I know, I know, I’ve been lax…

 Prune is hiding but the owners of these these two little bottoms are purring away having located her!

 

Catching some rats! 

Headless mum - hiding fail! 

 I’ve neglected my duties in updating the blog. I’m sorry about that.

All is well, the chaps are growing and access all areas… well, the bits they can reach or scramble up onto anyway. 

Their appetites are phenomenal and the enthusiasm they show is so sweet. Humphrey (Black kitten has been named) is always first in the queue. If he’s hungry and he thinks I’m headed that way he races as fas as he can to be in front . If I’m busy in the kitchen it’s one of the blue chaps who may turn up and meow as loud as he can telling me that he is destitute & can he please get some food if I have some spare. As of yesterday I open two pouches at every feed of which they have 4 or 5 plus they are suckling mum still whilst the cacophony of loud purring goes on. It’s a joyous sound I miss terribly when they’re gone. Now that they know where mum hangs out (a heat mat on my bed under a blanket) she has no escape! 

AA a As expected, as soon as they were physically able to they have abandoned their previous sleeping facilities and joined the clan.

Today, Prune has had a little outing as we went to visit Luca Ferasin, an awesome accredited veterinary cardiologist as she was overdue for her annual scan having had it delayed due to Covid, then pregnancy (pregnant cats should not  be scanned Her scan was slightly delayed due to the timing of her pregnancy so, now that the lads can manage ok without her for a few hours I took her along to be scanned. I sat in the car in the sunshine as Covid means pet owners cannot attend while Prune was examined. It takes around 40-50 minutes As expected her scan was absolutely perfect with no defects or irregularities. I’m so delighted, she’s a stunning healthy girl. 

Poor thing though she’d been starved from 9pm the night before, and no water from 9am. These measures taken in case they need to give sedation. Roughly 2-3% of cats require sedation however Prune has never been one of them and behaved impeccably. This morning before she realised we were heading out, she was looking at me an expression of pleading in her eyes since the boys were demanding her milk while I was denying her sustenance to produce it. We made up for it when we got home! All is well. 

A choir of kittens

Do please watch this with your sound on for the ultimate listening experience!

Now free to roam at will the kittens have quickly sussed out where the adults go to, and can scrabble upward to reach them. Getting down might be another matter if I’ve not remembered to nonchalantly (errrr… strategically) lay a throw to act as a scrabble net, but like all kittens, once in a situation they adopt an attitude of do or d…. Yell. Yes, that’s the word, yell! They’re pretty bullet proof and will scrabble fall the first few times and quickly develop yhe musculature to transition with fluidity and grace. 

The speed of progress right now is crazy, amongst their ordinance survey skills is the linking of the hitherto unknown area us hoomans call Kitchen with the stuff of dreams that is food. Having now decided they REALLY like that meat stuff and that it comes from the land of kitchen, when offered milk it appears of little concern. Such stark contrast to the desperation of the catchers mitt grabbing of the teat a few days ago! They’re learning that me calling “kittens, kittens, heralds food, but they’ll still try their luck by following me hopefully even if I’ve only gone to the kitchen to make tea or put something into the bin. I turn round to see a chain of kittens following, each with their tail raised with the jaunty little kinked tip of interest. Do you speak cat? The tail is used to convey a lot of emotions and so it’s worthwhile learning tail gestures as well as to read or tel your kitten or cat “I love you” . 

Prune is liking the fact that they’re interested in meat and, just as she did with her last litter, she is now dedicatibg herself to providing them with prey or encouraging hunting opportunities by bringing them toy mice. Noodle bless her never gave up the bringing of mice after the last kittens left and so still regularly rings the dinner bell announcing a successful hunt . She has noticeably upped the anti. So I’m just waiting now for Floozy to learn this skill too and begin teaching her class m!  At the mo she’s become distracted again  being back into heat in a very short cycle, Hopefully with autumn coming they’ll tail off for her now.

Shattered Peace!

Miss Sassy Pants! 

I’ve started you off with a dose of cuteness on purpose! This is today’s portrait of my youngest grandchild, aged 10 whole days.

For a couple of days now, in the late afternoon I’ve been opening up the side of the pen to give the kittens a taste of freedom and begin mapping their domain. This time allows me to give their area a spruce up while they, having had their meal and the adults allowed back into the room, can all play together. With melting heart I  watch the group matriarch Noodle as she gets in touch with her inner kitten. She crouches low, her fight front paw raised, her bottom wiggles, quivering as she gets ready to pounce. It’s a pose I used to see often when she was just a kitten learning to hunt her prey.  Her prey now? Oh, a kitten of course! As she dashes forwards her playmate turns side on, his tail straight up, his back arched and his head angled so that his eyes appear as large as he can make them, all in an effort to appear larger and more terrifying (as if!) It’s cute to watch as with each new game, the kittens are discovering that they can do more & more, they’ve learned to use their sharp claws to climb, to inch their way down and, to jump. After play, they’ve headed for their heat mat and sleep at which point I close up the pen again.

As I prepared for bed earlier (at around 1am) I was reading an online newspaper when I became aware that Prune was doing her sing-song voice, the one reserved only for speaking to her kittens. YES KITTENS! Entering my bedroom and, quickly making it onto my bed were the two adventurers. Having  climbed up, and exploring a while they very soon fell fast asleep. One chose my tummy to curl up on (well it is big, warm & soft!) but this adorably rendered me captive, while the other chose the heat mats where Noodle, Prune & Floozy catch their ZZZZ’s . No one though could scoooch under the blankets since a kitten now slept soundly on them. It seems that they too are opposed to waking a sleeping kitten. What are we to do, we are rendered utterly helpless by these tiny bed pinchers! 

Apologies for the flesh on show here

I just hope that these boys can get down and reach their litter tray when they wake needing a tinkle!

Tomorrow, morning the pen will be dismantled & put away. The kittens have most definitely decided that its served it’s purpose & that it’s time for the adult girls (including me!) to share their sacred spaces.