Day 13 - October 24, 2006

Toussaint's babies are definitely getting bigger and their weight gains are really wonderful so Toussaint is doing everything right with her children. They do make me smile, I must say, because they are such content babies, and so very alert and interested in me, their surroundings, and everything that is going on. They keep coming to the front of the wardrobe and trying to climb out of bed still although Toussaint is not overly impressed with this and she is still ensuring that they do not get very far. I have realised that as of yet, I've not officially said which baby is which and what colour/sex they are so now that I have a fairly good idea (but goodness knows how wrong/right I will be), here goes:

Baby	Colour	Sex
Del Boy	Oriental Red	Male
Racquel	Havana	Female (not 100% sure)
Rodney	Red Point Siamese	Male
Cassandra	Seal Tortie Point Siamese	Female

Del Boy is our large baby at the moment as he weighed in at 312 grams last night, Racquel weighed, Rodney weighed, and Cassandra weighed and as I said, these are weights that I am more than happy with. Their ears fascinate me at the moment because they are not the same "shape" that we normally produce and I can see a distinct difference so this is coming from the sire's side on Toussaint's family. All of our Trotters are very sweet though, and they are not phased at all when I lie on the floor in front of them and stroke them and have chats with them. They actually climb closer towards me to see who I am and whether or not I am making any sense (which I'm not usually!). Rodney however, loathes being weighed, although it's not the weighing he has a problem with, but when I take him off the scales and go to carry him back to bed, that's when he starts abusing me for having disturbed him in the first place.

Day 12 - October 23, 2006

Tragically, we lost our darling Boule in the early hours of this morning so please note that there will be no diary entry at all today.

Day 11 - October 22, 2006

Today again, I am so sorry, but there are no photos. Tomorrow, I will be back to normal! As we were away all of yesterday afternoon, and early evening, it means I am very behind in everything here in the house. We have also been busy settling in our beautiful new Bengal kitten, Frangelico.

I am afraid that yet again I have to confess that it appears we have had another visit from the "Sex Change Fairy". While Teen and I were chatting today on the phone, I stopped her in mid conversation, as I had been examining Trigger while we were chatting, and I told Teen that I am now of the opinion that Trigger is not a Seal Point but is in fact, a Seal Tortie Point Siamese, in which case, Trigger has just become Cassandra!!!! I don't know why, and it's been a couple of years since we bred our first (and only) torties, but the seal markings on the ear do not look right to me and I've bred enough Seals now to have an idea of what they look like :) Now if Trigger is indeed a Tortie, then he is definitely a girl. Of course the problem with this is that when I told Teen, she gave an exclamation of delight (she is a confirmed tortie lover) and then invariably asked me "If she's a tortie, are you going to keep her? You have to keep her?" or words to that effect anyway. Now of course my own mind was going into overtime thinking of future possible matings with a tortie point Siamese and what I could do with the line and colour. Then I had to be sensible and remind myself that I really do not need another baby in the house that will stay here. But then of course, we only have 2 Siamese breeding queens, our other queens are all Orientals, apart from our new Bengal kitten, in which case, a 3rd Siamese girl would be very handy, particularly if I took her to an outside stud cat for her 2nd mating (and I already have a fantastic Red Point boy in mind) so just maybe..............But then of course, how on earth would I explain to my wonderful, long suffering, incredibly patient husband that another Siamese female would be a wonderful addition to our family????????????????? We will see though. Anyway, as per usual I am getting way ahead of myself. As for our Trotters, they are funny, delightful and beautiful and already they love me (or at least they pretend to love me). They are becoming so much more alert and active now and would you believe that at just 11 days of age, they are not only starting to play little kitten games amongst themselves, but also they are starting to climb off their bedding and out of the wardrobe! They are so very advanced children and Toussaint is still being the perfect mum :)

Day 10 - October 21, 2006

There really is no entry or photos at all in any of today's kitten diaries because this morning, 2 of our older babies, Frosticles and Shreddies left us to live with their lovely new family. Then this afternoon, we drove to Kent to pick up our own new kitten which is really exciting for us so it was a rather hectic day.

Day 9 - October 20, 2006

Today's entries are not very long, but at least I managed to include some photos. The reason that the entries are short is because 2 of my older darlings are leaving me tomorrow to move in with their lovely new family which means I have an awful lot of paperwork to prepare between now and tomorrow morning and I've not even started it yet!

Eat, Sleep, and Crawl........ Eat, Sleep, and Crawl........ Eat, Sleep, and Crawl........ Eat, Sleep, and Crawl........ Sorry, I don't know what else to write as that is all that our Trotters actually do at the moment. However, this does mean peace and quiet for me :) This afternoon, the Trotters and their mum will be back to the vets for another visit. The reason is that Jo needs to remove Toussaint's stitches and she will also examine her to make sure she is still doing okay. Must admit that I have taking newborns into the vet surgery and also make sure the carrier is fully wrapped up in a sheet because vets, like doctors surgeries, and hospitals, are full of germs which is to be expected of course. If nothing else though, the Trotters are going to become extremely used to car travel between now and the time they eventually leave me :)

Day 8 - October 19, 2006

Finally, on Day 8, Trigger has started to open his eyes bless him :) I am sure when they are fully open that they will be beautiful little eyes as well :) At the moment, Del Boy is still our most forward baby in the litter and last night while were in bed watching TV, Toussaint was at one end of the bedding with Rodney, Trigger and Racquel, and here was Del Boy, strolling off all on his own, about to walk off the bedding and out of the wardrobe. It did not take long before Toussaint realised one of her children was escaping and she leant over, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and put him back with everyone else. Fortunately, he was happy to remain there because at only 8 days of age, I don't not want our children climbing out of bed and trying to walk around the room. I am convinced that Rodney is going to be a Red Point Siamese as even now, there is still no colour whatsoever. I am rather delighted with this and am going to be watching him with fascination to see how his colour develops.

Day 7 - October 18, 2006

Today, every time I start something, I am constantly getting interrupted and I did have my doubts as to whether or not I would get any photos in the kitten diaries. In the end, I came to the conclusion that it's better to have just a few photos than none at all so that will be my aim for the next few weeks, to ensure that each entry has at least 4 photos.

Our darling Trotters are now 1 week old today and we are thrilled to bits with their progress. They are doing everything that they should at this age, they are big babies, with no weight problems at all, and they are very lively children. What this means is that Toussaint has done us proud :) As soon as any of her children cry, she goes rushing to them, even if she has just started eating one of her own meals. She lets nothing at all get in the way of attending to her kids and she is such a relaxed and contented mum. Del Boy is very aptly named as he is definitely one of the "pushiest" babies when it comes to feeding time and he is quite a large boy as well, yet the other 3 Trotters are all able to hold their own and when they get a good nipple at the milk bar, they do not let it go, no matter who tries to wrest it from them. At the moment, Rodney is still showing no signs whatsoever of having any colour at all and I'm actually wondering if perhaps Rodney may end up being a Red boy? What do you think Teen????????????? It's unusual not to have even the slightest colouring appear yet and I just went back and checked the kitten photos for our first ever litter at this same age as that litter had 3 torties and 1 tortie tabby in there and at 7 days of age, there is colour on all 4 babies. We've not ever bred a Red Point Siamese before, only Oriental Red kittens so this is very interesting.