We are 2 weeks old now!

Day 13 - September 30, 2006

Our babies all made some gains last night so again this is good progress. After I weighed the Gamblers though, I actually gave Nutri Drops to all of them because even though they continue to gain, I still personally feel that they should be bigger. It's always a bit difficult when babies are from Drambuie and Sambuca, mainly because they are both very typical of the slender, fine boned Orientals, with lovely type, and as a result, their children tend to be like them and are never as big as babies from some of our other girls. Drambuie has a very good appetite and obviously the milk is flowing freely or else the babies would not be gaining weight.

Day 12 - September 29, 2006

My day had started off so well this morning. By 10:30am, all the mums and our older babies had been fed, all the litter trays in the home had been done, I had checked my email, put the washing on, and had hoovered and mopped all the floors in the house. As I was on a roll, I went upstairs to feed the mum's again and managed to take individual photos of our Gamblers which I was thrilled about. I then came back downstairs, made a coffee, cooked some more fish for our older babies, and went to download the photos only to find that the computer wouldn't recognise the USB lead. This meant that the photos were stuck on the camera and I couldn't download them. So after much cursing and frustration, I turned the problem over to Graham. He also couldn't get the lead to work, but being the genius that he is, he plugged in a different lead and rescued the photos. Thank goodness! It's so nice to be able to properly introduce the babies to all of our readers. Mind you, when you see them all in the box together, apart from Roulette and Poker, you would probably struggle to tell them apart :) Our babies weights were acceptable again last night, and even my little Boule is putting on weight, still very small gains, but she is hanging in there. They are quite lively little children when they're not feeding and I have a sinking feeling that when the time comes for them to be running around the room and exploring, that they are going to be little terrors.

Day 11 - September 28, 2006

We seem to be at that stage now with our Gamblers where it's very difficult to write an entry for the kitten diary because at the moment, all the Gamblers do is eat, sleep, and try to walk. One thing I am pleased about, is that they are all quite good when being handled and picked up for cuddles. They are becoming much more used to me now and there is much less hissing when I first put my hand in the kitten box to stroke them. I always find it so amusing in a litter where for the first 2 weeks of the babies' lives, whenever I touch them when they are in the box, you always have to have one or two babies who hiss at the "strange hand" whereas others are much happier to accept me straight away. Roulette is extremely used to being handled and examined now and she never protests, and Poker is pretty much the same. Little Boule again made some gains last night, they are not massive gains, but she is definitely putting weight on and is not losing weight or going downhill which is a blessing. I think though that once the babies reach 3 weeks of age, I will push for early weaning with some Hills a/d to ensure that all babies get quite a lot of weight behind them.

Day 10 - September 27, 2006

We had a friend visiting today so I've not had any time to take photos for the diaries. Boule is still quite tiny however she is hanging in there and holding her own so far. The other Gamblers all seem to be progressing with regards to their weights and Drambuie is still being a very good mum. The Gamblers are quite funny when they are awake and not feeding because they do climb all over each other and when one of the babies gets knocked over onto his/her back, all you can see is little limbs waggling about in the air as the baby tries to correct him/herself. Despite them being so small, they have no problems at all clambering out from underneath their mother when she sits on them which is something she is rather fond of doing actually. I think it is her way of ensuring that her babies don't go anywhere that they shouldn't. There are still tremendous nipple battles that occur at feeding time and it's during these times that we ensure little Boule is not pushed aside and we latch her on to a nipple at the back where she is less likely to be pushed off.

Day 9 - September 26, 2006

I am rather relieved to see that when I weighed the kids last night that Boule gained 10 grams in the last 24 hours. I don't know if it was the Nutri Drops or the syringe feeding, but whatever it was, for the time being, it is working thank goodness, and the rest of our Gamblers all made gains last night as well so hopefully this is a good sign. Trying to take photos today was an absolutely nightmare because as you can see, Drambuie had no intentions of getting out of the box while I took the photos. It's not a long entry today as it's been one of "those days" and I am running extremely behind on everything.

Day 8 - September 25, 2006

Last night, after weighing the kids, I made the decision to supplement each baby with Nutri Drops. Our smallest Black is actually very small indeed so I am going to start to give her a helping hand in the form of Royal Canin kitten milk. I may well be worrying for nothing, but rather than take any chances, it makes more sense to just start feeding her myself which I've been doing since lunch time today. Tonight's weigh in will tell me whether this is of any benefit to her or not. On the whole though, our Gambler's are still doing very well and all eyes are fully open now, fortunately, without any eye problems which is always a relief. Also, I did forget to mention that cords were all totally gone a few days ago as well. I am hoping, at some point this week, to take individual photos of our children so you will all know exactly who is who, although at this stage, our Blacks are still quite similar and even I find it difficult to tell them apart, other than by their weights. This will change though as their features start to develop more because I am hoping that they will look different to each other. I always remember Sambuca's first litter which was full of Oriental Blacks, no other colour, and that was a nightmare when it came to trying to determine which baby was which, even at 13 weeks of age!

Day 7 - September 24, 2006