We are 5 weeks old now!

Day 34 - October 21, 2006

There really is no entry or photos at all in any of today's kitten diaries because this morning, 2 of our older babies, Frosticles and Shreddies left us to live with their lovely new family. Then this afternoon, we drove to Kent to pick up our own new kitten which is really exciting for us so it was a rather hectic day.

Day 33 - October 20, 2006

Today's entries are not very long, but at least I managed to include some photos. The reason that the entries are short is because 2 of my older darlings are leaving me tomorrow to move in with their lovely new family which means I have an awful lot of paperwork to prepare between now and tomorrow morning and I've not even started it yet!

It was very difficult to try to take photos of our Gamblers today because no matter where I moved in the room, the babies followed me and I honestly could not move quick enough to be in a position to take a decent photo. The problem I find with Oriental, particularly Blacks, is that they zoom about so incredibly fast. I do think though that within the next couple of days, I may have to look at giving them access to the rest of the upstairs, as well as the stairs. Despite their size (remembering that Baccarat, Two Up and Boule are still very tiny), they are more than ready to go exploring as is proven by the way they tear about their own kitten room, climbing on everything that they can. Should we ever actually find the "right" homes for the Gamblers (not counting Roulette who is spoken for), then I think their new kitten families must be made to understand that these children are going to be very active, and very mischievous indeed :)

Day 32 - October 19, 2006

Baccarat and Two Up are the first babies to have escaped from the kitten room. This morning, I had the door open so that I could hoover the room, and while it was open, along trotted our girls, had a sniff of the hoover and then realised it was the same thing they saw every sing morning, spotted the open door and out they ran. To be honest with you, I just left them to it and let them go for a little wander because it wouldn't have done them any harm and that meant there were 2 less babies in the room that I had to hoover around. Every morning, we go through the same thing, I have to either hoover around the babies, or pick them up and move them out of the way because they will not move at all. This morning I nearly sucked up Roulette's tail with the hoover! I had visions of her head sticking out of the end of the hose and I am not sure how I would have explained that one to Tina. I thought this morning that they must have made a mess in their bed because none of the babies have slept in their bed all day. Instead they have been sleeping by the door, or in the middle of the floor but when I check the bed, it was clean and dry, and I am starting to gather that it is not a favourite sleeping place for the kids.

Day 31 - October 18, 2006

Today, every time I start something, I am constantly getting interrupted and I did have my doubts as to whether or not I would get any photos in the kitten diaries. In the end, I came to the conclusion that it's better to have just a few photos than none at all so that will be my aim for the next few weeks, to ensure that each entry has at least 4 photos.

I am rather pleased to say that at just over 4 weeks of age, our Gamblers have stopped wee'ing in their bed and now use it as a bed to sleep in :) Their small litter tray is now getting an awful lot of use which is a bit of a relief because hopefully this means I can cut down on the washing a little. Weaning is still going relatively well and the majority of the time, all 6 babies will eat from the plate, not always at every meal because quite often, the babies are more interested in playing with me and chatting to me, than the are in eating which is all very nice, but eating is more important at the moment. The only 2 babies who are totally thrilled with food, regardless of what it is, are Boule and Baccarat (as you can see by a couple of the photos below). Their current diet at the moment consists of either fish with evaporated milk and yoghurt with a bit of Hi Life mixed in with it, or home cooked mince, again with some yoghurt and a bit of Hi Life or Natures Menu mixed in. At the moment I'm trying to keep their food relatively bland and am trying not to give their digestive systems too much variety too quickly as they are still quite young.

Day 30 - October 17, 2006

I finally have my kitten room back now. The barriers are down and the kitten bedding is back neatly in the ottoman at long last! The Gamblers are much happier about this because now they have the entire room which is how it should be. This is a really rushed entry as we were caught up today doing something rather time consuming and already it's 5pm and I'm only just beginning the diaries! But to make up for it, I have put individual photos for our Cereals which I haven't done for a while actually. And big thank you to Teen for telling me I called the Gamblers, the Cereals <sigh> So I have just amended this now, hopefully before too many other people noticed :)

Day 29 - October 16, 2006

At long last I am finally getting around to letting you all know the definite sexes of our Black fur children. I had a look yesterday while Tina and Val were here, and they both agree with me (we can't all be wrong!) that Blackjack is a male, Boule, Baccarat, and Two Up are all female. It was really lovely yesterday to be able to introduce Roulette to Teen, Val and Tone and I think they are as delighted with her as I am :) It's always incredibly scary letting a baby girl go to another breeders' home, even when that breeder is a wonderful friend and mentor because at the back of your mind you are constantly thinking, will she be good enough. Mind you, it is just as well that she will be living with Maroochydore Siamese because had that not been the case, I would have very strongly considered keeping her here myself for our own breeding program. All of our Gamblers had some lovely cuddles with Teen and Val and they totally loved all the extra attention. They are, however, "little buggers" as Tony puts it because they are such active, naughty, talkative little children and when they are awake, they are on the go constantly. Fortunately, Drambuie is such an experienced mother, she doesn't let her babies stress her out too much when they are at their most chaotic. It really was fantastic to spend time with our friends yesterday and I do hope they enjoyed their visit as much as we did. Although I will probably be forever apologising to poor Tone because my magic tape measure no longer works and I caused him quite a lot of problems yesterday. It is just as well he is very patient :)

Day 28 - October 15, 2006

Again, I am so sorry but there is no actual entry for today. We have had some of our kitten families visiting today, and have actually spend the whole day just chilling out with friends and showing off the babies. I've not even been on the computer other than very briefly earlier on this morning when I quickly downloaded emails but that is as far as it went. Tomorrow, all going well, all of our diary entries should be back to normal.