The babies have yet again spent most of their waking time in the cat run. They are of the opinion that it's a new place out there because I actually got around to mowing the back yard and the cat run yesterday which was long overdue! Danny is back to being his normal self today so I should be grateful for the respite I had yesterday. Tia is not very happy with Gino today because Gino had been pouncing on Tia and stalking her whenever she's been in the run so Gino ended up getting a swipe of her mum today which didn't really impress her. Mind you, she did stop attacking Tia after that, unfortunately, she went on to attack any of her littermates who were silly enough to go near her. I really am surprised that we don't have more injuries than we do with the babies as their games are sometimes so incredibly rough. Rosie decided to have a little adventure today and climbed up onto the work top and then climbed up the Chinchilla cage and sat at the top of it. She was fascinated by the Chins who I might add, have no fear of our cats at all. Naturally, when Rosie had enough of being up there, she was too scared to get down so she cried until I went and rescued her. Birchy only has one day left of her antibiotics now which is wonderful, particularly from my point of view because every time I give them to her she bites me! Her injury though is fine now and the swelling is no longer there so thank goodness she is back to normal and it was nothing major. None of the R's were particularly happy with me today as I washed their grotty vet bed and their beanie toys. I did explain to them that it wouldn't take long and they could have everything back nice and clean, but they were still most upset that I took them away.

In comparison to yesterday, it's been much more peaceful with the R's today. They have spent the majority of their waking time out in the cat run getting lots of exercise and fresh air. It's always lovely to watch them play out there because they are so funny when they chase and stalk each other. All of our babies now climb the tree in the cat run, right up to the roof of the run. Obviously all the R's are as agile as their mum, Tia Maria. Danny has behaved tremendously today and I can't remember the last time he was this good. Mind you, Gino did bite him very hard on the tail this morning because he was starting to annoy her so possibly she taught him a valuable lesson. Tia Maria is still calling off and on and it's been very loud in the last 24 hours. I really do hope that when the R's go and has milk has dried up she won't come back into call for at least 3-4 weeks. Could be wishful thinking though. Rolly has been amusing herself all day with anything she can find out in the cat run. It makes no difference to her whether it's a piece of wood, some grass, a leaf blowing, but as soon as she spots it, she hunts it and once she's caught it, she lies down on her side and grabs the prey in her front paws and proceeds to chew it. Rosie, Danny and Rolly had some incredibly fiery battles today on top of one of the pc monitors. Rolly started it by climbing on the monitor and then trying to pull things down from one of the shelves. As soon as Danny spotted what she was doing, he was in there like a shot. (Danny hates to think he's missing out on something). Once Danny had climbed up there, he started chewing Rolly's tail while Rolly was chewing some photocopy paper. Danny succeeded in knocking Rolly off the monitor and onto the filing cabinet, at which point, Rosie got in on the act. Once there were 3 of them on the monitor, the battle really got underway. There were babies falling off the monitor, high pitched squeals and growls and things starting to fall off the shelf. I am sure the only reason it eventually ended was because I physically removed each baby and put them outside in the cat run and told them "No more" in a very firm voice. It must be the very first time any baby has ever listened to a word I said! The R's also had some wonderful games today with my wastepaper bin. Why is it, that you give babies all these interesting toys, yet they much prefer to play with basic household items. Mind you, I had such a giggle watching them, and they enjoyed playing with it so much that I'm going to go out and buy a couple more similar ones, but a little smaller to keep on hand for the babies. What they do is............the babies push the bin onto it's side (so it will roll) then one of two babies get inside the bin and run around in there while the babies on the outside roll the bin with their paws so that they inside babies start going around and around. That went on for absolute ages and the babies all took it in turns to get in the bin and roll about. Below are some rather appalling head shot photos.

Danny, Rosie & Daisy have all been very naughty this morning. I actually got up reasonably early as I wanted to get some things out the way, however as soon as I sat down at the pc, the three of them have been jumping up and down on my chair, fighting with each other and me, and leaving quite a lot of puncture wounds in my back. They truly have no respect for anyone these babies. Fortunately, after about an hour of this, with me getting very little done, they finally went to sleep and I was able to get some bits and pieces done. When I came down first thing this morning, they had created quite a mess throughout the room. There were toys, litter, and dry food scattered from one end of the room to the other. I wouldn't have minded so much but they could have at least invited me to the party!! Rolly has been in a very exploratory mood today. Whenever she has been awake, she has been climbing on, jumping on and walking across absolutely everything in the room as if she had never seen it before. I don't know what she was looking for but she didn't find it. Birchy and Gino have actually been very good little babies today and not done anything naughty, at least not in front of me anyway, I'm sure they have been mischievous when I haven't been in the room. Gino and Daisy tried to be very helpful this morning when I was sweeping up all the mess. Both of them insisted in helping me to push the broom by putting their paws on it (I would rather think they were being helpful than hindering me) and as soon as they realised I was about to empty the litter tray, they both made sure they went and used it first so I wouldn't have to scoop out once the fresh litter was in there. Birchy on the other hand, waited until I had thoroughly cleaned and replenished the tray and then went straight in to christen the new litter.

Why oh why is Danny the way he is? I'm wondering if all boy's are like this because as our regular diary readers will know, this is the first boy we've bred. Honestly, whenever Danny is awake he is constantly causing trouble and getting into a lot of mischief and bullying his sisters. Fortunately, every single one of his sisters will give back as good as they get, however, Danny is so much bigger than the girls so he really does have an advantage. I do despair of him at times and have to say that their are certain times during the day when I think to myself "Not long now and he will be Marcelle's problem". It's been an interesting day today with the babies doing some very odd things indeed. First of all this morning, Rosie, who thought she was being very clever, was walking along the work top in front of the Chinchilla cages, when Rolly climbed up after her and pushed her off, straight into the water bowl. The only part of Rosie that was hurt was her pride thank goodness. So I towel dried her off, gave her lots of kisses and within minutes she was back in the cat run playing chase. I also picked up Rolly and explained to her that was a very naughty thing to do but I truly don't think she listened to a word I said!! Gino and Birchy have been exceptionally close today, during the "relaxing periods" they have been sleeping together, or Gino has been grooming Birchy and giving her lots of attention. I'm very pleased about this as Gino and Birchy will be sharing the same pet home so it's nice to know that they are close. Birchy's swelling has gone down quite a lot now so I don't think it will be too long before she is back to normal. Daisy has wanted to spend most of her time today either attacking Rolly, or climbing the tree in the cat run. She is a mad little thing, she climbs right up the tree (which is really an old, long, cut off tree stump "sort of thing", so anyway, she gets to the top, looks all around, climbs back down, runs inside and eats for a few seconds, tears back outside and does it all over again. The one thing I have never said is that my babies are normal and fortunately, all their new owners are well aware of this. Today's photos are absolutely appalling. I don't know what I did wrong but they are dreadful so I've just used the best of a bad bunch.

I'm pleased to say that Birchy's swelling has gone down slightly so hopefully it won't be too long before she is back to normal. Her injury hasn't stopped her at all from running around like a lunatic and still jumping from place to place. No matter how much I sit out here with her on my lap to try and keep her still, she simply will not stay put. I actually managed to take photos today, the first time in a little while thank goodness although to be honest, the R's appearance hasn't really changed that much anyway. One thing about this litter that is so very different from our other litters is that the R's still haven't accepted the dogs as part of normal family life. Whenever the dogs are lying down in the lounge room, and if the R's are wandering around, they will tentatively go up to them to "check them out" and that is all fine, however, whenever either dog barks, or makes a sudden movement, the R's actually run and hide. I'm not sure if I've done something different this time around, or if they haven't spent as much time with the run of the house (mixed with the other cats and dogs) or if quite simply, they just don't want to accept the dogs. It doesn't help that Tia hates the dogs being anywhere near her babies and will quite often growl at the dogs, even from behind a closed door which is obviously sending a signal to the R's. Our babies are now on 2 wet meals a day and eat dry kitten food the rest of the time. The dry food is left out permanently for our little ones. Every now and then, I will give them a lunchtime "snack" but they all seem perfectly content with their new feeding regime.

Great news about Birchy..........her injury is not serious so I'm very relieved. I telephoned my vet as soon as surgery opened this morning and they told me to bring her straight down. It turns out that all Birchy had done is strain a tendon and she is now on antibiotics to bring the swelling down. She is still running/walking/jumping with no problems at all and it really is such a big relief. Birchy's new owner was told about the incident this morning as well. The rest of the R's are doing really well and I'm amazed that we are now in our 11th week. It really has crept up on me. The R's had made an incredible mess of the room downstairs this morning which I didn't really appreciate, especially as I still have this dreaded flu. They've been having lots of fun and games out in the cat run again and Danny has been in one of his "moods" today where nothing and no one is safe from him at all. Poor Marcelle really is going to have her work cut out with that boy!

We've now had our first kitten injury which I'll tell you about shortly. Today wasn't a great deal better than yesterday as I've still got this horrid flu and keeping my eyes open is a real struggle today. We had my mother in law here today as it's her birthday which was really nice because it meant that inbetween feeding the babies and scooping litter etc, I had a reason to actually sit down and do very little. The R's have been quite mad today and have been full of energy and spent so much time running around like lunatics. When they have been awake, they actually have spent more time playing games out in the cat run, than they have here in the room. Anyway, last night, before we went up to bed, Birchy was running around and was chasing Gino when she jumped from my chair to the work top and missed, landing very awkwardly on the floor. I picked her straight up to see what damage had been done and was horrified to see that her elbow joint looked quite swollen. I felt around it and she was in no pain at all, then I got our daughter to put litter tray and bowls in our bedroom so I could have her in there, while I went to get some ice to put on the joint. At the time, I thought it may have been a dislocation, it didn't appear to be broken because when I came back in with the ice, she was running around chasing Danny and not in the slightest bit of pain, nor was she limping!!. So we took her into our bedroom, put some ice on for a while, then hubby went up to bed to keep an eye on her while I finished off the rest of the kitten duties. When I went up to bed, she was not very happy because she didn't want to be away from her sisters and brother. As she was walking/running/jumping normally and was in no apparent pain, I made the decision to put her back in with the rest of the R's to try and keep her calm as she was quite stressed at being away from them. I'll be taking her to our vets in the morning to see what damage has been done and where we go from there.