Day 130 - January 25, 2007

Sadly, this is it. We have come to the final entry in our Gamblers' Kitten Diary. Today, our beautiful Roulette is leaving us to go and share her home with the rest of the Maroochydore gang. I know Tone and Teen have been waiting for this day for a long time and even now I remember Teen's reaction when I said to her "We have a Tortie, she's yours if you want her?" Okay, not the "normal" way of finding homes for babies, but that's the way Teen and I do it :) The other way is to just sneak them in through the door without letting Tone know and hope he doesn't notice yet another addition to his home ;) I am going to miss this darling girl so very much. Torties are my great love, my favourite of all the Oriental colours, and Roulette is just the spitting image of her mother. Giving her up was not as difficult as I thought it would be in the respect that I took Roulette over to Teen and Tone's, as it was a lovely excuse to also see darling Tabbi. As well as that though, I will be fortunate that we'll be able to see Roulette, both at Teen's home, as well as at shows. Not only will Roulette have the beautiful Maroochydore cats to keep her company, she will also be able to play her mad games with Schimmel Wirruna and between the two of them, they will no doubt turn the Maroochydore home upside down quick quickly :) Having seen Tabbi at Teen & Tone's, I know that Roulette and she will be a great match because they are both as nutty as each other. There really is no point whatsoever me telling you all what a brilliant home Roulette has gone to because if you are avid readers of our kitten diaries then you are already fully aware how highly I think of Teen, Tone and Val. To have Schimmel cats in the Maroochydore home is indeed an honour we will always be grateful for everything they have done for us, and for giving our babies the best home in the world. The last 2 photos in this final entry are not of Roulette, but instead they are of the fantastic new bunk beds that Tone very kindly made for us. The cats love them. Tony is a genius :)

Right, I guess we have come to the end and I honestly do not know what to type. If you have followed this diary right from the start, you are very aware the Gamblers' have been a difficult litter. We were hand feeding 2 hourly, we did vet visits, we worried ourselves sick, babies went up and down, and then that devastating day came when we lost our beloved Boule. I will never forget those long, and last hours with her on my lap while she crossed over the Bridge. Her loss broke our hearts and I remember now how kind people were, friends, members of Siamese Cat Chat, even strangers, and I do think all those emails and messages helped me through such a dark time. We had such worrying times with our Black fur children, in particular Nocello, but by the grace of God, our babies all pulled through and all bar Nocello, they are now in new homes. Even Nocello is progressing in leaps and bounds. She has a long way to go, but bless her, she is getting there and she is a wonderful addition to our family. I think what made the problems with the Gamblers even more difficult was the respect that the Burps had been such an easy litter and then when the Gambler's came along, although the problems were nothing I hadn't encountered before, after such a trouble free litter with the Burps, the situation with the Gamblers really did get me down. I remember now, being so darn tired all of the time due to the hand feeding and the worrying, and there have certainly been times where I wondered if we would ever get there, but we did, thanks to all the prayers, and the courage of our Black Gamblers. It really is such a very bittersweet ending because I am thrilled to bits that Blackjack turned the corner, and that Two Up turned the corner, but to this day, I will never understand why Boule didn't. Our Gamblers are all in superb homes and we sometimes feel like the luckiest breeders in the world to find such special homes for our babies. Any decent breeder's biggest worry is whether or not they made the right choice, but yet again, we feel very confident that our Gamblers are all in homes where they will be cherished for life, just as it should be. I guess, on this note, the first thing I should do is thank each of our kitten families. Thank you for giving such great homes to our babies, and thank you for accepting our little bundles of trouble into your families. I know they are all settling well, at least that is what you have told me :) Next, I would like to say a very, very, big thank you to each and every single one of you for your prayers, emails, and messages each time we went through such a bad patch. They all made a huge difference, believe me. Many thanks also to Jo and Claire, our fantastic vets who did such a great job with the Gamblers. On that note, the end of yet another kitten diary has arrived, but as one ends, another has started with the birth of Tia Lusso's new children.

Day 124 - January 19, 2007

Neither Blackjack nor Baccarat were content to have their photos taken on their "Special Day". Blackjack was much more interested in wrestling with his sister Roulette, whereas Baccarat just wanted cuddles. She is a nightmare to photograph because as soon as she sees the camera, she comes running over to me for cuddles. So the images you see below are the best of some rather bad photos unfortunately. As you have ascertained by now, we have just lost Blackjack and Baccarat. Lynda and Andrew came to collect their new family members this morning. All we have left now is Roulette and Nocello (Two Up). It is so difficult to see our babies leaving us one by one and you would actually think that when they go on separate days it would be easier because we still have other babies in the home, but it doesn't actually make it any easier. I am now hoping and praying that Blackjack and Baccarat will behave themselves in their new home and will play nicely with their new fur friend, Morse. Both Graham and I are positive that again, we have made the right decision regarding 2 more of our babies and that they are going to a super home. We know that Lynda, Andrew, and their son Robin, are a fantastic kitten family and our babies will be loved and safe for the rest of their lives. It will be difficult for poor Morse who has been the established cat in the home for a quite a while now and it will be a shock to his system. Hopefully the babies will not upset him and will realise that he is the top cat. I imagine there will be the standard hissing and spitting from Morse for the first few days, but once he realises that these "invaders" to his territory are not going to usurp his place in the home, everything should settle down. The kids have only been gone 10 minutes and already I'm missing them but we do feel so very lucky that they have gone to such an amazing home. The next installment to the Gambler's Kitten Diary will be within the next few days when Roulette leaves us, so please check back soon for Roulette's "Special Day" and the closing of yet another Schimmel diary.

Day 117 - January 12, 2007

Just like all our other kitten diaries, on the day that a baby leaves us, then the entry for that day is about that particular baby and the only photos are of the baby/s who are leaving. Today is Poker's "Special Day" and I tell you, the time has come way too quickly for me. He is such a bright, happy, purry, super cuddly little guy. He's one of those babies who is always in your face and always demanding attention and our home will be much quieter without him. It was difficult handing him over to Wendy tonight, even though I know Poker will be so very well looked after and loved in his new home. That never makes the leaving any easier though and Graham is quite upset at losing his "favourite" as he calls him. Wendy is a lovely lady and despite the fact that she was here to take one of our children away, it was such a pleasure to see her again, as well as Marie who is such a sweet lady, and Marie very kindly volunteered to be the Poker's "chauffeur" and drive him home :) It has actually occurred to me just now as I write this, that Poker and Wendy look alike. They are both stunning looking people, with gorgeous colouring and lovely elegant bodies, and until this point I never noticed how similar they both look, apart from the fact that Wendy is of course human and Poker is a fur child. did have a split second where I wanted to ask Wendy if she was totally sure she wanted him, actually, I think I did ask her a few times, but in the end, common sense won over and she was allowed to take her baby home. He is going to have such a wonderful life with Wendy and her family and I know he will always be treasured. Also, thank you so very much for the rather gorgeous chocolates. It's weird now, 2 of our babies have left and even though we still have everyone else here for a week or so, I'm actually feeling a huge loss and am not quite sure what to do with myself. I do not know how I am going to face the midnight feed and not have my special cuddles with Poker. In actual fact, I love him so much that I will be repeating this honeymoon this year so I can produce some more "Poker's". Now that thought has cheered me up immensely :)

Day 116 - January 11, 2007

There really is not much of an entry today and not photos I'm afraid because apart from the normal daily cleaning, I've spent the majority of the day preparing all the paperwork for our babies that are leaving tomorrow, not an easy job with Cointreau screaming in my ear the entire time as she is in full call again. This is now the start of the "manic" period, so entries will no doubt be quite short, or very late, over the next week as our babies all leave us.

The Gamblers have been very obliging and have actually spent the last 4 hours all sound asleep, leaving me alone to get the paperwork done, all apart from Nocello (Two Up) who wanted to play games and because no one would wake up, she just ran up and down the stairs and in and out of the kitten room amusing herself bless her. Mind you, judging from the mess that the babies made overnight, it's no wonder that they have been sound asleep for so long. I remember at 3am, still hearing them as they knocked things off shelves and knocked things over in the bathroom. I think that the only good aspect to Poker leaving tomorrow evening is the fact that Graham will no longer then mix up Poker and Del Boy, but apart from that, there is nothing good about him going at all.

Day 115 - January 10, 2007

They are not particularly long entries today as I seem to have spent the majority of the day scrubbing and cleaning and as a result, I am rather behind. I really do not know what Sambuca is going to do once the babies leave because she has taken on her new role of "mummy" quite seriously, so much so, that she is not even prepared to have Toussaint in the same room, despite the fact that half the babies actually belong to Toussaint. The one thing I love about the Orientals is that they are such wonderful mothers, I do sometimes think they are even better mum's than the Siamese are, although I know there are breeders out there who will disagree with me :) It can be really difficult to take photos of the Gamblers because more often than not, whichever room I find them in, they generally come running over to me and it's very difficult to take photos of babies who follow me where ever I go. The best time to take pics of them is when they are sound asleep :)

Day 114 - January 9, 2007

Apologies for lack of photos today, and both entries are exactly the same today because today was "Vet Day". In other words, 9 babies and 2 adults all had to go and visit Claire to have their vaccinations and you can imagine the fun and games this entails. 4 cat carriers, 1 for each adult, and 1 for each litter. 2 lots of bedding in each carrier, 1 daughter to help carry the carriers into the vets. All this was organised and then it was time to find (and catch) the kittens and cats. The adults, Drambuie and Cacao, were both fine, happy to get into the carriers, the babies on the other hand were a different matter. You honestly have no idea what it's like to find 9 babies and get them in the right carriers. Some of the babies were upstairs tearing around in the kitten room and the bathroom, some of the babies were downstairs snuggled in with the adults, having a snooze and the remainder of the babies were in the cat run, playing chase, climbing on the shelves, generally having the time of their lives and there was no way on earth the cat run babies were going to come inside. After standing at the window calling "Blackjack, Trigger, Del Boy, come on babies, time for a special trip" like an absolute idiot for 10 minutes, I gave up, had to go outside and enter the cat run via the door because whilst I may be tiny, I am not prepared to climb through the window into the cat run, so as I grabbed Trigger and brought him in, our daughter was bringing in Baccarat. So then it was "No, not that carrier, that is for the Trotters, she needs to go in this carrier, this is for the Gamblers". It took a good 15 minutes to retrieve all the babies and get them in the carriers. Drambuie, Cacao, and the Gamblers were wonderful, they settled down straight away and enjoyed the ride. The Trotters on the other hands were furry little monsters! Fortunately the car journey to our vets is not a long journey but the whole time, the Trotters had their little arms and legs all trying to poker through the carrier door, Racquel was even trying to stuff her paw through the the sides of the carrier via the air vents, and Rodders was prancing up and down the carrier, standing on his brothers and sister's head the entire journey. And do you think it was any better once we actually reached the vets? Not in a million years. Buie decided that this was not where she wanted to be at all so she buried herself underneath all the bedding and wouldn't come out. Cacao was sitting up in the carrier, watching everything that was going on in the waiting room because she is an experienced traveler now and not bothered by anything. The Gamblers just lay/sat down in the carrier, not a squeak from them, other than purrs, eyes open, watching what was happening. The Trotters, oh my word, they honestly are little buggers, in the waiting room, they continued to stick whatever limbs they had out of every hole they could find. Cao and Buie had their vaccinations, no problem at all, Buie wriggled as per usual, but she's always been a wriggler, Cao just didn't care. The Gamblers purred the whole way through, they purred while there was a thermometer stuck up their bottoms, they purred while they had their hearts listened to, they really were just so very well behaved. The Trotters, okay, granted, none of them bit me at all while the vaccines went in, but oh boy did they wriggle when it was temperature taking time. While one Trotter was being examined, there were paws of varying colours, all poking out through the carrier door, trying to grab me, or indeed anything they could get their paws on. Racquel had the most appalling language and didn't hesitate to swear from inside the carrier which was totally unacceptable baby. How on earth a baby so young has learnt such bad words is beyond my comprehension. An hour and a half later, everyone was brought back home, released from their "prisons", fed a meal of cooked chicken with Hi Life mixed in, and they all scampered off to play, while I put all the bedding in the kitchen to be washed/bleached, threw the vaccination cards and other bits and pieces in my cupboard, had a sip of coffee and breathed an enormous sigh of relief that it was all over. At least until Tia Lusso's babies are born and we start all over again.................................

Day 113 - January 8, 2007

As you can no doubt tell, we have missed a few entries yet again. I ended up spending the majority of the weekend on plans for something cat related and as a result, I just didn't get the chance to put an entry online. This week is also going to be extremely hectic because between the 12th and the 14th, we have 4 babies leaving us, and then the rest will be leaving the following weekend so it will be a weekend full of paperwork. Before I start the entries, I will say that I've had some more emails in from very kind people asking after Rodney, so I would like to say, rather happily, that Rodders is perfectly fine. He is back to normal and has no problems at all. It does appear that it was a minor injury and we will never know how he did it, but he is just as normal as he ever was bless him.

Poker will be the first of our babies to leave us this week as Wendy will be collecting him on Friday. I know that Graham is going to be quite sad when Poker leaves because Graham has really bonded with him and thinks he is wonderful. I must admit that I am also going to really miss Poker because he's got a really great purr and is incredibly cuddly, to say nothing of his expressive eyes which just "talk" to me all day long. At least though I will still have Baccarat, Blackjack and Roulette with me for another week as they won't be leaving until the following week. I do think though that the one who will take their leaving hardest of all will be poor Nocello because all of a sudden, her extended family of brothers and sisters are going to start disappearing one by one and she will have no one left to play with, other than Ashanti and he is now at the stage where he really is getting too large and can play too roughly for the babies and as she is still quite tiny, we have to be careful that he doesn't do any harm to her during their play sessions. It will be interesting to see, when the rest of the babies leave, whether or not she walks around the home or crying for them, or instead if she will seek comfort in one of the other mum's and just join in with the rest of the family. Either way though, it's going to be a difficult fortnight watching the babies leave us.