Schimmel Siamese & Oriental Cats are Oriental cat breeders based in Oxford, UK. We sometimes have Oriental and Siamese kittens for sale. We also have 2 Oriental Stud Cats and online kitten diaries.

It's no surprise that our Berries are so fat because they are currently eating me out of house and home! I have never seen babies under the age of 6 weeks eat like these 2 do. It doesn't matter what I put down for their mum, both babies tuck in as if they have never been fed before in their lives! Their favourite food at the moment is Whiskas Kitten/Junior and Pilchards in tomato sauce. One thing I've noticed during the last 24 hours is that the Berries do not rely on each other all of the time and it's not uncommon to see them sleeping in separate places which I am pleased about. The one thing that Jason, Mandi and myself had been a bit concerned about was the fact that as there are only 2 babies in the litter that they would become too dependant on each other which would mean splitting them up could be upsetting for them. However what I've been seeing lately makes me think that it won't be that much of a problem. Fortunately, Blackberry will have a wonderful playmate called Siam and Loganberry naturally will have all our Schimmel Fur Brats to play with.

Our Berries eviction and new house move went very smoothly for them and they are delighted with being downstairs. I was watching them last night during dinner and realised just how much I had been missing out on by having them in the kitten room for so long because they are such funny, entertaining babies and you could sit there and watch them for hours on end. Sambuca was also thrilled with the new move and at least now she can also go out into the cat run if she chooses to. Our Berries have already been at the door of the cat run and down the first step, having a sniff and taking in the fresh air which is lovely. The only thing that has been a slight issue since moving them in here with me is Sambuca's language. I can not ever remember hearing her swear as much as she has done in the last few hours. Now that the Berries are downstairs, they think that they are "grown up"kitties and no longer have to heed their mother's advice so they have both been tearing around the room, ducking in and out behind the food tubs, the wastepaper basket, climbing the scratch posts, while Sambuca is running along behind them, using the most horrific swear words I've ever heard from a cat. She's having a real problem with her babies having their independence in the back room but no matter how much she chases them or swears at them, they carry on doing their own thing and ignoring her completely. Already, Blackberry has discovered the kitchen <sigh> and as soon as Mo or I open the kitchen door, she is right there ready to step in to see what's there.

Well today is supposed to be moving day but so far I've not done anything much yet. I'm hoping that by this afternoon I will have them settled into their new home. So it's not really that much of an entry because I need to find the motivation to start to sort out the back room in preparation which means thoroughly scrubbing/cleaning it and spraying everything with disinfectant so that the Berries to move in. The problem is that this darn flu is lingering and has left me with a horrid cough and the motivation of a slug!

As you know, our Berries were going to be moved downstairs today, but having been to the vets this morning for the Dancers vaccinations, Drambuie's vaccination and Galliano and Sheridans also went to the vets, it has just put me back hours now for the day and I'm behind on everything. As a result, the house move will probably take place tomorrow when it is more of a normal day and not quite so stressful as today is. Sambuca will be very pleased to get out of the room without a doubt because she is starting to get fed up being in there and not seeing what is going on throughout the house. At least when they all come downstairs to the back room, she will be able to go outside into the cat run which will probably be a relief for her. She will also be able to see the rest of the cat family through the glass doors, just like the Berries will.

Before I start any of the entries I would like to say a big Congratulations to Caryll, owner of Premier Schimmel Chilli Tequila (Kyla) as Kyla won her 3rd PC at the Kentish show yesterday and is now a titled cat. Also many congratulations to Marcelle, owner of Schimmel Dadada Dahoops who won his first CC at the Kentish show.

Our Berries also had some visitors yesterday in the form of Jacqui, Marcelle & Jim, who were actually here to see Bolero but I just had to show off my Berries to them first. I was pleased to say that the Berries didn't mind being handled at all and were perfectly content with these new people in their room. Sambuca was also pleased to get the extra attention. Both our Berries are still doing really well and I had to laugh at Loganberry yesterday because she was running around the room, and Blackberry was sitting on the floor, grooming herself and minding her own business when Loganberry leapt straight up into the air, and landed directly on her sisters' head, much to Blackberry's surprise. After that, we had chase games all around the room until both babies got tired and curled up together to sleep.

There are no photos in any of today's diary entry as it's been a devastating morning for us due to the loss of Cute T overnight.

I have yet more exciting news about our Berries now and that is that both Loganberry and Blackberry now eat dry kitten biscuits as well as the moist/wet food from the plate that I feed to Sambuca. I am absolutely amazed at this because I have not weaned these babies at all. They learn to eat simply by watching their mum which is exactly how it should be. I sometimes think lately that I have learnt far more from this one litter, than any of our previous 11 litters. This morning, Blackberry gave me a tremendous scare as I thought I had lost her. I went into the room to give Sami her breakfast and Loganberry was rolling around on the chair having lots of fun and games playing with her imaginary friends but Blackberry was nowhere in sight! I looked under the sofa, under the chair, behind the litter tray, all to no avail. I even looked under the ottoman which was rather ridiculous as there is no way the babies could even fit under there. By this time I was really starting to panic and then I saw a movement on the chair, underneath the sheet (I keep the chair covered with a sheet as little babies can still have accidents), and sure enough, Blackberry was as snug as could be underneath the sheet. You truly do not know the relief I felt at watching this little bump crawling around under the sheet. She's just darn lucky that her fat sister didn't sit on her by mistake and squash her! I lifted the sheet up, got her out, and had to smile at the look of surprise on her face because she obviously didn't see that there was anything wrong with sleeping under the sheet instead of on top of it. Blackberry also had some wonderful cuddles today with her new family, Jason & Mandi. It was great to meet them as even though we'd been corresponding by email, I hadn't met them in person. Now that I have met them, I am convinced that Blackberry has a wonderful home waiting for her where she will be loved and spoilt rotten.

It's hard to believe that our Berries are now 5 weeks old and they are just coming along in leaps and bounds. They are still both such adorable babies who love to play games with each other and also love to interact with humans. Although so far it's only really been one human and that is me but that is about to change starting with the visit from Blackberry's new family tomorrow. I'm hoping that it won't be too much of a shock for our Berries when they come downstairs, hopefully on Monday, and have more integration into normal family life but judging by the temperaments that they both have already, then I think they will make the transition from upstairs to downstairs fairly smoothly. Their favourite toys at this stage of their lives are their little toy spiders. At first, they were not sure what to do with them but it took just 2 minutes of watching their mum bat them about and throw them up in the air (the spiders that is, not the Berries) that they soon caught on. Of course the only problem with this is that the spiders are often not found the next morning and I have to spend ages searching for them.