I have decided that I could so very easily have 10 "Amarula's" in my home! For the past few nights Amarula has been sleeping in the bedroom with us and what a lovely change it makes to have a pregnant queen in one us who does NOT wee on the bed, who does NOT try and sleep on our heads, who does NOT keep us awake all night by constantly going from the bed to the box. She is such a dream of a girl to have in the bedroom which is really wonderful. This also means that when tomorrow comes, because we've not had sleepless nights prior to that, I should have no problems staying awake day and night until she goes into labour. Her kittening box was set up in the bedroom for the first night she started sleeping in there with us and straight away she seemed to know exactly what it was for which I'm really pleased about. I am convinced that she will be just as good a mum, as her own mum, Amaretto has been so far. The poor girl is so incredibly heavy and she is as tight as a drum at the moment so I am hoping that it will all be over within the next 48 hours. Considering her size and the fact that she is so uncomfortable, Amarula has had quite a good week and while her activity levels have slowed down quite a bit, she still wanders around, has a very good appetite and jumps up and down into the chairs, the bed etc. Just like last weeks' entry, I am still concerned that she is going to get very thin once she's given birth but I have everything ready in preparation should this happen and hopefully it will make a difference. There will obviously not be any more entries now in her pregnancy diary but if you check back for updates from Thursday onwards, hopefully we will have a brand new kitten diary online.

I will be very pleased when April 6th arrives and Amarula will be hopefully going into labour because she has had enough of this whole pregnancy lark and both Graham and I are little concerned about her. In herself she is fine, however, already she is showing signs of taking after her mum, Amaretto when it comes to the babies. Amaretto gets incredibly thin just prior to giving birth and then for week's afterwards. Her current litter is actually the first time Amaretto has ever looked really good while her kittens are here and she is not thin at all which I attribute to the total change in diet which we hadn't ever done until her 4th litter. It does appear that poor Amarula is going the same way so this week, she has now been put on extra foods, not only Hills a/d, and also Liquivite, but also much more of the home cooked meals (chicken and mince) that I have been feeding our 2 current mums and their children. I'm hoping that this will make a difference to Amarula because even though she is eating quite a bit, which is normal for this stage of the pregnancy, everything she is taking in, seems to be going straight to the babies, rather than to her, exactly as it's always done with her mother. I will be keeping an extremely close eye on her and I think I will also give her some Nutri Drops on a daily basis as this may also help. During the evening now, she and Tia Lusso both sleep in the kitten room, on their own, away from the other cats, where they can have some peace and quiet. I don't put them in there though until "visiting time" with us in the bedroom is over because Amarula loves to come into the room and lie on our laps or on the bed. As they will be moving into the kitten room for 3 weeks after they have had their babies, it will also help for them to get used to being in there now. Mind you, in about 3-4 days time, Amarula will be moving into the bedroom with us of an evening so that we can keep an eye on her all night. I normally bring the girls up to sleep with us a few days before their due date just to be on the safe side.

At the rate poor Amarula is expanding I am concerned she will be as big as an elephant by the time she is ready to go into labour. I am positive she is actually larger than Tia Lusso. She is still eating tremendous quantities of food but despite her size she is looking really good at the moment. She is also having no problems at all continuing to groom herself and she can still reach all the necessary places. This is something that we have to keep an eye on with all of our queens as they start getting this large because sometimes, during the last week of pregnancy, we have to help with cleaning the "back ends" as they can get so big that they can no longer reach. Just like everyone else, she has been playing with the new "Froggie's" and she is still running around all over the place and is quite active. Unfortunately her demeanour with our current babies still has not improved and she is rather rude to them whenever they happen to be in the same vicinity as her. Of an evening during visiting time in the bedroom, she is one of the first into the room and up on the bed to just chill out which is really lovely because she does look so content and relaxed and this is how she should be.

Amarula is most definitely unimpressed with our current babies that are in the home. I have explained to her that not only are 3 of our current babies actually her half brothers and sister, but she will be having those same little creatures depending on her in just over 3 weeks' time! She did not believe a word I said however and she still continues to sit and glare and growl at our Bush Rangers and our Pints if they happen to venture too close to her. Hopefully you can tell in the photos below that Amarula has actually gained quite a lot of weight since last week. I actually got a shock when I looked at her last night are realised just how much she has expanded during the last 7 days and she is now larger than Tia Lusso. Just like Tia Lusso, she is eating a lot of kitten biscuits as well as some of the home cooked meals that our other babies have. In fact, Amarula is eating as if she has an entire Army in there. I did say to her that 4 or 5 would be a lovely number for her first litter although I can not guarantee she agrees with me. She is looking very good though and her coat is so incredibly shiny and soft which is lovely. Just like last week, Rula is so very peaceful and content with her current condition and does not seemed phased at all by this extra weight that she is carrying.

First of all I must apologise for the lack of photos in Amarula's pregnancy diary compared to Tia Lusso's diary. I find it so very difficult to photograph Amarula (well all my Black cats and kittens actually), and no matter how many photos I take, they simply do not do justice to my beautiful girl. For next week's entry I am going to take some decent photos even if it takes me all day! Amarula is doing extremely well and her abdomen is expanding quite nicely although she is not as large as Tia Lusso is. Her pregnant condition has altered Amarula's temperament slightly in that she is just so incredibly sweet at the moment. She has always been such a sweet girl, however, in typical Oriental fashion, she has also always been rather mischievous but at the moment, all mischief is on hold because she just wants to play with Lusso, lie around the home looking beautiful, or sitting on my lap being stroked while she purrs away. She is eating quite a lot more than usual but this is to be expected as she has now reached the 5 week mark. I do not know how many babies she has in there but I have put in my orders for colours and sexes. As to whether or not she will comply, well that will be a totally different story. I am positive that Amarula will be a wonderful mum, as indeed her own mother is, and already, Rula is getting some "motherly" qualities towards the other cats in our home. When she is curled up sleeping with them, she constantly is grooming them and hugging them close to her which is really lovely.

I now remember why pregnancy diaries are weekly diaries as opposed to daily diaries like our kitten diaries are and the reason for that is that for the first few weeks, there really is very little change. This means of course that I have very little to actually write about and it can be difficult to try and keep the entries from becoming boring. Amarula's physical appearance has changed very little during the last week. Apart from her pink nipples, there is actually no difference at all. She hasn't started putting any weight on yet, but that's to be expected at only 4 months into the pregnancy. Her appetite is extremely good but at this stage, she is not eating any more than she normally would. Amarula has always had a good appetite and I imagine that in a few week's time she will no doubt be eating us out of house and home. On the whole though, she looks very good and her coat feels like velvet, so soft to touch and I am pleased to see that she is still being very active as I do worry when pregnant girls become quiet and lethargic. One thing that is different is that she now curls up to sleep with Cacao, the matriarch of the family. This is unusual because Cacao is "The Godmother" (as opposed to the Godfather) and she rules with an iron fist. However Cacao has been spending a lot of time grooming Amarula and loving her which Amarula is lapping up and this is really lovely to see.

Unlike Tia Lusso, within a day of Amarula's honeymoon finishing, Amarula came off call and stopped all the singing and rolling around. Throughout the last 3 weeks, she and Tia Lusso have been as thick as thieves and spending all their time together which is really lovely. This should bode well for both girls' raising their babies together happily without any problems. I'm really happy to say that from now onwards, this pregnancy diary will be updated on a daily basis because on February 21st, Amarula pinked up and every single nipple was bright pink which means that babies are expected which I'm really excited about. Amarula has changed dramatically during the last week. She is very clingy and is constantly coming up to the humans in our home for cuddles and attention. Although she still runs around like a lunatic, she is very settled, and is constantly grooming the hair around her nipples. No doubt thinning it out so that when the time comes, her children will be able to feed very easily. I am really excited to see what colours Amarula and Sheridans will produce for us as we can get Blacks, Seals, Havana's, Chocolate, and Lilacs. Although as Seal (black) is the dominant colour, it is entirely possible we may end up with Blacks and Seals only however I am hoping for yet another Havana baby as I love the colouring so very much. As you can tell from the photos below, Amarula has not yet put on any weight however it's very early days and I wouldn't be expecting her too. Just like Tia Lusso, Amarula is now on kitten biscuits as opposed to adult biscuits and she has an excellent appetite. I'm also rather pleased to say that neither she, nor Lusso, have shown any signs of morning sickness which is so nice because to date, every other queen we have, or have had, always had morning sickness so it would be lovely to go through a pregnancy without any at all.

Just for a change I managed to get some actual honeymoon photos. This is Amarula's first honeymoon, not that you would know it by the way she had been acting. She is now almost 12 months of age and on January 30th, she came into her 3rd call which was an ideal time for her to have a honeymoon. Rather than put her out in the stud house, I wanted the honeymoon to take place in the back room where I work during the day. I wanted this for a number of reasons, the first being that it is her first time and I wanted her in a comfortable environment that she knows. The second reason is that Sheridans sleeps in the back room of an evening and as he was to be her husband, then he is very familiar with the room and would also be comfortable. The third reason is that quite frankly, it is too darn cold to be standing outside the stud house waiting for the honeymoon to begin! This is only the third time that Sheridans has performed his stud duties and whilst I shouldn't make fun of him, I had to leave the room at one point because I was just bursting into fits of laughter at this "technique". He is only a young boy, just 11 months of age and is still learning. He has so far sired 2 litters, both of whom are currently upstairs in the kitten room. Amarula knew exactly what she was supposed to be doing and she didn't hesitate to oblige. The one problem was that it was taking Sheridans forever to find a comfortable position for him and in the end she ended up walking around and around the room, all the time with him still hanging onto the back of her neck. I am really pleased to say though that they got there in the end and the more they practiced, the better they became :) Within the first hour and a half they had managed 3 successful mating's. I was also rather relieved to see that he knows automatically as soon as it's over, he has to be prepared for flight and get off as quick as possible and get the heck away from her. As this is her first honeymoon, I will continue the mating's until the afternoon of February 2nd, during which, plenty of matings should take place and both Amarula and Sheridans will be happy, satisfied cats. If all goes well, we can expect babies to be born approximately April 6, 2006 and the expected babies will be: Havana, Oriental Black, Seal Point Siamese and Chocolate Point Siamese. There won't be another update now until 3 week's time when hopefully Amarula will pink up and we will be able to confirm her pregnancy so please check back after February 21.