We are 3 weeks old now!

Day 20 - July 20, 2007

Cashew is a little bugger, there is no doubt about it. He is driving Lucy insane and it was my own fault. As there had been 2 mums and 9 babies in the posh box, I always left the ramp down and had bedding on it so that the mum's had the room to stretch out if they so desired. Even when Amarula was removed from the babies, I still left the ramp down and that really has been such a mistake. Now that Cashew is older, he insists on climbing down the ramp at every given opportunity and going for walks which upsets Lucy terribly. She will not let any of the babies out of her site, and definitely will not allow them out of the box, so she would go after him, pick him up, put him back in the box, and 5 minutes later, he'd be half way down the ramp again and she'd be off after him. I made the decision to then close the ramp up so that he couldn't get out at all. So now, he, Pecan, and Pistachio, all go to the front of the box, they stand on the back legs, put the front legs (or arms as I call them) on the opening and peer out, and then try to climb out which they can't do as it's too high. I know though that soon I will have to have the ramp down again because the Nuts really do want their freedom now.

Day 19 - July 19, 2007

Today, the Nuts and the Detectives' kitten diaries are exactly the same, apart from photos. The reason for this is that the changes we had to make yesterday affect all 9 our of children equally. As you know, we took Amarula to the vets yesterday as we are extremely concerned about her condition, or should I say, lack of condition. She had an extremely thorough examination by Jo and that was not easy as it took both Graham and I to hold her while Jo took her temperature etc. Amarula was extremely stressed, and while she's always been a difficult child when it comes to being examined or having medication administered, I've never seen her behave like this at all. Eventually though, Jo finished and we had a chat about the situation and Jo asked how old the babies were. I explained the situation about her and Lucy being together with the 9 kids and their ages, and said to Jo that if necessary we can start to early wean. Jo felt that the best thing for Amarula is get her away from the babies straight away and that early weaning is going to be the only option. This is something I hate doing and I'm going to have to be extremely careful because if I rush into early weaning with too many rich foods, then this can upset the Nuts' digestive system, so we'll be going along the lines of evaporated milk mixture, organic baby rice, and some mashed up, very soggy, very diluted James Wellbeloved kitten biscuits. The reason for the evap. milk mixture is because of the protein from the eggs, and the energy they will get from the honey, the baby rice is to help get a bit of weight on them without upsetting their tummies, and the JW biscuits are because these are extremely bland, and also high in protein. The Nuts will of course continue to feed from Lucy but it is imperative that I get them eating as quickly as possible to take as much pressure of Lucy as we can because it is also very important that the Detectives don't suffer weight losses due to the bigger babies hogging the milk bar. The only way to stop this happening is to keep the Nuts' tummies full with "proper" food so that they are less inclined to feed from Tia Lusso. When we came home from the vets, the first thing we had to do was set up somewhere for Amarula to be where she could be on her own to rest, and where she can see, smell, and hear some of our adult cats so that she doesn't feel alone, and where she also knows we are right there. She can not be anywhere near her babies because if she is, this will make her even more upset than she already is, nor can she feed them because she is now on Prednicare which is a steroid based drug. As you know, the Nuts and the Detectives are upstairs in the 2nd kitten room and their door is permanently closed for the time being. Our other babies still have their own kitten room but they also have the run on the house 24/7, so the only place for Amarula to be is in Graham's room. So we set up a huge pen in there although I would like to say here that we do not believe in penning or crating any of our fur family members unless very exceptional circumstances apply such as this one. The pen is massive, large enough for a fully grown GSD, so she has plenty of room, she has her own special diet, a raised bed off the floor, and the pen is half covered with a sheet so that she has privacy if she wants it, and she is not close enough to really see any of the other babies in the home as this would be so upsetting for her because she is such a very good mum and now we have taken her babies from her. I can't imagine what she must be thinking and I feel so incredibly sorry for her and we will both just be so very relieved when our little girl is her normal self again. We have another appointment for her on Saturday (yes, at the moment with what we are paying in vet fees between c-sections, babies, ultra sounds etc. all the staff can probably afford luxurious holidays) and Jo will have another look at Amarula and we will take it from there. One thing that I would like to say is that we are so incredibly lucky to have Jo, Clair, and all the fantastic staff at Brook Veterinary Surgery. We could not ask for a better team to care for our precious fur children and both Jo and Clair are extremely thorough, they are brilliant with our fur kids, and we are just so lucky to have great vets on hand the moment we need them, both during hours, and out of hours. If you breed, it is of paramount importance that your vet will always be there for you and that you have a vet who is calm with the fur kids, and who knows what they are doing, in short, your vet is your best friend and that is what we have. As you can imagine, between the early weaning, the syringe feeding, monitoring Amarula and keeping an eye on our older fur brats, I have very little time at the moment. One good thing about Amarula being downstairs and penned is that the washing will decrease dramatically which is such a bonus because since the Nuts were born, our washer and dryer are on the go from 7am until about 10m every single day. Having said that, we are aiming to get her back to normal and out of the pen as quickly as humanly possible. As for our Nuts and Detectives, I honestly don't know yet what they are thinking about having just the one mummy but I do feel so very grateful that Tia Lusso is one of the best mum's you could ever get and I know that if I had to make the Nuts "orphan children", then who better to see to their upbringing that Tia Lusso. She loves them as if they were her own children, well to be fair, she probably thinks they are her own children. Some people do think I am insane for mating more than one mother at the same time, but now you can see the reason why. If no one else in the home had babies at the moment, then those 4 Nuts would be totally on their own with no feline mum to look after them. At least this way, they are missing out on absolutely nothing and remember it is what they learn from their mum's that teaches them how to be social kittens, and teaches them right from wrong, and litter training, and playing. Their mum's teach them how to be kittens, a human can not do that. So yes, while it is bloody hard work having more than one litter at a time, I will not ever do it any other way. Now that Lucy has sole responsibility of all 9 children, her food intake has been increased dramatically. With the situation with Amarula as it was, she could only be fed on the JW biscuits, fish, chicken, and the sensitive prescription diets, but now that she is out of the room, Lucy is back to having all the very good, rich foods, such as Hills a/d, Natures Menu, Hi Life. Obviously she is still offered roast chicken and poached fish daily because that is what our adults and other kittens also get, but at least now she is getting more than enough to keep her in condition while she cares for the Nuts and the Detectives. Like Amarula, we will be monitoring Tia Lusso closely to make sure that the 9 children are not too taxing on her and we are desperately hoping when our other lady goes into labour (by the way, the ultrasound showed 3 healthy heartbeats so we are delighted and have come to the conclusion that they are just lazy babies who don't move around much) that our other new mummy will be happy to share the 2nd kitten room with Lucy in which case, she can also assist if need be and their babies can be raised together. On that note, it's now time to feed again........................

And now this part of the entry is about the Nuts only. Well yesterday, I made up my weird and wonderful weaning mixture (oh those poor children), and we started the process of early weaning. The problem is, I have been totally spoilt with the Capitals, Liquorice, and the Tails of Hans Christian Anderson and I had forgotten just how difficult having to wean is. Those 3 litters weaned themselves, not a problem in the world. I also wonder if I should get into the habit of going to Tesco early in the day because let me tell you, one weaning session and I'm covered in the bloody stuff! Early weaning is not for the fainthearted, and if you are a very prim and pristine person, then don't try and wean little ones although to be fair, if you were that prim and pristine you wouldn't be breeding anyway. You honestly have no idea just how much of the stuff gets all over you (and all over the kittens). But you have to laugh, either that or cry :) You can guarantee that as soon as you put your fingers (covered in mixture) up to the kids' mouths, that is the exact same moment they choose to turn their heads and hey presto, we have an ear full of weaning mixture. Pecan, well that boy is a star!!! He is taking to weaning like a duck to water. I'm extremely proud of him, particularly when you consider the Nuts are only 19 days old and should not even be attempting weaning yet, but not only does he lick it from my fingers, he even makes little "starving noises" as I call them, while he looks for more food. Macadamia isn't far behind him either. The problem is of course that co-ordination at this age isn't the best in the world, I mean, as it is, when they walk about they look drunk bless them and they can have difficulties trying to comprehend that it is the mouth they are supposed to put on my finger, not their bums, not their eyes, but their mouths and tongues. Still, we will get there in the end..............................I hope! I can't complain though, not really, because we are incredibly lucky to have a wonderful mum in Lucy, 9 fantastically stunning (yep, Ashanti has given us babies with gorgeous type), healthy, bright, confident, happy children, and at the end of the day, it's not like I actually go to any place whereby I need to dress up and look decent :) :) :) And on that note, before this kitten diary runs into an epic, I must go and feed yet again.

Day 18 - July 18, 2007

Again today, all entries are not particularly long and there are not too many photos. The reason for this is that we have a vet appointment today for one of our due ladies to have an ultrasound as she is due in a couple of days' time and we can not feel any movement at all. So that will be a double appointment for the scan, then we are also taking Amarula to the vets with us as we are still not happy at all with her condition and we need something to be sorted out asap. So between, and a few bits and pieces of running around, then it's going to be a busy day.

As mentioned above, Rula is off to the vets today. We don't feel that she has recovered properly at all from her c-section. If you've been following this kitten diary, you will be aware that within 24 hours of the c-section, the most horrendous diarrhoea started, yet prior to that she had been perfectly well in herself, and then after a few days it cleared up, but then it came back again, despite being on a sensitive diet and medication. This really can not go on and if necessary, we are going to have to risk it and remove her from the babies altogether, put her on her own, on much stronger medication. Remembering that as she is feeding her children, our vet has only be able to prescribe medication that won't affect the babies but I think we are now at the stage where we have to get Rula back to normal and risk any effects that the the children might have if we take their mum away. It is one of those awful situations where in reality, you have to weigh up what is more important, our girl, or the babies, and there is no competition I'm afraid and Amarula has to come first. I totally depends on what Jo says today after she has seen Amarula as to what we will do. Chances are, Lucy could cope perfectly well on her own with all 9 children as she is in excellent condition and health, in fact, you wouldn't know she'd just delivered babies to be honest. But Lucy only has 7 nipples, not 8 like a normal cat. I have no idea why and it's certainly never affected her previous 2 litters, but I think that with early weaning of the Nuts to take pressure off Lucy if she had the babies, then it may be okay. I won't know any more though until after Jo has looked at her so there will be an update on this situation in tomorrow's diary entry. Fortunately, the Nuts are all doing extremely well, and even Macadamia still continues to make good gains with no supplementing at all. He really made me laugh this morning because while I was sitting in front of the box feeding Morse, at the back of the box was Macadamia and Frost. Now I don't know if Frost was grooming Macadamia or if he was actually trying to nibble on him, but next thing I knew, Macadamia was whacking Frost in the head with his front left paw, over, and over again. He wasn't hurting him because at just 18 days of age, they don't have a great deal of strength obviously but it was so apparent by the look in Macadamia's eyes that he was having the time of his life smacking the younger baby. Cashew, Pecan, and Pistachio are all now walking down the ramp and trying to explore. There really is no stopping them but so far, none of them have been brave enough to actually step off the safety of the ramp onto the floor and I am grateful for that because I don't fancy having to play "Hunt The Baby" at this early stage. It is safe to say though that all 4 Nuts are going to have amazing personalities because already they are showing themselves to be confident, outgoing, bubbly children who, in their own minds, are ready to take on the world.

Day 17 - July 17, 2007

Our Nuts had their first "official" set of visitors yesterday. I don't count friends as being official visitors but Julie was actually the first person outside of our own family to meet the Nuts. It was really lovely to see Connie and David again, and whilst they were here to visit Ugly Duckling who will be going to live with them, they also wanted to see Pistachio and Pecan because one of these delightful Oriental Tabby children will be sharing their home with Connie and David as well. We just don't know which one yet because no decisions are being made until Marcelle has chosen which baby will be hers. Being that she and Jim are the Nuts' great grandparents, they naturally must have first preference. Having met both Tabbies yesterday though, I think Connie and David would be happy with either baby, but then they are both so adorable who could resist them :) Now I must tell you about Cashew..............for the past 2 days, he has decided that he is a "big kid" because he insists on climbing down the ramp and trying to go for a little stroll around the room. He seems to believe that he is grown up enough to be able to explore which obviously he isn't but in true Oriental Black fashion, he is an extremely determined little soul bless him. As for Macadamia, well, he's a very happy little boy and so long as he can get to the milk bar, and roll on his back while he plays with his brothers, (do we REALLY have an entire litter of boys???? How depressing!), then he has everything he needs in life.

Day 16 - July 16, 2007

I had very good intentions of getting diary entries online yesterday, however, problems with my computer put paid to that! I had no connection so that was a nightmare, but if that wasn't bad enough, my monitor(s) also died. Today, genius husband solved the problem for me so I'm back on track for the time being.

Day 15 - July 15, 2007

Our Nuts are just adorable, they really are. Now that they have reached the 2 weeks mark they have suddenly changed and are starting to do what all little kittens do. They groom each other, they try to play. Pecan and Cashew try to walk down the ramp because they want to explore, which they really shouldn't be doing at this age! Macadamia is very funny because he spends quite a bit of time trying to climb up the walls on the inside of the box. I don't know if he harbours ambitions to be a rock climber but he is determined that there must be a way of climbing up. It's hard to imagine that last week I was so worried about him and didn't know whether or not he would make it, yet here he is, no different from the rest of his family, and doing extremely well. Pecan is still the "thinker" in the litter and he's also going to be a bit naughty because this morning, I caught him chewing on Pistachio's front leg! Now he was definitely not trying to groom his brother, nor was he mistaking his leg for a nipple. He had a Tabby glint in his eye and he knew darn well what he was doing. Pistachio is slightly more laid back than his brother................at the moment (it won't last), and he was not bothered at all by the fact that Pecan was trying to eat him. This really is such an exciting time in babies' lives because everything is new to them and this is where they really start to learn and to mimic their mum's behaviour.

Day 14 - July 14, 2007

Again today, there are no entries or photos because for the first time since Amarula's babies were born, we actually took some "time out" for ourselves and we went out to visit family during the afternoon. We were gone about 5 hours in total which is the longest we've been able to be away from the babies. It was nice to actually go out for a little while, and all the babies appeared to behave themselves during our absence. Tomorrow's diaries will resume as per normal with individual photos in each diary.