Day 11 - August 3, 2007

Well I can't quite believe it, but Toussaint and the Nuts are still in the kitten room with Lucy and the Nuts/Detectives. In no way at all are either ladies interacting with each other at this point in time, although now Lucy is happy to have Toussaint there and is very interested in "helping" her with the Water Babies but each time she sticks her head in Toussaint's box, the growling emerges from Toussaint. But at least, both ladies will wander around the room, use the litters trays and eat their meals without any altercations at all. This is actually quite remarkable when you consider Toussaint's behaviour towards the other mum's when she had her first litter. So I do feel we have definitely progressed. I guess the interesting time will come when the Water Babies are old enough to want to start exploring because then, the ramp to Toussaint's box will be left down so that will be fun and games but fortunately we have at least another week and half before I need to worry about that. I am very pleased to say that the move to the kitten room has not affected Thames or Ock's weight gains and both babies are continuing to make pleasing gains.

Day 10 - August 2, 2007

There are no entries for today sorry as we have had quite a bit going on and things seem to be all over the place at the moment.

Day 9 - August 1, 2007

Well the move didn't go particularly smoothly, in that we had to go out yesterday afternoon and I was not prepared to leave Toussaint and the Water Babies in the room unless I was in the home, so they were moved back into our wardrobe, they spent the night in there, and then first thing this morning they were moved straight back in. We are now at the stage where Lucy sticks her head into Toussaint's box, and both girls have a bit of a growl at each other. But so far no fights have broken out, no blood has been drawn, so I'm still monitoring the situation. At the moment, I don't believe Toussaint has got out of her box at all, unless she is doing this when I'm not in the room which is possible, but I think she has just stayed in there all day so far. This is something I have to watch because she has to get to the point where she feels comfortable enough to use the litter tray and to eat/drink. Thames and Ock have not seemed bothered at all by the move, actually, I don't think they even realise to be honest with you as they are still so very young. As far as they are concerned, so long as they are warm, and have their mum and milk, then they are very happy.

Day 8 - July 31, 2007

I did have intentions of taking photos today, however, the Water Babies have been moved into the 2nd kitten room, along with Lucy, the Nuts and the Detectives, and this means that I am up at every single sound, just waiting for a war to break out. So I am getting nothing done at all today as I've not been able to spend more than 10 minutes on any one thing as I am up and down constantly.

At last, both Thames and Ock's eyes are open now. Ock was the first to open hers, although it wasn't until Day 6 that both eyes were fully open. Then by yesterday afternoon, Thames had one eye fully open, and the other eye partially open. Both babies have been a little slower to open their eyes as quite often our babies will start to open them by Day 2. What is important though is that the babies' eyes have opened up clear, with no problems at all so this is a good start. This morning I moved Toussaint and the Water Babies in the 2nd kitten room because as you know, I have been desperately hoping that both ladies will happily share a room and the babies. I honestly thought that Lucy would be fine and Toussaint would be a problem. With Toussaint's first litter, the Trotters, there was no way she would tolerate being in the same room as any of the other mum's and babies and we had real issues and I was expecting the same thing. To my surprise, it was Lucy who was totally against this "invasion" of her kitten room and that is so very unlike her. As it stands at the moment, both girls are in their respective boxes with their own babies, all is quiet, and I have been popping upstairs every 10 minutes to open the door slightly, peer in, and make sure all is okay. This is going to be an extremely long and tiring day. It really is so important that we get both ladies to share the room and it will make our lives a bit easier. The Nuts and Detectives are not really even aware that there is another mum and new babies in there, and of course Thames and Ock are very quiet babies because there are only 2 of them in the litter and there is not fighting and squealing to get a nipple. As of yet, Toussaint hasn't got out of her box to eat or use the litter tray etc. and when she does, well that is when I'm expecting the trouble to start. I'd like to think that on one of those times when I pop up into the room that I will find them both sharing the box and the babies, but I know that really is wishful thinking and I wouldn't be surprised at all if we have to move Toussaint and the Water Babies back into our room.

Day 7 - July 30, 2007

I did actually take photos today, despite our devastating loss of Frost last night, but I think I feel the need to do "something" so that I am not thinking about him and we do have other babies in the home, all of whom need me, and there are diaries to be done, I think I'm just trying to have some pretence of normality in a very surreal world at the moment.

Such an easy, easy, litter, 2 gorgeous babies and a great mum. We have now reached Week 1 of our Water Babies' lives with absolutely no intervention from me whatsoever. With our current issues going on with the Nuts/Detectives, I have to say what a joy it is to share our home with the Water Babies. Both Thames and Ock doubled their birth weight by day 7 as you will see from their weight chart below.

Baby	Birth Weight	Current Day Weight	Weekly Gain
Thames	75g	171g	96g
Ock	90g	217g	127g

As you know at the start of their life, I was a little concerned that Thames hadn't made huge gains within the first few days of his life, however, this didn't last for long and he finally got the hang of feeding from mum as is very apparent by his weekly gain. Now whether or not he will ever catch up to his sister, Ock, who is a bit of a porker, I have no idea.