Day 55 - June 3, 2006

Well, despite everything I said in yesterday's diary, I will no doubt look rather foolish now because I have had to remove BOTH mum's from the babies so our children are orphans at the moment. With both girls calling, I have had babies vomiting up milk. They don't vomit up the proper food, only the milk, and the problem is that they are now less inclined to eat again because their tummies are upset. So I had to weigh up the pros and cons of leaving the mum's with the babies. Unfortunately, the risk to the babies' health now if I leave the mum's with them is too great. The weather is getting much warner now, babies who are vomiting, and not eating, can become dehydrated very quickly and we just can not take the risk of losing any of the kids due to the mum's milk. Both mum's are now in the kitten room where they will remain until they have both come off call. In the meantime, we have a big job ahead of us ensuring that the babies are eating properly and still gaining weight. I am also hoping that one of our older girls, either Cacao, or perhaps one of our other queens may decide to adopt the babies as this would be far better than having them on their own. Last night I had a long chat with my friend Mo of Keelokan Siamese about the problem and I am grateful for her advice on the situation, particularly as she has been through this herself. I must admit that removing the mum's does worry me a great deal however if they had remained with the kids whilst calling, the babies would have suffered quite a bit. So far, the babies have not seem too bothered by the absence of their mum's who, at the time of writing this entry at 1059, have been away from them for 2 1/2 hours. I shall see how they fare as the day passes. They have spent a lot of time on "their" chair, playing and sleeping however I am not the most popular person in the world due to the fact that I brought the dreaded hoover into their room and made a huge noise as I had a clean up and the babies were most unimpressed to say the least! After hoovering though, the babies settled back on their chair to sleep but they woke up rather rapidly when I waved a plate of scrambled eggs and salmon underneath their noses. Okay it sounds a bit extravagant with regards to the salmon however at such a critical stage in our babies' lives, I am prepared to feed them anything they want and they really do love the salmon. It is a fairly busy day today in the respect that we have some of our babies' families visiting their children.

A special day for Salt as Linda and Peter came to visit her which was really lovely. Vinegar was most unimpressed by our visitors and didn't hesitate to let them know about in typical Siamese fashion. Pepper, being Pepper was just unperturbed by all the "strangers" and was happy to be held and cuddled by anyone who wanted her.

Day 54 - June 2, 2006

Here we go again with both entries being exactly the same but hey...........at least there are some photos! Right, a few problems this morning (which is why the entries are the same). The first problem is that Amarula is now back in full call, she was starting last night and I was hoping against all hope that I was imagining it but nope, she confirmed it this morning by wandering around the room like a nomad, screaming her head off, whilst carrying a toy in her mouth at the same time, just like her mum does. And yes, before you even ask, this is having an affect of some the babies so I'm thinking in my mind, "here we go again". Will this ever end? I've not experienced anything like this in my previous litters, okay fair enough we've had the odd problem with upset tummies when other mum's have come into call but never, ever to this extent. It's not helped by the fact that the mum's are calling, over and over again and there is not a darn thing I can give them to bring them off call that would not harm the babies through the milk. Now before anyone asks me and no, it wouldn't be a silly question at all, but you may be wondering, why I am not removing both mum's from the babies altogether until they stop calling. Well I am loathe to do this for a couple of reasons, firstly, the babies are still young, and whilst I am aware that some backyard breeders, and indeed, immoral pet shops don't hesitate to sell baby at 6 weeks of age, in my personal opinion, this does far more harm than good. At this age, the babies are still relying on their mum's not only for security, but more importantly, to teach them all about kitten etiquette i.e. how to play, how to socialise, all of which is extremely important and has a huge bearing on the rest of the baby's life. That life being spent of course with you, their new families. Now I do not want to let babies leave me who are not going to settle into their new homes, nor do our families want babies in their homes who spend the first few months absolutely petrified of people and strange surroundings. Also, the mothers would be very distraught at being away from their children and rightly so. Obviously, this situation is something that I am monitoring very closely with regards to babies' appetites and weights. My next problem is Tia Lusso and the "house freedom". We tried something different this morning. We had Cacao and Sambuca in the downstairs part of the home, we shut everyone else upstairs, I put Lusso on the other side of the door with Cacao and Sami so she could get to know them again. When all seemed okay, I then opened up the door to the kitten room, Sami flew out into the cat run while Cacao joined Graham on his desk. For a good 1/2 hour, the babies wandered around, both mum's were fine, even though they knew 2 other adult cats were in the same vicinity. Next thing I knew, Cacao went for a walk, Tia Lusso had reached her within a split second, followed by Amarula, and you guess it, the cat fight from hell! I grabbed Lusso and Amarula and managed to hold them both while Graham put Cacao on the other side of the door where she was safe. I then put Tia Lusso outside in the cat run, opened the hallway door back up so the babies were still wandering in the home and the other cats could come and visit them. Tia Lusso could then see from her position in the cat run, through the glass door and could see no one was hurting her babies. Amarula was again left in the home with them, and straight away went up to sniff, and have a chat with Sambuca, not a problem in the world. So yes, the problem is Tia Lusso. After giving it some thought, what I am going to try next is when the babies have been fed and want to play and explore, I am going to put Tia Lusso in one of the cat carriers, put her in the main part of the home, so she can see close up, that her babies are fine and that the others won't hurt them. This will have to be done over and over until she is calm enough to let the adults be around them. I also have a huge dog pen, big enough for very large breeds and if necessary, I will bring it inside, set it up with food/water/litter/bed and if things don't calm down, she can go in there during the day while the babies and cats all play together. Now this is obviously a worse case scenario and it's common knowledge that we do not believe in penning any cats (or kittens) here at all, however, this may be the safest solution for all concerned. I think the final straw was when the babies wanted to go back to sleep so they meandered back into their back room to settle down, I let Lusso back in out of the cat run, she jumped straight up on the chair to count her babies and sure enough one was missing. Instant panic station and after a 5 minutes search throughout the home, we discovered Salt sitting underneath Graham's desk. I swear that I've not ever had to put in so much hard work with any other litter at all and these babies have been very hard work, through no fault of their own bless them. In actual fact, the problems actually stem from the mothers with regards to calling issues and social issues. But...............the thing about breeding is that we learn something from every single litter we have and let me assure you, I've learnt an awful lot in the past 7 weeks, some of which I now realise for future litters.

Well today was the start of "Social Skills Training" with respect to opening up the back door and letting the babies go for it. The thing is, that it's such a chore because of Tia Lusso with regards to the fact that she had to be put totally out of the way in a different room. The thought did cross my mind, however briefly, if it was really necessary to give them whole house access because already they are socialised, confident, happy babies who will let anyone handle them. But of course, it can't work that way because as they grow and mature, they need mingle with all of our own cats, and they need to learn that they actually live in a house with lots of rooms etc. and that their little world of just one room is not how it is always going to be. However my earlier theory was proved right in the fact that all along, whenever Lusso and Amarula attacked another cat the snuck into the room (or indeed when they snuck out), Amarula was only following Tia Lusso's lead because when I opened the door and let the babies out, I didn't move Amarula at all, she was allowed to remain with the kids. Even though Cointreau, Toussaint and Ice were all downstairs when the babies were "let out", Amarula did not go for any of them, she was perfectly content to follow all 7 children around the house to just keep an eye on them. As for Cointreau, well she is in seventh heaven as she is such a baby herself at only 9 months of age so to her, whenever we have babies in the home, they are her playmates. Their first foray into the big wide world was very successful and after about 1 hour of playing and exploring in the home, all the babies came back into the back room to settle down for a nap as their exertions had left them rather tired. My plan is to open up the door whenever the babies are awake and have had a meal and I will continue to do this for the next few days. Once I can get Tia Lusso to see that no one wants to "hurt" her children, then the door will be left permanently open so that the babies and other cats can come and go as they please.

If I had to pick the most cautious baby out of all them, it would have to be Vinegar I think. He was happy to explore and play like everyone else until the poor guy had the misfortune of coming face to face with Drambuie who didn't hesitate to give him the Evil Tortie Eye and smacked him. This was enough to make Vinegar turn tail and run, however, instead of looking where he was going, he ran straight into the front room where he ran into Ice who didn't hesitate to tell this young man exactly what he thinks of babies who go running around with their eyes closed and running into their elders. After both of these incidents, Vinegar rather wisely chose to remain in the same vicinity as the other babies and to join in their games. Salt and Pepper were delighted with their new freedom and like everyone else, the tore around the room, having lots of fun. Salt went to explore the area of floor where Graham sits to work and at one point I saw her sitting on the legs of his office chair, wondering whether or not she should climb up and see what was on the top. Pepper didn't really appear to be phased by anything at all, not the other cats, not the rooms that she had not been in before.

Day 52 - May 31, 2006

Quite short entries yet again, but mainly because the photos have taken me forever to sort out. I even found a few that were taken a couple of days ago that hadn't been included in the entries due to lack of time. We've also had quite a lot going on lately in our home, in the respect that we have now gained 2 new additions to the family. They are called Sage and Parsley and we have been very busy trying to integrate them into our home.

Our Condiments are doing extremely well although they have been in rather active moods and again today have been tearing all around the room. One of the main reasons that our babies haven't had house access yet is because of our new additions who were in the kitten room for the first few days that they were here. Now that the boys are starting to become a bit more used to the home, the kitten room is free during the day so that I can put Tia Lusso in there for short spells while the babies are roaming around the house. I've not been able to do this up until now because of the boys. I will probably make a start tomorrow with regards to the giving the babies the run of the home I think. Tia Lusso really is a problem in the respect that she still attacks every cat in the house if she manages to get out of the back room, solely because she thinks she is protective her babies so I do think the kids need to get used to the home, without the presence of their mum.

Day 51 - May 30, 2006

I had every intention of proper entries today, with photos, however my day has not turned out as planned at all! I also have to go out very shortly and will be gone a few hours at least so if I don't put a short entry online now, it will never get online. I will do everything possible to ensure that tomorrow there are proper entries complete with photos!

Salt is now 569 grams which is really fantastic and Pepper who is a massive, massive girl is currently weighing in at 801 grams! Vinegar is much more normal as he is 692 grams. I do feel that darling Pepper is going to be built like her rather large dad. Our Condiments are doing extremely well and have been in very playful moods today. I know that in a day or two I am going to have to make arrangements to put Lusso in the kitten room for part of the day so that we can open up the door to the back room so our babies can get to know the rest of our cats, and explore the home fully.

Day 50 - May 29, 2006

Apologies again for not getting an entry online today however I was quite tired and with everything going on there just was not enough time. I did manage to take loads of photos, however the majority of them did not turn out at all! When I weighed the babies this morning, everyone had made excellent weight gains so things are still going in the right direction, particularly for Patriot who is doing really well at the moment. Hopefully tomorrow, entries will resume as per normal.

Day 49 - May 28, 2006

Before I start each entry this morning, I must say a few thank you's. One is to Kerry who owns Lethal Weapon because I found out via a phone call today with my mate Dave, that Kerry went onto Siamese Cat Chat and very kindly posted a message about Patriot, and asked for prayers from the members that she would be okay. This was such a lovely thing to do and I am grateful to Kerry for that, as well as to our members who have responded. (I've still not had the chance to go onto the board yet to read it for myself but I will do when I can get a spare moment). The other thanks is to a lovely lady named Vicky who owns a darling Schimmel cat called "Misty Blue". I received a lovely email from Vicky this morning which read (and I'm sure she won't mind me reprinting it here):
"I can't offer you any professional advice re darling Patriot - but I can send you and her all our love and prayers. I looked back in MB's weight record and she was less than 500g's at the same stage. You really are a wonderful Super Mum to all the babies you have ever bred -she is a lucky little baby to have been born into the loving environment of your home."
I was just so touched by this message.
Also, a thank you to May, who owns the lovely Guinness, and like May also sent me an email this morning which read:
" I'm so sorry to hear that your having a problem with Patriot, I know how upset you get when one of your babies won't eat like the others, I'm sure you will win with the little one as you did with Guinness, She has gone from strength to strength now. I will say a prayer for your baby tonight! take care try not to worry."
People's kindness in such times of worry and stress are overwhelming sometimes. I do hope that all these wonderful people who have been praying for Patriot, as well as the rest of the babies, will take some joy in what I have written below....................................

I am struggling a little to write this entry solely because Pepper and Vinegar are both behind me, leaving me one inch of chair to sit on at the front, and they are having tremendous battles which have just ended with one of the little monsters giving me a nip on the bum! Needless to say I have now swiftly removed the pair of them from the chair so they can battle to their hearts content and I can be left in peace. Salt is now our smallest baby again as Patriot has overtaken her in the weight department so I'm giving extra meals to Salt to ensure that she will be the same as the other babies. This is not to say that she's gone downhill again but that is definitely not the case, it is simply taking her a little longer to put the weight on. Just like the Mel's, all 3 of our Condiment's are creating absolute havoc in the back room now and have been for the past few days. You really would not believe the mess that 7 babies can make when they are awake. My one life saver at the moment is that they are all rather keen on the Paper Football, so when they are getting too out of control, I simply have to give them some new screwed up balls of paper and suddenly they all join in and my work surface, and chair, are safe for just that little bit longer.