Time is flying!

Doh! Found a post I’d started but for some reason abandoned part way through so it’s a few days since I’ve posted an update. Apologies to all those keeping tabs on us. I promise that I have not just been putting my feet up! 

My brand new granddaughter hit one week old & it is an absolute treasure & delight to get to hold her. I was even allowed to place a kiss upon her incredibubble head of hair! I deliver 2 hot meals to my little famalam who live just a mile and a half away each week in lieu of the one meal and day of childcare I used to enjoy pre-Covid. Since then a lot has happened including a triply broken ankle for me which after surgery meant 10 weeks immobile while they took care of me & to some extent, the cats. My son would appear twice a day with a flask and a packed lunch and then a flask and dinner. I was pretty helpless at first but I did find a way within a few days to use my Zimmer (yes I said Zimmer!) to hop to a rollator Walker with a seat which allowed me to punt myself backward to where the litter trays were, and thus seated was able to take care of (my cats) business. If I could do nothing else, at least I could keep that task! Luckily with the girls using their auto feeders they didn’t require meals on my new wheels too! After convalescence, my being able to cook for them once again & with my daughter in law now working from home & coping with toddler care while I was in self isolation allowed me to feel a little bit useful again & involved again & the best way I can to thank them for their kind care. Anyway, I have delivered 2 meals and enjoyed a little grandma-ing. I feel blessed. 

 
Anyway, back to the matter in hand, 4 handsome kittens who have been smashing it at weaning. After a few days of individual “training” (messy!) they started to get a little convinced that chowing down on meat and lapping milk from a dish was doable (I can’t lie, I do miss snuggly hand feeding) . It’s very amusing hearing the sneezing that goes on before they get to grips with how far from the surface of the milk they need to be and when is too low! Those training feeds took a long time but by day 4 they were ready to try a meal together. You must have heard and seen that on a video I posted a couple of days ago. Well since then I’ve been reducing the amount of milk mixed with the meat so that by Saturday morning it’s no longer served as a soup they suction up and is now more something they need to bite up and chew with a milk chaser should they want it. They’re still nursing from mum which is a scene that makes me smile since inevitably it ends up in a sleeping duvet of kittens over a comfy bed made of mumma! 

 One thing they weren’t keen on was their first taste of Panacur wormer (always given at 5 & 8 weeks, then again before collection at 12 weeks) . They detest it and I still can’t understand why they don’t make it a tablet which is so much easier to give, or at least just try to make it taste nice for them. 

One evening this week we had a breakout from the Pen(itentiary) . One date devil had leapt from the roof of the wooden house (shed!) dropping over the top. I moved the house into the centre of the pen but watched because now the escape route was mapped out, scaling cot bumpers and the fence has been attempted over and over again. For now, there’s no energy left after one or two efforts and not enough strength to get over yet but it won’t be long. I’m almost ready to give them freedom anyway since they are acing the litter trays too! 

We had a bit of a video clip session today in order that I could get some reasonable still frames to use to create photos of them. Honestly, taking photos is a hit and miss affair even with extra hands here to dangle toys to keep their focus and perfect pout. 99 times out of 100 in photos they’ll move just as I click resulting in a blurred mess. I felt I got some reasonable images and have already used them to showcase the boys in advertisements so that, come 8 weeks when an in person viewing can be arranged, we can meet someone from the new families who would like to reserve & give each one a lifetime of love & care. 

I’ve included some of those stills here hoping you’ll enjoy them - have a happy Sunday 🐾🐾❤️🐾🐾. 

ROGUES GALLERY 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wean & all that’s in between!

 

LISTEN TO THE SOUND OF FEEDING GANNETS!

We began the weaning process a few days ago & I’ve been spending time very hands on with each of the boys individually as they take the next big steps from suckling to using their tongues & mouths differently. While they do this, they are also gaining new texture, taste & aromas which being unfamiliar, at first they’re not that sure about. The tummy feel of having fed on meat will be different too & their little digestive systems are now ready primed with the necessary enzymes to process more solid matter.

I begin each lesson after closing mum & her team out of the room, as this happens, the kittens become eager to greet me & are now getting themselves up onto the roof of their new “shed” and meowing for all they’re worth. At least they’re keen!

I will take the kitten who seems most keen, plucking him from his roof top and bringing him to stand on a puppy training pad placed on the floor. On this I’ve placed a shallow dish in which is the warmed mushed a soup of milk and pouched kitten meat. I now get this mush on my fingers and bring it to their muzzle so that they can sniff & hopefully are intrigued to taste. I will open the mouth and put some meat in allowing them to work out how to deal with this new food. I repeat this several times, and often by holding up the dish to their chest height can get them suckling the food from the dish. Each day, as they learn more I can either lower the dish bit by bit and their head will follow, or I’ll get them to come lower and lower using my fingers from which they are licking the meat/milk concoction. I have been following the lessons with as much milk as each wants from the teat. Today, with lessons advancing particularly well for two of them I’ve moved them on by bringing all four kittens to the dish together hoping the two slower chaps will follow the example set by their siblings. As you’ll have seen from the video above, 3 boys were lapping away with gusto while the other had to be brought back. I stopped filming so that I could have both hands to help him. 

One of the boys, is still VERY reluctant to give up the teat. I soooo wish I could film our struggle so that others could see. I’m offering the full syringe & teat, but now he thinks that it’s a rare opportunity having convinced himself milk like this is in short supply. His tummy craves the warm fluid fill so he grabs at the teat forcefully, both hands with claws outstretched, opened wide it looks like an oversized (for him) catchers mitt. Teat in mouth held in his teeth, there is now a tug of war because his pulling so hard has pulled the teat off of the syringe. He deciphers my efforts to reattach it as withdrawal and becomes frenzied that his milk is being denied to him.  I try hard to keep the teat on and to start delivering the milk he craves, but it’s not fast enough and he is now crazed.  I can’t convince him that his interpretation is unfounded. He grapples more, by now he is up on just his hind legs, claws and hands as large as he can make them over the teat. Milk spilled from the syringe coats his chest and meat coats his face!  Eventually, with maybe ½ a syringe of milk left I can give him what he is after and as finally it’s delivered, his hands drop he goes stiff in excitement as he sucks down milk as if it will never appear again. At the end, you guessed it, the teat needs to be eased out from his mouth! Bless him. 

Sneak!

I just sneaked in to see this beautiful sleeping family pile up 

 

I can’t decide what I love most about this (other than the fact mum is curled with her lads. I love the little spooning son, & the one who is using his brothers as a kind of living duvet. I also enjoy the comparative size of mums curly tail next to her sons and the sight of all those gorgeous wrinkles!