Week 7 - 8

Do They Know It's Christmas Time At All?

Possibly not, but they sure as heck want to help with wrapping gifts!

No Chistmas decor this year. My home is already a full on kitty playground and assault course without my adding to it with a tree to climb and fall from or know down... to have it festooned with baubles they will swipe at and knock off before chasing the around the room... or hung with fairy lights where they are sure to become tangled.

It might be a bit bah-humbug but honestly if you could see these girls running and jumping from room to room playing chase or laying in ambush of one another you'd understand.

In this last week, I have been trying to complete some projects destined to be or form part of gifts for people. One of these is a knitted mermaid. I wanted to do some bead work on her... add necklace and bracelets and perhaps a beaded headband. The thread is invisible, and the beads tiny and delicate... not an easy recipe at the best of times so I tried to pick my timing of working at it coordinating this with nap time. Can you tell yet that it was a disaster? Tipping beads into a container, no matter how quietly you try to do it, to a cat or kitten is like a call to action and so come running they did, leaping and bounding, climbing or sitting right in the way.... I needed three pairs of hands at least.... just as beads were strung I'd find that I was on the flight path as a kitten would run into my invisible thread  taking it and the beads with it... or jumping up into my container sending beads flying. Frustration wasnt the word after having recovered beads and begun again time and time again.

In the end I resorted to closing them into the playpen just to get that job done.

Next came gift wrapping which I knew would be manner from heaven for them. The sound of paper being unrolled, cat and folded, or of tape being ripped from the roll was too exciting to ignore and getting involved was a great game!

Time and again I have wished for my eyeballs to be fitted with video camera, as day by day there are moments I would love to have captured. Mum and daughter involved in games or hunt, ambushes with my dear sweet kitten making these cute little sideways jumps trying to appear bigger than she is, or the cutest or funniest moments as she is startled by somthing real or imagined and seems to jump in the air and land in different poses. As always, any portraight type photo shot where both mum and baby are awake has been almost impossible when I want a result that is crystal clear. Instead they are blurred as one of them will move at the last moment!!!!

From Strength to Strength & Preparing for Goodbye

So much progress..... Pot is now approaching the magic 8 week mark when she will meet possible new owner(s) during "viewings'.

It's kind of hard to believe how much has changed since that Friday in October when Noodle needed veterinary help right at the end of her pregnancy with the end result of one small kitten instead of the litter I'd been expecting and hoping for.

Her kitten was so very tiny, she seemed to me so fragile... a tiny warm bag of flesh and bones who was so helpless and yet had all the instincts to find a nipple and to feed.

I was anxious... would this kitten make it? Would Noodle be a natural mum and manage the demands having a kitten now placed upon her?

Terrified hands that needed to hold this kitten and somehow give her milk on day 3 when she was still not suckling well enough and was now growing weaker... and the difference it made when I did! How quickly those few feeds I supplemented day and night combined with hot flannels for mum changed the outcome.

Seeing this little kitten double in size before my eyes was incredible. Then the surprise of seeing her eyes wide opened when I had expected to see her eyes slowly open over a couple of days! Marvelling at the strength in those limbs and watching the first wobbly and teetering steps that are now so confident that running, jumping and climbing are no problem at all.

The anxieties I felt about feeding solids... worrying was  I getting in right and the fear when she refused the pouched food I'd stockpiled during Noodle's pregnancy ready to feed a ravenous litter of kittens. Making up batches of dry food that needed to be soaked for hours before it was soft enough to feed to her which had some success. Then the rapid acceptance and delight in her when I admitted defeat with using commercial food and instead bought a freezer full of raw food. I didnt mind too much because I had planned to introduce to Noodle to BARF after she had finished lactating anyway so this was no hardship really. I will donate the left over food to Cats Protection).

Weaning with Gusto.

(mushed Dry Food)

The amazing success of weaning was of course followed by her needing to use the litter tray rather than for mum to clean her up....and I felt so glad when the first twice she got it right. I couldn't belive my luck. Swiftly followed by disappointment when she decided not to use it after all... and then finding a way to help her to work it all out so that we were both happy.

If my kitten was healthy before, the introduction of the raw food diet was like having put into her a couple of Duracell batteries! Now she was motoring; becoming the precocious and cheeky little lady that will be so hard to say goodbye to in a few weeks time.

Now she was feeding and littering it was time for her to have her first bath.... she is so small still that I could do this in the bathroom sink! She didn't seem to mind it too much either!

Finally, since she no longer needed 24hour assistance, I decided to relocate the cat nursery moving it out of my bedroom and taking it downstairs. I took the cage down (jenga) and set it up along with a large fabric pet play pen so I can contain her.

The downside of this move is two fold. The first is that Noodle is in heat again ( the second time since the birth) and is very, very noisy - And secondly in her now being in a quandary....she has always slept with me since she came.... so  now she is feeling pulled in two directions - her duty as a mother and being with her kitten, against her wish to be with me (and to be given the attention she feels she needs with these hormones going crazy in her).

So a downside (perhaps) is that the move has put an end to the night time hours of mother - daughter snuggles.  It may even have stopped Pot"  from nursing on her at all. This is OK because Pot doesn't need mother's milk any longer but it is kind of sad. This separation from mum now will perhaps ease any separation difficulties they might have suffered when Pot goes in January to start her new life... but I must say, I do miss hearing their dual purring....

But all this has made me think more about the changes that are still to come... and of missing Pot.

Im doing all I can to ensure she goes to a wonderful new family...but during these wonderful weeks she has been MY kitten...(well, Noodle's & mine!). Once she is reserved though and the reservation fee is paid, even though she will still here for another 4 weeks she will no longer be mine.

This has to mark the first part of my letting her go completely physically and emotionally.

I know there will be tears..... The plan is that Prune will have moved in with us a few days before hand. Coming when Pot is still here will I hope ease her acceptance by Noodle since Pot and Prune are about the same age.... I am hoping Noodle may just think she has another kitten she had somehow forgotten about.

Im also hoping that when Pot leave, her disappearance wont be so noticable for Noodle because she now will have Prune.

Of course having Prune will give me my new baby to love and bring her own joy...but I cant help but to think about how much letting Pot go and her departure will hurt . And thinking about what action if any,  I can do to manage it.

Friends have asked me right from the beginning when I told them of my decision to breed from Noodle how I will feel about letting her kittens go.... True, I'd  hoped and anticipated that there would be a litter of kittens (kittens in plural!) which would have meant that the love Pot has had would have been shared..... perhaps her being a lone kitten, and one I have had to hand feed, has served to intensify the bond?

I'd hoped for a solid black kitten in the litter allowing me the solace of keeping one from the first litter born to my cattery....but Pot is not the colour I want for my cattery's future and so there is no viable reason for me to keep her. I am a breeder and my work is to breed beautiful kittens and to sell them. Simple as that. And yet it isnt simple at all.

Of course I love her and would love to keep her. And I do love her. And I will feel sad.

I will though be happy too.  So happy (and proud) that I have produced such a gorgeous and healthy little pure Sphynx girl from two happy and healthy parents. Happy because I know without shadow of doubt that she is going to be a delight her new family.

I think of her future family and Pot being to them everything that Noodle is to me and as I do so and reflect on my adoration of Noodle and my pride in her having been a fantastic mum, my heart squeezes and swells with love. To think that Pot will give this gift to her new family feels fantastic.

This is what I am doing this for.

6 weeks & playing with mum!

So much progress.....

Wow! I can't believe its been so long since I posted an update. So much has been happening.

Mainly what's been happening is under the heading of Weaning - Pot ..

I wanted to use a BARF diet having read the great things said about it and instinctively felt it was the most natural food type. However by the time I'd made that decision it was time to mate Nood

Before Noodle was mated I had left it too late to get her onto raw food which was a shame as it was a plan I had made to use it for her kittens.... the fact that making the change even in the earliest days after mating was considered dangerous to do made me rethink pretty much everything.

Finding out that I needed to keep Noodle on her normal commercial diet throughout her pregnancy and also throughout her entire lactation I chose to use the Hills Science plan diet, just changing it back to the kitten dry that she had had throughout her first year of life and that I knew I could trust.

Since she would not be able to change to raw until after her litter had gone I realised this presented an issue with weaning her coming kittens on to it - how would I stop her eating it, and yet have it available to them.

Added to this I felt a degree of uncertainty of using raw food for delicate babies before I had gained user experience as well as a worry about how or if prospective would relish a new kitten they bought being on a raw food regime.

I decided there and then I needed to rethink my plans regarding their weaning and because buying in larger quantities is more cost efficient, in preparation for the weeks ahead, knowing Noodles food needs would increase as her pregnancy progressed and then to produce plenty of milk for a hungry litter I bought a few kilos of dry food as well as several boxes of pouched kitten food too.

Come weaning time... and as a complete novice I was rather nervous to begin.

From about week 3, alongside the dry food always available to her, I also began introducing pouched food to Noodle in addition to her normal dry food diet. The idea behind it was that wanted her baby to see her eating it, and to become intrigued not only by its 'appetising' aroma but also by watching Mum eating.

However, Pot would not under any circumstances accept, lick or go near the pouched food bowl. Noodle didnt mind and happily kept eating it as it was offered. When we got to the beginning of week 5 when weaning must begin in earnest I knew I needed to step it up a gear...

Since pouches were rejected I tried mushing up the dry food with hot water, allowing it to become soft and wet enough to be slushy. This met with Pot's approval and she would now consider tucking in... as long as it was warmed before being put on the table.

In week 6, we were still only accepting small amounts of the mushed dry food and still refusing point blank to try the pouched. Not great progress if I was to get her to the stage where she would be acquiring all nutrition independant of mum.

Additionally, the mushing of the dry food was not ideal as it  takes some hours to be ready so needed planning and management. Mushing enough to ready when needed and to satisfy  but not so much as to be wasting lots of food. How would I get her to a place if we continued like this where I could confidently hand her over with a simple to manage food plan?

One evening,  thinking I could hear Noodle having a snack from her bowl I looked down and was surprised to see it was Pot who crunching away at the kibble. Who would have thought those tiny, admittedly sharp, teeth and jaws could crunch away at the dry food? OK, I know she recognises the smell as being food for her but if it takes so many hours to get soft imagine how hard it must be for such tiny jaw bones and muscles!

I considered I may have to wean the pouches in... mixing some into each batch of mushed dry until she would accept it....

As all this is going on, at the same time I am talking often to other breeders who have experience  in order to gain guidance and tips and sharing progress and pictures with my most prominent prospective buyer.

As we emailed and I sent updates and photos... I described the foods Pot was eating (and those she wasn't) . I asked my might-be owner how she would be feeding long term i(f she  decides to buy her) and was delighted to learn that she had a mind to use a BARF diet... which got me thinking.....

Prune, the new girl I am purchasing is around the same age as Pot is and she is being weaned on raw food and loves it. Because she will be on raw I will have to buy some in...

I need lots as my plan too is to get Noodle on it finally.

With Christmas and the bank holiday closures come along shortly as well as the Christmas delays, it made sense then to get a supply into my freezer right now... and then I thought, well since Pot is most likely going to be onto it when she is purchased, why not get her on it now?

And this is what we have done - and it has begun so well.

Having had so many refusals of other food I tentatively offered her a dish in which was a spoon of raw food that Id made slacker with some warm previously boiled water. to take the chill off.... I gave her a sniff... and her head popped up... mmmm interesting!

She came closer to sniff in the bowl......

"What is this you are offering me?".. "Do I like it?"

I dip in my finger coating it with the meaty goo....and hold the tip to her nose.... she licked... and kept on licking... lowering my finger her tongue follows me into the dish... ta-dah! She was eating like a Ninja.

She filled up (or so I thought) and walked away.... Mum went to look .....but it was unfamiliar to her. She backed off when Pot came back for second helpings.

Pot took several more mouthfuls, then walked away again. This time mum seemed all set to polish it off herself... but  wait.. no.... what is this? Why, it's Pot back for more!

The same raw food was equally well received for breakfast today too! And, as I write I am listening to the chomping sounds of both Mum and her daughter tucking in to their own bowls of raw food, this time given it without water to loosen or warm it.

Im am overjoyed!

'Pot tries raw food for the first time'

24 hours later......