Once again, it’s been over three weeks since my last update, because things are still very busy in the ‘Cagaran Household’. We’ve both been caught up at work, and had a family funeral to attend down in Devon, then on top of that, we’ve attended three/four shows, so there hasn’t been much spare time!
Kittens
Katie’s kittens were vaccinated a couple of days after I last posted, and Cannach was neutered the week after that, then went to his new home a few days later. He seems to have settled in nicely, and is getting on with the older Asian neuters that his family own, as well as cuddling up with the family themselves.
His sister is not going to be going where we thought she was, because her intended owner visited another breeder and fell in love with one particular kitten there. Sometimes a kitten chooses their owner, rather than the other way around, and that can make for a really strong bond, so I advised Pippa to pay attention to that.
I had shown photos of the kittens to my friend Anita (who has Keela, from Dàrna’s first litter), and when I mentioned that I was going to have to look for a new home for the girl, Anita asked if she could have her. I wasn’t expecting Anita to want her, so was a bit taken aback, but absolutely delighted. They weren’t keen on the pedigree name, and the registration documents were just being sent off, so I gave Anita the choice, and the girl is actually going to be Cagaran Cailin-Anizz, Anizz being Anita’s prefix. Cailin is gaelic for ‘Damsel’, but is a pretty name in its own right, and is going to be her pet name as well. Cailin has come on an absolute treat, and is so promising that I am starting to wish that we were keeping her ourselves!
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Kia’s kittens had their second vaccinations last week, and were thirteen weeks old yesterday. We dropped Foghorn off at her new home, and as always, it was lovely to watch her exploring her new room, and then playing with her new family. She will be sleeping in their spare bedroom to begin with, and the ‘kids’ (a 16-year-old and a 14-year-old) are going to take it in turns to sleep with her. Her new family wanted to understand everything that we do with the kittens, including clipping of claws, and microchipping, which are both things that we normally do where nobody else is watching. I was quite nervous doing them with an audience for the first time, but little Foghorn was beautifully behaved and didn’t even squeak when the needle went through her skin!
Maltech’s intended owner has unfortunately lost her job, and as a result she cannot take on the responsibility and cost of looking after another cat. I have therefore started the process of looking for an alternative home for him. I will be having him neutered this week, and it’s not a moment too soon, because he’s already getting interested in Katie and Fiona! He and Grace are the most adorable pair of rascals, tearing around the room with Fi and then rushing up to rub against you and purr.
Dàrna’s kittens are developing beautifully, and I am delighted to say that both are now looking distinctly smokey! They are little monkeys at the moment, rushing about and getting into all sorts of mischief, just as their Burmese ancestors are famous for. Whenever you walk into the kitten room, they come running over and climb onto your feet, clinging to your ankles. Richard calls them the ‘foot gremlins’, as a result. My parents looked after the kittens for us while we were down in Devon for the funeral, and I couldn’t help but laugh listening to my Dad trying to deal with being rushed by the babies! We took an absolute stack of photos yesterday, so I couldn’t resist sharing a selection here:
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Shows
The weekend after my last update, we took Elisabeth down to the North West show, which we couldn’t actually enter ourselves because we wanted to support the Ocicat show the following weekend. Instead, I was given a stewarding engagement with a Dutch judge, who was my first experience of working with a foreign judge, and was an excellent test of my awareness of the system etc.
The following weekend was both the Ocicat and the RBBA (Russian Blue) shows, and the two were in venues about an hour apart. Elisabeth borrowed Karen Hettman’s two boys again, and we dropped her off at the RBBA with them and Xazzle, so she had three cats of her breeding, but none of them actually owned by her! Zach was the star of the day, winning the Imperial (on his first try), and also Best Male Neuter.
We couldn’t take Kia to the Oci show, because her kittens were born too recently (they must have been born at least 12 weeks previously), so we could only take our neuters along to support the club. Breckin won her first Grand certificate, and Tármus had her first time out in the Pedigree Pet section, winning her first Master Cat certificate and Best of Colour, bless her! As always, she loved the attention and I was reminded of how enjoyable she is to show.
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Last weekend was the Cumberland show, and again we couldn’t enter our own cats because of having shown the previous week. Instead, I was stewarding for Ann Gregory, and we were obviously giving Elisabeth a lift with her cats. Ann is the only all-breed judge in the GCCF, and very well respected, so I was a bit nervous in case I made any mistakes. The day went well, however, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Our pick of the day was a most beautiful blue Burmese who had Ann and I in raptures for several minutes. That girl went on to win Overall Best Burmese, so we obviously weren’t the only ones who thought she was stunning. Our friends, the Miskellys (Glendavan Abyssinians and Ragdolls), who own the sire of Kia’s kittens, also had a fantastic day, with the beautiful Coen (Glendavan Roderick-Jaynes) winning overall Best in Show!
