We are 12 weeks old now!

As I write this entry, we are currently waiting for our vets to call to let us know what has happened to Rodney. This morning, I put the babies' breakfast on the floor, called the babies, they came running down the stairs, all except for Del Boy and Rodney, both of whom were sound asleep and not interested in having any breakfast. I wasn't overly concerned because this often happens and all of the Trotters are eating huge quantities of kitten biscuits so not having one wet meal doesn't do them any harm. I then was in and out of the kitten room and upstairs doing the hoovering and cleaning but when I went back up to the kitten room and started taking photos for the diary entry, I had an awful feeling that Rodney was not right. He was lying on the bed but was very lethargic. I picked him up and gently placed him back on the bed, only to discover he could barely walk. He seemed to have lost all the use of his back legs. I called Graham who came straight up the stairs, he did the same thing, and then I flew downstairs to phone the vet. We took him straight in there, where Claire examined him but was unable to feel any fractures of the legs or hips. She asked me to put him on the floor so we could see if he would, or could, walk around. He could walk but he was crying the whole time so was obviously in pain, and he was trembling all over. I have never, in over 20 litters, experienced, or even seen anything like this so you can imagine the panic that is going through my mind right now. At the time of writing this entry, Rodney will be having x-rays taken of his back legs and his hips/back etc. and we are waiting for the vet to call us with a result, if there is one.. To see him in pain like this was just so upsetting. I did take some photos today but at the moment I can't put them in the diary because I just don't want to see them right now. I will give a further update much later on today or tonight, after we know the diagnosis and understand what has happened, or is happening. I would really appreciate any prayers for our darling Rodney please.

Update:
The vets telephoned us at about 2:45pm. Claire spoke with Graham and the good news is that the x-rays showed no damage at all and were all clear. At the time the vet phoned, Rodney was still under sedation so we will be going up to have a chat with the vet at around 5pm, and will then hopefully be bringing him back home. We are none the wiser at this point in time, other than having received the results from the x-ray and we are hoping Claire can give us some ideas as to what the cause is and certainly we will need to find out what we should be on the look out for with him with regards to going downhill further. I don't know if he will be given painkillers or anti inflammatories. I guess it's all up in the air at the moment but I will upload this entry now and we will see what happens at 5pm but we would still appreciate any prayers please that he will recover.

Further Update:
It's now 1732 and we are back home with our little man, who was going berserk in the carrier at the vets, trying to get out. I did take him straight out to cuddle him while Claire went through the x-rays with us and showed them to us. The upshot is that the bones and growth plates are all perfectly normal, there is no evidence of any shadows anywhere, nor any swollen areas. All of this a huge relief as you can imagine and at this stage, we all agree that it's hopefully a case of he has injured himself during the night by playing like a madman and jumping around, or perhaps one of the other kittens, or Ashanti has injured him during rough play and we feel that he has probably just strained something. He has also been given a painkiller in the form of an injection which will wear off after 24 hours and if he is still in pain, we will take him back for another injection. The moment I let him out of the carrier, in Graham's room, he ran out, walking much more normally so the painkiller has definitely kicked in. I prepared him a plate of food and he gobbled that up rather quickly, he was starving, but then he hadn't eaten all day. All we can do now is monitor him very carefully, keep him as quiet as possible, and hope and pray that is is simply a strain and nothing more sinister has caused this. If it is something more sinister, we are not going to know until it happens again, or if he goes rapidly downhill in which case he will be rushed straight back to our vets, who have been absolutely wonderful. Again, thank you to those who have been praying for him. Thank you to Teen for her support over the phone this afternoon and for going through possible causes with me. I typed this when I came back home but am only uploading it now after dinner. I still feel he is not walking normally but Graham tells me if he has strained something then he's going to be like this for a little while but it does still give me cause for concern. I know the fact that he is moving about much freer now is an absolute blessing, but it's a case of whether or not this will continue over the next 24 hours. I would ask please that you please do continue to pray for him as we do not know a cause and at this stage, at all just presuming it is merely an injury as so far there is no evidence of anything else.

They are not the longest of entries as it's still the "holiday" season (or so they tell me!), but at least I did manage a few photos.

Our Trotters appear to be growing at a rather rapid rate and they are becoming so much naughtier now. In typical Havana fashion, Racquel is a stubborn little minx and heaven help anyone who wants her to do something that she doesn't want to do. For example, at breakfast this morning, Racquel refused to come down the stairs to join all the other babies, and so I traipsed up the stairs to pick her up and bring her down and she wasn't having it at all. She jumped out of my arms, ran back into the kitten room and promptly would not let me catch her. After 5 minutes of this she was told rather firmly that as far as I was concerned then, she could starve. Sure enough, when everyone had almost finished breakfast she decided that now she was ready to come down the stairs and eat. Mind you, I do think that all of the Trotters are going to be a handful for their new kitten families, well all apart from Trigger as he is never a moment's bother. He is so incredibly loving and sweet, whereas the other 3 are just hooligans.

Del Boy is still venturing out into the cat run to have a look but so far he is the only baby. I wish they would all go out into the cat run some days because I tell you, you honestly can not comprehend just how much mess these babies are all making. When babies reach this age, you actually spend more time cleaning up after them, than you do playing with them. Meal times are much easier though thanks to Teen's massive bowls and we now end up with virtually no food dropped on the floor at all. It doesn't help that I have to keep stopping what I am doing every 10 minutes because Drambuie and Tia Lusso are having a "bad hair day" and are constantly stalking each other and I just know that any moment now a massive fight will break out. Joys of breeding and living in a multi cat home :) Since starting this entry, I've been on the phone twice, gone out to get a new heater for the stud house and some tubs for the bunk beds, and it's now 1434 and I have no motivation whatsoever to do kitten diaries. It's actually time to feed the fur brats again so maybe I'll take a couple of photos of them while they are eating because I really can not be bothered chasing them up and down the stairs to try and find them to take photos.

Many apologies for the lack of entry for today and both kitten diaries are exactly the same. We spent the most wonderful afternoon at the home of Maroochydore Siamese, visiting our mates, Teen and Tone and it was just great to get out of the house and see some amazing cats again. Teen and I got to chat about the feline additions we want for our homes whilst our husbands uttered firm "No's" and started mumbling about too many cats etc. etc. etc. I also got some advice about our Havana breeding program which will be very useful and we got to see our wonderful Tabbi who is sister to our own Ashanti. Tabbi has just changed so very much. She is beautiful and reminds Graham and I of her grandmother. She is a very naughty minx though and I'm horrified at the bad habits she has picked up whilst under the care of her new mum and dad. I did think that her other Mummy Val, might have kept her under control but it appears that she spoils her as much as Teen and Tone do. It was wonderful to see all the Maroochydore cats again and I can't tell you what a pleasure it is to visit another breeder's home and actually see cats who are part of the family, not caged at all, and who are in excellent condition and incredibly happy. We have been to a few breeder's homes during the past 5 years and I can count on one hand those who I would be happy to a Schimmel baby go to and Teen and Tone are right at the top of the list. Their fur children are a credit to them and as per usual, I could have taken them all home except I know Teen would have noticed. Graham was very impressed with Tone's bunk beds, so much so that we are going to do the same here, which all sounds exciting, however, what he didn't mention whilst at Teen and Tone's is that in order to do it properly, the work surface and fish tank would be removed from my room!!!!! To say nothing of then removing the wall units from his room and putting the fish tank out there. Still, I can't complain, because if Graham is going to go to all the trouble to make bunk beds for our cats, then I don't care what he removes from the room. What he doesn't know though is that I will not be satisfied with 2 separate bunk beds in my room, because I will also want one in the kitten room :) We actually came back with quite a few ideas from the Maroochydore home so I think I will be taking Graham with me when we drop off their new baby, Roulette because you never know what other ideas we can come home with on another visit :) Graham got to see Tasmania and Bill, the stunning Maroochydore Reds and queried if that would be what Rodney looked like when he is all "grown up", to which I replied yes, and Graham was very impressed with the colouring, although he did then say in the next sentence "No, forget it" with regards to keeping a Red back ourselves. All in all, we just had a really wonderful, relaxing day, in the company of brilliant mates and fantastic cats. It was also lovely to see Val again as well, although it wasn't for very long and it's very obvious that Tabbi loves her Mummy Val.

Yes, we managed yet again to skip even more days, but it was Christmas and all that sort of stuff, but hopefully starting from today, we are back to normal again now with the diary entries. Also, apologies for the photos in case there I've missed someone out. You have no idea how difficult it is to get photos of the fur brats when they are tearing around (which is what the mainly do now all day long!), to say nothing of the fact that I think I got the order of them mixed up as well.

Well Rodney has his uses after all.....................Graham saw him the other day and was totally amazed at just how beautiful Rodney is and how gorgeous his colouring is. I was quite taken aback because it's common knowledge that to Graham, the Siamese babies are all "the white ones" irrespective of their point colour, and I've not ever seen him so enamoured of a Siamese colour before. This is rather pleasing as my long term plans include a Red Point Siamese female or an Oriental Red female to eventually share our home. Our Trotters now go where ever they want in the home because even though the door that separates the upstairs from the downstairs is kept closed, the special kitten door that Tone put it for us means that the babies can go where they like when they like and they are certainly doing that. I was rather shocked this morning when I glanced up from my computer where I had been trying to sort out the photos for the entries, only to discover Del Boy on the window shelf out in the cat run. All of the babies are doing incredibly well and are growing at a rapid rate. Unfortunately, the older they get, the more destructive they get. It sounds as if we have a herd of elephants thundering about most of the time.