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.

Kitten Diaries

Cacao

June 2004

Birth

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Cacao's 2nd Kitten Diary - June 2004 to October 2004

Day 6 - June 24, 2004

It's been a fairly quiet day for the little ones today. I've had Tia's babies downstairs with me all day and apart from going in throughout the day to check on Cacao's babies and to feed Cacao, I've been letting them just "do their own thing". Their weight gains are still pleasing and all 3 Siamese babies have their eyes fully open now, however the Ori's still haven't opened theirs so I'm monitoring this very closely as normally by now, all our other babies have had their eyes open by now. Fortunately, there is no swelling behind the eyelids etc. and nothing at all to indicate there are any problems so I'm hoping by tomorrow they will have them open. Cacao has no plans at all to move them and seems to be perfectly happy with them in their box on my side of the bed so I'm really pleased that she's content with where they are.

Day 5 - June 23, 2004

There's been a few little development with our so far "unnamed" babies. I am hoping that by the end of their first week, they will have been sexed and been given names. One change with our little ones is that eyes are starting to open now. Two of the Siamese babies have their eyes fully open and the other babies have made a start with opening theirs as well. I'm rather relieved at this at it's now Day 5 and I was getting a bit worried that the eyes hadn't started opening yet. Another change is that we have quite strong colour coming through on our Siamese babies. As our 2 Ori's are Black Torties, and looking at the colour that's appearing on the ears and tails of the Siamese, I will hazard a guess at this stage that the majority of the Siamese may end up being Seal Points. The last change of all is that cords are starting to drop off now, always gross, but I'm always pleased to see them fall off. Apart from that, they are doing quite well. The minimum weight that they gain during a 24 hour period is 10grams so I'm pleased with that at the moment, however I am still monitoring them very closely. I've put a couple of pics below, but as you will see, they do still look like blobs in a box. Before I forget to do this, I really must mention a special thanks to Kim. During our very heartbreaking weekend, and the days that followed, Kim was in touch with me daily via email and was so compassionate and and so kind and said something to me that was very touching that made me think there was light at the end of what seemed an otherwise very dark tunnel. I'm incredibly grateful to Kim for her concern and her kindness and without her emails, I do think I would still be struggling to come to terms with my loss.

Day 4 - June 22, 2004

I'm happy to say that our babies are all making reasonably good weight gains and are doing really well. I'm beginning to see little eyes preparing to open as well which is really lovely. They're very noisy little babies but that's no surprise considering who their mother is! Each baby now squirms around an awful lot more and a couple of them are really funny when they do move around because they start at Cacao's paws, crawl around them until the reach her stomach, then they inch further and further up Cacao's side until they are lying on top of her where they just flop and sleep. It's really amusing to watch and Cacao is so very patient with them and will put up with anything they do. There's no photos today of the babies as the R's moved downstairs for the first time today and are keeping me incredibly occupied.

Day 3 - June 21, 2004

Our 5 little gems have been doing really well today and have made some weight gains for which I am very thankful. The pain of losing my other 2 angels is still quite raw and I'm still finding it hard to deal with. I have been so very lucky though with the support of had from friends and other breeders via email etc. and it has helped a great deal. I must make an attempt to sex our Siamese babies tomorrow (our 2 Ori's are girls). I've taken some photos today although they really look like little blobs in a box. The babies have been moving around quite a bit more today and are lifting their heads up and trying their hardest to get from one end of the box to the other. It always makes me smile as I watch them in the box when they stand on each other or flop down on top of one of their litter mates. They all feed really well from Cacao and think nothing of pushing away any litter mates who try to steal their "favourite" nipple. Darling Cacao is doing really well and is enjoying all her extra meals and her cuddles. When the babies sleep of an evening, she hops up onto the bed with us for cuddles and kisses but as soon as a baby makes a noise she is off the bed like a shot and straight back into the box.

Day 2 - June 20, 2004

Today was an absolutely soul destroying day as I have lost 2 of my teeny babies. On Sunday evening, the little Siamese that I had been topping up and helping to feed was not able to suckle or take anything in and on Sunday evening after I had dinner, I went back upstairs to try again with her only to find she had now faded away and left me to go to Rainbow Bridge. It was so sad and my evening was spent in tears. My other teeny baby, an Oriental girl, had a dramatic weight loss when I checked her this morning. I tried to latch her on, but she wasn't having it and then I tried to hand feed her, only to realise that she for whatever reason, she couldn't go on any more. She just wanted to be at peace. You could see it as you watched her not even open her mouth to swallow Nutridrops or to latch on to her mum. I spent some hours just sitting on the floor next to the box, stroking her gently as I watched her with tears dropping into the box. At about 10:30am it looked like she had taken her last breath so I came downstairs to get a little box but when I came back upstairs, Cacao had picked up the little girl and put her back in with the rest of the litter and was grooming her all over. Cacao was not going to let this little girl go and it broke my heart to watch her groom her and cuddle with her. As the others were trying to feed, I moved the little one away a bit and found that she was still hanging in there, but only barely so I resumed my place on the floor and again stroked her and prayed for her and we sat there for hours. The thing I could not bear would be for one of my little angels to die on their own with no warmth, no love and no comfort and I was not going to let this baby go alone, feeling scared or feeling that she wasn't loved. I don't know if she was in any pain but it didn't look like it, more a case of she had enough of life and wanted to be at peace. It wasn't until about 1.30pm that she finally left me and when she took her last breath, she was in my hands being stroked and kissed as she went on to Rainbow Bridge. The most heart wrenching part of all was that just as she went, I looked up at Cacao who was watching me and her little one and the look in her eyes just broke my heart as I had to try and convey to her that it was time to let go and that I couldn't help her little baby any more. My only consolation is that my little girl went to Rainbow Bridge surrounded by love and kisses and is now happily playing with her sister. Each baby I lose gets harder and harder and today I feel like my heart has been ripped out.

"It takes a harsh and cruel drought

To sort the weaker saplings out

To make room for stronger trees

Maybe that's what life's about. "

Our other 5 babies, 3 Siamese & 2 Oriental Black Torties are all gaining wieght and seem to be doing very well. After I lost my little girl, apart from making sure the others were latched on and weighing them, I truly culdn't be near them this afternoon as the pain after losing their 2 sisters was just too much to bear.

Day 1 - June 19, 2004

It was a long and tiring day yesterday monitoring our little ones. I weighed them last night (normally they should be weighed every morning) and a few little ones had made minor gains, a few had made minor losses, however when I weighed them this morning, I was very worried to see that our little Siamese who weighed 85g lost 10 overnight and is down to 75g. I have been giving the baby some Nutridrops throughout the day and have been topping him up as well. When I weighed him again at about 11:30am he had gained a measly 1 gram but at this stage, any gains are a bonus, however I'm still not happy with his progress. Once Cacao's milk starts coming through properly, I am desperately hoping that by latching him on every time he's awake will help to make a difference and he will start to gain. I will say though that all 7 babies are very active, very noisy and all fight to find nipples at feeding time. Already it appears that shift work has started as some babies will feed and while other sleep and then it changes around. Cacao is being a brilliant mum and spends all of her time grooming, and feeding the babies. While they are sleeping she tends to lie there with her arms around them. Last night she finally ventured out of the box and I was pleased she did as it gave me a chance to have a really good look at her. She's been eating non stop since the babies arrived and I am still going up every few hours to feed her while she's in the box however she also comes out now whenever she is hungry to eat from her bowl. I'm still not taking many photos of them as it does disturb Cacao at the moment and my main concern is keeping her and the babies settled. In a few days time, when all is okay, I will try to get some individual photos. Thanks to all for their prayers, emails and kind thoughts for my babies wellbeing. It really is appreciate.

Birth - June 18, 2004

I'm pleased to announce that our darling Cacao has given birth and the litter details are:

Baby	Birth Time	Weight
Siamese	12:58pm	105g
Siamese	1:32am	90gg
Oriental Black	2:16am	90g
Oriental Black Tortie	2:41am	91g
Siamese	4:19am	95g
Siamese	4:44am	94g
Oriental Black	5:20am	86g

I truly don't know how much sense this entry will make as I haven't been to bed at all. It wasn't the easiest of births this time around but as usual, Cacao just couldn't be faulted on either her mothering, nor her birthing skills. She is just an amazing queen. It started at 11:32pm when her water broke and the first contractions started, after that she settled down a bit and delivered the first baby at 12:58pm. She did everything herself, sac, cords, cleaning, afterbirth and then settled back down again. After she had the 2nd baby, she did seem tired so I heated up some mixture for her and brought it back upstairs where she had quite a bit of it and then settled down with her arms around her 2 babies. When it came time to the 3rd and 4th babies, after delivering them, she then dealt with the sacs but didn't continue to push the afterbirth out. After a little while I made the decision to do the cords myself on both babies as I felt they had been attached long enough. Fortunately, within minutes of doing this for both babies, the afterbirth soon followed. By the time the 5th baby was delivered, Cacao was incredibly tired and I'm not surprised at all, however, after delivering it, she didn't even attempt to break the sac. It didn't help that the other 4 babies were at this stage clambering all over her looking for milk so her concentration was being diverted from the delivery because of the babies. Cacao is one of those mums who has to have her babies with her as soon as they are born, even while she is delivering others. Anyway, I broke the sac and then started rubbing that baby with a paper towel to dry it off a bit when Cacao realised she had really only 3/4 delivered it and then finished the job. This time though, she tore through the cord without waiting for the afterbirth, she then cleaned the baby and put it with the others. She then settled back down and it was quite a while before she did actually deliver the afterbirth. When the 6th baby arrived, again, due to her concentration being on the others, she was taking a long time to deliver so I did have to step in again on that one. I actually thought that was it after number 6 but Cacao obviously knew better and produced number 7 a little while later. As you can imagine it was very tiring for our poor girl but she did a marvellous job and by 6.30am, Cacao and the 7 babies had clean bedding and the heat pad in there and for the time being I'm leaving them to it but shall be up and down to monitor them throughout the day and as there are 7 of them, I will be topping up as well. I was really pleased to see that all 7 babies, within about 20 minutes of being born, were searching for nipples and trying to feed so that's a really good sign. Our 86g baby will worry me slightly as we haven't had a baby that small before but I will be doing everything within my powers to make sure that all our little ones thrive. Many thanks to the good Lord for listening to my prayers throughout the night and may He continue to watch over my little ones.

Please Click Here to read Cacao's 2nd Pregnancy Diary