Fiona – Page 3 – cagaran.co.uk

Shows & Kitten Update Week 10

The kittens continue to grow, and also have their first bath – the first couple have homes booked now. We have a good day at both the Ulster show and the Supreme.

It feels like months since I last posted a blog update, rather than just over three weeks. As you might expect, plenty has happened in that time, both with the kittens and the rest of the household.

Shows

At the end of my last post, I mentioned that we were heading over to Ireland for a show the following day. That was a tiring, but very enjoyable experience. There was a special deal on the ferry, meaning that we could take two others with us for the same price. We took Elisabeth, obviously, and also Kate Ekanger (Cloudborn Devons & Laperms). In addition, Sarah Davidson (Karakoram Asians & Burmese) asked if we would mind taking one of her cats over as well, which of course we were happy to do.

Kate drove to our house first, and we headed off at about 22:45, collected Elisabeth en route, and drove down to Stranraer for the 03:30 ferry. We arrived in Belfast around 06:30 and grabbed about an hour’s sleep, before the show day began around 08:00. The day went really well for our three, with Coimhlion winning her 2nd Grand Prem, Katie winning her 1st Grand Champ and Xaria winning another Reserve Imp. Katie and Xaria both also won their Best of Breed awards.

Xaria with her rosettes at the Ulster show — Xaria

Katie with her rosette and Grand certificate at the Ulster show — Katie

Coimhlion with her Grand rosette at the Ulster show — Coimhlion

Kate’s LaPerm girl hadn’t been to a show before, but took the whole thing totally in her stride and won an Intermediate, which counts towards the forward progression of that breed. The girl whom we had taken on behalf of Sarah also did really well, picking up an Imperial. We got the 20:00 ferry back to Stranraer, finally getting back to our house at about 01:30 on the Sunday morning – almost 27 hours after leaving the house! Poor Kate still had another couple of hours further to go after us!

Coming forwards a fortnight, we were down in Birmingham for the Supreme last weekend. Once again, we were taking Elisabeth with us, but this time we also had the RACCS (Russian & Abyssinian Cat Club of Scotland) stand to set up on the Friday, so we travelled down first thing that morning, spent the afternoon setting up the stand and then stayed with Richard’s parents overnight. Richard and I have travelled down and stayed with his parents the night before the Supreme the past two years as well, because it means that we have a rather civilised 50 minute journey in the morning, instead of several hours!

This year I was unbearably nervous, because the two cats we were taking, Annas and Xaria, were both entered in the prestigious UK Grand classes – the highest available. The winner of each UK class (thankfully they were in different classes – Annas against the Asian Group, and Xaria just against the Russians) wins a UK certificate, and two UK certificates affords the cat a UK title, which means that they have to take the certificate in two separate years. I was particularly nervous about Annas’ result, because she won the certificate last year, meaning that a win this year would give her the title – the last thing she has left to win!

Both girls showed themselves beautifully, and did us proud by winning not only their UK certificates, but also their Best of Breed awards – an impressive feat against the quality of cats who are seen at the Supreme. Annas’ win made her the first UK-titled Tiffanie, but also only the third cat in the whole Asian Group to win the UK title, and also just the second in the group to hold both the UK and Imperial titles! Xaria’s win was also significant, though, because it made her the first Scottish-bred Russian to win a UK certificate, and was also the first cat bred by Elisabeth to win a Supreme BOB! Needless to say, we were both a bit teary that day!

Annas being judged at the Supreme 2010 — Annas being judged

Xaria in her pen at the Supreme 2010 — Xaria in her pen

Kittens

Now onto the bit that you are probably actually reading this for – the kittens…

Maya dancing around instead of standing nicely	Ben looking worried about the clicking of the camera
Ghost taking a break from playing to stare suspiciously at the camera!	B-B finally sitting still for a second but still pulling a silly face
Tassy looking adorable	Fiona posing beautifully

When Dàrna was first taken away from them, they had a bit of a ‘wobble’ weight-wise, particularly B-B, who was the least weaned. However, they have come along beautifully since, and even little B-B was over 930g last night (at a day under 10 weeks), with all the others now being over 1kg, and Ghost, who is the largest, being over 1.3kg! Their first vaccinations are booked for Monday, and we have our first visitors coming to see them the weekend after that. At the moment it looks like we have homes for all three of the girls plus at least one of the boys, though nothing is definite yet.

We still haven’t decided which of the ‘cream’ girls we want to keep – Maya has the personality that I like the best, but Fiona might turn out to have the better type, so I will probably hold off making a decision as long as possible. Whichever one we are not keeping is hopefully going to go and live with one of her cousins, which would be lovely for her, and the people sound ideal!

At the moment it looks like B-B will have the best type of the lot, so I am hoping that he has found a show home, again living with another Tiffanie, but also a Persian and a moggy. Again, his prospective owners sound perfect, so I’m really hoping that goes ahead.

B-B side-on, pulling a silly face — B-B pulling a silly face - nightmare to photograph because he won't sit still!

Tassy has two separate families interested in her, but obviously the ones who asked first will get the first call. She was the first whom we received an enquiry about, but that was a few weeks ago now, so it is possible they have found another kitten by now. I am hoping to hear from them in the next few days so that they can come through and meet her if they are still interested.

Tassy tucked into the covers — Tassy tucked in, looking adorable

Wherever possible, I like people to meet the kittens at least once before they take them home, because it gives them a chance to form a bond early-on. That’s me being needlessly sentimental, of course, because Tiffanies will always bond to whoever their ‘family’ are (including other pets), regardless of the age they move at – it just tends to be less traumatic for them as youngsters!

Just like human babies, kittens are exceptionally good at getting themselves in a mess, whether by jumping in their food (a common occurance during play), or managing to stand in something unpleasant in the litter tray. The weekend before last, they had managed exactly that, so we filled a bath with warm water and popped the whole litter into it. At that age, they have absolutely no fear of the water, and just seem to see it as an interesting warm place – Ben was even playing with a ball floating on the surface!

The kittens enjoying their bath, and afterwards getting dry with the assistance of Dàrna (their mum) and Kia (our Ocicat Classic girl)

8-week-old Tiffanie kittens drying after a bath — The kittens finishing the drying process on the radiator after their bath(from left to right: Ben, Ghost, Maya, Tassy, B-B, Fiona)

As you might expect by now, I still haven’t made up my mind about colours. Tassy still looks like a chocolate tortie ticked tabby, and B-B like either a chocolate burmese self or a chocolate burmese smoke. I think Ghost is a lilac burmese but I’m not sure whether he’s a silver ticked tabby or a silver shaded (or even if he’s definitely silver, frankly). Ben is definitely silver, and I’m now leaning towards him being lilac, but whether he’s a smoke or a ticked tabby I’m not sure yet.

Ben, Ghost & B-B — Ben (centre), Ghost (right) & B-B (left)

That leaves the ‘cream’ girls, whose colour is now getting ‘hotter’ by the day, making it less likely that they are cream. Their nose leathers are now slightly different colours, though, with Maya’s being pale pink and Fiona’s a pink so pale it is almost white. I’m wondering, therefore, whether Maya is a red silver shaded and Fiona an Apricot silver shaded.

Maya & Fiona — Maya (left) & Fiona (right) - you can just see the difference in nose leather

Thankfully, Steve Crow (Kagura Asians & Burmese), who is a very well-respected judge, with many years experience breeding Asians and Burmese, is going to come and stay with us the night after the West of Scotland show in a couple of weeks. He is often consulted by other judges at shows, if they are unsure of a cat’s colour, so we are very lucky to have him coming to give us his thoughts on this litter. I am also hoping that he can perhaps give me a hand in the dilemma of which girl to keep for ourselves!!

Other News

Unfortunately, Breckin doesn’t seem very happy at the moment, so we have taken the difficult decision to have her spayed, and see if that makes a difference to her. Obviously, that means we will be one queen down, but we still have the beautiful Kia to breed from. I am hoping to take her down to stud in January, now that she has had plenty of time to recover from her miscarriage, so we will be hoping for one litter of Oci babies next year anyway.

The next show is the West of Scotland, and I am hoping to see at least one of Katie’s kittens there, though I haven’t actually checked about entries. After that, we’re round to the New Year, and the Asian Group Cat Society’s show, which I’m hoping to take some of Dàrna’s babies to. Must decide soon, though, because the closing date is in just a few days…

Kitten Update Week 6

Soolay goes to his new home, Dàrna’s kittens continue to grow well and develop personalities, and we have a good day at the Yorkshire Show.

I’ve had a busy couple of weeks for my job, hence the delay in posting the next update. You will be glad to know that the kittens are all doing well, though.

Soolay went to his new home almost two weeks ago now, and his owners are a retired couple who absolutely adore him. His new ‘mum’ says he wakes her in the morning with “velvet kisses”, and she also said that his favourite food is smoked salmon and cream cheese! Elisabeth and I visited Alek in his new home, and he is also very well settled and looking gorgeous. He has grown a lot since we last saw him, and has a beautiful Burmese head now.

Dàrna’s kittens have continued to develop nicely, with the biggest now being over 800g. They will be seven weeks on Sunday, so their weights are either level with, or ahead of, target. Unfortunately Dàrna has managed to do something to one of her legs, and was therefore up at the vet yesterday for an anti-biotic injection, pain-killer and anti-inflammatories, the combination of which means that she is no longer allowed to feed the kittens. Poor girl is ridiculously full of milk today, and looks very uncomfortable, and there’s not a thing we can do for her. At least her leg isn’t broken, though: it could be worse!

Their personalities are really showing through now, and Kitten 1 has taken a leap forwards in terms of personality since my last post. She is the most people-oriented of the whole litter, purring the instant you touch her, and happily lying on her back in your hands while you stroke her head – so cute! Kitten 5 is also still very cuddly, although she prefers to sit upright rather than be on her back. B-B (Kitten 4) follows us around, and will sit on your foot and wrap his paws around your ankle if you try to leave the room – he really is adorable, although very mischievous. Kitten 3 is still the most similar to Soolay, liking to think he is a lion until anything noisy happens, when he runs to hide, which is very funny. His favourite game at the moment is to grab the side of their little basket and ‘fight’ with it, growling the whole time. Kitten 2 still comes to greet us when we enter the room, but isn’t quite as much into cuddles at the moment. Kitten 6 is still very strong-willed, very like Lainni, but does like to come and jump onto your lap if you sit on the floor. All six of the kittens have now taken to sleeping on top of whomever is in the bed at night!

Kitten 1 showing her lovely head	Kitten 2 looking cute
Kitten 3 showing his lilac head colour	B-B looking like he'd like to kill us!
Kitten 5 walking into the camera	Kitten 6 looking smug
Comparing colour on Kittens 1 (left) & 6 (right)	Comparing colour on Kittens 2 (right), 3 (left) & 4 (centre)

The jury is still out on the colours. I am almost certain that Kitten 5 is a chocolate tortie ticked tabby and that Kitten 4 is a chocolate BCR (although he could be a smoke). The other girls are either cream or apricot silver shaded, but I still don’t know which. The other two are also causing me debate – the photo above shows the three boys together, and you can see that they are obviously different, but only slightly. Kitten 2 could be blue, blue-based caramel or lilac, and either silver ticked tabby or smoke. Kitten 3, on the other hand, is either a lilac or a lilac-based caramel, and I think he’s a silver ticked tabby. As always, we will just need to wait and see.

I think we’re finished choosing names now. Kitten 1 is Maya, with a pedigree name of Bean-Meala (Honeyed Lady). Kitten 2 is Ben, with a pedigree name of Buinne-Gorm (Blue Stream). Kitten 3 is Ghost, with a pedigree name of Bodachán (Little Ghost). Kitten 4 is B-B, with a pedigree name of Bramán-Beag (Little Imp). Kitten 5 is Tassy, with a pedigree name of Briotas (Whisper). Finally, Kitten 6 is Fiona, with a pedigree name of Beannachd-Fionn (Fair-Haired Blessing).

I can hardly believe that the babies will be ready for their first vaccinations in just a bit over a fortnight. They can then start ‘entertaining’ guests, and with each of these looking so different, it will be interesting to see who goes for which kitten. We are still debating which of the two creamy ones to keep – one day I think one of them, and the next the other!

We had a good day at the Yorkshire show last week, with all three winning their Best of Breed, and Soolay getting down to the last three for Best Foreign Kitten, against stiff competition. Xaria also won another Reserve Imperial, but since she already has an Imperial from that judge, I was quite happy for the other cat to have the certificate. Katie won her first Reserve-Grand, which was rather exciting! Now we just need to have a good day in Ireland tomorrow…

Kitten Update Week 4

Dàrna’s kittens continue to grow and develop, taking their first solid food and starting to use the litter tray. Alek and Lainni are well settled in their new homes, and Soolay is still looking for his.

Dàrna’s kittens continue to do well, with the smallest now being 371g, and the largest 456g. Still making regular alterations to my guesses on colour, with the current best guesses being:

Kitten 1 (female) – cream silver shaded (ghost spotted)
Kitten 2 (male) – blue silver ticked tabby
Kitten 3 (male) – lilac BCR silver shaded
Kitten 4 (male) – chocolate BCR (smoke?)
Kitten 5 (female) – chocolate tortie ticked tabby
Kitten 6 (female) – cream silver shaded

Tiffanie kittens suckling from their dam — The babies feeding from Dàrna - Kitten 6 is the one across the top, and the others, from left to right are: Kittens 4, 5, 2, 1 and 3

Since the paperwork for Katie’s litter still hasn’t come through, I am currently trying to choose names, so that we can get the registrations in earlier for this lot. Like the last litter, the intention is that the names should mean something in gaelic, but these ones will all begin with the letter ‘B’. The only one whose name I am happy with at the moment is Kitten 4, who is always off investigating something, and will be called Bramán-Beag, which means ‘Little Imp’. I am considering Briotas for Kitten 5, which means ‘Whisper’, because she is a bit quieter than some of the others in her behaviour, but I’m not fully decided yet, because she can out-shout most of the others if she thinks her dinner is late!

Kitten 1 - adorable expression!	Kitten 1 showing her neat nose
Kitten 2 watching his mum	Kitten 2 looking unsteady
Kitten 3 with a Burmese scowl	Kitten 3 exploring
Kitten 4 showing off his darker ears and nose	Kitten 4 watching his siblings intently - he loves pouncing on them!
Kitten 5 looking sweet	Kitten 5 from the side
Kitten 6 showing her longer head	Even shading on Kitten 6

They are all really starting to develop individual personalities now, but it is a bit more difficult to pick out their individual characteristics than it was with Katie’s litter, because there are so many more of them. Kitten 2 is quite into people, and will often follow us across the room when we go to leave. He and Kitten 5 both enjoy their cuddles more than some of the others at present, and will clamber up onto you if you sit on the floor, but he will then crawl all over you, whereas Kitten 5 will just settle down – she is more like Alek from the last litter. Kitten 4 is quite mischievous and likes to explore, while Kitten 6 is quite independent and strong-willed, more like Lainni was in the last litter. Kitten 3 is a bit of a mummy’s boy, doesn’t like being told what to do, and loves cuddling up in whatever basket Dàrna is in – he is most like Soolay. Kitten 1 is a bit of a mystery still, since her personality isn’t really showing through yet, but she will get there.

After Dàrna moved the kittens out of their pen into the middle of the floor, I had used their play tunnel to set up a barricade to at least keep them restricted to that end of the room. However, on Friday evening, Kitten 2 managed to find his way through, and started sharing his mum’s wet food! Several minutes later, he moved over to try her dry food as well. Since it appeared that they thought they were ready for solids, I brought up a dish of Royal Canin baby mousse, and sure enough, Kitten 1 joined Kitten 2 in eating it. Kittens 5 and 6 were happy to eat it if I put some in their mouths, but Kittens 3 and 4 were not interested at all, and would spit it out if made to take it.

Kitten 2 trying his first solid food

Yesterday evening, I took up a dish of Royal Canin Instinctive Kitten, which instead of being a paste/mousse, is a runny gravy with small lumps of meat. Kitten 2 was straight into it, with his front paws in the middle of the dish (covered in gravy), and his face shoved right down between the lumps. This time, however, he was joined by Kitten 3, who was rather neater about the whole thing, but spent several minutes feeding. The other four were not interested at all, including Kitten 5, who had enjoyed it so much the night before! This morning I tried them with a different flavour and texture of food, which Kitten 2 ate a small amount of, but was basically uninterested, and Dàrna ended up eating most of that herself!

Obviously, with a change in diet from milk to solids, comes a change in production of wastes, but it looks like they are going to cope fine with that transition, too. Kitten 5 used the litter tray this morning, and a couple of the others were in scraping around in it, preparing to go. These kittens are a lot younger in moving on than Katie’s were, which seems strange, considering how laid back their mum is – I thought they might take longer.

Katie’s Litter

I have had photos through of both Alek and Lainni this week, looking thoroughly settled in their new homes. I can’t tell you how good it feels to see them contented and enjoying making a new family very happy. I just wish we could find someone for Soolay now, before we get any more attached to him. The other cats are also starting to accept him as part of the family, so it is going to be harder for them the longer he stays. I am also going to find it so hard to part with him already, and I guess it’s only going to get harder.

Soolay (Tiffanie kitten) eating with the adult cats — Soolay eating with some of the adults - from left to right: Xaria (just visible), Coimhlion, Amlach, Kia, Soolay, Katie, Annas, Jinny & Call

He was playing on Richard’s lap after we had lunch earlier – cuddled up asleep one minute then pouncing on Richard’s hands the next, and trying to undo the zip on his fleece. He is a wee monkey, always into something unless he’s cuddled up with someone, but that makes him so adorable. I hope all of the kittens we produce are as pleasurable to live with as he is!

Soolay (Tiffanie kitte) lying on Richard's lap — Soolay looking adorable on Richard's lap

Soolay playing on Richard's lap

Kitten Updates – 3 weeks & 15 weeks

Soolay attends his first show, and we continue our debates over what colour the younger kittens are. Lainni and Alek also settle in well at their new homes.

The kittens are now three weeks old, and should all be over 300g by this evening. I still think we have three boys and three girls, but am no more sure on the colours.

Tiffanie kittens aged 2 weeks, with their mum — The babies clambering over Dàrna

Colour Debates

The bluey one (‘Kitten 2’ or ‘The Blue’) has come up really silver underneath, but with the sort of clear line between marking and base that you get on a blue Abyssinian, so I’m thinking he’s probably a silver ticked tabby. As for marking colour, the brownish cast that his fur had for a while seems to have mostly disappeared, so I’m guessing he is possibly a plain blue, rather than a blue-based caramel, as I thought before.

Tiffanie kitten aged 2 weeks — The Blue showing his facial markings

I still think that the tortie is a chocolate tortie, but her undercoat has lost its silvery look, so I’m now not sure whether she is just an unsound self, or a ticked tabby in which the ticking hasn’t yet come in. She has lovely rich red, especially on her face, which has very even red blazes.

The two ‘lilacs’ are now very different colours, and one is quite clearly a Burmese Restriction (‘Kitten 4’ or ‘the BCR’), because he has much darker ears and muzzle than the rest of his body. His nose leather and paw pads are also much darker than his brother’s – a browny-pink rather than the rose pink that his brother has. As a result, I am wondering whether he (the BCR) might even be a chocolate, or certainly a lilac-based caramel. The other boy (‘Kitten 3’ or ‘the Lilac’) is almost certainly a lilac, because his colour has remained a sort of rosy dove-grey. Both boys seem to have silver undercoats, and since they are developing an area of darker marking on the tops of their heads, I’m guessing they are either shaded or ticked tabby.

Tiffanie kittens aged 2 weeks — The two 'lilacs' showing the difference in nose leather colour. 'The BCR' is on the left, and 'the lilac' on the right. The difference is now more pronounced.

The two red-series kittens are still very similar in colour, with either cream or apricot over silver. One has faint spots, whereas the other is evenly coloured, so I’m not sure whether that means that one is a spotted and the other a ticked or shaded, or whether both are shaded, but one ‘masks’ spotted tabby and has ghostmarkings showing through, while the other ‘masks’ ticked tabby, which gives no ghostmarkings.

I’m kind of hoping that at some point before these are ready to leave, one of the ‘Asian colour experts’ will get a chance to call in on us and take a look!

Dàrna decided part-way through the week that she wanted the babies in the middle of the floor, rather than in their pen. I tried everything I could think of to get her to keep them in the pen, short of actually shutting her in with them, but in the end we have had to give up and let her keep them on the floor. I have put the purple basket behind where she likes to keep them, and they are at least sensible enough to clamber off into the basket whenever she isn’t feeding them. When she thinks it is time for a feed, she lies down in front of the basket and calls to them.

Kittens Settling In

Lainni and Alek both seem to have settled into their new homes perfectly, and I am receiving regular updates about both. Lainni’s new ‘mum’, Lona, sent me an email a couple of days after we dropped Lainni off, saying that she wanted to submit a complaint, because we had said we were giving her a kitten, when really we were giving her a mutant parrot. Attached to the email was a photo of Lainni standing on Lona’s husband’s shoulder (looking lovely, I might add)!

The day after she had arrived, Lainni demanded to be let out of the puppy pen where she was being kept to settle in (her mum did the exact same thing when she arrived with us). She then clambered onto Lona’s lap at breakfast and wouldn’t let any of the other cats up to share. She has, however, been running around the house with her new playmate, a ginger moggy kitten called Flynn. She has also become quite fond of their older Aby boy, Gus, whom she cuddles up with when he is sleeping.

Alek seems to get on well with both his human ‘sisters’, and has taken over the house. Fiona (Alek’s ‘mum’) says that it feels like having another baby, because they have his stuff everywhere – toys, food dishes, beds… She is loving waking up each morning with him cuddled into the back of her legs, purring. Mark (Alek’s ‘dad’) also seems to have bonded with him, which is really good news, because Mark was more taken with Soolay when they came to visit.

Speaking of Soolay, I was really disappointed last week, when I thought we had found a nice home for him in Aberdeenshire, but it didn’t work out. A week past on Friday I got in from work to find an email from a lovely-sounding woman who had previously had a Tiffanie and seemed genuinely interested in him. I replied that evening, but the email had come from her work address, so I had a tense weekend waiting to hear whether she would be ‘the one’ for Soolay. Unfortunately, when the email came through on Monday, it wasn’t good news – her husband had seen an advert for Chinchilla kittens over the weekend, and having gone to see them had fallen for one of the little girls!

I was gutted, and it was only then that I realised how much I had been hoping that would work out. Soolay is such a sweet baby that he would make a lovely family pet. Although Richard and I could obviously keep him, the reason for starting to breed Tiffanies in the first place was because we felt they weren’t well enough known, and wanted more people to experience their fantastic natures. Keeping him would be nice for us, but would rather defeat the purpose of breeding them in the first place! I just hope we can find a home for him soon, because it will already be very hard to part with him – he is 16 weeks today and is very handsome!

A black shaded Tiffanie kitten aged 15 weeks — Soolay looking gorgeous

Cumberland Show

We had entered Annas (for Best of Breed/BOB only), Xaria and Katie in the Cumberland show, which took place on Saturday. When it became obvious that we were very likely to still have Soolay by the time of the show, we spoke to the show manager, who agreed to take an extra entry for him. We therefore had our first ‘Cagaran kitten’ out on the bench on Saturday.

Tiffanie kitten aged 15 weeks at a show — Soolay looking thoroughly relaxed about the whole show experience!

He did really well, winning his BOB and a 1st and 2nd in his side classes, but more importantly, taking the whole experience completely in his stride. He really seemed to enjoy all the attention and cuddles, and the judges liked him and said that he handled well. I was lucky enough to get his Open judge, Joyce Green (a Burmese breeder), and also Ann Gregory (the only All-Breed judge) to come and give me their opinions on him once they had finished judging, and both thought he had a lot of potential. Neither of them were worried that he will be too chunky, because they felt that he will probably grow into his legs and paws.

Annas and Katie both won their BOBs, and Katie beat another rather nice Tiff to do so – I’ve just realised that means that we did the hat-trick of BOB Adult, Kitten and Neuter for the first time ever! Katie didn’t get her Grand, but we didn’t really expect her to, because she still looks quite kittenish, in spite of having had kittens of her own.

Xaria was our star of the show (apart from Soolay, of course), winning her 3rd Imperial (only two to go – yay!) as well as her BOB. As far as I can work out, that also put her further out ahead at the top of the RACCS (Russian and Abyssinian Cat Club of Scotland) table of points. We are hoping that she might do well enough this year to become the first ever Russian to win Overall Best in RACCS. My calculations of the results so far put her 21 points clear at the top. However, that could all change with just one good show by the cats placed joint second at the moment – all it would take was for one of them to go Best in Show, especially if it happened at the Supreme, and she would be back into second place! Fingers crossed that doesn’t happen…

Russian Blue in her show pen — Xaria being a star

Quick Update – Kittens and Shows

Alek goes to his new home, Dàrna’s kittens start opening their eyes, and we take Monty, Xaria and Coimhlion to the North West show

A very quick update today, and I’ll try and do a longer one in the next couple of days.

Little Alek went to his new home today, which was really exciting. We took him up, and I was really glad we did, because it meant we got to see him racing around his new livingroom having a great time. We got lovely big purrs when we cuddled him goodbye, and I can’t wait to hear how he gets on over the next few days!

The first of Dàrna’s kittens started to open their eyes yesterday, in fact one of them fully opened one eye. By this morning, two of the kittens had one open eye, and another couple look like their will probably be open tomorrow. The other two are not showing any sign yet, though.

We had a good day at the North West show yesterday, with Xaria getting her 2nd Imperial! Monty won another Reserve Grand, so he’s now on one Grand and three Reserves, which means that enough judges think he is worthy that we could have made him up if there hadn’t been better cats there on the day. Coimhlion was withheld for her Grand, but that’s no surprise – she only goes to shows because she loves it so much.

New Kittens and Kitten Update Week 13

Dàrna’s kittens arrive and Alek finds a home to go to.

Katie’s kittens are now 13 weeks old, and had their second vaccinations on Friday of last week, making them almost ready to leave us. Such a scary thought!

Lainni and Soolay are booked in to be neutered on Thursday of this week. Alek can’t be done yet, because his being a bit behind his siblings means that his testes haven’t fully descended. We therefore need to give him another few weeks for them to descend fully before he can be neutered.

He has, however, got a home to go to, with a lovely family who only live a few minutes up the road from us. They even use the same vets we do! Our vets absolutely love them, and said that we couldn’t find a better home, so that sounds good to me! If the vet wasn’t happy with them, I would have been very nervous about allowing Alek to go without being neutered. Instead, he will be going to his new home on Sunday, which now seems terrifyingly soon! He has been lying on his back on my lap tonight, purring whilst I stroke his tummy, and I can’t imagine not having him around any more. Lainni and Soolay have also been sleeping in my arms – it’s going to be so hard saying goodbye to them all!

13-week-old Tiffanie kittens sleeping — Lainni and Soolay asleep in my arms

Lainni will also be going home with Lona next week, which will only leave us with Soolay. I can’t believe he hasn’t been booked yet, because he is such a wee character. Can’t say I’m hugely disappointed, though, because at least it gives me one kitten to cuddle when the others have gone! I’ve also got Soolay entered in a show in a few weeks, so the fact that he’s not booked yet isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

New Kittens

Getting ready to fill the gap, however, Dàrna’s kittens were born early on Sunday morning, and are a very attractive mixture of colours. I think there are three boys (one blue-ish and two lilacy ones) and three girls (one dark tortie and two reddish ones). Trying to figure out which have dilution modifier, which have silver and which have Burmese restriction is making identifying the colours very difficult. I’m thinking that both the lilac and red-series ones might be silver shaded, but there could also be Burmese restriction in there to complicate matters. If anyone reading this is an Asian colour expert, I’d welcome your opinion…

The blue one - blue-based caramel ticked tabby?	The dark tortie - chocolate tortie smoke?
The lilacs - warmer on the left (lilac?), colder on the right (lilac-based caramel?)	The red-series - brighter on the right (apricot?), paler on the left (cream?)

The delivery was rather more stressful than Katie’s was, not least because Dàrna kicked things off by behaving as if she was going to go into labour for almost a week before she did so. For several days, I kept waking up every time Dàrna made a noise, and when I did get to sleep, either she would wake me up by patting me in the face, or I would dream about her having kittens in inappropriate locations (like the top of the wardrobe), and have to wake up to check on her!

We were booked to attend the Foreign Breed Seminar in Warwickshire on Sunday, and were due to be collecting Elisabeth at 3:30am. We had been debating back and forwards all week about what we would do if Dàrna hadn’t given birth by then. On Saturday evening, she seemed more settled, and was looking like being further off than she had done for several days, so I had spoken to my Mum to arrange for them to keep an eye on her, and we had decided to go.

At 2am, I got out of my bed to get ready to go South, and Dàrna immediately started contracting. Richard and Elisabeth had to go without me. At about 3:30am, I began to be able to see ‘something’ in the birth canal, but couldn’t for the life of me figure out what I was seeing. When the whisker pads emerged around it, I realised that it was a kitten’s tongue sticking out. The kitten progressed until its whole face was out, but then got completely stuck, but Dàrna’s body was obviously still trying to push it out. As I watched, the kitten started to turn purple, and Dàrna was becoming distressed and crying in pain.

I phoned the vet hospital and told them what was happening, and they asked how quickly I could be there. I rushed around getting changed (out of my pyjamas), and collecting a cat basket for Dàrna, whilst the other cats watched me as if I had gone completely insane. Since Richard had taken my car, I had to go to the vet’s in his van, which I had never driven before. With Dàrna screaming blue murder the whole way, that was not a fun drive.

Just as we pulled into the car park at the vet hospital, Dàrna gave an almighty scream and the kitten popped out. Bouncing along in the van had obviously worked it free. Before sending us home, the vets wanted to check that there wasn’t some problem affecting her ability to produce the kittens, so we decided that I should wait until the next one had arrived, to check that she didn’t have the same difficulty. We waited… and waited… and waited.

After about an hour and a half, the vet started saying that if Dàrna hadn’t produced a second kitten by the time two hours had passed since the arrival of the first, that we would need to do an elective C-section. Thankfully, Dàrna must have heard this (or my conversation with the vet about the risk of death during an operation!), and decided to produce the next kitten without assistance after an hour and 45 minutes. The third arrived just half-an-hour later, and I was sent home.

Having got back to the house, and get Dàrna settled back into her birthing box, another set of contractions started. The two kittens born at the vets (like the first one) had been born the correct way around – head first. As this next lot of contractions passed, the fourth kitten appeared feet first, and I honestly thought we might end up having to go back to the hospital! Thankfully, I was able to get a good hold of him with a facecloth, and pulled him out.

Number five was exactly the same, and for whatever reason, these kittens also didn’t start breathing until I had given them a good rub with the face cloth. The last kitten was born as a ‘full breach’, which means tail first; the worst possible way round for a mother to try and pass the kitten. Thankfully this one was the smallest in the litter, and with a bit of a tug, she came out quite easily.

By 9am, the kittens were all dry or mostly dry, and feeding well. I was able to phone Richard and Elisabeth to let them know that we had kittens. They in turn were then able to let the owners of the stud know, because they were also attending the seminar. At birth, the kittens ranged from 76g to 85g, but by lunchtime today, were up to a range between 97g and 111g, so they are gaining well.

Dàrna with her 2-day-old Tiffanie kittens — The kittens suckling from Dàrna

Over the next few weeks, the colours should become clearer, and I will also know for sure whether the gender split is accurate. If I am right that at least one of the red-series kittens is a girl, then she will probably be staying here to continue our breeding programme into the next generation. That will, of course, depend on how the kittens develop as they get older, but since both parents are very nice, I’m hoping the kittens will be too. We shall just have to wait and see…

Four Tiffanie day-old Tiffanie kittens in a row — Four of the kittens lined up asleep