Merrydancer Jody, blue girl Day of birth.  Jody, one week old.  You'll see in some of the pictures that the kittens all have one or two ears coloured to help us tell them apart.  Jody, above, has her right ear pink:-))) Jody, two weeks old.  They all have their eyes open to some degree now, but some, like Jody's right eye, isn't quite fully open yet. Jody, three weeks old. Jody, four weeks old.   You can see that we're still colouring their ears to tell the difference:-))) Jody, five weeks old. Jody, six weeks old. Jody, seven weeks old. Jody, eight weeks old. Jody, nine weeks old. Jody, ten weeks old. Jody, eleven weeks old.  Just in case anyone is wondering, the ear colours will wear off in a few days - we have to renew the colour every two or three days. Jody, twelve weeks old.

Merrydancer Jethro, blue boy Day of birth.  Jethro, one week old.  He has a green left ear. Jethro, two weeks old. Jethro, three weeks old. Jethro, four weeks old. Jethro, five weeks old. Jethro, six weeks old. Jethro, seven weeks old. Jethro, eight weeks old. Jethro, nine weeks old.  Jethro, ten weeks old.  Jethro, eleven weeks old. Jethro, twelve weeks old.

Merrydancer Jeffrey, blue boy Day of birth.  Jeffrey, one week old.  He has a blue left ear. Jeffrey, two weeks old. Jeffrey, three weeks old. Jeffrey, four weeks old. Jeffrey, five weeks old. Jeffrey, six weeks old. Jeffrey, seven weeks old. Jeffrey, eight weeks old. Jeffrey, nine weeks old. Jeffrey, ten weeks old. Jeffrey, eleven weeks old. Jeffrey, twelve weeks old.

Merrydancer Jemima, blue girl Day of birth.  Jemima, one week old.  Left pink ear. Jemima, two weeks old. Jemima, three weeks old.   This picture shows just how fat the kittens are:-)))) Jemima, four weeks old. Jemima, five weeks old. Jemima, six weeks old. Jemima, seven weeks old. Jemima, eight weeks old. Jemima, nine weeks old. Jemima, ten weeks old.  Busy doing her nails:-)))) Jemima, eleven weeks old. Jemima, twelve weeks old.

Merrydancer Jasper, blue boy Day of birth.  Jasper, one week old.  See he has a green right ear. Jasper, two weeks old. Jasper, three weeks old. Jasper, four weeks old. Jasper, five weeks old. Jasper, six weeks old. Jasper, seven weeks old. Jasper, eight weeks old. Jasper, nine weeks old.  It always makes me laugh when I realise we've got a similar pose to the week before! Jasper, ten weeks old. Jasper, eleven weeks old. Jasper, twelve weeks old.

Merrydancer Jeremy, blue boy Day of birth.  Jeremy, one week old.  Both his ears are blue. Jeremy, two weeks old. Jeremy, three weeks old. Jeremy, four weeks old. Jeremy, five weeks old.  We're just doing his right ear blue now:-))) Jeremy, six weeks old. Jeremy, seven weeks old. Jeremy, eight weeks old. Jeremy, nine weeks old. Jeremy, ten weeks old, saying 'hi mum':-))) Jeremy, eleven weeks old. Jeremy, twelve weeks old.

Diary:

We were amazed when Ellie had so many kittens.  We imagined, perhaps, five at most.  But they just kept coming.  She's a lovely mum and hasn't even come out of the pen yet, so we're giving her food in there, so she can keep nursing the kittens.  They are all gaining weight already.  Ellie is such a wonderful mum.  She hasn't even come out of the kittening pen yet, but stays in there where the kittens can constantly suckle, so we put her food in front of her in the pen, where she doesn't have to move.  I'm sure she'll need to use a litter tray soon though:-))))  She's constantly purring and padding with her paws - she's so proud of her brood:-)))

15.7.09 - We're topping the kittens up a few times a day, with Royal Canin Babycat milk.  Ellie's milk didn't come in so early in abundance, probably because the kittens were 3 to 4 days premature.  They're all doing well though.  We had real difficulty telling them apart, and thank you to Natalija who came up with the wonderful idea of colouring the inside of one ear with gel pen markings, to help tell the difference.  This works really well.  We're weighing them three or four times a day, to make sure they are all gaining weight steadily.  4 pm - we've just weighed the kittens again (I weighed them again at lunchtime) and they are gaining nicely without being topped up since this morning.  It looks as though Ellie's milk is coming through more now:-))))))  We'll keep weighing three times a day to make sure they're getting enough, but it does look encouraging.

16.7.09 - Ellie's kittens are doing so well!  They were actually due to be born today, and their sizes now are well above the average Abyssinian kitten birth weight.  They've gained well overnight and have chubby tummies, already:-)))  They've got to the stage of  if they roll over onto their backs, they're so fat that they struggle to get onto their tummies again, and their little legs wave around in the air until they can roll back (or I help them:-)))  They are exploring the kitten pen now (it's 30 x 30 inches) and can find each other and mum easily.  They've shown that they recognise the scent of my hands now, and come towards them (obviously their eyes are still tightly closed still).  Ellie is such a marvellous mum, and attentive to their every need.

17.7.09 - I've just been sitting with Ellie for half an hour watching her feed the kittens.  I'm so full of admiration for her.  Not only is this her first litter, but to cope so well with so many kittens, making sure they all get fed - she's doing so well!  She doesn't just lie on her side for them to feed but goes half way over to her back, so they can get to both rows of nipples easier.  They'll all get latched on, and we hear loud purring from some of them, and their ears waggle:-))))  Then one will decide he'd prefer the nipple that his neighbour has and they all end up getting knocked of and have to start all over again.  This is very normal though.  You get two kittens going hammer and tongs with their little front paws, trying to push each other out of the way, or one will go along headbutting the others out of the way.  Then one who's been pushed off will crawl off in a strop, protesting loudly, until he battles his way on to a nipple again (or is helped by me).  Eventually they all fall asleep, contented.  For a little while, at least:-))))

19.7.09 - The pictures of the kittens at a week old have just gone up.  They are all very good sizes for a week old!  Ellie obviously has rich milk and is looking after them all well.  The kittens have all doubled their weight in one week.  One week old:

21.7.09 - We keep an eye on the kittens feeding, as well as their weights, and watching them just now it was so sweet.  The others all got there before Jasper and he couldn't find a nipple to suckle from that he was happy with, so he moseyed around until someone else had finished and then got latched on.  He purred so much!:-))))  He wouldn't push himself in front of the others, but waited so patiently, and then was such a happy little boy when he could suckle to his delight:-))))  When Jeffrey had finished feeding he rolled over on to his side and sucked his thumb:-)))

23.7.09 - The kittens are starting to open their eyes!:-))))   Although they won't be able to focus yet they are looking towards us when we talk to them:-))))

25.7.09 - The kittens are so aware!  They are already playing with each other.  Ellie is such a remarkable mum - she comes on the bed for a while in the night, to have a fuss from us, and if the kittens make the slightest murmur she does the typical 'Aby Chirrup' and rushes to them to see what they need.  She chats to them a lot, chirruping and meowing, and they respond to her.

26.7.09 - At two weeks old, the kittens are developing quickly now.  There will be a HUGE difference between the pictures this week and next week, as well.

 

28.7.09 - We had a horrible shock at 1.30 am this morning.  I suddenly had a feeling that things weren't right with the kittens and looked in the pen and one little girl, Jemma, was on her side, breathing very oddly, and much colder than she should have been, and limp.  We picked her up and tried to warm her and revive her but she died in our hands.  We were devastated.  We spoke to the vet as soon as they opened to see if a post mortem could be done to see what had happened but he thought she was too young to find out accurately and felt that it was highly likely there had been some sort of accident where she'd been suckling and inhaled milk that had caused a lung problem (we had listened to her heart with our stethoscope, so knew it wasn't that) or something like that.  She will really be missed by us.  Thankfully Ellie doesn't seem to have noticed and is looking after the remaining six kittens happily.  Breeding can be a tough life at times.  The numbers of kittens we've lost over the years we've been breeding can be counted on less than one hand, and each little life is so precious.  We're taking Jemma's picture off the pictures section because we feel to leave it would be a constant reminder of the sadness.  Thank you Debbie for telling me about the breeder who had a kitten of exactly the same age  who had exactly the same thing and milk was found on her lungs in a post mortem - so it does sound as though our vet could well have been right with this suggestion - it was a freak accident that caused her death.

30.7.09 - The kittens are growing so much now, and are much more aware of their surroundings.  They meow to be picked up as soon as they see or hear us come into the room.  When we take the front off the pen they step out onto the carpet, but Ellie is a bit worried about this and is anxious until they are all put back safely in the pen and the front put back on.  When we change the fleece and wipe the bottom of the pen out every day (it actually looks clean, but we like to make sure it's clean and fresh by doing it daily) we pull the old fleece out of the pen with the kittens on it (telling them 'it's a magic carpet ride'), and Ellie's perfectly happy if they stay on the fleece but when they step off she tries to round them up, to stay on there until the clean fleece is in the pen and they can go back in.  The kittens are just SO beautiful!  They are washing their own paws now and after they've been suckling they wash their faces.  On Sunday we'll start offering some wet food.

31.7.09 - It amazes me how quickly the kittens develop!  These are virtually out of the 'crawling stage' now and up on all four legs, teetering precariously from side to side as they walk or attempt to run, sometimes falling over:-))))  They're playing with each other as well now.

2.8.09 - We've just put the 'three week old' pictures up.  Today we're going to offer them some roast chicken breast, finely chopped, and we're also going to clip their claws for the first time, so it's a big day for them:-)))

3.8.09 - Yesterday some of the kittens ate a tiny bit of chicken breast and today they tried some Hilife Kitten food.  It's so sweet to see them nibble at it:-)))  They are trying to run around now, but their back legs aren't co-ordinated with their front legs, so they often topple over:-)))  They are coming out of the kitten pen at regular intervals to come on our laps and have cuddles and kisses.  Ellie is still a bit worried at them being out of the pen, so we watch her and only do it for as long as she's happy, then put them back and get them out again later.  I think she feels it's a lot of kittens to watch at the same time when they're all wandering off in different directions!:-))))

4.8.09 - The kittens are trying to climb out of the pen now.  They look so cute!  Two little paws and a head above the front lower panel, and then one will manage to get half their body over the top, to be gently nudged back in by Ellie.  I think today, though, that they will manage to get out, so if they do, we'll take the front lower panel off completely, so they can go in and out and put the lower panel plus the higher panel on at nights, to make sure they're safe in there.  We always worry about them climbing on the bed overnight, in case we turn over and squash them, so the higher front panel on the pen makes sure they stay in there.  Very soon now they'll move to the kitten room where they'll sleep overnight and then gradually be introduced to the rest of the household.  Jasmine's kittens have been sleeping in there overnight but they are fully integrated with the rest of the household so will be fine not going in there now.

6.8.09 - The kittens rush to greet us when we walk in the room now and get onto our feet, and as soon as we've sat down they are clambering on our laps, looking up so sweetly at our faces.  They've all eaten a tiny bit of chicken now.  They have the run of our bedroom during the day now but we'll have to move them to the kitten room within a few days.  It's central in our home, with just a mesh door on it, so the kittens can begin to get socialised and see our other cats etc. before they even come out a few days later, when they will come into the lounge as their first port of call.

8.8.09 - Today Ellie's kittens have moved out of our bedroom and settled in the kitten playhouse in the kitten room now.  They were totally unfazed by the move and have settled in well.  We'll do their weekly pictures tomorrow.

9.8.09 - Last night we gave the kittens some fish and five of them tucked in big time.  They are all doing very well and have settled very quickly in the kitten room, enjoying looking out at the other kittens and cats (Jasmine's kittens like to sit and watch them).  We've just done the '4 weeks old' pictures - they are such a delight to photograph.  I just had to run and get the camera when I saw this:

 Jasper was fast asleep in the litter tray:-)))

10.8.09 - The kittens are enjoying fish and chicken and taking some of Ellie's food too.   We've also seen on eating the Royal Canin Babycat biscuits.   Several are already using the litter tray - they're doing really well!

11.8.09 - The kittens are having such fun playing with the toys now, as well as eating their own and their mum's food:

They are just full of fun and curiosity.  They purr when they come up to us now:-))))

13.8.09 - The kittens had fun playing in the lounge today, with Ellie keeping a close eye on them:

  I don't know if I got pictures of all of them, but I tried to get a selection as much as possible.  The last one is a kitten concentrating in the litter tray:-))))

16.8.09 - The five week old pictures have just been done.  The kittens look absolutely glorious!  They are eating chicken twice a day and fish once a day plus nibbling at Hilife Kitten wet food in between and some are eating Royal Canin Babycat dried too.

17.8.09 - The kittens are just so sweet.  When we go into the kitten room first thing in the morning, those who aren't trying to climb up our legs sit on my feet, or Derek's slippers that he's wearing, and go to sleep just to make sure we don't 'escape' while they're asleep!  They are such an affectionate bunch, always enjoying us putting our faces against theirs and kissing them:-))))

19.8.09 - It's amazing how fast a chopped cooked chicken breast can disappear when the kittens tuck in now:-))))  They are really enjoying their food and some are enjoying the Hilife Kitten food too, that we put down about four times or so, a day.  They seem to be growing in front of our eyes:-)))  They're having great fun with all the toys now, carrying the smaller toys around in their mouths, to take somewhere to play with.  They are at the 'pool party' stage now, where they walk through the water, through the biscuits and leave a trail of mess in their wake.  It doesn't occur to them to go ROUND anything, but they just go straight through it!  We clean the room up, but half an hour later it looks like a wreck again LOL!  But they are having FUN!

23.8.09 - The six week old pictures have just gone up.  They look so beautiful.  This litter has the loudest purr that I've ever heard!  And we've had some really loud purrers before!  They are almost fully weaned now, although they will continue to suckle, probably until they leave us, even though Ellie won't have any milk at all by then.  Ellie is calling at the moment - thinking she'd like to be mated, but our girls are only mated once a year, so she has a while to wait.  The kittens are eating Hilfe first thing in the morning, then a good meal of chicken around 9am, then more Hilife (as much as they can eat every time) and another meal of chicken late lunch time, then more Hilife and two fillets of fish between them in the evening and chicken last thing at night, with as much Hilife as they can eat overnight.  There are also Royal Canin Babycat biscuits down all the time, which some have a nibble of.  They also drink water.  One of them, Jasper, has a funny habit of putting one paw in the water while he drinks.  I suspect it's because their vision is completely focussed yet, so it helps him know where the level of the water is, so it doesn't go up his nose:-))))  They are beginning to meet the other cats now and have met a few already.  They are used to seeing them through their mesh door of the kitten room anyway, so now we're leaving various cats in the lounge when the kittens come in there.  We don't allow them to share litter trays yet though, believing it's not safe for kittens to share older cat's trays until they are at least 8 or 9 weeks old, so that's when the kittens get the run of our home.  We do all our trays every morning (all 13 of them), emptying the litter, bleaching out the trays, rinsing and drying well and filling with fresh litter.  We use a 30 litre bag of litter every two days.  We don't feel this is wasteful because so far (touch wood) we've never had a case of FIP in any of our cats or kittens, which plagues most breeders, and we think our protocol for litter trays may well have something to do with this.  We do everything we can for the welfare of the kittens, to make sure they have long happy healthy lives, from genetic testing our cats to make sure the kittens can't have PK Deficiency or PRA, using the best foods available, using Purevax vaccine, which we believe is definitely much safer than many other vaccines, because the adjuvant in most other vaccines can cause sarcomas, and the Purevax doesn't have this adjuvant, although it is considerably more expensive.  The final step we take is making sure our kittens get wonderful, indoor only, homes with their new owners.  And you can see the results of all this on our 'pictures from owners' pages, which we are very proud of.

24.8.09 - The kittens are going through the 'thug stage' now, where to amuse themselves (despite the numerous toys we have everywhere) they think it's fun to beat each other up.  This is all a normal part of their growing up and socialisation, but if I see one making another squeal, then I take them away and show them some toys to take their attention for a while.  This is the main reason we start clipping claws at 3 weeks old, to avoid eye damage.  Sometimes Ellie will intervene, but for the most part she just keeps an eye on them:-)))  She often does that beautiful Abyssinian chirrup to them and they come running to her:-)))  It's very sweet.

26.8.09 - Favourite toys of the kittens are ping pong balls, the small Petstages toys, and the ever wonderful 'Bird on a Wire' by Metpet.  They also like playing with a round plastic toy that has a mouse fixed to the centre, that goes round and round.  I had to laugh this morning.  One of them leaped on top of this toy, sending it sliding along the floor, to his delight, and that then knocked another one of the kittens straight into the water bowl (it's shallow enough that they couldn't drown if they fall into it) and he ended up sitting in the water.  Poor little love.  I got him out and wiped him down and he went off shaking each back leg in turn to get the rest of the water off:-))))  He wasn't at all traumatised by the event, but he did look so funny sitting in the dish of water!  They constantly knock water and food all over the place - they are just at that age now where they'll run through anything rather than round it.

30.8.09 - The kittens very much enjoyed the first of the visits of owners yesterday and I'm sure they'll enjoy the visits from more owners today.  Jeffrey was very funny when his owners were here yesterday because he was tucking into the Hilife food for such a long time that he was even 'sleep eating' - eating it while his eyes were closed and he was nodding off, but then he'd wake again, and start munching again until he was absolutely full up:-)))  Some of them prefer Hilife to chicken now.  This often happens and is fine with us - we gradually cut down the chicken until it's just a treat twice a day, and their main food is cat food, which contains the calcium and taurine that they need, especially by the time they've stopped suckling from their mum.

Jasper and Jemima's new owners have visited today and the kittens had a lovely time.  They played hard for the first hour and then gradually dropped off to sleep, one by one.  The children were very pleased when they went to sleep on their laps.

1.9.09 - Poor Ellie tries to keep an eye on the kittens when they are out of the kitten room, but they run off in all directions.  She does that lovely Aby chirrup to them, calling them back, but they don't take a blind bit of notice.  They are playing for longer and longer periods now and they do everything at full pelt.  They have so much energy!  They are at the stage of eating us out of house and home now:-)))  Sachet after sachet of Hilife seems to disappear in front of my eyes:-)))

3.9.09 - The kittens have reached another milestone now - they can leap from the floor on to the sofa or chairs in the lounge, so they can get on our laps if we're not sitting on the floor now, too.  They have a mad play first, and then gradually wind down, seeking out a lap to sit on to go to sleep:-)))

5.9.09 - I was so pleased to get these pictures this morning:

 I think we can call these pictures 'a houseful of kittens':-))))  First there were four on the balcony, then five, and then the sixth one decided to join them as well:-))))  We had a quick look as we were passing Lidl today and they  had a sweet little kitten climber/scratcher in there for just £10, so we got one and the kittens are having lots of fun with it already.  I'll try to get a pic soon.

And here it is - with two of the kittens playing on it.

6.9.09 - The 8 week old photos have just gone up.  The kittens all look so pretty:-)))  Some of them - Jody and Jasper - we only needed to take one or two to get the shot we wanted, whereas with Jeremy needed about 20 to get what we wanted.  But that's the way it goes with photos - you just never know:-)))

7.9.09 - The kittens had so much fun playing in the kitchen and conservatory and cats garden yesterday afternoon.  When I opened the kitten room door, first thing this morning, to give them their chicken and some Hilife as well (some prefer that to chicken) one dashed out of the door, not bothered at all by the food, but made a break to the conservatory to go and play out there:-))))  These were a couple of the pictures I took of them yesterday afternoon:

I love this one of the kitten exploring the plant for the first time - you can almost see the thought 'this is what they call a plant - let me take a closer look' :-)))  The one of the kitten by the water bowl in the kitchen - he looks slightly shocked at the size of it LOL!

8.9.09 - Ellie has officially given up!  When the kittens all ran out of the kitten room this morning and went off in different directions she realised she didn't stand a chance of keeping an eye on all of them LOL!  So she followed two who had gone to play in the cats' garden, while two went off to play in the bathroom, kicking a ping pong ball around against the tiles, and two played in the kitchen.  Gradually, as they integrate more and more with our other cats they won't go in two's but will go and play with any of the cats who are around them at the time.

9.9.09 - It's a beautiful day here and the kittens have all been playing in the kitchen, conservatory and cats' garden for an hour and a half, tearing about non-stop.  They love climbing on the pots of herbs in the cats' garden (all safe for cats) and chasing each other round the pots and plants out there.  They also made themselves comfortable on the sunbeds in the sun:-)))  After that, when they were beginning to flake out, I bought them in and settled them with some Hilife cat food, which they ate and are now having a rest:-)))

11.9.09 - The kittens had their first health check and vaccinations today.  The vet loved them all and they got kisses from him:-)))  He had a hard time trying to decide which one was his favourite LOL!  They were all very good as usual and seemed to enjoy their trip out.  The kittens spend most of the day out of the kitten room now and have been integrated with all our other cats for quite some time.  They have lots of fun!

One by one, this evening, Ellie's kittens climbed on my lap while I was watching tv, and they all went to sleep.  I so wanted Derek to come in and take a photo of them, but he was doing something on the computer, so I had to wait well over an hour, not daring to move, in case I woke them.  But as soon as he came in, eventually, I asked him to get the camera and take a picture.  They started to wake then, but we did get this lovely photo of them:

13.9.09 - The kittens made straight for the cats' garden and conservatory this morning, when they came out of the kitten room (they still sleep in there overnight):

The nine week old pictures have just been done.  It only seems like yesterday that we did the 8 week old ones!

20.9.09 - We've just done the kittens pedigrees and printed them off, ready for their new owners.  While we've been doing this the kittens are having a lovely time running about between us and the cats' garden.  A couple of pictures we took today, along with the weekly ones:  The one with Ellie and the kittens all suckling looks very untidy because I'd put an old sheet over the climber in the lounge to make them a play tent to play in, but it was so nice seeing all the kittens piled up with her:

20.9.09 - Today the kittens have got the sheet over an Ikea pop up laundry basket (thanks Vonnie and Jem for getting that for us - it's one of their favourite 'toys') and the climber, so they have a different sort of play tent:-))))  We're constantly trying to think of new ideas for them to play, believing it's good for their development to have different toys to play with and experience, just like it's good for human babies.  They certainly enjoy them.

27.9.09 - I can't believe it's 7 days since I updated the diary!  I spend so much time playing with the kittens and keeping an eye on them as they have the run of the place now, so it reduces the time I have to do the diary, but they are all having a wonderful time.  They very much enjoyed a visit from owners today (Jethro enjoyed chewing his new owners' toes LOL!).  We notice how easily the kittens can leap onto a kitchen chair now - no trouble at all.  They can still be quite thuggish to each other, but that's normal - they grow out of that eventually.  I've just put the '11 week old' pictures up.  It's really nice - Jasper and Jemima are going together, and Jeffrey and Jody are going together.  Jeremy is going to be a companion to another kitten who is already at his new home, and Indiana (from Jasmine's litter) is going with Jethro.  So they'll all have friends to play with.

29.9.09 - Even though the weather has cooled down now, the kittens still LOVE playing in the cats' garden.  Just now they were all lined up against the mesh, watching birds in the garden.  Of course, by the time I'd got the camera, they'd moved:-( 

2.10.09 - Today the kittens had their second health check and vaccinations.  They were as good as gold.  They've settled down for a sleep now, but came back and had a really good playtime so the vaccination doesn't seem to have affected them at all.  When we put them on the Tesco Luxury Chicken food as well as the small amount of Hilife Poultry Collection we had left (we couldn't get more at the time because there were distribution problems) we had some upset tummies.  Both our stud boys had these foods as well, and they too had upset tummies, so we're wondering if one of the foods upset them.  We prefer not to use 'usual' supermarket foods, but have put them on to Felix As Good As It Looks and the upset tummies have immediately stopped.  If owners have got Hilife in already, that's fine - don't worry about using it.  Sometimes most manufacturers seem to have a little problem with a batch of food, and the rest will be fine, so I'd think the ones you have won't cause problems at all.  They are still on the Royal Canin Baybycat dry and the Hills Kitten dry.

3.10.09 - Unfortunately I haven't got a photo (the kittens had moved before I could get there with the camera) but twice a kitten has sat right in front of the front door, looking up at the handle.  They really do look as they're waiting for their new owners to come and collect them LOL!

4.10.09 - The 12 week old pictures have just been done.  These will be the last because the kittens start to leave us next weekend.  They had SO much fun when we did the pictures today.  They weren't tired at all (which is always the best time to do the pictures) so leapt about all over the place and we needed to get about 20 for each kitten before getting a presentable one.  They are so full of energy!  By the time the evening comes Derek and I are worn out and they are still dashing around full of beans:-))))  They have their quiet times though, after a good playtime, when they get fed and have a nap, but the naps are getting shorter and the playtimes longer:-))))

5.10.09 - Not a lot worries the kittens.  I had to laugh so much this morning when Jethro was jumping on the vacuum cleaner as it was going along, hitching a ride on it:-))))

8.10.09 - The kittens have all had their claws done again today and are all pretty ready for their owners to start collecting them this weekend.  Because it's such a big litter and Indiana from Jasmine's litter is going too, it's going to be so quiet when they've gone!  It feels like the end of another chapter now.  It's sad to see them go, but wonderful to receive updates and pictures from their new owners as they settle into their new homes, and we see the joy that they've brought into their new households.  We're mating Jessica soon, so will be looking forward to a new litter before too long.  Some of her kittens are already booked.