 7 days has been so very tiring but in reality, I have nothing at all to complain about because it's Amarula who is suffering the most. All I have to do is feed 2 hourly, monitor weights, and wash and clean, whereas Amarula is looking after 4 children 24 hours a day when she is far from feeling well in herself. Yet she never complains, if she's out of the box when one of her children calls for her, she goes running to them and let me assure you, all 4 of them can be extremely demanding children, even at this very young age. I think sometimes there is so much we humans can learn from our fur children. I know this whole entry does sound rather depressing when in fact, I should be happy that our Nuts are still with us but at the moment, I will just take each day as it comes and every day we have with our Nuts is a blessing. Even if they continue to make small gains each day, then that is a good thing because I already have every intention of early weaning them. I just know that if I can get them to the Day 21, then I can wean them gently which will make such a huge difference and it will take so much pressure of Amarula and at the moment, that is what is important. As you can imagine, the Week 1 weights are not particularly wonderful but...............considering how bad the first few days were, then the weights are acceptable. None of the babies have come to a standstill in that they have remained the same weight for the past few days, nor have any of the babies lost weight so they are going in the right direction, just not as fast as they should be. I really am so grateful that they were such excellent birth weights because had they been under 100 grams chances are, some of them may not still be here. They are gorgeous children though (and heaven help anyone who doesn't agree with me), and should they continue along these lines, I just know, having watched them so closely for the past week, that when they are older and starting to explore, they are going to be absolute little terrors as already they are showing themselves to be such determined characters. Perhaps it is this determination that has kept them going so far? I don't really feel like discussing "patterns" today, however, as the Nuts are a week old, I really should I guess. I'm still sticking with Blue Oriental Spotted Tabby for Pistachio, am convinced of it, but you know me, I'm not always right ;) As for Pecan, I still do not believe he is a Classic. At this sage age, his dad's oysters were much more prominent, and the spine line was also quite prominent. I'm still not seeing this on Pecan although I'm sure Teen will be looking closely at these photos, and will give me her own opinion which in reality will be much more experienced than my own.