Day 27 - June 16, 2007

There is no entry today as it's been quite a busy day and I've not had the time to write anything sorry.

Day 26 - June 15, 2007

At last we are making weaning progress! At 11pm last night, London, Dublin, and Port-of-Spain were eating Hills a/d from my fingers. Canberra and Washington were eating from the small plate. London and Port-of-Spain also got the hang of eating from the plate so we are getting there. It's slow process but they are still quite young. London was the keenest of all babies with the a/d. She absolutely loved it and at one point, I didn't actually think she would stop eating or leave any for anyone else. I'm pleased about this because as I've said, she and Dublin are the smallest of the 2 babies but if London keeps eating like that, she will soon leave Dublin behind in the weight department. I had to laugh at the Capitals last night. It was around 8pm and I was doing the litter trays for the final time (apart from scooping), and when it's this time of night, I also run the swivel sweeper over the floor in the kitten room. Even though the kitten room is hoovered every day, by the time evening comes around, there is a much mess in there as there was before I first hoovered. Rather than drag the hoover all the way back upstairs at that time of night, I cheap and use this wonderful gadget called a swivel sweeper. It is battery operated and picks up everything and works on all floor surfaces. The one that we keep upstairs also has a light on it. So I'm zooming around the floor with the sweeper and Dublin, Port-of-Spain, and London are all fascinated by it. They run towards it as soon as I start it, and then they chase it around the room with great delight. I don't know if it's the noise it makes or if it's the light on it, but they absolutely love it. I spend more time trying to avoid sucking up little toes and tails than I do actually cleaning up. It's so incredibly entertaining and what should be a quick 10 minute job takes about 20 minutes due to the fact that I can't stop laughing long enough to clean :)

Day 25 - June 14, 2007

Yes I know diaries are online very late today, but it's been one of those days where I just don't seem to be able to find the time to sit down and do entries. Even now, I have just finished the other 2 diaries, it's 1704, and I'm looking out the window wondering whether or not I have time this afternoon to quickly mow the back yard, as well as get the ironing done, all before dinner. Our Capitals are doing well. Weight gains could probably be more for London and Dublin, but it's not a major concern. They are flat out refusing to eat, although they will both lick some a/d from my fingers, but in all honesty, that's only because I don't give them a choice in the matter :) Our other 3 Capitals are doing fine in the weight department, particularly Washington who really is a little porker bless him. He's starting to pass Canberra much more now than he was a week ago, but this is because he is much lazier than Canberra. Every time the babies are awake, I look at her and she is climbing something (or trying to bless her), or she is wrestling with the much bigger babies. Dublin and London are constantly out of bed and running around and when they are awake, they don't often stand still so they really do need to start getting some solid food into them. This is why I'm persisting with the a/d at the moment, and I will win, whether they like it or not :)

Day 24 - June 13, 2007

It's just as well that there were individual photos of our Capitals yesterday because today's photos are totally and utterly crap. By the time I had done everyone else's photos, I just didn't have the energy to take any more so what is below is the best of an extremely bad bunch and if you think these ones are bad, you should have seen the ones that have now been deleted! Every time I go into the kitten room now, the Capitals are in a different place. For example, last night I found them under the chair where Buie had been feeding them. First thing this morning they were in their posh box, a few hours later they were right behind the door. I never know where they are going to be at any given time. They are very ungrateful little children too because yesterday I used 12 eggs to make some scrambled eggs for the mummies and the babies, but particularly the Capitals as I am still enticing them to eat, and not a single baby would touch it! Everyone else loved it, the mum's tucked in, but not the Capitals, they just didn't want to know. So today I have ordered yet another case of Hills a/d and as soon as that arrives, weaning will begin in earnest!

Day 23 - June 12, 2007

Before I begin this entry I would like to thank all of you who were so incredibly kind and caring enough to send an email regarding our loss of Edinburgh. I was amazed at the amount of people who have expressed their condolences and I will just say that I found your words very comforting and thank you for taking the time to contact us.

I found it very difficult yesterday, and even last night, not to be doing the 2 hourly feedings. I would find myself watching the clock, waiting for the next feed before realising that there is no one left to feed now. I have made a effort, well a half hearted effort, to entice our Capitals to eat some real grown up food. Canberra and Washington have more interest in food than the others and Washing does eat from the tray when he's in the mood. Canberra will eat from my fingers but doesn't quite grasp that she if she's in front of the tray she needs to put her head down to where the food is. She'll get there eventually. Dublin, London, and Port-of-Spain aren't really that interested yet and the most they will do is have a few sniffs of the food before turning away in disgust because it's not mum's milk. I'm not fussed though as they are only 23 days old and their weights are fine. I know, when they are ready, they will eat. Speaking of weights though, there is such a very big difference between our smallest babies and our largest babies and I've put their 3 week weight gain below.

Baby	Sex	Weight 3 Gain
Dublin	Female	48 grams
London	Female	44 grams
Washington	Male	67 grams
Port-of-Spain	Female	67 grams
Canberra	Female	77 grams

 

Washington and Canberra are both extremely big babies, bruisers really. Then at the other end of the scale are our two very petite children, London, and our own Dublin, both such very fine boned fur children. In between is Port-of-Spain, but again she is much more fine boned that her massive brother and sister. It never fails to amaze me how an entire litter can have such varying weights and builds. Today I managed to take individual photos of our babies, much to their total and utter horror. They were not impressed at all with the photo session but we got there in the end.

Day 22 - June 11, 2007

At 1830 last night, I fed Edinburgh her last meal. It was a difficult weekend for Edinburgh because despite the fact that she had started to eat solids from my fingers, the weight had been dropping off her and her energy levels were becoming extremely low. On Saturday evening I had said to Graham that she only has a few days left at most, but even I didn't think she would leave as rapidly as she did. When I fed her at 1830 last night, she had no more than maybe a quarter of a teaspoon of food, if that, and she looked up at me and I knew then it was time to stop. I sat there with her in my hands, such a frail little body, and we looked at each other, she had such beautiful eyes. She had given up and no longer wanted to fight, she wanted me to let her go and I think, she only actually ate that little bit of food, just to please me. We sat there for such a long time just looking, and enjoying some precious time together. She was so very tired so all I could do was stroke her gently and tell her it was okay and that I understood she had somewhere else to be now. I placed her in the box with her mum and all her brothers and sisters. She crawled away from them a little, towards the back of the box and I sat on the floor and just watched, and sometimes touched her to let her know I was still there. Drambuie, Sambuca, and Cointreau were not going to give up their baby, they went to her and groomed her, and touched her. She could barely respond to them, occasionally, she would try to raise her head, but even that took an awful lot out of her. I know Buie was feeling the same overwhelming grief that I was because I saw it in her eyes. I left the room, and came back a short while later, Drambuie had picked up her baby, moved her towards the front of the box, and lay down with her, holding her, not going near any of her other children. They knew something was wrong, they were so very quiet and just lay there looking, not playing, not talking, just watching. At 0121, Edinburgh left for Rainbow Bridge, breaking my heart, and her mother's. It was all I could do to remove her body from Drambuie because even in death, Buie still wanted her child with her. I had to pick up Buie, to take Edinburgh from her and I wrapped her little body up, placed her gently in her little box and I will bury her today. I picked Drambuie up and we had cuddles while we looked at each other and shared our pain. Giving up any fur child is so bloody hard, for everyone involved. Edinburgh went downhill so very rapidly. I do find some small comfort in something though, even though her life was not particularly long, Edinburgh had a human mummy who would have walked to the moon and back to find a "miracle cure", she had the love of not one, but three feline mummies, Drambuie, Sambuca and Cointreau all adored her, they knew she was a bit special, and each of them looked after her. She had 10 "brothers and sisters" who were so very gentle with her, even when they were playing like hooligans, they would not pounce on Edinburgh, not once were they were rough with her, like their mum's, they also knew how special this little child was. That is a hell of a lot of love that our baby took with her to Rainbow Bridge, more I guess than some fur kids will ever have. And now, we are left with the pain and the heartbreak, and the tears that just don't seem to go away, but little Edinburgh is at peace and happily playing over the Bridge. I am grateful to my husband, Graham, for his support and understanding during the early hours of this morning.

Day 21 - June 10, 2007

These are quite short entries today with no photos but hopefully tomorrow, things will resume as per normal.

Washington's new mummy, Diana, came to visit him today and it was great to see Diana again and we had such fun in the kitten room watching some of the The Tails of Hans Christian Anderson play chase and pounce. I thoroughly enjoyed today's visit, and thank you so much for the wine. Canberra decided to show us how fearless she was by walking/wobbling all around the room, trying really hard to make her limbs work in coordination so that she could get to where she was going. Washington showed his new mum just how noisy he could be and he did spend a lot of Diana's visit screaming for food. He did allow himself to be cuddled by mum, but still protested the entire time about how starving he was. He also walked/fell about the room, still protesting but he was a very good boy and showed his mum that he is a big boy now and can eat from the tray of food all by himself. Now that they are 3 weeks of age, our Capitals have become very entertaining, especially when they try to explore, go up and down the ramp (or more accurately, fall up and down the ramp), and they now groom themselves, each other, as well as try to have games. I think Diana and I could have stayed in the kitten room for hours just watching the babies. Washington will have the time of his life when he is with his new mum and the rest of the fur gang who also share their home with Diana and yet again, we feel so lucky to have found such an amazing home for one of our babies. It will be interesting to see how much her food bills go up once he moves in with her :) He certainly does have a very good appetite bless him.