Indie's Kittens  

Indie had four beautiful blue kittens on 11.2.09.  There is one boy and three girls.  All of these kittens are now booked.  The birth was very straightforward and Indie is very pleased with her new babies.  This is her first litter. 

If owners would like a claw clipping demonstration when they come, please tell us a week before, so we can make sure we've got a cat around who has claws long enough to demonstrate on.

Note to all owners - Just in case there is any confusion - this is the cat food to buy, and this is the cheapest that we've found it: http://www.k9capers.com/shop/proddetail.asp?prod=548  If anyone is unsure of the type of nail clipper this is what you're looking for: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pet-Guillotine-nail-trimmer_W0QQitemZ250398621575QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Pet_Supplies_Dogs?hash=item250398621575&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1683%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318  - look at the Classic ones - they look the same as the Safari ones we use, but we don't recommend the Mikki ones.

Can we just remind people coming to collect kittens to please come in clothing that hasn't been in contact with other cats since washing.  Many thanks:-)

We've just received a letter from Petplan to inform us that they are stopping the 6 weeks free insurance and doing 4 weeks free instead.  They will still offer you insurance to carry on from that date though.

It's so difficult to get the right colour blue with photos.  Indie is a gorgeous soft blue, but almost looks Usual here.  Some of the names will possibly be jiggled about a bit because we're not sure exactly who is having what kitten yet, because two are wanted for breeding from this litter.

Merrydancer  Harry - Blue Male

Harry, one week old.

Harry, two weeks old.

Harry, three weeks old.

Harry, four weeks old.

Harry, five weeks old.

Harry, six weeks old.

Harry, seven weeks old.

Harry, eight weeks old.

Harry, nine weeks old.

Harry, ten weeks old.

Harry, eleven weeks old.

Harry, twelve weeks old.
Merrydancer  Heather - Blue Female

Heather, one week old.

Heather, two weeks old.

Heather, three weeks old.

Heather, four weeks old.

Heather, five weeks old.

Heather, six weeks old.

Heather, seven weeks old.

 

Heather, eight weeks old.

Heather, nine weeks old. 

Heather, ten weeks old.

Heather, eleven weeks old.

Heather, twelve weeks old.
Merrydancer Halenia - Blue Female

Halenia, one week old.

Halenia, two weeks old.

 

Halenia, three weeks old. 

Halenia, four weeks old. 

Halenia, five weeks old.

Halenia, six weeks old.

Halenia, seven weeks old.

Halenia, eight weeks old.

Halenia, nine weeks old.

Halenia, ten weeks old.

Halenia, eleven weeks old.

Halenia, twelve weeks old.
Merrydancer Holly - Blue Female

Holly, one week old.

Holly, two weeks old.

Holly, three weeks old.

Holly, four weeks old. 

Holly, five weeks old.

Holly, six weeks old.

Holly, seven weeks old.

Holly, eight weeks old.

Holly, nine weeks old.

Holly, ten weeks old.

Holly, eleven weeks old.

Holly, twelve weeks old.

Diary: The delivery of the kittens went very well and Indie adores her babies:-))))  It was so endearing seeing her with her babies - she herded them all together, curled up around them, and put her cheek gently against them, purring.  No one could have said 'I love you' more clearly.

15.2.09 - The kittens don't yet do much apart from eat and sleep, but they are all gaining weight well and look very sweet.    They are the size of large mice now:-))))

18.2.09 - The week old pictures have just gone up.  Noodle's kittens' 2 week old pictures will be done tomorrow or Friday and then, when they're done, we'll send everyone who's asked for them the pictures of their kitten(s) via email.  Indie's girls won't be made definite as to who is having who until we've had a chance to assess them to choose which one is going to Pam and Martin for showing and breeding.

20.2.09 - The kittens looked so sweet, curled up together, asleep:

21.2.09 - Indie's kittens are all starting to open their eyes:-))))

23.2.09 - The kittens are much noisier now and when Indie comes back to them after having a 'time out' when she wants to come out of our bedroom, they squeal with delight and she purrs and pads on the fleecy blanket, really happy to snuggle down and feed them again.   She has a way of moving her body so it rounds them all up into a cosy pile to make it easy for them to feed.  Just like Noodle, she often sits up for them to feed and we watch  her gradually fall asleep and slowly let herself go into a lying down position with the kittens still suckling.  The noise of Indie and Noodle purring is very much like cicadas that you hear in the evenings in warm countries - it's lovely to listen to as we fall asleep ourselves.  Noodle and Indie both stay with their kittens for most of the time, but come out of the pens and eat and drink when they want to and like many girls, won't use the litter tray in the same room as their young kittens (although we do put a litter tray in there, just in case they want to use it, but they haven't yet), so they go out to use the tray and also to socialise with our other cats, and then go back in the bedroom when they want to.

24.2.09 - Today Noodle decided all the kittens should be together, so one by one moved hers over to Indie's pen with Indie and her kittens.  The result:

25.2.09 - The pictures of the kittens, aged two weeks old, have just gone up:-)))  There's such a difference each week at this stage.

1.3.09 - As I've mentioned on Noodle's Kittens page, we've taken the step of putting all the kittens and mums into the kitten room now, where they've settled straight away.  (You can see the information about the kitten room on Noodle's Kittens page).  There are lots of toys in there, and they can get to the litter trays easily, as well as the food and water.    Noodle and Indie keep wanting to check that we've not left any behind in our bedroom LOL!  We let them in there to reassure them:-)))  All the kittens are enjoying exploring the whole room.  We have the big heat pad in there as well as the usual radiator, and at night we have an electric wall radiator that goes on when the normal central heating goes off.  Because the door is wire mesh we also get heat going in there from the kitchen (from the Aga) so it works out well.

Indie was left to babysit while Noodle went for a break:

As often happens, the camera hasn't reproduced the colours accurately.  Indie is a lovely blue and she looks like a Usual here.

2.3.09 - This morning when I went into the kittens one of them purred as they came up to me.  I don't know which one it was, because so many came towards me at the same time, but it was lovely to hear.  As I've just mentioned on Noodle's Kittens page, it's a good idea for Indie's kitten owners to check the Diary on that page too, because I don't like to repeat the same thing on both pages, but there are often little things that ALL the kittens are doing etc. that I'll comment on, or a group photo, on either page.   One of Indie's daughters ate some Hilife Kitten food today.  She's the first of Indie's to eat solid food.  I put some on my fingers and she ate it off them - they often eat first from our hands and I think that's because the warmth of our hands makes the food smell more and attracts them to it more.

4.3.09 - The three week old pictures have just been done.  All of the kittens look so beautiful.  We'll decide which one will be the girl going for breeding soon and then we can sort out who has which one of the other two.

6.3.09 - It's pure bliss sitting with the kittens now.  They all scramble up onto our laps to be hugged and kissed.  Both litters are getting on so well with each other.  There is only six days between them but it's clear to see that Noodle's are just that little bit more advanced than Indie's.  As they get a bit older though it will be less and less obvious.  They are all equally sociable and loving.

7.3.09 - All of the kittens have just eaten some chicken breast.  We started out by holding it in our hands and then they were eating it from a plate.  It went down very well.  We'll keep giving them chicken breast and kitten food now.

9.3.09 - The kittens are eating well now.  Their favourite is chicken and they are also having a little bit of fish, as well as the kitten food that we put down several times a day for them.  I just gave them some chicken this morning and usually Derek and I do it together but he was out this morning, so it was me on my own.  It was like keeping plates on sticks spinning, making sure each kitten had their own little pile of meat in front of them, keeping it topped up, so they had as much as they wanted without another kitten pushing them out, but it worked very well and when they'd finished they all gave a big stretch and settled down to have a wash:-)))

11.3.09 - The four week old photos have just gone up:-))))  The kittens look so beautiful!

14.3.09 - I so wish we'd had a camera handy last night!  We were sitting with the kittens in the kitchen and they ALL climbed on my lap and went to sleep!  Of course, by the time Derek had gone out, got the camera and got back, they'd all moved and there were only 7 of them left there.

18.3.09 - The five week old photos are now up.  the time is whizzing past so quickly!  They are all eating huge amounts of food now and one of Indie's kittens can climb to the balcony of the kitten play house (those who have been to us already will know what I'm talking about:-)))).

20.3.09 - The kittens are eating so much Hilife Kitten Food now, as well as some Royal Canin Babycat (dried) that we are only feeding the roasted chicken breast once a day now.

22.3.09 - We've had lots of visitors over the weekend and the kittens and cats have loved it!  They've settled happily on any available lap to go to sleep and enjoyed playing with new people.

25.3.09 - The six week old pictures have just been done.  Perhaps I'm biased but I think all of the kittens (Indie's and Noodle's) are absolutely gorgeous!:-)))))

31.3.09 - The kittens are all ploughing through Royal Canine Babycat now:-)))))  They are thoroughly enjoying it!  After we ordered £100 of Hilife they went off it completely and wouldn't touch it, so in desperation we're using Felix As Good As It Looks Kitten, which they love.  It wouldn't be my first choice for them because I feel Hilife is a much better quality of food (but no good if they won't touch it!), but my plan is to sneak it in gradually so wean them over to it again.

1.4.09 -  We've just put the 7 week old pictures up.  I'll send them out to owners tomorrow - we're a bit upside down this week.  The kittens are doing so well and I have to admit, they are doing extremely well on the Felix As Good As It Looks Kitten food.  They are eating us out of house and home on it, but putting on huge weight gains and all very much enjoying it still.  I tried to mix in a Hilife but they left it, so we're keeping them on Felix As Good As It Looks for the time being.  The kittens had the run of the place for a while today and had lots of fun:-))))

3.4.09 - The favourite place for the kittens to play at the moment is the hall.  They love the Cleo Duffle bag beds to jump in and out of, and climb on, and play with the tassels.  They also love the plastic kitten boat there and have fun climbing in and over that too.  They all tear along the hall and rather than the patter of tiny feet it sounds like a herd of elephants:-)))

7.4.09 - The kittens are now into circuit training LOL!  They leap on to the sofa, from there to the windowsill, on to the chair, then the small table next to it and round the room and start again, when they play in the lounge:-)))  They can leap on to our laps if we're sitting on chairs now.  They're all very good with litter trays so we don't need to watch them any more regarding that aspect.

8.4.09 - The 8 week old pictures have just gone up on the page.  The kittens are looking SO beautiful.  This is Indie's first litter and she's certainly done us proud!

11.4.09 - We're back on the Hilife Kitten food again now and they are really enjoying it after having a break from it.  I really think sometimes they just get bored with the same food.  They come out of the kitten room several times a day now for periods having a run about but it's very funny when we want to keep them in there because invariably one or two will run out of the door as we go in and out.  Billy (Dylan - our blue silver stud boy who is still a kitten himself - see his page on this site) is like an Exocet missile and homes in on the escapee, pinning them down until we can get hold of them LOL!  Derek said he was like a sheepdog:-))))

14.4.09 - Today the kittens all had their first vaccination and health check.  We use Purevax because we believe this to be a safer vaccine and our vet gets it in specially for us.  The kittens were all very good and very brave and are bouncing around just as usual now.

15.4.09 - I've just put the weekly pictures up.  Derek gets the kittens as I photograph them and I'm fairly sure he's got two mixed up here - I think Heather and Halenia are mixed up.  They are very alike!  As I've just said on Noodle's Kittens' page - the kittens are all eating Hilife Adult at the moment and enjoying it.  We've used this before when we couldn't get hold of the Hilife Kitten and they did very well on it.  It's 60% meat, which is a much higher percentage than other foods on supermarket shelves.  The kittens are growing up so much now and going through a 'leggy stage' at the moment:-))))

16.4.09 - The kittens are such a delight.  I looked at them this morning when we were playing 'Bird on a Wire' in the lounge - their favourite game, and all 10 were playing, as well as their mums, and there was this host of kittens all leaping about after the toy, and the mums being careful not to leap on the kittens, and it was such a wonderful sight.

23.4.09 - Another week has passed in a flash!  The weekly pictures are done again.  I'm not managing to update the diaries quite so much now because I'm spending so much time with the kittens.  They love to play, especially with the Bird on a Wire toy still, and at least an hour a day is spent with me waving that around for them all to leap after.  They are still enjoying their Hilife (Poultry collection) and eating us out of house and home.

27.4.09 - The kittens can easily jump on to furniture now and we even found Garth playing in the bath a couple of days ago.  They are all very playful, but the favourite toy is STILL the Bird on a Wire.  The kittens only go in the kitten room for naps during the day now, and feeding, and sleeping overnight, unless we go out to do a quick shop, and they stay in there then too.  It was lovely on Friday to come back from Tesco's to see them lined up on the windowsill watching the car come back up the drive.  They looked so cute!  They've loved the nice weather, and have played amongst the plants in the cats' garden.

29.4.09 - The weekly pictures are done now and will be sent out later today or tomorrow.  The kittens are all very playful and taking their photos takes longer and longer - this is often what we get:

This would have been a great one of Harry, but his ears were chopped in half in the photo!

3.5.09 - A few minutes spare, so I thought I'd take some pictures of the kittens:

This is my favourite picture of the day:-))))

5.4.09 - All of the kittens have just had their second vaccination and health checks.  The vet remarked how laid back they were.  They are always so relaxed about everything and don't seem to even notice the injection:-)))  This is almost the end of another chapter for us as they will soon be going off to their new homes.  Never forgotten though:-)))

6.5.09 - The twelve week old pictures have just gone up (they'll be sent out to owners tomorrow).  This will be the last lot of pictures for this litter because they are going to their new homes very soon, so instead of looking at their new babies in pictures, the owners will have the 'real thing' in their homes:-)))