We are 14 weeks old now!

Day 96 - December 22, 2006

I'm finding that the closer it is to Christmas, the less enthusiasm and motivation I have to actually get anything done, including diary entries at the moment. The Gamblers were little terrors for a few hours this morning, but fortunately, they are currently sleeping and all is quiet in the Schimmel home for a change. It won't last very long though because the babies are bound to wake up soon enough for another meal. Blackjack's progress is absolutely remarkable, so much so, that as of next week, we are going to advertise him as being available in the hopes that we can find him a loving family all of his own. He is such a happy, bright boy, and I know that whoever is lucky enough to share their home with him, will have a lifetime of love and joy. Our Gamblers have developed a rather bad habit in the respect that they are constantly pulling the radiator bed in the front hallway, off the radiator and then they all climb inside it and sleep in it while it is on the floor. I lose count of the amount of times I pick it up and hang it up again and goodness knows why I bother, because as soon as I do, they pull it off again. One of these days, someone is going to make a decent radiator bed that actually hangs on the radiators, with a frame that doesn't break, and a cover that can withstand the amount of attention given by breeders's cats and kittens! We actually purchased a brand new radiator bed very recently, the 3rd brand we have tried so far, and it was broken within 24 hours so we were not impressed to say the least. Our kids still have quite a few mums in the respect that not only does Drambuie continue to mother them and let them suckle, but their Aunty Sambuca, and the Granny Cacao, are still mothering the Gamblers on a daily basis. It really is very sweet and the babies don't mind which mum is grooming them or letting them suckle, so long as they are getting a lot of love and attention, then they are very happy. It's going to be really difficult for them when they leave here because they are going from a home where they have a very large extended family, to homes where they is sometimes only a couple, or even no cats at all and it is a huge culture shock to the babies. As breeders, we do everything possible to ensure our babies are confident and well socialised when they leave us, but there is no way on earth to explain to the kids just how different their new lives are going to be. The only baby who will feel at home in her new family will be Roulette as she is going to be sharing her home with an extended cat family as well so for her, apart from the strange smells of unfamiliar cats, she will feel right at home. Actually, this topic could get rather depressing as I really do not like the though of my babies leaving, and as it's still December, they are all mine for another few weeks yet :)

Please note: I have not taken any photos yet but when we return from shopping, I will take some and add them to the entries, however I wanted to at least get the entries online now because I really do not know how long we will be, so check back this afternoon for photo additions to today's kitten diaries.

Day 95 - December 21, 2006

We do seem to go from one extreme to another because after quite a long diary entry and lots of photos for yesterday, today's entries have no photos and are not particularly long. Baccarat and Roulette have at long last finally discovered my computer monitor which is causing no end of problems as you can imagine. I sit here, trying to get some bits and pieces done, and both girls stand directly in front of the monitor watching the mouse move around the screen and I'm having to lean around them all the time to see what I'm doing. There is absolutely no point whatsoever in moving them because they just keep coming back onto the work surface to watch the mouse again. All I can do is hope that the little darlings get bored with it sooner rather than later. At the moment, everyone is sound asleep which means I have been able to update Lusso's pregnancy diary which should have been done on the 19th, and it also means I can get another load of washing sorted out and in the dryer. Two Up has a new toy now, in the form of the hanging ball that used to reside on the brand new cat centre we recently bought. I am sure it wasn't her that pulled it off but once it was off, as far as she was concerned that was her toy and she has been having the time of her life with it this morning rolling all over the floor with it. As I type this entry, Coke, who is one of the Burps, is climbing down my jumper so he can sit on my lap and it's rather difficult to type anything with a little furry person attempting to abseil down my body. The bonus of course is that once he is settled, just like all cats and kittens, he makes a great hot water bottle. I'm going to end this entry here because otherwise I'm just going to ramble on about nothing in particular and will bore myself, let alone anyone else who is reading this! There will be photos tomorrow though :)

Day 94 - December 20, 2006

Absolutely no side effects at all from yesterday's vaccinations and I am so relieved, because my main concern was our little Two Up because I figured if anyone were to have an adverse reaction, it would be her due to her size, but I'm delighted to say that even she sailed through the vaccination without any issues at all. She is such a little poppet, but then, in reality, they all are. I will admit that it's going to be so very difficult to let the Gamblers go when the time comes because I've had to put in so much more time and effort with these fur children right from the day they were born and we have had some really difficult battles, and whenever this is the case, an even stronger bond than normal is developed. They are all so beautiful in their own special ways and each baby has such an individual character all of his/her own. Poker is a tart, there is no other way to describe him. With his gorgeous colouring, expressive green eyes, and happy personality, he is a boy who flirts with anyone at all to get some attention. Even Claire, the vet, picked up on this yesterday as he sat in the front of the carrier, soulfully looking at us, and willing us to get him out and cuddle him. Baccarat is gorgeous and she knows it. In typical Black fashion, she prances about the home, saying to everyone, "look at me, aren't I beautiful", she scrambles up onto my shoulders and waits there until I pay her a lot of attention. She's also quite a brave young lady and so far, I've not seen a single thing that startles her in any way. Blackjack is one of those guys who just loves the world. I call him my little Zebra baby because despite the fact that he is supposed to be an Oriental Black, his coat is not jet black and he has an inordinate number of white hairs throughout, making him look like a zebra (for the uninitiated, Oriental Black cats and kittens should have coats that are jet black and sound to the roots with no white hairs at all). His coat appearance though, does nothing whatsoever to detract from his stunning looks and gorgeous green eyes. He's also quite a smart young man and made me laugh last night because it was feeding time at the zoo and I put 2 sheets of newspaper on the floor, went into the kitchen to prepare the dinner for the babies as I was preparing it, I could see one of the sheets of newspaper being pushed under the door and into the kitchen. I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing so I opened the door only to find Blackjack pushing the paper under the door to inform me that there was still no plate of food on it and he was starving. I had to laugh, this boy is so bright. When I think back to that stage of his life where he was no bigger than Two Up and there was a possibility that we may lose him, the change is phenomenal. He is even bigger than Baccarat now and is doing incredibly well. I will give it a little while and assess him a bit later because if he does continue along these lines, there will be no reason at all why he can not have a new family of his own. As for Two Up..............she is a monkey, there is no doubt about it. Despite her size, this girl has a climbing ability like you wouldn't believe. Remember me saying that she continues to climb the wire frame door between the hallway and Graham's room? Well she still does this, except she can now get up there even faster than before and we are at that stage now where she swings from the top of the wire, having the time of her life, and I actually open the door, go in and out of Graham's room, while she is still swinging on it. I know now that when she wants to get down, she will climb down equally as quickly as she climbed up. She is a very stubborn little minx though and while I try to put the Aureomycin ointment in her eyes, she fights me like a banshee because if she doesn't want to do something, then as far as she is concerned, she doesn't do it, that simple! At some point in time I guess, I am going to have to think of another name for her because with her size and her lack of progress, we have no plans for her to go anywhere at all. She will no doubt remain a tiny fur member of our family for the rest of her life, so let's just hope some of her stubbornness vanishes before she gets too much older as we already have enough headstrong cats in our home as it is! This brings us to Roulette. Oh how I adore this little tortie minx. She reminds me so very much of her mum, in looks and in temperament and I reckon if Teen were to turn around to me and say she had changed her mind, then I would not be bothered at all and Roulette would stay here. Provided of course I could win a battle with Graham over this matter :) As it stands though, Roulette will fit beautifully into Teen and Tone's home and will have the time of her life annoying and playing with Tabby. It's difficult to explain about Roulette's temperament because she is a typical Tortie and unless you have shared your home with an Oriental Tortoiseshell, then you will never fully understand just how special the Torties are. She is still a very naughty little minx, she is still a liar, she is still vain, but boy does she have a right to be vain! She's a stunner, all of the Gamblers are. Yes I know I am extremely bias but they are beautiful babies :) Today's photos are just "sleepy" photos sorry as by the time I finished all the floors etc, the babies were asleep and I was feeling rather tired because we barely got any sleep last night due to Ashanti and Frangelico playing pounce and chase in the bedroom between the hours of 1am and 6am and it was non stop and guess who the pounce victims were...............................US!

Day 93 - December 19, 2006

Note for all kitten families: Now that our babies have had their first set of vaccinations, I can give you a definite date when they can leave us. Their 2nd set of vaccinations will be administered on January 9, 2007, which means that the Gamblers can leave home from January 13, 2007 onwards. There are still no photos in either of today's kitten diaries as today was "Vaccination Day" and with 9 kittens to be vaccinated, as you can imagine, it's lot of fun and games trying to get organised.

I am totally delighted to say that all 5 of our Gamblers have normal heartbeats, their temperatures are spot on, and they all appear to be doing extremely well. So much so, that all 5 babies had their first set of vaccinations administered today, even Two Up and Blackjack which I am thrilled to bits about. Each day with my little Two Up is a blessing, and a bonus, and the fact that she was able to be vaccinated just like her bigger brothers and sisters does fill me with optimism. Out of all of the babies, Blackjack was the "wriggliest" when it came to temperature and vaccination time, although on the whole, I am really proud of our Gamblers as they were not particularly bothered at all about being examined and having a horrid needle stuck in them. I was very surprised that Roulette took it as well as she did, because being a Tortie, I was expecting trouble, but she was a little angel bless her. After she had been done, she then sat upright in the carrier, watching everything that Claire did while the rest of the gang were being done. Vaccination time is always quite worrying, but even more so when the babies are quite fine boned and slender. We did come away with some Aureomycin as the Gambler's eyes are a little bit crusty but this should clear up fairly quickly with the eye ointment and is not something that I am overly concerned about. When I look back to 6 weeks or so ago, the fact that we have now made it this far and first jabs have been done really makes me marvel at Mother Nature when you consider that we've had to fight pretty darn hard for some of these babies and they are just all doing so incredibly well now :) When the babies came home, they had their favourite lunch of freshly cooked chicken and some Hi Life kitten pouches and they have been asleep ever since which is perfectly normal after a visit to the vets. Just like the Trotters, they will be monitored for the next 48 hours but I am not anticipating any problems as a result of the vaccines.

Day 92 - December 18, 2006

Both diary entries are exactly the same today.

Many apologies for not really getting an entry online today. It has been one of those days, so much so, that I cancelled the vet appointment but I'm hoping to get there tomorrow instead. I don't seem to have had a spare moment to get another done apart from cooking for the babies/cats and cleaning. It didn't help that I didn't sleep particularly well the night before, aided by Franjelico and Ashanti, both of whom think it is tremendous fun to use me as a springboard at ridiculous hours of the morning while they play their games of chase around the bedroom. I am hoping tomorrow will be a much more normal day and we can have an entry with actual photos.

Day 91 - December 17, 2006

Well it's 1017, the floors are all done, the litter trays are done and I'm just waiting on Lynda, Andrew and Robin to arrive as they are visiting their fur child, Baccarat this morning. Robin hasn't met Baccarat yet so I will be very keen to see what he thinks of her. It's hard to believe our Gamblers are 13 weeks of age now, particularly when I compare them to the Trotters who are rather massive babies indeed. Mind you, Drambuie doesn't give us particularly large babies, although once her kids are about 1 year old, they seem to turn into monsters so I will be interested to see the size of these babies when they are around one year of age. At the moment, all of our Gamblers are sound asleep, they had their breakfast, had a few games, and then all snuggled up for a cat nap. Again, I have the front door wide open, as well as the window to the cat run and even though the sun is shining (for once!), it's very brisk, at least that is what Graham would call it, to me, it's absolutely freezing. I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to write in today's entry, mainly because I am feeling tired today