Tiny T's weight is still fluctuating, she has lost 2 grams today (or she had first thing this morning, this may have changed again when I weigh her very soon. Everyone else is still holding their own and not doing too badly. On the whole, they are all really happy little babies who are so interested in everything that is going on around them. I've had to put the bedding in the box up a bit at the front because when Amaretto is out of the box and having a break, if the T's wake up, they automatically come running over to the front of the box and try to climb out, usually successfully. Our feeding routine has changed a little bit now too because although I'm still feeding every 2 hours, now that the babies are with me all day long, if one of them wakes up and starts to cry because he/she is hungry, I now warm up their mixture and feed them then as well too. I'm hoping that by doing this, Retto will be under less pressure. The markings were starting to wear off The T's, so rather than allow for any mix ups to happen, I re-marked them all today, however, because everything was so confusing at the time (babies everywhere, climbing out of beds and boxes), I accidentally marked Crunchie by mistake. This meant I now had 5 babies with blue marks under their arms. I knew straight away that Crunchie wasn't one of Tia's, by the mark on his head and his current weight, so I then had to go and mark his leg as well <sigh> just to make sure that there are no mix ups in the days to come. I am not responsible for any of today's photos as Graham very kindly took them as I had my hands full with feeding and weighing and now that the other cats all have access to the babies, it made it very difficult to say the least.

Today's entries in both diaries are exactly the same as we had an incident early this morning with Amaretto and one of the babies. I went into the kitten room to do the 7am(ish) feed and when I opened the box, I found Crunchie with his head covered in blood which nearly gave me a coronary. I picked him up and wrapped him in a towel and bathed his head to see just what damage had been done. Very fortunately, it appeared to be a minor scratch and his skull hadn't been punctured which was my first thought. The cause of this was Amaretto. Feeding 8 babies is not easy for her particularly as the babies are quite demanding and have rather horrific fights over the milk bar. This in itself is perfectly normal and the older the kittens get, the more determined they are. The problem is that 8 babies doing this all at once is absolute hell for Amaretto and it would seem that one of the babies has hurt her during the nipple battles and she is rather sore. So when the babies are all grappling for nipples, they are causing her pain, unintentionally, and Amaretto has reacted, obviously nowhere near as violently as I first thought when I looked at poor Crunchie. After bathing his head, there is almost no evidence of anything having had happened to him which is a massive relief. Due to all of this though, Amaretto, the Chocolate Bars and The T's have now all been moved downstairs to the back room. This is where I sit all day long and this way I am with them every minute of the day and can monitor what is happening, as opposed to going up to the kitten room every 2 hours as I have been doing. Retto seems much happier being down here because it means she can go out into the cat run if she wants for a break or she can sit on top of the large fish tank and just watch the box and listen out for any little squeaks. Even though I feel sorry for little Crunchie, I am feeling much more sorry for poor Amaretto because she is the most placid, sweet natured girl in the world and for her to be cranky with the babies to this extent means that they are definitely causing her pain. She is also now on antibiotics to prevent any onset of possible mastitis. I will be so glad when I am able to wean the babies onto more solid, filling foods so as to take as much pressure of Amaretto as possible. We are still doing 2 hourly feeds but quite naturally, the babies still all feed off Amaretto.

I am really delighted to say that when I went into the kitten room this morning for the 11:30 feed that Tiny T was latched on well and truly to Amaretto and was drinking away. Up until now, she has not done this at all and this is a really promising sign for her. I'm still concerned about her weight which does appear to be fluctuating now. One day she has gained loads, the next she loses 5 grams and I do not know why. Outwardly, there are no signs that anything at all is wrong with her, she behaves and looks like her brothers and sisters and everything appears totally normal but they all gain each day whereas her weights are a real mystery. I'm hoping that as each day passes she will keep gaining and will be fine. Cute T, Iced T and Mr T are all doing really well and all of the T's are such beautiful little babies, equally as advanced as Amaretto's are.

I'm feeling really shattered today, this isn't unusual as the 2 hourly feedings are so exhausting, but today it's starting to take it's toll. I can however cheer myself up with the fact that I only have another 2 weeks of it and can start weaning which will take quite a lot of pressure off both myself and Amaretto. Tiny T is still hanging in there and gained back all she had lost and more so thank you to all those who are praying for her.

I am worried about Tiny T as she is not gaining as she should and has even lost a few grams in 24 hours despite the 2 hourly feedings. At the moment she is about 30 grams behind everyone else in the litter which may not seem a lot but all the T's are slightly smaller than they would be if they still had their mum. I really would appreciate any prayers that Tiny T is just going through a bad spell and will be okay. The other three T's are all doing really well and making acceptable weight gains and all their eyes (well the 2 eyes that they each have) are now fully open which is really lovely. When it was Weighing time today and I had to separate the babies, I actually picked up two of the T's thinking that they were Retto's babies because they were as large as hers and I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that the two I picked up both had blue marks under their arms. They are also moving about quite a bit more now and they now move closer and closer to the edge of the box and peer out, wondering whether or not they should take that giant step.