Day 34 - May 13, 2006

Not much of an entry today for either diary as it's rather hectic here. I'm currently trying to get some honeymoon's underway and even though it's very early days, nothing is going as planned yet. In the kitten room I have a rather keen young lady who is tarting it about all over the place, and a novice boy who is really not sure at all what this is all about or what he is supposed to be doing. Then in the big stud house I have a very keen novice boy who can't wait to start his first honeymoon and a girl who has no interest whatsoever, other than to smack him in the mouth when he tries it on. So my day so far has been spent going from one honeymoon suite to the other, as well as keeping a close eye on the babies. It's going to be a long weekend I think.

The Condiment's favourite toy at the moment is the little blue carpet covered pyramid and it's not unusual at all to see them climbing all over it, and then, when they start to get tired, they climb in it and have a bit of nap. I am always amazed at just how many babies can fit in such a tiny space. Just like the Mel's, they had some lovely cuddles today with Lynda and Peter who came to visit their children. I have come to the decision today that Pepper is definitely a Blue Point and I don't believe she will darken into a Seal Point. She still looks a very different colour than Mad Max who is a definite Seal. Her paw pads also indicate that she is a Blue Point. I think it is lovely that Tia Lusso has given us blue based babies as I personally think the Blues are such a pretty colour. So we have Vinegar and Salt who are Blue Tabbies, and Pepper who is a Blue. Salt and Vinegar still look incredibly alike and I do have to look at them so very closely just to determine which is which. Although when they are together, after studying them for a few minutes, I start to see some very subtle differences which are not really apparent until you look closely. They do look like little twins at the moment.

Day 33 - May 12, 2006

I'm afraid that there are no photographs today but I'm sure you will agree that the reason for this is certainly a valid one :) Graham and I have spent a lot of today organising to get the video footage of the babies on the web site. As I'm sure you can imagine, this is very time consuming, particularly as it's the first time we've ever actually done this. Our aim is to spend one day of each week getting footage of the babies, then, each subsequent day we shall put 4 clips on the web site. The idea is that each week there are at least 12 new clips on the site, all taken from one day's footage. We did decide that it would be better if we did not have any audio on the clips although this may change with time (and practice!) So we are rather excited now to be able to point you in the direction of the first four clips of the first ever Schimmel Kitten Videos.

All 3 of our Condiments are progressing beautifully with the weaning and they will all eat directly from the plate, usually with little or no encouragement from me. Their biggest hurdle at the moment is their litter training. So far, they are happy to play in the litter tray, however they are not so keen when it comes to going to the toilet in there. As you can imagine, the kitten's bedding is changed rather frequently throughout the day at this stage of their lives. They are very bold babies though and have started venturing outside onto the first step of the cat run and fortunately, Tia Lusso and Amarula are now both happy for them to do this, so long as they are on the step as well, or sitting in the run where they can keep a very close eye on their children.

Day 32 - May 11, 2006

Both entries are exactly the same today sorry because I've been rushed off my feet doing cat related things and have not really had any time to sit down and think about entries. What might excite you all though is that my darling husband Graham has very kindly set up the video camera for me so as this entry is being typed, the babies are currently being filmed and Graham is going to convert this film so that we can put it on the web site :) We've been meaning to do this for years now but just never really got around to it so look out for Video Footage of your babies on the web site soon. Onto some more exciting news, we have had our first proper "poo" in the litter tray which is really thrilling, so much so, that the first photo contained in both entries is of the "First Nugget". I am sad, I know! The diary entry just had to be paused for Braveheart who just did a spectacular dive from the cat post, straight into the large water bowl below, thoroughly soaking herself and requiring a towel dry! I have just realised that it is now 1405 and I really need to get this entry online with a couple of photos at least. I do apologise for the rather pathetic entry today but I have had some more pressing matters to deal with. Also to save time, the photos have all simply been titled with the same words, rather than naming all the photos individually.

Day 31 - May 10, 2006

I really think that the Condiments were rather aptly named because every time the kitchen door is open, they shoot in there like rockets and as quick as I put them out and try to close the door, another one has run in. There is not a human in this home at the moment who doesn't have daily battles with the Condiments and the kitchen door. So we have gone back to putting the small barrier up there, particularly around late afternoon/early evening when we are all in and out of the kitchen constantly. Of course the only problem is that the barrier is quite small, and sure enough, Pepper insists that a barrier will not deter her from getting into the kitchen so the little minx just tries to climb over it. Then of course, she managed to pull the barrier over on top of herself, as well as on top of her sister. The barrier in fact is really only a small, thin piece of wood but it does serve it's purpose...........most of the time! Now if the kitchen battles are not bad enough, Vinegar decided this morning that he would take a little trip out into the cat run, much to his mother's horror. In reality, it was never his attention to go into the run but the door was open, he went right to the edge and fell off onto the step below which did make me laugh (I'm cruel I know). He then sat up on the step and started sniffing, and walking, and sniffing and walking, along the edge of the step. I really do believe that if his mother hadn't have spotted him and went tearing outside to pick him up and dump him back on the bed, that chances are he would have explored quite a bit further out there. Our Condiments seem to really be growing up now and they are getting much more mischievous by the day. Pepper has now overtaken her brother in the weight department by 21 grams and Salt is now only 17 grams behind her brother in weight so they are doing very well indeed. They are starting to become much more accustomed to eating from the plate now and Salt and Pepper both loved their scrambled eggs this morning which was the first time they had ever had them. Vinegar has a few sniffs, tried a little bit and decided that it was not to his liking and at the moment, he is a meat and chicken man only.

Day 30 - May 9, 2006

We have a problem with the Condiments, well not all of them, just Salt and Vinegar. The problem is that I can not tell the little fur monsters apart in photos any more! They are so very similar. When I look at them together, it's easy to tell the difference because Salt is absolutely tiny in comparison to Vinegar. There is, in fact 100 grams difference between the 2. Yesterday, (I haven't weighed them yet today) Salt currently weighed 400 grams which is not very much as far as I am concerned, Pepper weighed 452 grams which I'm happy with, and Vinegar weighed 500 grams! He will possibly be a big boy when he grows up. So when they are side by side, the weight gives it away but when I look at them individually in photos, I am not 100% sure just which is which. Obviously in real life if I'm really stuck, all I have to do is lift their tails :) All 3 of our Condiments are getting more of an interest in food, and Vinegar and Pepper now both eat from my fingers, as well as from the plate. Salt has days where she has no interest in real food at all, and then other days where she is really keen. I would like to get her eating fairly soon to try and get a bit more weight on her although she is only actually 15 grams less than Patriot so it's not too much of a problem. It's just me being paranoid as per usual.

Day 29 - May 8, 2006

I had every intention to do proper diary entries this morning, however, a 2 1/2 hour wait in the doctors surgery with our daughter has put paid to that! So now my day is very much behind as you can imagine.

I'm rather relieved to see that Tia Lusso is now happy to let her babies out of the bed and she will let them wander around the room and play games. She does still have tendencies to pick them up and put them back in the bed but this is happening far less often now thank goodness. The Condiment's are much more active now and they are getting braver each day. So far their weights are adequate although I would like to see them looking a bit bigger but I know this will come with time once they start eating proper meals. Both Salt and Vinegar will now eat directly from the plate if they are in the mood, Pepper will still only eat from my fingers, but I'm sure it won't be too long before they are all enjoying proper meals.

Day 28 - May 7, 2006

This morning entries should not have been starting off exactly the same again, however, due to recent events this morning which involved both mums and all babies, the entries must being the same way. Got up this morning, had a bit of a sleep in, everything was fine. I went out to the garage to sort out loads of washing and drying and when I came back in, I was absolutely stunned to find that not only were the mothers not on their bed, there were no babies in sight, not on the bed and not behind the tubs. The door leading to the cat run was open but I knew the mum's would not have taken the babies outside into the run. I looked on the spare office chair and here were all 7 babies babies and both mums. I very quickly took all the babies off the chair, replaced them on the bed, and then took both mum's off the chair. Naturally, the babies took this as a reason to start running about the room. I picked up the spare office chair and put it in the main part of the home. The mum's then started picking up the babies who were walking around, but instead of placing them back on the bed, they just kept walking in circles, underneath the work surface and behind the filing cabinet, still carrying the babies in their mouths. They would not take them back to the bed at all. They started dumping them on the floor under the work surface where the chair used to be, and then they would grab another baby and do the exact same thing. I just could not believe it. Then it finally dawned on me that this was the mum's way of telling me that they were not happy with their kitten bed where it was, for whatever reason, so I quickly scooped up all the kitten bedding and stuffed it inbetween the large and small filing cabinet under the work surface and sure enough the mum's started picking up their kids and putting them on the bed, totally satisfied with their new situation. I also started collecting the babies and putting them on the bed as well and within 2 minutes, both mum's were lying down, content with the world and feeding their children. For the life of me, I have no idea what was wrong with the bedding where it originally was as that is the same place I have always put the bedding when the mum's and babies first come downstairs as it's right next to the radiator and up until this point in time, it's been an ideal spot. Tia Lusso and Amarula had other ideas. This then meant that the mum's large hooded litter tray had to be moved because I couldn't have the babies sleeping right next to the litter tray as it would be unhygienic to say the least. I then also had to move the food and water bowls so that they were placed closer to the bed. As you can imagine it's been a fun morning. (Of course one of the jobs which now must be done today is to move the power board that is on the wall because the thought of what might happen with that just horrifies me!) The photos up until the sleeping area changed were taken last night whereas the photos with the bed in the new sleeping area were all taken today. I must also say that it was really lovely to see Lynda and Peter, and Laura and Dan yesterday afternoon as well. Lynda and Peter are having Patriot, Braveheart, and either Salt or Pepper and whilst we have seen Lynda and Peter before, this was the first time they have seen their new family members and it was really lovely for their babies to have some cuddles with their new mum and dad. Laura and Dan will be having some future babies from us next year, one of which will be a baby from Tia Lusso's next litter and it's really nice for them to visit to get an idea of what their future children may look like. It was unfortunate that the babies weren't really awake for very long which meant that we all really had to sit there just watching them feed and snooze but I know that there will be lots more visits and the babies will be awake for much longer periods.

It's so easy to believe that our Condiments are now 4 weeks of age because they are just all over the place this morning but I swear that if Patriot wasn't egging them on, none of them would ever have thought to come running into the kitchen at full speed. All 3 of our Condiments drink from the water bowl now but so far Vinegar is still the only baby who is happy to eat directly from the plate.