Schimmel Siamese & Oriental Cats are Oriental cat breeders based in Oxford, UK. We sometimes have Oriental and Siamese kittens for sale. We also have 2 Oriental Stud Cats and online kitten diaries.

Well we are now at the final stage of Drambuie's pregnancy and this will be the last entry in this Pregnancy Diary. Today's photos are rather boring as Drambuie was in no mood to show herself off for the camera and quite frankly I do not blame her one bit. She is getting to that stage where she has had enough. She is due in 2-3 days time although to look at her you would think she is ready to go right at this minute. The poor girl is so incredibly large and she has even put on weight between this entry and the last one. I am pleased to say that throughout the last week there has been definite movement from babies inside Drambuie. During the evening and of a morning she spends quite a bit of time sitting on my lap and I've been feeling every single kick and I do feel quite sorry for her as they are active and due to her size she is rather uncomfortable. The fact that I now know there are definitely babies inside and at this point in time they are alive does give me a bit of relief although I am fully aware that this does not mean that the babies will be okay. The next few days are going to be quite nervewracking to say the least. Drambuie now sleeps with us in the bedroom of an evening and her kittening box is set up in there so that she will get used to the fact that she will be having her babies in there. She already knows what the box is for and she alternates between sleeping in there and sleeping on top of me all night. We are getting some sleepless nights again as per usual because at this close to the due date we are both waking up constantly throughout the night just to check on her and make sure she is okay. I actually had a look at the first few entries in Drambuie's previous kitten diary and even now I am still in awe of those beautiful Oriental Red babies and I think how lovely it would be to have another one or two in this litter (not that I am keeping any at all). Mind you, right now I am just hoping and praying for a safe, quick, easy birth and a few healthy babies. Please check back towards the end of the week for a further update to this diary.

January 16, 2006 (approximately 8 weeks pregnant)

I can't believe that Drambuie only has 8 weeks remaining and when I looked at her yesterday morning, it was rather apparent that she has definitely expanded in size compared to last week as hopefully you can tell by the photos below. She's still being clingy with me off and on and I did take advantage during a few of these moments to try and feel for any babies. I "thought" that once or twice I may have actually felt a kick but to be totally honest, I could now swear to it. I guess we will know in roughly 7 - 10 days time. Her appetite is extremely good at the moment and whenever she is not terrorising poor Tia Lusso and Amarula she has her head stuck in the food bowl. The poor girl can't understand why, of an evening, when we go upstairs she is not allowed in the bedroom at the moment. The reason for this is that we have everything set up in there ready for Amaretto to give birth. We still feel that Amaretto will go before Drambuie. I guess that apart from the lack of movement that I would normally expect to see at this stage of the pregnancy, everything is going really well for Drambuie and now it will just be a case of waiting to see what will happen.

January 9, 2006 (approximately 7 weeks pregnant)

I looked at Buie long and hard today, trying to determine whether or not she has grown any more. To be honest, I couldn't see that she had, then this afternoon, I was coming out of the kitchen and she was walking away from the door and at that angle, she does look bigger however she seems to be hanging rather low. I don't remember her being this low with her previous litter but I may compare photos at a later stage to try and determine if she did or didn't. Anyway, I've still not felt any babies move and I will be keeping a close eye on this for the next week or so but I am doubting she even has any in there which is pessimistic I know. In herself, Buie is doing really well. She is still very active and tears about the house as if she were an Olympic gymnast and she is still terrorising her sister and the younger girls although she has been a bit calmer this week which is a relief! Her appetite is also still very good and she's certainly eating enough to feed a little Army. I am finding it hard to believe that Drambuie only has 2 weeks left to go and the last 7 weeks seems to have gone by very quickly. I have been enjoying my peace and quiet without any babies in the home though but having said that, a few of my breeder friends have all recently had babies again (well their cats have, not them personally) and it is making me feel rather broody. Mind you, I will be making the most of the next couple of weeks because the thought of all the hard work and sleepless nights that goes with the babies is rather daunting.

January 2, 2006 (approximately 6 weeks pregnant)

Very little has changed with Drambuie and she is progressing quite nicely. She is not particularly large but she is definitely expanding each week, no surprise really with the amount of food she is putting away. She has become even more clingy with me during the last week which I didn't think was actually possible and I'm also pleased to say that she has calmed down a little and is not fighting with anyone nearly as much as she has been previously. She is also very happy to "share" a birthing box with Amaretto although in a couple of week's time I will be putting a 2nd birthing box in the bedroom so that they will have one each. On the whole though, Drambuie is looking quite well and despite her pregnant state, she bounds around the home like a lunatic. Jumping up on everything, running up and down the stairs. So far, she has not been interested in looking for somewhere to nest so she obviously knows that she still has 3 weeks left to go. When she sleeps in the upstairs hallway she does still sprawl out as if she weighs a tonne (which she doesn't) and she insists that whoever passes by her, must stop and stroke her and have a chat with her.

December 26, 2005 (approximately 5 weeks pregnant)

Just like Amaretto's pregnancy diary, this is not a tremendously long entry (well it's quite short actually) as it is Christmas and we are having some time off to relax and chill out which is something that we rarely get time to do. Drambuie has gotten slightly bigger, not a lot, but enough for me to know that she is bigger than she was this time last week. In typical pregnant fashion she has an appetite like a horse and when she is sleeping she still sprawls out fully as if she were carrying an Army in there. She is still very clingy though and does love to be with us humans which is really nice. Unfortunately she is creating hell amongst the cat family, so much so that yesterday afternoon, she fought with her sister Sambuca and actually injured her which obviously I am rather upset about! After Drambuie has this litter, there is an extremely good chance we may spay her because she really does terrorise the younger girls in our home and upsets the entire equilibrium of the house so we are hoping that by spaying her, she will totally calm down. I guess, that unless her attitude changes dramatically, this will actually be her very last litter which is a shame as she's an excellent mother and a very loving cat but it is just so unfair to the likes of Tia Lusso and Amarula to have to live in fear of her.

December 19, 2005 (approximately 4 weeks pregnant)

Well we are now at the 4 week stage and so far, very little has changed. Drambuie is slightly bigger than she was last Monday and her nipples are very pronounced and very pink. She is still incredibly clingy with me and even more surprisingly, she was allowing Cointreau, her niece, to suckle on her and Buie was content to lie there and let her. In other ways she is still the same particularly with regards to Tia Lusso and Amarula, both of whom she can not get through a day without starting a fight with <sigh>. Also, she has not come back into call yet either which she would certainly be doing by now if she wasn't pregnant. It is definitely going to be an interesting few weeks watching her and seeing what happens. At the very best, we could end up with a couple of beautiful babies which would be lovely, but at the very worst, we could also end up with a disaster litter. In one way, it's good that this has happened at such a busy time of year for us so we have plenty to keep our minds occupied without having the time to start worrying unnecessarily. The funny thing about Buie at the moment is that she is going through that whole "Woe is me" stage. Whenever she sees me, she stretches out full length, looks up at me and sighs as if she is carrying an entire army in there. She also insists that I carry her up and down the stairs as a lady in her condition should not be walking around, however she is learning that I am not prepared to carry her all around the house. She is milking this for all it's worth in true typical Oriental fashion.

December 12, 2005 (approximately 3 weeks pregnant)

On December 8, I looked at Drambuie and even though her nipples hadn't really gone pink, (she is due to pink up today) I knew that she was definitely pregnant. All breeders who know their own cats very well will know what I mean when I say that there are certain things that just give it away every time. With Drambuie, it was a case of from the 8th onwards, she has become extremely clingy and sits on my lap of a morning hugging me for hours on end. Then, when I go to the bathroom, she sits outside the door crying until I come out and then I have to pick her up and carry her back downstairs. She is also (and this could be my imagination), looking slightly more rounded than normal and she looks "softer" which I really can not put into words to say exactly what I mean. However, on December 13th we took Drambuie to the vet as the night before, she had been discharging and there was quite a mess on the floor in the kitten room. This made us think that she may have miscarried. During the visit to the vet, she was pronounced to be perfectly fine, very well etc. and our vet was unable to feel any babies inside which led us all to believe that a miscarriage was a certainty. Then, to confuse us even more, on the evening of December 14, every single nipple was bright pink and Drambuie had gained weight. For the time being, we are simply going to monitor her very closely and see what happens with her. It is possible that she may have aborted some of the babies, but one or two may have survived. The main thing is that she is fine, very content and is not unwell at all. She is extremely clingy with me at the moment and wants to be with me all the time.

November 21, 2005 (The Honeymoon)

I don't even know what to say for this pregnancy diary and quite frankly, wished there was no need to write it! Drambuie is NOT supposed to be pregnant again as my plans were to mate her in June 2006 to Galliano, however, Drambuie (and Sheridans) had other ideas! At the time this "accident" happened, Drambuie had come into call the previous day so Sheridans, who was living inside at the time because we were under the impression that he was the other way inclined, was put in the kitten room, with the door locked, just to be on the safe side as the last thing we wanted, or needed was an unplanned pregnancy. The event happened during the time when I had Tango's lovely owners visiting us as they were taking him home with them and while we were sitting around the table chatting, I could hear lots of noise and banging coming from upstairs. Naturally, I paid little attention because our home is often like that due to the fact that our Oriental and Siamese cats are so very active and are always playing chase, however in mid conversation with our visitors, I suddenly hear the screams of a queen who has just been mated. I flew upstairs just in time to see Sheridans jump off her and Buie rolling around all over the floor like any queen that's just been mated. I just could not believe my luck. How Sheridans managed to get out of the locked kitten room is beyond my comprehension and why he chose this specific time to finally become a man is also a mystery to me. I spent the first 3 weeks after the mating just hoping and praying that Sheridans tadpoles would not reach their target as it's the first time they've ever been let out to swim so it was always possible that conception wouldn't take place. But nooooooooooooooooooooo, I could never be that lucky. One little accident and here we are now expecting babies yet again! My one consolation is that at least we now have proof that Sheridans is now capable of his stud duties, and the fact that Drambuie is in such good condition and health means that hopefully, this will be a trouble free pregnancy and birth. The possible colours we may be expecting in this litter are: Oriental Blacks, Havanas & Lilacs, Oriental Black Torties, Oriental Chocolate Torties. Oriental Lilac Torties and Oriental Reds. Another consolation is that if the mating is successful, we can pinpoint almost to the exact day when Drambuie will give birth which will be approximately January 25, 2006.