Day 69 - November 25, 2006

There is no diary entry today as we have not been here for the majority of the day. Instead, we visited the biggest GCCF cat show in the country, The Supreme. We've not even been to the Supreme before as we were always too far away but now that we have moved it is much closer and easier to get to. Champion Schimmel Sun Chaser and Schimmel Mazpahs Castana had an enjoyable day out with pleasing results.

Day 68 - November 24, 2006

As each day passes, the Gamblers become more and more mischievous, and more and more active. During the evening, all you can hear is little Gamblers chasing each other up and down the stairs half the night. I'm actually relieved we have stair carpet which we didn't have in the old house, because the noise would probably be horrendous otherwise. It appears that Drambuie is considering coming back into call again although I am desperately hoping that she isn't. For hours this morning she has been wandering around and around like a nomad, with a stuffed toy in her mouth, crying, and totally ignoring her children who think their mother has lost the plot. One thing about our Gamblers is that even at this stage, they are still not eating any kitten biscuits, at least not that I have noticed. It's such a big difference between them and the Trotters in the respect that the biscuit bowl in the Trotters room has to be re-filled every single day, whereas the Gamblers biscuit bowl never seems to get emptied. So one thing I must look at doing is starting to encourage them to eat more of the biscuits but the only

I have just been informed by Bev of Fenview Cattery that I left today's diary entry in mid sentence and when I went to look, sure enough, Bev was right :) Goodness only knows what I was thinking at the time. Now what I was about to say was.............. So one thing I must look at doing is starting to encourage them to eat more of the biscuits but the only problem with this is that unlike all of our other babies, because of Two Up and Blackjack, as soon as the babies are hungry, they get fed their cooked/wet meal. So they don't even think that they should be eating the biscuits because I feed them the minute they want food. What I should really be doing is waiting just a little bit, not feed them straight away, and see if anyone bothers to try the biscuits. I know for a fact that this does actually work because I've done it in the past. I just don't know if I want to risk trying this with our 2 tiny babies being so small. I have visions of them starving because they won't know to eat the biscuits so I'm not sure what to do actually and will ponder this dilemma for the next day or two I think. Thanks Bev for letting me know about the diary. Proof yet again that I should be committed!

Day 67 - November 23, 2006

Just like with the Burps, I will really make an effort to take photos of the babies when they are awake and playing. I know I have had a lot "sleeping" photos lately, and that really is down to lack of time and possibly laziness on my part. When they children are tearing around, it really is a lot of hard work to take decent photos of them at play and I can quite literally stand there for an hour waiting to get a good photo, so I've been cheating and catching them when they are asleep instead as it does tend to make life a bit easier :) Graham said to me yesterday, having looked at Two Up and Blackjack that he felt they were changing, and possibly getting a bit bigger i.e. taller. Someone mentioned to me today that she felt Blackjack wasn't actually really that far behind the others, so maybe the people who are not as close to them as I are, actually can see changes that I can't. I'll be honest, to me they look exactly the same, they certainly still have much less fur growth as you can tell by their photos. But.......if they are growing, then maybe we have a chance after all. All 5 Gamblers are definitely getting prettier each day I think. I would be hard pushed to actually choose which Gambler was the most beautiful. Although obviously, to their new mummies, "their baby" is definitely the most gorgeous :)

Day 66 - November 22, 2006

Entries are not particularly long today and there also isn't much in the way of photos. It is hectic today as we've been in and out and there is quite a lot going on.

The Gamblers have barely slept today as they have so far spent the entire day either eating, or tearing around in Graham's room like absolute lunatics. I really do not know where they get their energy from and I certainly can't keep up with them. All 5 of them have been in and out of absolutely everything in the room. Not a single item of furniture has been safe. It is always really lovely though to see the babies playing and having such fun.

Day 65 - November 21, 2006

Just like the Burps' diary, the Gamblers had no interest at all in waking up for to have their photos taken, and I honestly didn't have the heart to disturb them so I'm afraid we will all have to just put up with "sleepy" photos today :) I can't say I blame though as it's freezing today! Although, they are not cold as they are in Graham's room with the fire going, whereas I'm sitting here right next to the open window that leads into the cat run. At the moment, I must be honest and say it is a bit of a struggle to write an "upbeat" diary entry because I'm so incredibly worried about our two little angels and am desperately seeking answers, or a miracle cure, but I do understand that these options are unlikely. So I have to be very careful with what I write or this will turn into such a morbid diary which defeats the purpose. As the saying goes "Where there is life there is hope" and I am very grateful to all our friends on Siamese Cat Chat who are praying for our two angels. Their prayers and good wishes are greatly appreciated. Onto something different and happier, and I will be a little smug here if I may? I am thrilled to bits that Drambuie has "done it again" and every single one of our Gamblers are absolutely stunning babies, who would all do extremely well on the show bench. The main aim behind breeding is temperament and health, but when you can throw in a bit of show quality as well, you can end up very lucky indeed :) You will of course notice how beautiful the babies look in their sleepy photos, and they also look as if butter wouldn't melt. If only you knew what they are like when they are awake. They honestly can be little buggers. They spent half the night last night creating havoc upstairs as they tore around the place, and then this morning, at breakfast time, as I was trying to bring them down into Graham's room to give them their breakfast, they kept running out as soon as the door was opened so they could play with the big kids. Their families are going to have fun and games with them when they eventually leave us. I think the only family who truly knows what to expect is Teen, because not only does she already share her home with a Schimmel minx, Teen is also a tortie and red series specialist and she knows exactly what they are like :)

Day 64 - November 20, 2006

This afternoon, our darling Gamblers had their first visit to the vets. The reason for the visit is that they are now 9 weeks old as you know, and even though we should be looking at having them vaccinated, I had told Jo about the problems with them last time I was at the vets (I seem to spend half my life there these days!) and we knew that we wouldn't actually be vaccinating them today but they would all be examined etc. We still don't know any answers to the problems with Two Up and Blackjack, however we have now had various swabs done, and when they are a month older, provided that they are a bit bigger (those two are currently the size of 6 week old babies whereas the other three are normal size for this age), we will then look at having blood tests done as well. At the moment, they are both way too tiny for blood tests and even though there is no guarantee the bloods will show anything untoward, at least it may rule out some other things. Both their tummies are solid, but not filled with any fluid at all which is a good sign. We are back to playing the waiting game unfortunately though. We have also made plans to have Poker, Roulette, and Blackjack vaccinated in 2 weeks' time which is what we had originally been looking at. I am really tired, it was a long vet appointment, and as you can imagine, the worry about Two Up and Blackjack is just immense at the moment and they are constantly on my mind. I can say that the babies were beautifully behaved in the car on the journey and I did make sure I spoke with them the entire journey, chatting about nonsensical things to ensure they stayed calm and they were as good as gold. Not a single cry at all. I have no doubts though that everyone who passed us on the A34 and glanced over, will probably now just assume I was a crazy lady babbling away to myself as I drove because obviously you couldn't see the babies in their carrier on the back seat. Just a mad woman at the wheel chatting away to herself :)

Day 63 - November 19, 2006

It's been a real struggle to get any form of kitten diary online this weekend as it's just been one thing after another and I have not had a spare moment.

At 9 weeks of age, I am feeling rather depressed that we are getting absolutely nowhere at all with Two Up and Blackjack. The more they remain like this, the less likely it is looking that things will actually turn around for them. It is entirely possible that there is definitely something not right internally, which is something Teen and I have discussed, but I think up until now I have refused to believe that they won't make it. Even now though, I am not going to give up hope and we will see what happens. All 5 of the Gamblers seem to get naughtier and naughtier each day, in the way that only Oriental babies can be. They still have tremendous appetites and they are all bundles of energy. I am hoping (time permitting) that I will be able to make the transition with the babies so that they can spend all day in my room instead of being in Graham's room. Even though Roulette, Poker, and Baccarat almost certainly won't be ready to leave us until January 10th, I still want them to start mixing with our adult cats and other kittens much more regularly.