Expected Litter out of Schimmel True Blue x Ch Schimmel Shesadream

Drambuie has now given birth. Please Click Here to view her kitten diary.

I do feel really sorry for our poor Keg On Legs as I call her. She is massive, the babies have been frantically kicking about now for a week, and she still has one week to go. What amazes me is that despite her size, she has no problems at all jumping up and down on the bed, running up the stairs, or even going in and out of the cat run. Nor does it stop her jumping up to the door handle, opening our bedroom door, or the kitchen door. During the days now, Buie spends her time in Graham's room along with her daughter Nocello, her mum, Cacao, and Jelly, our Bengal. Then of an evening, Buie is upstairs with us so she is pretty much under 24 hour surveillance at the moment although she is looking very well. The only problem is that if she is on our laps and we stop stroking her or aren't paying her enough attention, she gently smacks our face wit her paw to remind us that she is still there. This wouldn't be too bad except her human mother hasn't cut her claws for quite a while so that is definitely going to be today's job :) Drambuie's kitten box is set up in our bedroom, but so far she's not that interested in nesting in there however I'm not worried because I know when the time comes she'll go in there. During the past week, Drambuie has become very affectionate and very clingy with both Graham and myself and she is only happy if she is with one or the other. As Drambuie was mating over a 5 day period, chances are, we will have one more entry to this pregnancy diary prior to her giving birth, so please check back next Sunday for a further update.

As you can see by the photos below, with 2 weeks to go now, Drambuie is looking rather large bless her. Her size certainly isn't stopping her from jumping about though and running up and down the stairs. Of an evening, Drambuie spends the night upstairs on her own where she can have some peace and quiet away from everyone else and she does seem to relish her quiet time that she has to herself. She is doing very well though and it will be interesting to see just how much more she expands during the next 2 weeks, although I am hoping it won't be too much more.

Poor Drambuie................she looks like a whale! She is so large and I can say it will be a relief when these babies are born, and then a few months after that we can have Drambuie spayed and she can just be an "Auntie" to any future Schimmel children. Her current state has not changed her at all because on Saturday evening, I was sorting out everything from the show I had been to, I sat my small show bag in the hallway for no less than 2 minutes and Drambuie sprayed all over it! Then yesterday, we had Ian and Mary here to collect Sea Biscuit and right in front of their eyes, she decided to mark her territory in the corner of Graham's room <sigh>. I would like to think that spaying her will stop the spraying but I have my doubts :) She is doing extremely well though despite being so large. She's content to sleep in "her" cat bed, wander in and out of the cat run and just get on with life as per normal.

I totally forgot to update Drambuie's pregnancy diary so it has gone online a couple of days late. With everything that was going on with Cointreau, diaries were the last thing on my mind as you can imagine. Very little has changed with Drambuie, although she has become slightly larger, she is doing incredibly well, and like her sister Sambuca, Buie is also eating as if she has an Army in there. There actually is really very little change between last week and this week which makes it very difficult to know what to write about. Actually, on reflection, there is one thing different and that is up until a day or so ago, Drambuie did not want to be with any of the other girls in the home and certainly did not want to curl up and sleep with them. This week however, she has been spotted sleeping with Amarula and some of the other girls which does please me as I certainly don't want her to become reclusive in any way. She's also much more clingy and cuddly with me than she normally is and that's saying something because Buie does adore her cuddles with mum.

You may have noticed that the camera issue has now been resolved and I have added the photos I took of Buie last week to her "week 3" entry. Four weeks into the pregnancy and Drambuie is doing quite well. She is still large, but is perfectly fine in herself. Quite a bit of her time during the day has been spent out in the cat run enjoying the sunshine. It is really nice to see her out there climbing on shelves and being quite active because she still has 5 weeks to go and the more active she is for the next few weeks, the easier the labour will be hopefully. I've now started giving her extra kitten pouch meals during the day and this will continue now up until the day she goes into labour. Today's photos aren't wonderful as I took them through the window in the cat run and Buie was not in a particularly photogenic mood but as I see it, after the recent disaster with the camera, any photos are better than none at all :)

We really weren't sure about this one as at the time of Drambuie's honeymoon, her last children were a mere 6 months of age and we had been planning on giving Buie a long break and not mating her again until September at least. Typically of Drambuie though, she had other ideas! She is a prolific caller and for those of you who know the history, you will be aware that Cacao had to have a full hysterectomy after just 2 litters due to Pyometra, which can be hereditary. Drambuie calls every couple of weeks for 5-9 days and we just couldn't let it go on any longer. On the 14th, I heard what sounded like a girl on call and then the answering sounds of a male and I turned around to find Buie was indeed calling and Sage, our neuter boy, was more than happy to oblige, as was his father, Ice, one of our other neuter boys. Graham and I spoke and decided that yes, enough was enough and Drambuie had to be sent on her honeymoon. I took her straight out and put her in with Galliano. I then sent an email to Diana who has been on our waiting list for a Drambuie baby and I know how excited Diana is about her future fur child so it was only natural that she was one of the first to be told. The problem was that as the next few days passed by, every time I was in the stud house, all I was witnessing was Drambuie beating the heck out of poor Galliano every time he approached her. This really did not bode well at all for a honeymoon but I figured I would give them a few more days. I was dreading having to report back to Diana to tell her after all that, she wouldn't let him near her. On the 16th, I was on my way out to the garage to sort out another load of washing for the dryer and I heard the distinct sound of a mating taking place. I dropped the washing basket, flew 'round the corner to the stud house to find Galliano had indeed won over our evil tortie tart with his charm and they were in the middle of well, you can imagine what they were in the middle of. I have to say I was thrilled. Drambuie's last litter to Galliano produced some beautiful babies, one of whom is Schimmel Maroochydore Kuru, now living with our very good mates, Teen and Tone of Maroochydore Siamese and Orientals. We also have a baby here from Drambuie's last litter, and that is our Nocello who is a wonderful looking girl, so if this repeat mating produces babies even half as lovely and happy as the last litter, then we will be over the moon. As the honeymoon couple didn't get started until the 16th, I made the decision to let the bride remain with the groom for an extra few days. We will know approximately April 7 whether or not this honeymoon has been successful so please do check back with us for updates after that time.