We are 5 weeks old now!

Just like the Nuts, the Detectives were not phased at all by the move into the bigger kitten room. This did surprise me because they are younger than the Nuts and for such little babies, the room move is quite a big change in their lives. As soon as I placed them on the floor in the room, rather than cry out for their mum, or look bewildered, they promptly proceeded to go and sniff everything that they could see. They even went out to Toussaint's box to sniff that as well and make sure that it was familiar to them. All day, they've been having the time of their life in there, Miss Marple even managed to climb up on to the chair, presumably by going up the scratch post first. I do think this really was the best move because the babies needed more space and the 2nd kitten room was no longer big enough to hold 3 litters of these ages.

Some litters absolutely love the camera and don't hesitate to pose for ages while I try to take that "perfect" shot, then there are others, such as the Detectives who are nothing short of a flippin' nightmare when it comes to being photographed. I spent more time trying to position these babies than I did all the other babies combined. It wasn't that they were deliberately avoiding the camera, they were just over excited about being placed on yet new bedding, on top of the kitten box which was somewhere they hadn't previously been. Naturally this meant the babies were more interested in sniffing and exploring than they were in looking pretty for the camera so unfortunately, their photos really do not do them justice at all. I can assure you though, they really are beautiful babies :) You will be able to tell the difference between Morse with regards to size, and the rest of the babies. He's certainly not what I would call as being in the "danger zone" however I would like to see a heck of a lot more substance on him. You will also notice that what I was about Sherlock and Nancy Drew looking similar in size now is very true and even now, I still look at Sherlock and just wonder how on earth he went from being as bad as he was, to what he is now.

Tomorrow, I am going to find the time to individual photos of our babies as this is long overdue.

Sherlock has come along in leaps and bounds. So much so, that at first glance, there is very little difference in size between Sherlock and Nancy Drew. As you can imagine, I am really very pleased about this, particularly after such an immensely worrying time. Morse on the other hand, still has an awful long way to go before I will be happy with his weight and size. Lucy unfortunately, during the past 3 days, has developed quite an issue with Toussaint and there have been a few minor altercations and I am hoping this will settle down. It's not Toussaint that is the problem, it's definitely Tia Lusso. The Detectives are now at that age where they are all over the place and I do have to be so careful when I'm in the kitten room. All of the Detectives will either climb up my clothes or nibble on my toes, demanding attention. One saving grace is that the syringe feeding has now fully ended as each of our babies all happily eats from the plates without any problems at all. Some of the kittens still prefer milk based mixtures whereas others head for the kitten food bowls, but at this point in time, that doesn't really matter, so long as they all continue to eat.

Many, many, apologies to our kitten families, and to all our loyal kitten diary readers for the lack of entries recently. There are a number of reasons why no entries have been gone online, but I would like to mention the 2 main reasons..........

Firstly, we very recently took on a new addition to our fur family, we are extremely proud to be able to introduce you all to Jag aka Vom Saton Marcham. We would ask that you please take the time to visit Jag's own web site and perhaps sign his guest book. Jag is settling in very well and we are delighted with him.

Onto the next reason, and perhaps, at this point in time, a far more important reason. Many people are currently unaware that there is a campaign up and running in protest to the decision made by the GCCF to award it's show publishing contract to a brand new publication. This decision has devastating effects for ALL cat breeders, cat show exhibitors, and pet owners. This campaign is one that I personally feel very strongly about, so strongly in fact that it has been at the forefront of my own, and other breeders' lives for the past week. As such, I would urge each of our kitten families for every single Schimmel kitten out there, as well as our regular kitten diary readers, to please click on the banner below, please read through the web site, and then please, please, show your support by sending in your comments, by writing to the GCCF, and by signing the petition. If this decision is upheld, then Schimmel Siamese and Orientals, as of January 2008, will cease to support and fund the GCCF by way of show entries, cat/kitten registrations. Instead, as of next year, we will be applying for a prefix with TICA and we will be showing our cats and kittens, as well as registering them with TICA. I am not prepared to support any organisation who thinks so little of it's members that a decision of this magnitude was made without first consulting any GCCF cat clubs and their members and without a ballot being taken. This is after all OUR money and it is WE breeders and cat show exhibitors, and pet owners (who pay a £9 transfer fee for their babies) who are keeping the GCCF in existence, something which I think perhaps the GCCF should be reminded of!

I would now ask you to please visit the web site below: