Schimmel Siamese & Oriental Cats are Oriental cat breeders based in Oxford, UK. We sometimes have Oriental and Siamese kittens for sale. We also have 2 Oriental Stud Cats and online kitten diaries.

Day 56 - July 4, 2004

It's been a very exciting day for the R's as they have had some visitors of the human kind. We had 2 sets of kitten owners visit us today so they had lots of extra attention. I'm pleased to say that they behaved themselves and were little angels. For 2 days now, the whole of the downstairs has been opened up so that our babies can explore the entire downstairs and meet other cats. So they've now had encounters with Drambuie and Sumbuca and there were plenty of displeased looks on both sides which surprised me as Sami and Buie are still only babies themselves as they're 7 months old so I did think they would take to the R's better than our older cats. I'll now be making a point of opening up the downstairs for a period every day now as it's very important that the R's get used to all normal household activity and other cats. We can't introduce them to Kahlua or Amaretto unfortunately as Kahlua is a grumpy old man who isn't fond of babies and Amaretto is pregnant herself and as a result is extremely hormonal and moody. The R's have already met Cacao on a number of occasions upstairs and they are perfectly happy with her which only leaves Ice, our stud boy who I will be bringing in at some point next week to introduce him to the babies. Ice loves all cats and he doted on our last 2 litters so I am sure it will be the same this time around.

Day 55 - July 3, 2004

Peace at last!! As I write this entry, the R's are all asleep and I'm very relieved. I've not had a good day as I didn't sleep well at all last night. Tia is still calling and she sat outside our bedroom door screaming her head off for hours all night and I'm really shattered as a result. You know of course how if you have a bad night, then you're guaranteed that if something can go wrong the next day, it will. I think it's for this reason that the R's have really been over the top today. I'm sure they have been able to sense my mood so they are twice as naughty as they normally are. At 10:30am I'd actually had enough and I fed them a meal just to quieten them down and hopefully settle them a bit so they would calm down and not run riot. In the end, I had to put one of the vet beds on a chair and put them all on the vet bed in the hope they would find it comfortable and sleep. Fortunately they did. It is the only problem really with having the babies in the same room with me where I work, however, normally, it's truly wonderful and I enjoy their antics but not today. Now that they are all asleep, they are my little angels all over again and it's so tempting to just sit beside them, stroking them gently and watching them when they have their little kitten dreams and their paws and whiskers start twitching as they chase imaginary rabbits in their dreams. I've had Tia Maria in our bedroom for a little while today just to give her a break from the babies as they are starting to get to her a little bit. She looks really tired today (and yesterday as well) so I think the constant calling and the uncontrollable R's have taken their toll on her at long last.

Day 54 - July 2, 2004

The R's are doing really well and we're almost at the end of their 7 weeks now. They didn't have a great deal of interest in going outside today but I think that may be due to the winds that we've had out here today. When they've been asleep during the day, they alternate between sleeping on the cat bed or sleeping on my lap which is really lovely. The only problem is when all 6 want to be on my lap along with Tia! As a result I haven't had as much coffee as I would normally have because I don't like to disturb then when they are sleeping on me. As you can see by the photos below, they are very inquisitive little babies and have this need to explore absolutely everything. Some of the babies' new owners and possible owners are coming out to visit the R's this weekend so it's going to be a little hectic. Let's just hope they are all on their best behaviour and don't do anything to embarrass themselves!

Day 53 - July 1, 2004

Yesterday the R's were homeless and today they are motherless. When I brought the R's into the room with me this morning, Tia was quite obviously out of sorts. She is still calling at the top of her voice and is rather agitated so because of this, I have put her in the upstairs part of the house and given her a break from the babies. She hasn't actually been away from them since they were born. At one point this morning she was actually getting a bit snappy with them so I thought it best to give her some well deserved time to herself. The babies have coped without her very well. At the time of writing this entry, I have 4 babies in my lap sleeping and the other 2 are in the cat bed sleeping. They haven't been very naughty today, they've just been mischievous so it's been rather nice. Poor Gino was strutting along the edge of the work top and she fell off, onto the arm of the chair and then onto the floor. Fortunately, the only injury was to her pride. Within minutes however, she was back up on the work top as if nothing had ever happened. Today's photos are not great at all! When the babies were outside I took the flash off so I wouldn't make them too bright, however, I forgot to turn the flash back on when they were inside again so as a result the colours in the photos haven't come out well at all. You will notice when you view the large images that I've actually put names above the babies' photos however............I swear the kittens are the photos are not the same as the kittens I have here in the flesh. So I'm not thanking Marcelle for the stress she's caused me trying to make sure the photo names are correct ;) As the babies are now 7 1/2 weeks old, I've cut their wet meals down to 4-5 a day. They were originally on 6 wet meals a day. The point of this is to encourage them to eat much more dry food (it's much better for them) and the results have been good so far.

Day 52 - June 30, 2004

Late yesterday afternoon I'm afraid that the R's were homeless :( By this I mean that I felt the time had come to give the Potters and Cacao a room of their own, particularly as the Potters are now crawling around and trying to get out of the box (at 1 1/2 weeks of age!). So as the R's were already downstairs during the day with me, I went up and cleaned out the kitten room thoroughly and then moved the Potters in there once the room had aired out. The only problem with that was that the R's were then homeless because while day time is spent downstairs, they were still sleeping upstairs in the kitten room. I have actually decided now that I will never have a gap like this between my litters again. It's fine to put litters together when there is a much shorter age gap but certainly not with the difference here. So from now onwards, our litters will either be one at a time, or, as in the case with Sambuca and Drambuie are mated, it will be at the same time and they can raise their litters together. Anyway, I digress.............the R's now have a choice of sleeping in the downstairs front entrance or in the upstairs hallway. I put litter trays beds and bowls in both places so they could sleep wherever they chose. They decided that they would sleep upstairs however they used the litter tray in the front entrance (go figure!) so it looks like I'm still going to have to keep a spare litter tray in the entrance. The reason they aren't allowed to sleep in the back room leading to the cat run where they spend their days is because that would mean that none of our other cats would have access to the cat run at all which would be a shame as all of our cats love the fresh air and enjoy sitting in the run. So I figure if just before dinner, the R's and their equipment is moved to the upstairs hallway, then the back room can be opened up to allow the rest of the household access to the run until we go to bed, and then again in the morning. I don't move the R's back into the room during the day time until after I have been up and fed them and answered emails. This way, the other cats can have access to the run for a little while in the morning as well. Obviously, this does mean that a lot of my time is now spent moving litter trays, beds and bowls from one room to another which is why I don't be having 2 litters at the same time again with such a big age gap. The R's have been absolute terrors today and when they have been asleep I found myself just having a huge sigh of relief at the peace and quiet. I had forgotten what it's like to have active babies in the same room as me when I'm trying to work. With the photos from now on, I will try to put names above the photos where there is only one or two babies in that photo. I have been chastised by my good friend Marcelle who is never quite sure which baby is which in the general photos (no doubts, neither do the other new owners) so I am going to try and name them in the future. The only problem is that when I look at the in the flesh I know straight away who is who but it's much harder when I'm looking at a photo. So if any of you notice the names seem to be wrong, then you will simply have to blame Marcelle :) Having said that, unfortunately there's no photos at all today as I forgot to charge the batteries in the camera.

Day 51 - June 29, 2004

I have found a use for Daisy..............Daisy the Scarf!!! She has spent ages this morning lying sprawled out across the back of my neck and keeping it really warm. Obviously the R's can now reach my chair by jumping onto it straight from the ground. This means of course that to date, we've had 2 surprised faces when babies stuck their head in my cup only to get a nose full of coffee, an email was sent out with a load of gobbledygook in it when my keyboard was walked across and an email I had been typing suddenly had extra bits added to it and was then sent, they kept walking across the printer and turning it off and on, and that's only a few of the little incidents that we've had today. I've now given up trying to stop the R's from getting into the cat run. No barrier will hold them so I figure if they're that tough that they think they can deal with fresh air and the cat run, then they're welcome to it.............and didn't they have a great time. They thought it was wonderful and explored every inch of the run. Tia was most unimpressed and the first fifteen minutes of their outside foray was spent with her grabbing them and trying to drag them back inside, to no avail. Fortunately, she saw sense and gave up and left them to it. I really had a wonderful time watching them play out there and the door to the run has remained open all day so they can go in and out as they please. This is really the time I love when the babies are at that exploring age and have no fear of anything. They also get more loving each day (and more demanding along with it). The photos aren't very good at all as I think I had left the flash on by mistake so sorry about that. Hopefully I'll get some better pics of them in the cat run tomorrow.

Day 50 - June 28, 2004

Unfortunately there is no entry for today as I have been outside in the back yard all day trying to sort out our jungle. Even the cat run was beginning to look like a jungle as I hadn't mowed for a little while. As a result, the R's weren't brought downstairs today, they did however had the run of the whole upstairs and part of the downstairs for the entire day. During the times I came in to feed them or check on them, they were all fine and were bouncing around like lunatics as per normal. They can all navigate the stairs now and it's not unusual to see little white blobs pressed up against the glass squealing to be let in.

Day 49 - June 27, 2004 (7 weeks old today!)

I can't believe the R's are 7 weeks old today. It has really crept up on me as I got quite a surprise when I started the entry today and realised that we are now finished with week 6. They've been very "active" today, for want of a better word. In actual fact, they've all been very nasty to each other today and even poor Tia has been bitted and jumped on. When they have been awake they have been running riot everywhere. I went into the garage this morning to put the washing in the dryer which normally only takes about 2 minutes and as I was coming back into the house, I had quite a shock to see 4 of the R's were running around the cat run having the time of their lives! They had jumped straight over the barrier onto the step and were having great games and really enjoying their newfound freedom. I then got them all back inside, closed the door and went back to the garage for a higher barrier which has now done the trick. The reason that I don't like them in the cat run is that they aren't vaccinated for another 2 weeks so are still in a high risk factor. Once they have been vaccinated, this may well change and I'll allow them into the run. They're also getting much naughtier now when it comes to the kitchen. Every time I open the kitchen door, they are in there like a shot and I have to keep putting them out. The problem is that as you are putting one out, another is getting in. At one stage today I had 3 kittens that I was trying to get out the door all at once so I could close it without letting any others in. I really don't like them in the kitchen, and in our house, the kitchen is the one place that our furry family members are all denied access to as I just don't think it's hygienic to have them roaming around the kitchen where food is prepared etc. I have been really pleased today to see them eating dry food a lot more so it looks like they are finally getting the hang of it thank goodness. Most of today's photos are of "Limb Biting Game".