We are 3 weeks old now!

Day 19 to 21- July 27 to July 29, 2007

There are no diary entries for the above days because Friday was an incredibly hectic day, on Saturday we were showing at the KKNCC show in Reading, so we were in and out all day as we went to the show in the morning, came back to feed, and then went back to the show. Sunday was spent cleaning up the house as we weren't here on Saturday, and doing copious amounts of washing. Diary entries should resume as per normal on Monday, July 30, 2007.

Day 18 - July 26, 2007

Today's photos are awful as the camera batteries were dying halfway through the photo session so don't expect any great pictures today!

As you know, I have been making mention about the Detectives following the lead of the Nuts by also getting out of the box and trying to explore the room. Well, late yesterday afternoon Miss Marple decided to take things just that one step further. I had Morse wrapped up in a towel as I was syringe feeding him, I was sitting on the floor, and beside me, was the cup with the syringe mixture in it. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that a Siamese baby had his head in the cup and was actually drinking the mixture straight from the cup. I smiled, thinking it was Macadamia but then 2 seconds later I realised that it was Miss Marple! At just 18 days of age, here she was drinking from a darn cup! I quickly scooped her up, and put her in front of the weaning mixture that Pecan was eating at the time and I couldn't believe what I was seeing as she promptly proceeded to put her head down and start lapping up the mixture. How is it, that she knows what to do without any hesitation when I am struggling to get 2 of our Nuts to even try eating from the plate? As a result, whenever I have been feeding since then, I have been trying to encourage her to also eat from the plate alongside the Nuts. Some meals, she will, others, she just walks away. The rest of our Nuts are doing okay at the moment. Sherlock and Morse continue to make small gains, and both babies are happy to explore the room so I am taking this as a positive sign. I am convinced Frost is a Spotted Tabby, he most certainly is not a Classic Tabby as the pattern isn't right for the Classic, not that I think Connie is going to mind at all what type of pattern he has :) Now, I would like to show you just how clever Siamese (or indeed Oriental) cats actually are, and how much of a problem they can be to share your home with sometimes...............................I went up for the 10am feed, opened the kitten room door and went in, only to discover 2 babies left in the box, the other were nowhere in sight, then I saw Lusso with a baby in her mouth walking towards the spare box. I knew instantly what she had done and why. As you probably know, I'm hoping to move Toussaint and her 2 babies into the 2nd kitten room in the next few days, so I had put their "posh box" in there, set up with bedding, but had turned it to face the furniture so that Lusso wouldn't use it. There was a gap, not much of one, but there was enough. To my absolute horror, one by one, Lucy had carted each of the babies from her box, and managed somehow, to put them in the small gap and drop them down into the box. She obviously only had 3 more babies to transfer when I walked in and caught her in the act. Now the reason Lucy did this is because that box was totally closed up and she knew full well if she put the babies in there, then they couldn't get out, and she could keep them right there with her. Their intelligence never ceases to amaze me. I will say though, that for those of you future Detective mummies and daddies who think this is very clever and adorable, well just let me remind you that when your Lucy babies go to live with you, and when they start opening your cupboard doors and your bedroom doors, because they have inherited their mother's intelligence, don't come back to me moaning about them getting into things they shouldn't. :)

Day 17 - July 25, 2007

Today's gains for Sherlock and Morse were not as good as yesterday's, however they are still adequate gains so I am happy. All 5 of our Detectives all clamber out of the box now on a regular basis to explore and poor Lucy is just going nutty. She doesn't want any of her children out of the box, particularly the younger ones and when I take her meals to the room, as she eats, she keeps her eyes on the babies and actually protests with very low, rumbling, growls, at the babies running around the room. She is torn between wanting to eat, and wanting to go and pick up the children and cart them back off to the box. Miss Marple decided to follow the Nut's example this morning and when she saw them climbing up onto my lap, she did exactly the same thing. Still, at least it saved me having to reach into the box to grab her to top her up :) They are all delightful little children and despite the age gap between the Detectives and the Nuts, they have no problems at all holding their own when they are pounced on, or sat on by the Nuts.

Day 16 - July 24, 2007

Today, for the first time in a little while, I was actually happy with Morse and Sherlock's 24 hour weight gain. So I have had a day where I'm feeling slightly better about both babies. Whether or not this will still be the case tomorrow, well who knows. You can possibly tell from the photos below that our Detectives are becoming adventurous. If the truth be known, they are becoming just a tad too adventurous at the moment and I would prefer that they didn't leave their box at such a very young age, however, Frost, Morse, and Sherlock, all feel that if the Nuts can explore, then they should be allowed to to the same thing. The only way to stop them would be to close up the ramp but that would not be fair to the Nuts who are of an age where they should be out and exploring. Poor Frost had a bit of a mishap today, but it was Cashew's fault (no surprise there!). I had Frost, wrapped up in a towel, and was holding him while I was topping him up. Cashew decided to climb up onto my lap, grab onto the towel, pull it down (I was not expecting this), and poor little Frost rolled out of the towel, onto my lap, and from there, before I could catch him, he rolled into the plate of food that was intended for the Nuts. I had to laugh and Frost who is obviously going to be as good natured as his dad, didn't moan at all about being covered in kitten mixture. Needless to say he was an extremely popular boy when he went back into the kitten box as all the other babies thought he tasted rather good :)

Day 15 - July 23, 2007

There are no photos, and no diary entries today, because as of early this morning, we have brand new children in the home and it's an extremely busy day with lots of cleaning up and washing to do. But I may say a huge apology to poor Karl who is in fact, Nicky's husband, yet I rather stupidly referred to him as Nicky's "mum". Goodness only knows what I was thinking! So I am really sorry about that Karl. And to my mate Jill...........thanks so much for letting me know about the weight error which I have now removed from the entry.

Day 14 - July 22, 2007

We have reached the 2 week mark now, and while I am very happy with the progress of Frost, Miss Marple and Nancy Drew, I still have an awful lot of work to do before we are out of the danger zone with Morse and Sherlock. Both babies are so incredibly dependent on the 2 hourly feeds and I am hoping that when another week passes, they will quickly pick up the hang of weaning as this will make a big difference to them. My one consolation is that for the most part, both babies are happy to feed from the syringe and sometimes, Sherlock will drink as much as 10 mills in one feed (minus spillage of course) so this is promising. I am still topping up all 5 babies every 2 hours though because even though our other 3 are doing okay in the weight department, it does help take pressure off Lucy and it also means that when I try them with their first weaning meal, it won't come as such a huge shock to the system. It was a special day today for Nancy Drew as her mum, Nicky, and dad, Karl, came to visit her today which was really lovely. This was the first time I have had the pleasure of meeting Nicky and Karl although Nicky and I have been in regular contact via email for a short while now and she was everything I had expected her to be. I knew from our email contact that this lady would be a brilliant cat mummy and I was not wrong :) It was so apparent within a short time that any of our babies who share their home with Nicky and Karl are going to be extremely lucky babies indeed.