Both Sambuca and Tia Maria's kitten diaries are the same today and there are no photos because I actually took a "day off" yesterday and didn't have my computer on and so obviously did not upload a diary entry. It was actually the first time I think since Amaretto's litter was born that I've done nothing for most of the day and we had family around for a meal so it was very relaxing and really nice. Obviously, I was still going upstairs every 2-3 hours to feed little Mars who is doing okay at the moment. First thing this morning he weighed 116 grams which is quite good as 24 hours prior to that he weighed 109 grams so the gains are definitely there. Everyone else is doing really well and Neptune who was our 2nd smallest baby hasn't been topped up for a few days now and is doing great and gaining each day. Tomorrow's diary will be back to normal however it probably won't go online until later in the afternoon as I have quite a lot to catch up with up.

The entry isn't particularly long and is quite late as most of my morning was spent up in the kitten room sorting everything out and moving a few things for the babies. Our Planets now have a lovely new home and they were rather pleased to say the least. As soon as they were put on the floor, they were running around all over the place and really enjoying their newfound freedom. While the big move went on, I had to put Sambuca out of the room altogether because she is still quite restless and I don't think she would have coped very well with me moving the babies whereas Tia Maria is a much more experienced mum and was perfectly fine with it all. When I brought Sambuca back into the room after I had moved the babies, the first thing she did was go around and count each baby and make sure that they were all still there. All of the Planets weights are going along quite nicely except for little Mars obviously who is still being topped up but the gains are very slow indeed. However he isn' t losing any weight and is moving around quite which is a good sign.

I am pleased to say that Neptune has come along in leaps and bounds. He is the 2nd tiny baby that we have also been topping up and during the last 2 days, he's made really good progress and now is actually only 30 grams behind the next size baby which is fantastic. Unfortunately, Mars is still a very long way off catching up with the rest of the Planets. He certainly is a little fighter though and when it's feeding time, he's right in there with the rest of them looking for a nipple so I'm still quite hopeful for him. The hand feeding is still continuing at the moment but the problem is that Mars doesn't like the taste any more of the mixture. He only has a little bit and then won't have any more. So as soon as he's been fed, I put him straight onto Tia Maria or Sambuca where he starts feeding straight away. While ever he is feeding from the mum's, it's a positive sign that he's going in the right direction. I just desperately need to get some more weight on him. Everyone else is doing very well and even Neptune and Mars try to "play" with everyone else which is lovely. The Planets now try to imitate the Musketeers who are very active and it's not unusual to see a Musketeer running across the sofa with a Planet scrambling along behind, trying to keep up. Sambuca is causing a slight problem at the moment as well as she is so very restless and she is leaving a lot of the care and upkeep of her babies to Tia Maria. Then when Tia is feeding the babies, Sambuca walks right up to her and sits down as close to Tia as she can possibly get, at times, sitting on the babies that Tia is feeding. I'm hoping she is only like this when I am in the room because when I enter, Sambuca wants lots of attention (which is very natural) however this is at the expense of her babies. It's for this reason that I'm still not spending as much time with the babies as I normally would because I don't want Sambuca up and down like a yo yo, I want her feeding her babies and relaxed.

Today I actually have some good news to report just for once. Our 2 smallest Black Planets made better weight gains in the last 24 hours than they have since they were born. Both of them gained over 5 grams which I am sure to a lot of you sounds minimal but when you look at how small they actually are at this stage of their lives and what their previous gains were then let me assure you anything over 5 grams is wonderful news. At the moment, I'm topping up the babies 4 times a day, morning, lunch, dinner and then just before I go to bed. One thing I noticed yesterday was that a couple of times when I went into the kitten room, I was quick enough to see Sambuca jumping down from the sofa where Tia and her babies are and I'm wondering if she feels more comfortable up there. If so, then I need to decide whether or not it's worth putting Sami and her 4 babies are the other end of the sofa. But then if I do, my 2 smallest Blacks may be accidentally squashed by the fat lumps otherwise known as the Three Musketeers. I think the best thing to do at the moment is to leave them in the box, and if weight gains are still improving then Sambuca is obviously spending enough time in the box with them to feed them. Also I guess that if she really wanted her babies on the sofa, she would move them there herself. Oh dear, having re-read that, it would appear that I must be the most indecisive breeder in the world :) Put it down to anxiety and tiredness please and anyway, I know that Kim will be reading this at some point today and if she has an opinion, then she'll email me straight away to give me some advice but it does appear that Sami is definitely more comfortable on the sofa than in the bed. One thing I must tell you is that I'm starting to feel very sorry for poor Jupiter (he is the baby that Tia is fostering still). When I was in the room this morning feeding the little Blacks, he was sound asleep but Tia's babies were awake and D'Artagnan walked over to Jupiter and started biting him on the ears to wake him up. The poor little guy had been sound asleep and was most unimpressed with being woken so rudely. I rescued him by picking him up and giving him to Tia to feed.

I'm not actually even sure what to write in today's entry because yesterday afternoon at 5pm, I buried Mercury. She was the little Siamese girl of Sami's that Tia was fostering. She had seemed perfectly fine and then yesterday afternoon, she deteriorated right before my eyes and had gone to Rainbow Bridge in a matter of hours. It was devastating and totally shocked me because her death was very unexpected and very swift. Losing both Mercury and Pluto within the space of 4 days has suddenly made me feel very tired and very old. Our 5 remaining Planets, all Oriental Blacks, appear to be okay and doing what they should be doing at this age of their lives however as I learnt yesterday, appearances can be deceiving and they will all be monitored extremely closely for any signs of something not being right. I haven't taken any photos yet today but I may put some online much later in the afternoon depending on how I'm feeling. I'm sure you can appreciate that right now is a very sad time for us.

Today's photos are not great either as the little darlings decided to curl up right at the far end of the box in the dark so yet again, they do look like blobs.

These last 2 weeks have been so very tiring and I can't believe that our Planets are now 2 weeks old and hopefully from here on in, things will go a bit better than they have so far. All of our little ones are trying to walk around all over the place now, particularly Mars and Saturn and they have all reached that stage where they now groom themselves which is so funny to watch because they get in the oddest of positions when they do this. Like yesterday, I'm still trying to learn which baby is which and so far, I now can pick out Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and Saturn by sight. Mars because he's the smallest, Saturn is the largest, Jupiter is with Tia and Mercury is our only Siamese. I just need to work on Venus and Neptune now and then I'll have it all sorted. Our Planets are doing quite well despite everything and their weight gains are acceptable still which I'm pleased about it. Unfortunately, Sambuca has gotten back into the habit of jumping out of the box as soon as I enter the room which means that I'm trying not to go up there too often because I want her to just concentrate on feeding them all as opposed to being in and out of the box constantly. This is very difficult as I love going up to the kitten room to visit the babies lots of times throughout the day but I'm going to have to stop that as it isn't doing the Planets any good at all if their feeds are continually being interrupted.