We are 3 weeks old now!

Day 20 - December 3, 2007

Last night I had to give in to our Monkeys' demands as I could no longer put up with Punky Monkey's screaming at me. I turned their "posh box" around, opened up the ramp, put some bedding on the ramp so the babies would have something to grip on to, and it came as no surprise at all that Punky Monkey was the first child to run straight down the ramp, followed by Funky Monkey, then Hunky Monkey. Skunky Monkey possibly would have gone down the ramp at the same time as well had he not been lying on his back desperately trying to get up, while his porker of a sister, Chunky Monkey was plonked firmly on top of him so he was unable to move. Let me assure you that Chunky Monkey is no light weight! I did have to laugh at Skunky Monkey because he took the short cut...............................straight off the side of the ramp, flopping onto the floor below :)

After a couple of minutes, I then lay down in front of the box and suddenly had 5 little monkeys sniffing my face, climbing on top of my head, playing with my hair and making me giggle as they tickled me with their tiny little whiskers. I even ended up with a paw or two trying to go up my nose and in my mouth but we were all having such a lot of fun. None of the children ventured very far at all from their ramp which is perfectly normal because at 20 days of age, in all honesty, they shouldn't even be out of the box let alone going for little strolls around the room.

I am always of the opinion that when the babies are ready to explore, they will let me know. It's not a case of giving them "freedom" at a certain stage of their lives because it doesn't work that way. For 3 days now our Monkeys have been telling me they "want out" and if they are old enough to decide this, then I am certainly not going to stop them. They can not get into any harm at all as they have 2 mummies in there and I know full well if one Monkey were to stray to far, then Toussaint would be over there like a shot to pick him/her up and take them back to the box.

Last night I left the ramp down all night, although I did go into the room periodically just to check all was okay and this morning when I went into the room to give the mum's and the Indians their breakfast, all 5 Monkeys were fast asleep inside their box. The one thing that did puzzle me was that in the box with them was one of the soft, flat toys. I have no idea who put it in there as Toussaint is not really a cat that has any interest in soft toys so that will possibly remain a mystery forever.

Now................having typed all of the above, I have a few things to say (nothing new there!). The little monsters are making liars out of me! "None of the children ventured very far at all from their ramp", what a load of rubbish! I went upstairs to do all the cleaning, and the moment I opened the door, Punky Monkey and Hunky Monkey screamed at me at the top of their voices and ran, not walked fast, but ran as fast as they could, screaming the whole time, straight towards me, across the room, stopping for nothing. They both reached me, I picked them up, plonked them back in the box, where they screamed at me again and ran straight out towards me <sigh>. I put them in the box again and turned on the hoover think that would stop them. Did it? Not bloody likely! Their screaming was so darn loud it could be heard over the hoover and were they scared of the hoover? Not in a million years. I am regretting giving them their freedom now because they will not leave me alone and I am too scared to admit to June that unfortunately, Hunky Monkey has now learnt Punky Monkey's bad habits :( Hunky Monkey now screams at me demanding attention, and he now runs as fast and as far as his incredibly naughty brother.

I don't know what I'm going to do with them, I really don't. Nor do I know how I will cope in a few weeks' time when they are starting to become proper little kittens.

Day 19 - December 2, 2007

Again today, when our babies have been awake, they have been running around the box like headless chickens trying desperately to find a way to escape. Not one of them has so far watched what Punky Monkey does and if they were to, I don't think it would be long at all before they were all climbing over the opening. Even this morning, she was still desperately trying to climb up and out and I've lost count of the times she has almost succeeded.

I don't know if you remember a much earlier entry in this kitten diary where I mentioned just how quiet our Monkeys were, apart from Punky Monkey who doesn't know the meaning of the word? Well in a very short space of time our Monkeys have proven to me, in typical Oriental/Siamese fashion, that they have found their voices and are not hesitating to use them at the slightest opportunity. It goes to show that what we see from very early on with our babies is not necessarily a true indication of what they will really end up being. I now have a feeling that all 5 of our Monkeys will be very talkative little children as they grow up.

Day 18 - December 1, 2007

There are no photos at all today sorry as it's been a manic day with 3 babies having left us this morning, and one more to leave this afternoon so I've not really had a spare moment all day to take photos of our babies. We do only have 1 kitten family who will possibly be visiting tomorrow so there will definitely be photos in tomorrow's kitten diaries.

Our little Monkeys had me in fits of laughter last night because I had been in the kitten room to sort out litter trays for the evening, and our Monkeys were in their posh box having the time of their lives. I have often said in the past that we have some litters who are more advanced than they should be but never to the extent that the Monkeys are. Hunky Monkey was rolling around on his back, showing off his beautifully spotted little tummy, waving his arms and legs in the air with delight, having the time of his life. Along came Skunky Monkey doing his best to run as fast as he could without falling over, and he ran straight over Hunky Monkey and just flopped down on Hunky Monkey's stomach. So poor Hunky was on his back, still waving his arms and legs and could not move at all because of the huge lump on top of him. After about 30 seconds of indecision, he felt the best course of action would be to to and bite his brother on the leg and sure enough, that made Skunky Monkey get off.

While that was going on, Chunky Monkey and Funky Monkey were using each other as stepping stones to try and climb straight up the wall of the back of the posh box, something which obviously is not possible, but they weren't taking no for an answer. They were knocking each other over to see who would be the first to be able to climb up.

Punky Monkey is the baby that worries me.......................she is going to be trouble with a capital "T". I watched in disbelief as the little minx walked straight to the front of the posh box (the front is a ramp that is let down when the babies are 3 weeks of age so they can explore and has an opening so mum can get in and out), stood on her back legs until she could reach the opening, she then hooked both front legs over the top and started pulling herself up, squealing at the top of her voice the entire time. She actually made it and was hanging half in the box and half out of the box in her determination to escape. Now at 17 days of age, this little lady should not have even been able to climb let alone start to clamber out of the box. The look she gave me when I picked her up and put her back in the box was priceless. I do think that whoever her new family may be, they will have their hands full with Punky Monkey.

Day 17 - November 30, 2007

This is the beginning of an extremely manic weekend as we have babies leaving us today, tomorrow and also on Sunday. This means that we obviously will have kitten families here throughout the next 3 days and I will be constantly doing paperwork. Basically, between now and Monday, all kitten diaries will be fairly short with only a few photos, but I will do my best to make sure there is an entry online every day.

It was so strange last night being in the bedroom without our Toussaint. Although I did have to laugh when Graham asked me where she was. He obviously wasn't aware that I had moved her out of the room early yesterday morning and goodness only knows why it took him so long to actually ask me why she hadn't been up on the bed :) The only bonus about having her out of our bedroom is that at long last I have my wardrobe back! It took me a mere 20 minutes yesterday afternoon to sort it out and get everything back into order and after what seems like months, I can now find my shoes again! I did listen out for a good part of the night last night and was pleasantly surprised to hear now screaming or fighting between the ladies and when I entered the kitten room this morning, Drambuie was on the chair with some of her children while Toussaint was lying on top of the "posh box" seemingly content. I do hope this is a sign of things to come for the next few weeks and that the ladies will accept each other. The telling point will be when the ramp on the "posh box" is lowered and the Monkeys start exploring.

You will notice I haven't changed the bedding in the "posh box" since yesterday and the reason for that is that I want it to smell very familiar to Toussaint and her babies as this will help keep Toussaint settled rather than everything smelling new and different. That is the idea anyway and by tomorrow, she should be relaxed enough in there for me to give the babies fresh bedding.

Day 16 - November 29, 2007

As I sit here typing this entry I am waiting for WW3 to break out upstairs. So far, I've not heard any screaming but it will happen <sigh>. I had to make the decision to move Toussaint and the Monkeys into the kitten room where Drambuie and the Indians are. The reason for this is that when I was feeding Toussaint her breakfast this morning, to my horror, the Monkeys were starting to walk out of the wardrobe! At a mere 16 days of age they certainly should not be at the walking stage. I waited until I was upstairs doing the cleaning and that is when I set up the "posh box" in the kitten room and put Toussaint and her children all in the box. This way none of the Monkeys will be able to walk anywhere at all but unfortunately Toussaint and Drambuie are not particularly happy about having each other for room mates. To be fair though, the problem is Toussaint and not Drambuie because Toussaint is one of those mum's who doesn't like to share rooms with other mum's and babies. At least not at first, she does eventually calm down but this might take a little while. It's going to be a very interesting few days I think!

Day 15 - November 28, 2007

Now that our Monkeys are older, they are becoming more and more used to being handled by myself and there is actually less protest during their weighing sessions than there was a few days ago which is quite nice, particularly considering how vocal Punky Monkey is. I'm really very happy with this litter, which I've probably said countless times since they were born. The thing is, when you have litters who have had problems with regards to struggling babies and 2 hourly feeds, then to have a litter like the Monkeys where everything is just totally and utterly perfect, it really does make such a difference.

Day 14 - November 27, 2007

The Monkeys are 2 weeks old today and they are just doing so incredibly well. Not one of them is a "problem" child and they are all happy, healthy, determined little children. As to be expected, we've had a sex change or two, nothing new there! At least I know now exactly which baby is which sex :) The table below will show you the Week 2 gains and will give you an idea of just how each baby is progressing.

Baby	Colour	Sex	Week 1 Weight	Current Weight	Weekly Gain
Funky Monkey	Seal Point Siamese	Male	203 grams	302 grams	99 grams
Chunky Monkey	Oriental Black	Female	207 grams	310 grams	103 grams
Skunky Monkey	Red Tabby Point Siamese	Male	170 grams	275 grams	105 grams
Punky Monkey	Chocolate Oriental Spotted Tabby	Female	185 grams	251 grams	66 grams
Hunky Monkey	Oriental Red Spotted Tabby	Male	174 grams	266 grams	92 grams

I really am delighted with all of those weights, including Punky Monkey who had the smallest weekly gain. They really are all thriving although I have a feeling that Chunky Monkey could possibly end up being one of the biggest females we have ever produced :) I do imagine that the babies will remain in our room for the next week of their lives and then next week they will move into the kitten room with Drambuie. When they do move in there though, their door will be open and whilst the babies will be too young to go wandering around anywhere, they will start to get used to our other cats/kittens and the normal household noises.