Cuddles and Catnip

Of Bugs and Parrots

2012-02-04T08:08:00.004Z

Hihihihihihihihi all my somebody friends! It's me again! And I got lots to tell you. Well, it's not really lots unless I can think of lotsa things to say, but I can't tell you another things I thinked on Thursday cuz it isn't Thursday today, so that would be silly! Anyway, I thinked that I would just tell you some things anyway. Is that all right?

So, the first thing is that my human has a change of work hunting place today. She says this is normal, that in her job contract, whatever that is, she has to change the place she day hunts in every three months so that she does the same day hunting, but just in a different place. And I thinked that was pretty silly, cuz if you hunt in the same place for three whole months which is the same as forever, then there'll be no mousies or balls or money papers left to hunt cuz you'd have catched them all. Then I thinked that perhaps the human wasn't a very good hunter which is why it might take her that long to catch all the things before she changes the place. And then I thinked, but what if the mousies and the balls and things that she hunts are just like the mousies and the balls in my house place? Cuz I've been hunting them for over seven months now, which is like more than two forevers, and they still come alive again even after I've deadded them propper. As soon as I walk away and come back again, they need deadded all over again! And it's hard work! My little bug, for example. The human says it's a Neakofly but it's not. It's a bug. But it's always alive. Even when I catch it and pick it up in my mouth and run away with it and say wrow, cuz you can't say weeeeow when you have a bug in your mouth cuz then it falls out and runs away and you gotta chase it and chase it and chase it till you catch it again and then pretend that you meant to let it drop all along anyway and that it was part of the game. The bug is really alive, cuz it crawled into the human's jacket pocket last night when it had had enough of me catching it. It went in there to hide from me, and then it stayed real still and real quiet. And me and the human forgetted all about it till this morning when the human got to her day hunting place and she put her hand in her jacket pocket to get her name badge which is like the secret thing you need to break into the day hunting place where all the coolest things are to hunt. And out jumped the bug and his string that he's attached to, and he tried to run away from her, and all the other mighty day hunters said hahahahahahaha when they see'd the bug. They were probly laughing at my human who couldn't even catch a bug that she'd already catched in her pocket! She says they said words like "crazy cat lady," and "Next she'll smuggle a kitten in in that pocket," and other stuffs like that, but she just said hahahahaha too and telled them she was comfortable with being a nutter as long as it involved snuggly kittens, and sparkly balls and stinky goodness and mousies. Well, she didn't say them last things, but I woulda said that if I was her, cuz they're the bestest things ever.

I got a new nickname too that I forgotted to tell you about. Dogman and the human and even the somebody that comes to take the human away in the big growly monster called car every morning which takes her to her day hunting call me this. They call me Parrot. Why? Cuz my favouritest place in the whole world, maybe even in more than the whole world is on somebody peoples' shoulders, but only on somebody peoples that I like! Oh, it's so coooooool up there! And whenever a somebody picks me up, I climbclimbclimbclimb all the way up them and then onto their shoulders and then I go round the back of their neck and put my front paws and my head on their other shoulder and then I peep out with my face next to theirs, and I say purpurpurpur cuz I'm so happy up there, and if they talk to me or sometimes even if they're not talking to me but talking to a somebody, i say weeeeow and reeeeow and rrroooow to them till they talk to me some too. I like talking!

And if the somebodies don't pick me up, I talk and talk and talk and talk and then I shout right by their feets. And if that doesn't work, I jump and climb all the way up. And if they're bending over, I jump onto their backs and then climbclimbclimb to their shoulders. And I even climbed up Dogman's arm once! The human is a horrid big meanie, cuz she tells all the somebodies not to let me do that. She says it's Ok now cuz I'm a cute little girlcat, but when I turn into a boring old fatty ladycat like mummycat, then I can't do it no more cuz I'll be too heavy and it'll hurt the somebodies. So every time I jump on her back, she straightens up real quick so I fall off her and onto the soft carpet. And even though she's usually on her knees so I don't fall far, and the carpet's soft so I don't really get hurt, I cry and cry like a lost little babycat, but it doesn't work on the human. She does let me on her shoulders, but she has to say it's Ok first before I jump, and if she says no, I gotta listen and not jump, cuz if I do, then I'll just fall off again. But it doesn't work on Dogman. I maked him bleed by accident the other day cuz I put my claws in his skin to climb. And he was upset and said ouch ouch, ooooow! a lot, but when I got to his shoulder I put my claws back in again. And the human said, "See?That's why you need to stop her doing it!" And so the next time when I jumped on him, he maked me fall off just like the nasty human. And I cried and cried and cried like a little hurted babycat, and he picked me up real fast and snuggled me and said "Oh, Millie! Are you all right? Did I hurt you? C'mere and have a cuddle. And as soon as he picked me up, I climbclimbclimbed all the way to his shoulder, and then I said purpurpur, and he couldn't tell me off cuz I hadn't jumped on him or nothing and it's Ok to climb, just not to jump. And so now, he doesn't make me fall off any more, even though the human tells him off for it all the time. Silly Dogman! He's being trained already! And if you wanna see a picture of me being a parrot, you can Look at it here, I think!

I think that's all I thinked of for today. Oh, sept one thing. My human is going away for a little while next week. She says that one of her family is coming across in the big bird that eats peoples and then spits them out again called aeroplane, and she's coming all the way from Ireland and she wants to go see a place called London, so the human's gonna go with her there for a while. And she says that Dogman's niece will come and stay with us and feed us and cuddle us. And Dogman's niece feeled me when I was still just a wriggle in mummycat's tummy (if you actually believe that story), and then she came to see me when I was a teeny, tiny babycat before I even had my eyes open, and she's come and tickled me sometimes too, so I think I'll like her. And then the human will come back on Thursday night with her cousin. And I don't know if I'll like her cuz I don't know her, but she has a girlcat of her own, so maybe she'll be Ok. And then I get to show off at a show on Saturday! Isn't that all exciting!

Now I really can't think of no more. Byebye!

Things I thinked on Thursday

2012-01-26T21:26:00.002Z

Hihihihihihhi friends! It's me again! And it's my turn to write to you somebodies on this blog thing! Did you miss me all the way through reading what my boring old mummycat had to say? She's not as exciting as me, right?

I don't really have anything spe, spec, pacific (yeah, that's the right word) to weeeeow about today, so I think I'll just weeeeow about whatever I think about. Is that Ok? Oh, I just thinked of something! I don't only say weeeeow any more! I've learned to say rrrrrrreow, just like my stinky brother Paws who's now called Manny by his somebodies did. And the human thinks it's cute. And I say it to her in a real, real loud voice whenever she comes back from the thing that my mummycat says is called her day hunting, cuz I haven't see'd her in ages and I want her to know that I missed her and I need her lovin, now!

And my human's gone forever and forever all the time now. Mummycat says she's only gone for a few hours, and she's only been gone for 4 days so far, but she hasn't. You somebodies know I don't tell porkies, and if I say she's been gone forever and forever every day, then she has! Oh, I spose I should tell you that a porkie is a porkie pie which is my human's mummypeople's name for lies.

The human somebody has started calling me porkie. She calls me Porkie Pig who she says was a little fat piggie who used to be on the box with moving things in it but that you can't catch or touch that my human somebody says is called a TV. And she says he was really cute, but I thinked that I didn't wanna be called a Porkie Pig, even if he was cute. Cuz he's a boy, you see, and everybody somebody knows that boys stink. They're yucky! But she says she calls me Porkie Pig and Puddin and "Wee Fatty" and roly poly cuz I'm getting big and fat. But I know I'm not. It's all muscle and Ok, it might be soft muscle, but a girlcat's muscles don't firm up till she's much, much older, right? Like older than mummycat maybe? But then it's Ok, cuz then you're old enough to tell porkies about how you've only got a saggy tummy cuz you had babycats in it who wriggled and kicked and growed really big and stretched your tummy so that when you popped them out, they leaved a saggy tummy for you. But everybody somebody knows that babycats can't come from your tummy. It's only weewee and poopoo that comes from there, and so I think that mummycat's belly is saggy cuz she's a Porkie Pig too! And I got evidence, whatever that is, to say that that's not a porkie. Cuz my human put her in the bowl of the scary thing that talks to you when you sit on it, and it sayd "3645 grams!" And that's fatter'n me! Cuz then she maked me sit on it and it said "3185 grams" and I said weeeeow and climbed up the human to get away from it, cuz I don't like it very much at all. But them's some real big numbers! So we must be big cats! Do you think I should let her call me all them silly names she has for me?

Dogman has lotsa silly names for us. He makes up songs for mummycat, and he calls her mee-wow cuz when he used ta say that, she used to talk to him. And he calls me kitwin cuz he called me and my stinky brother Paws who's now called Manny the kitwins when we were both here, but now that he's gone, it's all my name, sept it's changed to just kitwin. Sometimes he calls me and mummycat kitwin and catwin and the human calls us double and trouble, sept she doesn't say the and bit. And she calls mummycat munstermunch (they're a kind of crisps over here) and she calls us both the munsters and she calls me "No, Millie" and "Stop it, Millie" and "Get off there where you're not supposed to be, Millie" a lot. So how're we sposed to know our names when they call us all them crazy words? I think we should just be called Mummycat and Millie or Mummycat and Girlcat, cuz I'm not a babycat any more so you can't call me babycat.

I gotted to try some real, real nice stinky goodness the other day that I haven't had ever in the world, and I loved it. And I eated the whole bowl, and the human said she was expecting me to get a runny bum cuz it wasn't the type we usually have, but we didn't. So now she thinks it might be something called grain that is giving me runny bum, cuz the new stuff was turkey pate and didn't have any of this grain stuff in it. And she says that I had it before when I was a very small babycat and that I loved it lots and that I decided after a while that I didn't like it, thank you very much, and I wouldn't eat it no more. So she gived it all away and then I started to like it again. Well, I know she's telling porkies, cuz there's no way I'd not like this stuff. It's great! But she only had 1 carton of it left, so we have to wait for the more that she buyed with the papers that she day hunts for. I don't wanna wait!

And I can't think of nothin else to say now, so I think I'm gonna go and tease mummycat that she's a porkie munstermunch mee-wow catwin pie. Um, I think that's the right name, right?

The Human and Millie and Me

2012-01-23T20:14:00.000Z

Friends, it's a hard life being me, do you know that? This time last year I thought I had it hard, what with wooing all those mancats and keeping up my untouchable reputation, but honestly, I had no idea of how tough life could be! Now, not only do I have to manage a dull-whitted, recalcitrent human, but I have a kitten to contend with who regularly steals my food, my napping spots and, more importantly, my blog! What's a ladycat to do, friends? I've got no idea!

Anyway, life just got a whole lot tougher. You know why? Because that human, that uncaring, unfeeling human, has abandoned us today! She says she had to return to her day hunting, but I think she's secretly disappearing off to have a good time without us. Couldn't she just stay sick and at home if she cared about us? She reminded me as she gave me a big goodbye cuddle this morning that if she didn't go to her day hunting, there'd be none of those silly papers that she keeps in her purse and doesn't let me play with, and without those papers, there would be no cat food, no nice new toys, no more showing myself off at shows, none of it. I suppose she has a point, but I'd never admit that to her face.

But what to do, friends? I'm stuck at home all day now with this crazy kitten, with no decent company. Not that my human classes as decent company. More of a distraction than anything else, but you'll take my point, I trust. There's not even the addition of new stinky goodness in the bowl at lunchtime to break up the monotony of being the only sensible, clear thinking being in the house. Ok, so the human heaped our bowl full for us this morning. Ok, so there's always dry food down, so much that we'd have to eat until we were sick to get through it in a day. But you know what? I like the stinky goodness best when it's fresh. I mostly only lick the gravy off, and gravy isn't half as appealing if it's been in the bowl all day and Millie's been at it. Ok, the human'll give me more stinky goodness as soon as she gets home, but again, you'll take my point, won't you?

In my less guarded moments, I'll admit that my kitten is growing up nicely. She's not as manic as she used to be. She doesn't take every opportunity to attack me when she finds me sleeping. She doesn't stalk my tail all the time any more. In fact, sometimes she's quite fun. She's really good to play chase with all over the house, and we regularly do the wall of death around the sofas in the living room. Well, she does. You know I'm too much of a well mannered ladycat to go hairing around over the top of peoples and on their furniture, but the baby isn't well mannered at all, and she does everything to excess.

The human has been thinking about excess lately. She has found it fascinating to watch the development of Millie and compare her to me. Millie gorges on food. She's effusive in her snuggling. She plays hard, sleeps hard, loves hard. In fact, she does everything to extremes. Her purr, just like her brothers' is mega loud compared to mine. I, on the other hand, never eat too much when I'm not caring for or feeding kittens. I regulate my own weight beautifully, in fact, too well if you ask the human, as she thinks I'm getting too skinny again. I always ask politely before stepping onto a lap, and I never jump directly onto a people. My human wonders how much of this had to do with my upbringing. I was raised in a multi-cat household, in among many other breeding cats. For many years of my life, I lived in not very great conditions. Long term readers of the blog will know about this as we spoke about those conditions whenever the human first got me. I was always with many other cats, having to share food, and even people attention. The human looks at me sometimes and thinks I'm almost apologetic when I ask to do things like have a cuddle. I'll always understand if she's too busy to cuddle me, but because of this, she always makes a special effort to give me more attention, and hardly ever ignores me unless her hands are dirty or she's really, really busy. I don't even purr loudly. Even Dogman has noticed how quiet my purr is in comparison to Millie's. Millie will bounce in and out of cardboard boxes, but I don't really understand the fascination at all. I can't really work out what they're for. They're a box. Nothing special, right? Or is it because, being born and raised in catteries, I never had the chance to see cardboard boxes at an age where I would have investigated and discovered how fun they were?

And toys, there's another one. I didn't really know how to play until I came to live with the human. She had to teach me that it was Ok to catch the dangly toys that she flicked around, but when I discovered what ping pong balls were. Well, that was a glorious day! Did I have toys as a kitten? She doesn't know.

She's a good human, really. She tries to make sure I have lots of chances to explore new experiences that I might not have seen before. If I show an interest in a new toy, she'll help me get over my nervousness of it (I'm always a bit wary of new things), and she'll show me how to play with it and that it's Ok to play. She lets me try lots of different foods, and the only thing she doesn't really compromise on is that she won't feed me the low quality stinky goodness that I love so much because it's only 4% meat. It also gives the kitten a case of the runny bum, so that might have something to do with it. She takes time out of her day to spend with me, and doesn't let the kitten muscle in on that time. In short, she's pretty all right, really.

I'm so pleased that my baby is being given chances and experiences that I may never have had. It's making her a really rounded cat, and when I see the small things that my human does for her, it just reaffirms why I put up with all her idiocy. The kitten took a real fancy to a shoe box when she was a tiny baby. Her and her brothers used to play in it all the time. Now that was months ago, but because the kitten liked the box so much, the human wouldn't throw it out. Even though it was in the way, she just filled it with toys for the babycat instead, and kept it until Saturday. She only got rid of it because it was falling apart and she knew she'd have another shoe box arriving in the post that very day. Now, there's not many peoples that would do that!

My baby has the best of everything, just as she deserves. And I suppose the human's daily abandonment of me is a small price to pay for that, small when you see how confident my little girlcat is. There's nothing quite like snuggling your baby against your tummy (cuz we do snuggle now that she's stopped fighting me) and knowing that you picked the best human you could to give her a super start in life.

Now, before this gets any mushier, I'm gonna go throw up a hairball in one of the human's slippers... That'll teach her for leaving us!

Secret Paws, at last!

2012-01-21T14:22:00.000Z

Hi there, friends, and thank you for all of your good wishes for our human yesterday. I just thought I'd stop in to say hello before Millie takes over the rest of this post too. My human has done better today. She's eaten well, and has stayed awake for most of the day which is quite an achievement! She's done some laundry and even managed to hang it all up before she got too tired to do more, so she's definitely improving. She's back at the human vets tomorrow so that they can steal lots of her bloods to do tests on just to make sure everything's all right. She says she's sick of the human vet, and I can understand that as she's been up there quite a lot recently. I can't believe she actually takes herself there voluntarily. I mean, would any sensible cat do that? Nuh uh. If it wasn't for the PTU, I'd not set paw within sniffing distance of a vet place. Anyway, just wanted to let you all know that she's fine and I'm fine and so everything's good! But it's time for our Secret Paws post. Yep, I know it's very late, but when you see what we got, it'll be worth the wait! I'm gonna let Millie tell you all about it seeing as it was her first Christmas and all.

Hihihihihihihi all you somebody friends! Oh,oh, oh, this is the most exciting post ever, cuz I get to tell you all about my Christmas and Santa Paws and everything that he bringed for me! And there's even pictures!

Our Secret Paws package came from Hannah and Lucy
and what a package it was! mummycat says that Santa Paws delivered a package from the girls last year too, and it was amazing then, but I know that this years' was even more amazing! Thank you thank you thank you Hannah and Lucy! Thank you lots and lots and lots! I musta been real, real, real good if Santa Paws telled you to buy all that stuff for me!

Let me tell you all about it. One day, the human came home from work to find two packages on our doorstep. She bringed them inside and set them down for a few seconds to take off her coat and shoes and work clothes, but when she came back, what did she find? One package had no paper on it any more, and the other one looked like a bag with a cute furry bum sticking out of it! the bag moved a lot, and my human's brave, cuz if I was her I wouldn't have went anywhere near it, cuz there was probly a monster in there. But she did go to the bag and she put her hand in and pulled on the thing attached to the cute furry bum and out popped... Me! Oh boy, oh boy, the smell of the present and the excitement was just too big for me, and I had to just get straight in there without waiting for anybody else! I also mighta taked all the paper off the box, but nobody see'd me do it, so I ain't saying if it was me or not! I like paper... See? Look. here's me here trying to help open my nice new mousie toy. I love my mousies!

And the human said that as she was going away the next day and as I'd opened everything already anyway, today could be Christmas and I could have all my stuff. And I gotted real excited!

And look at all the stuffs we got! There was loads of it! There was mousies and soft balls and sparkly pink balls and a ball that rattled and yummy treats and a super duper toy that you'll see in a minute, and a big catnip pillow and, and, everything! Look at all my toys!

The first thing I hadda play with was my blue mousie. I loved him already, cuz he was the first thing I see'd in the parcel. I played and played and played with him lots and lots!

And then I spotted the balls, and mummycat saw them too, and we both tried to decide if we would play with them.

And then we both did, all at once! And we chased and chased and chased and killed them. And my favourite one was the pink ball. Just look at it!

And then I taked my pink ball and my mousie and I put them near me and I telled mummycat that these were mine and she wasn't allowed them, pretty please, cuz I wanted them all for my own! So mummycat went instead and grabbed the big catnip pillow, and she bunnykicked it and she put the bitey on it and she rolled on it, and then i had to play too, cuz it was too good not to share!

And then, friends, oh and then! My human opened the last box for us, and I went all crazypants like the Katnip cats do. Do you see my big springy toy? As soon as you touch itt, the whole thing moves and wiggles till you just gotta jump on it and kill it! And then it moves some more! And it's soooooo much fun! And I played and played and played and played with it till I gotted real tired. But look at it! Don't you want one too? It's the bestest toy ever! Sept for the blue mousie and the pink ball and the other balls and the catnip pillow and my Da Bird and my sparkly balls and my crinkle balls and everything else too. I have the bestest toys ever!

But then my human taked out the last thing from the package, and oh my! It was treaties! And not just any old treaties. They were duck treaties! Real duck breast! And once me and mummycat heard that packet go crinkle crinkle crinkle, we climbed all over the human and asked if we could have some. And mummycat said Meow and I screamed till she gave us lots and lotsa treats! And even when she put the bag away, we kept asking for more which isn't what we usually do cuz we're clever and we know that when she puts the packet away there's no more treaties. But this time we asked so much that she gived us more anyway! Oh we love, love, love them! She has them hid on the sofa now and she gives us some if we sit nice while she's cleaning our eyes. And I like them so much that I actually sit almost all the way through now without trying to run away or without crying. Isn't that good?

So we'd like to say thank you to Hannah and Lucy and to Santa Paws, and it was worth being good for! Who do I need to ask so that Christmas can be every day of the year?

Strangers no more!

2012-01-17T16:44:00.002Z

Hihihihihihihihihi friends! Man but I've been gone forever and forever and ages and then a really long time too! Actually, i haven't been gone. It's the human who's been gone sept she wasn't either, least, not for a long time. Let me explain.

Well, after I last writed to you all, she went away from the house and she didn't come back. Mummycat said she'd been eated by a big bird who flew all the way across lotsa water to another place called Ireland. She says the human goes here every year for Christmas to spend time with her mummypeople and her mummypeople's mummypeople who she calls her grannypeople, and all of the other peoples that are in her family. They all live there, see.

I thinked that she was gone forever and forever, but mummycat said it was only for a week. But when the human came back, she smelled funny and she was real hot and she made a big scary noise all the time that she said was a cough and then an "ooooouch!" and then another cough thing. And she went to bed a lot, and she didn't really play with me or anything, and I was sad cuz she wasn't like she used to be. I wondered if the family somebodies had maked her like this.

Then at night she gotted real, real sick, sicker'n I've ever been even when I was going to the litterbox all the time with a runny bum and even sicker than that time when I throwed up all of my foods on the scratchy mat all put together! And the next morning some different people somebodies came and they taked her away in an am-bue-lans, least, I think that's how you say it, and Dogman was very worried, and the human was still sick, and mummycat telled me i had to be a real brave little cat now and look after the human when she came back. She said the somebodies were gonna make her all better and that they weren't human-napping her, so it was all right if she went with them. She said they're like vets for humans. I don't know why my human was glad when they showed up then! I wouldn't have been.

And when she did come back, she was still real sick and she went to bed, and so me and mummycat took it in turns to sleep on her or get her to cuddle us cuz we knew that'd make her feel better. And I said purpurpur a lot to her and I climbed into the bed thing with her and I did a real good job, least, I think I did.

Me and mummycat didn't eat much over the next while cuz we were so worried about the human and upset that she was still sick and unhappy, but then we saw that this was making her upset too, so we started to eat again, but we taked it in turns so there was always one of us with her and she wasn't on her own. Human somebodies need looking afterwhen they're sick!

That's why we've been away for so long. When the human did start to feel better, she wanted to be up and about straight away, so she did this and just maked herself sick again. And in between it all, Computer man blowed up again, so we couldn't write for the blog or anything. And we missed our Secret Paws, but we gots pictures and they'll be up very soon! Sorry we're so late, but I hope you can understand why.

Our human is able to do small things now. She managed to fold all her towels today and stack them nicely again, but even that meant that she had to go to sleep for a couple hours just to recover! She's useless! Mummycat is beside her on the sofa now, all curled into a teeny weeny ball and snoring a bit. Shhhh, don't tell her I said that, but she does!

Thank you to those of you who stopped by to say happy Birthday to the human. She didn't do much for it, but she did get a lovely cake from her grannypeople all the way from Ireland! I didn't want any though. I mean, it had already been eated by a birdie to get it all the way here. I don't eat stuff that birdies have eated. That's yuck! Hmmmm, I wonder if that's why my human got sick? Do you think she mighta got sick cuz of flying in the big bird aeroplane's tummy? Should i tell her she's not allowed to get eated by birds any more?

Anyway, we're gonna have help to put up our Secret Paws post, so watch this space!

Smoochies to you all, and I promise we'll try to be around more, Ok?

Competition winners and stupid humans!

2011-12-14T05:44:00.002Z

Hihihihihi! Guess what? My human is stupid! I know I know. I still love her, but she's stupider than my stupid, stinky brothers were! You know why? Cuz she gotted her numbers mixed up and she thinked that our super duper competition ended yesterday stead of a whole week ago! How rubbish is that? We're sorry!

Anyway, without further a-do, I get to tell you all who the winner is! I want it to be me, but the human and my booooring old mummycat say that that's not fair cuz I've already tried all the foods and another somebody needs a chance to try it. But shhhh, maybe I'll sneaky some outta the bag before it gets sent away. Don't tell on me though!

Anyway, the winner is............ Hannah and Lucy! Concatulations to the both of you! But I think that Hannah and Lucy shouldn't have telled each other that they were entering, and then if one of them winned, they could keep it a secret and they wouldn't hafta share with the other one! That's what I woulda done, cuz this food is yummy, yummy, yummy! My human says to Hannah and Lucy could they please tell their people somebody to email her their address details and we'll get the prize posted to you! Also, we need a time when you'll be in, and a date pretty please. What's an email?

I've decided. my human is sel, sel, um, not very good at sharing. Oh, I member the word now! It's shellfish! She is! She never shares her yummy foods with me sept for the time when she telled Dogman (that's what my mummycat says his name is) to give me a chip once cuz I was asking really politely for one. My human says I was pestering, but I wasn't! I was just sitting beside his plate and telling him loudly that I wanted one, and sniffing at them and trying to take one. That's polite! At least I didn't just grab and run! When I gotted the chip I ran away with it in my mouth and I didn't share with nobody and I hided behind the chair and eated it all up myself in secret. And I like chips. But the human won't give me any. She says they aren't cat foods and so I don't get to have them. How shellfish is that!

I'm so clever, you know. My mummycat is a bit stupid, but shhh, don't tell her I telled you that else she'll smack me! My human has this super duper ball thing that she calls a treat ball. And she puts really yummy foods in there and if you wanna eat them, you hafta push the ball till it rolls over and spits out some foods. I use the ball maybe 3 times every week, and mummycat, even though she watches me every time, still doesn't know how to get the foods out. She just sits there and cries at the ball, but it doesn't spit out any foods for her. I think it's great, cuz then I don't hafta share! And even when the human tries to feed mummycat some of the treaties without me seeing, I'm so clever that I do see, and I come and copy mummycat and put my paws on the human and shove my face right into her hand and eat real, real fast so's mummycat can't have them all to herself. And it's cool cuz I know that even when I'm finished, there's still loads in the ball that's all mine!

I love to carry things in my mouth too, and mummycat doesn't do that neither. I've bringed two mousies into the bedroom and put them beside the bed thing for a present for the human in the mornings. She always tells me how clever I am for giving her a present. I have glittery balls too, and a straw thing with a glittery ball on the end too, and I pick them up in my mouth and then I jump on the human's knee in my chair and I drop the thing on her and then she tells me how clever I am. And then she wiggles the straw thing or throws the ball for me and then I gotta run real, real fast and jump on it real good and pick it up and kill it and then bring it back to her again. And it's such a cool game!

But yesterday, my human was real horrible to me. Dogman was still at the house, so the human leaved without putting any new stinky goodness in my bowl! But she forgotted to tell Dogman to feed us too, and he doesn't check the bowls a lot cuz he doesn't feed us. And I gotted hungrier and hungrier and I climbed on him and I said "weeeeow!" but he didn't do nothing sept give me a cuddle and then go on typing on Computer. and then I jumped on the back of the chair and I said "Weeeeow!" and he didn't do nothing again! And then I jumped on Computer and started attacking the little moving thing that was wiggling. And then he did do something. And he picked me up and he said "Millie, stop attacking the mouse. I can't work when you're doing that!" And I said "Weeeeow! Weeeeow!" and I put my claws out and holded onto him real tight but all he did was put me down. And then I went and lay sadly by my stinky goodness bowl, and my tummy went all hurty and rumbly and it sounded like there was a monster in there. And so I runned away and went on the sofa instead, cuz all somebodies know that a monster can't get you if you're under a blanket on the sofa. My mummycat asked me why I didn't eat the dry foods, but I didn't answer her. I was starving! I didn't care if there was dry foods. I needed stinky goodness!

And then my human came home and she feeded me and I eated and eated and eated until the monster went away and my tummy wanted to say pop! And then I gived the human a big cuddle. And then I went and climbed into the chair with Dogman and I lay on my back and he tickled my tummy and I went to sleep, cuz all somebodies know that monsters can't get you when you're sleeping on a somebody.

But then I heard mummycat crying her "I'm in the bath and I don't like it" cry, so I went to see and the bathroom door was closed and the human wouldn't let me in. Sept she did, but only after mummycat went out all wrapped up in a towel. But then I didn't want to go in cuz it was my turn for a bath. But do you know what? I sat like a very good girlcat and I only tried to jump out twice. But I let her wash my legs and my tail and everywhere and I tried to eat the bubbles that came into the bath just like magic! But my human said "no, Millie. You'll get sick. And anyway, I can't wash you when you're diving on bubbles." So I stopped and was good again. And then I got air on me from the nois

Questions Galore

2011-12-02T18:37:00.000Z

Hihihihihihihihi all you somebodies! Guess who it is? Do ya know yet?? Would it help if I said "weeeoooooow!" Now do you know?

It's me! your friend Millie! Least, I think I'm your friend. You all like me, right? Even though Mummycat telled you that I telled fibs bout last time when I said she was too lazy to talk to you all? Cuz she was! I promise! I wouldn't tell fibs cuz mummycat says she'll give me the smackypaw of doom for being a bad babycat. But I'm not a babycat! I'm a big girl now! Even my human says I'm getting real, real heavy. She's started calling me fatcat now same as she calls mummycat. Mummycat doesn't care cuz she says it's just more yummy tummy for the human to snuggle. I thinked about thwapping the human for calling me fatcat, cuz I'm not! I have no saggy tummy like mummycat, and I don't care if mummycat says it's my fault that she gotted it in the first place. How can it be my fault! It's not my tummy! She says me and my stinky brothers were in there and stretched it with all our growing and kicking and wriggling, but I know she's joking me. She thinks I'm still a babycat who'd fall for stories like that, but I'm not. I know it's only weewee and the other smelly stuff that mummycat says is a bad word that comes out of your tummy, and that goes in the litterbox. You don't make babycats whenever you go for a weewee. I wish she'd stop telling me fibs, cuz I can't even give her smackypaw like she threatens me with, cuz she's still too big and she wins all the time.

Mummycat's good to attack though, but she's not as good as my stinky brother Paws who the human says is now called Manny by his new people somebodies, cuz Manny used to always lose to me and I could make him scream like a big girlkitten. Maybe I should weeeeow very, very loud to his new peoples, cuz they're getting his name wrong and maybe I could help them get it right so's he knows they're talking to him when they say Manny. And she's definitely not as good as my stinky brother Porker. He sometimes even used to win with me. Ok, he mostly winned, but that's cuz he was bigger and he was a bully and he used to just throw his fat on me so's I couldn't move. But I could still make him squeal like a big girlkitten. Hahahahaha! I'm the bestest! I only made mummycat squeal once, but I don't think I'll do that again, cuz the game wasn't very fun after that. She came and chased me and she gotted real mad and she catched me and she held me down with one paw and she gived me lots and lotsa smackypaw with the other one and then she put the bitey on me until I squeaked, and then she cleaned me all over. I know I'm sposed to stay still when she's cleaning me else I get more telling off, but it was so, soooooo boooooooring! And by the time she finished I was all wet and smelling like mummycat and I had no energy to fight any more. So now when I attack her I member to keep the bitey from hurting.

Mummycat's sorta fun cuz she holds me in her paws when I fight with her, and she doesn't hurt me and we can roll around together. And even if I roll loads I'm still in mummycat's paws or on her chest and it's all nice and warm and snuggly, and she doesn't get cross unless I make the bitey too hard, but it's Ok cuz I mostly member not to now. And my favo, favou, my best place to attack her is on the soft rug in front of the stinky horrible bath. My human doesn't like this cuz she says she'd quite like some peace when she's in there, thank you very much, but I know she doesn't mind really.

Seeing as we're speaking about weewee, well, we kinda were, my mummycat is so, so weird sometimes. She keeps cleaning her bumbum and she's saying meeeeeeeeeeow! a lot in a very loud voice and she's walking around as if she's looking for something. And she keeps going in the litterbox all the time and making real, real smelly weewee, sept that she's not being polite about it. she's putting it all up the walls of the litterbox instead of in the litter. And I've tried to cover it up for her by scraping the walls, but it doesn't go away. And it smells real weird. Mummycat says it's to tell the mancats where she is, but that's silly cuz we don't have any mancats who live with us. And even if my brothers were here they'd only be stinky boycats, not mancats, so why's she doing this? And anyway, why would she want a mancat? Everybody knows that boys are stinky and horrible, right? And they cry all the time or bully you or things like that, so why's she looking for one? My human laughed and told her that she didn't need more of a saggy belly just yet, thank you very much, and that got me thinking. She said she had a saggy tummy cuz of us when we were babycats. And I think she's lying, so the human should give her smackypaw and not let her have any fish, but then mummycat's going in the litterbox all the time. Is she trying to see if a babycat comes out? Cuz if she is, it's not working. All she gets is smelly weewee, and I know babycats aren't made of smelly weewee! I'm so conf, um, I don't know the answer and I want one of my friends to tell me!

My human is loving me coming to bed with her, specially cuz I rubrubrub all my body on her now as well as my head, and when I fall over, I make sure to always land on her face so's she knows it's me and where I am. And I try to only do this when there's no light in the sky and she's making the loud sleep noises that sound like my stinky brother Porker Fatboy did when he was choking and nearly stopped breathing when he was real tiny. Stupid Porker! I never did that! But then girls are more smarter than boys anyway. Everybody somebody knows that, right?

My human always says things like "Go away Millie," or "Millie, did you have to wake me up?" or "Millie, it's 3 in the morning and I have to get up for work in 2 hours. Leave me alone!" But I know this is just her pretending, cuz the next minute the bed thing sicks up her arm and her hand cuddles me and gives me scritches and strokeys till I get so excited that I fall over for real and have to snuggle in with my body in the bed thing's tummy under the blanket and my two front paws just over the top of the blanket and my head in the human's shoulder right under her chin. And the human melts, but she goes mushy when I say purpurpur real hard. But I like to say purpurpur, so that's Ok. And then it's still Ok cuz there's two whole hours for her to cuddle me before she has to get up for work, and if she stops cuddling and starts to make the sleep noises, I get up and walk on her face and on her head and then fall over and say "weeeeeeow!" till she starts again. I'm sure she enjoys it as much as I do! And she gets enough sleepy time. She makes the sleep noises even in the early evening now. She says it's cuz I make her so tired, but that's not true. If you had sleepy time in the evening you wouldn't mind getting up when it was dark to cuddle a cute girlkitten, would you?

My human buyed me the coolest toy ever in the world yesterday. Well, sept for Da Bird and my treaty ball and the crinkly balls and the ping pong balls, cuz they're the coolest toys in the world too, don't you think? this new one is a ball that's got holes in it, and in the middle of the ball is a mousey that says "squeak, squeak" every time you give him smackypaw or try to put the bitey on him or try to pull him outta the ball. And if you whap the ball so's it rolls, he says "squeaksqueaksqueaksqueak" and does somersaults all the time the ball's moving. How cool is that! Do you want one? Mummycat says I need to start making a list of toys I want, cuz Santa Paws is coming soon.

Mummycat says that Santa Paws is a big, fat, jolly old mancat who is red like my stinky brother Paws, sept not like him cuz he only had red face and tail and feets, but Santa Paws is red all over. Sept a patch he has on his front starting at his mouth. That's white, and it goes all the way down his front. And she says that he comes in through the catflaps of all good boycats and girlcats and mummycats and daddycats and even big mancats and ladycats who aren't mummycats or daddycats. And he has a big bag with him, and in his bag is lots and lotsa presents, like super presents, like balls and feathers and treaties and lots and lotsa things. And if you're good, you get to have your presents and open them on Christmas, or Catmas, and then you can play with them all at once! She says if you're bad though, all you get is a bath instead. I think I should work on being good. But friends, is mummycat telling the truth? I see'd a cat who looks just like she says Santa Paws does at the last cat show I was at, but he didn't give me no presents, and I was real good that day too! I also thinked that he wouldn't be able to come see us till mummycat taked me to the kitchen and showed me the catflap in the back door. We don't get to use it cuz we aren't allowed to go into the scary outside room, but mummycat says that the cats that lived with the people somebody that lived in the house before we came had cats who used it. She says not to worry, that she'll tell the human to unblock it so that Santa Paws can get in, but that I gotta be good else I'll not get nothing! Is this true? I need you to tell me!

Well, now I really can't think of nothing else to say, and anyway, I'm hungry, so I'm gonna go eat all the stinky goodness I can fit inside of me! Maybe then I'll make a babycat next time I go for a weewee!

Yummy Foods and Competition Time!

2011-11-28T18:41:00.002Z

Friends, it feels like ages since I spoke to you last, thanks to Millie sneaking on here last time to write to you! I know she told you I was too busy sleeping to come say hi to you, but honestly, did you believe that? I'd never pass up a chance to speak to my friends! I was taking a well earned nap after using up every scrap of my energy to wriggle out from the mound of blanket that the human had buried me in (she says she did it because she knows I like to snuggle in it, but really, I know she did it to make me work harder for my food!), jump all the way down from the sofa, then walk the ludicrous distance to the other end of it to reach the food bowl. Then I had to do it all over again to find my way back! Friends, it was horrific, and by the time I'd wiggled back down to find my warm spot in the blanket, I was too exhausted to write anything. you understand, don't you?

Anyway, enough about my dilemma. I just wanted to reassure you all that I still love you and that I wouldn't not write to you. Don't believe anything that little snip of a kitten tells you!

I have something exciting to tell you about today, and it involves food! Food's always exciting, isn't it? I mean, there's nothing better in the world! Except maybe tummy tickles or a sun puddle or Da Bird, but you get the idea.

A couple of months a go, there was a knock on our front door, and then a very nice man dropped off a huge bag of foods for me! Millie thought it was for her, but we know better, right? Anyway, the human brought it into the house... And then put it up high where I couldn't reach it! It was around the time that Millie and Paws had dodgy tummies, and she spouted some rubbish along the lines of "well, if they have it it might upset their tummies, and if I put it in your bowl they'll eat it, so you'll just have to wait." I really want to whap my human sometimes, you know.

Eventually though, the babies' tummies settled, and at last, it was time to crack open that bag of food! It's called NutriCat, and it turns out that the super duper peoples at NutriCat
sent us a big bag of it to review for them. You know me, friends. I know my duty, and when it comes to reviewing, I take that duty very, very seriously indeed.

NutriCat is nutritionally very similar to the yummy Royal Canin that the human feeds us already, which is good cuz she's very particular about what we eat. Ok, RC isn't the best dry food on the market, but every time she tries to change me over, I build up loads of sick, then go and leave it in presents for her all over the bedroom carpet. I do this cuz she's told me that that's the only one in the house that isn't stain proof, so I know if I puke there it'll have the biggest impact. So she gave up trying to change me over and just left me on the RC and supplemented it with lots of very good quality wet stinky goodness.

But I'm getting side tracked. Anyway, it's pretty much the same nutritionally. It comes in smaller bags than the RC, but that's Ok cuz it's so easy to get hold of. Tesco sells it, so you can have it delivered right to your door!

As we heard the bag rattle, we all gathered close, and when she opened it, oh my, oh my, oh my! The smell! It was heavenly! She took some out of the bag and got on the floor with us to let us take some whiffies nice and close up. Now, do you remember a few months ago I spoke about training my human to give me treats? I'd put my paws up on her leg and she'd give me a treat. she thought she was training me to put my paws on her for treats, but we all know better. Anyway, as soon as I got a whiff of the yummy stuff up came my paws and they planted themselves firmly on her leg and didn't move! She, well trained human that she is, presented the foods to me and I ate. Oh my cod did they taste good! I ate some more, then opened my mouth real wide and tried to eat everything that she had in her hand! I dropped most of it, but it didn't matter cuz I just picked it up again. I crammed myself full, cuz I could see that the babies were closing in and I didn't want to share.

Paws had never eaten from the human's hand before. He says he wasn't stupid enough to do that cuz he knew that food always came from a bowl, not the human, but the more he watched me, the more his nose twitched and the closer he got until, in the end, he pushed me out of the way and snarfled a big mouthful for himself! At this point, I was fighting to get my spot back, and Millie was attempting to climb into the foods bag to get at the biggest stash of all! She's resourceful, that girl of mine. The human had to actually remove the bag from our reach before she could carry on feeding us.

She put NutriCat
down in our bowls a few times, but she gave up on that very quickly. You see, normally, we pick at our dry foods, but when NutriCat was in the bowls, we cleaned them usually inside an hour or so! At the time I was starting to get a bit, ah, soft around the middle, and she didn't want the kittens gorging either so soon after having bad tummies. Instead, she filled up our treat ball every day which meant we had to work for our foods. Have I mentioned I'd love to thwap my human at times?

You know how much I love Dreamies, but friends, this food tastes just as good, so good that it's actually worth working for! And if you tell the human I said that, I'll deny it every time. Sadly, we've finished our bag now, but I've instructed her to buy more for us.

NutriCat is reasonably priced, but I did find the bits a little difficult to pick up cuz I'm a Persian and I need special foods to be able to pick them up easily. But this didn't stop me eating as much as I could cram in my mouth!

So, pros: Reasonably priced, very easily available, smells yummy, tastes incredible! Good nutritional profile for a dry food

Cons: Bag doesn't reseal very well, kibbles are hard for Persians to pick up, meat content could be higher (but it's pretty standard for dry foods, so we're not saying it's really bad!). We can't think of anything else bad to say about the food except that you might get fat on it cuz it tastes so good that you'll want to eat it all! But then if you put on a little extra wait, it's all the more yummy tummy for your peoples to snuggle, right? So this is another good point!

The human has written her boring words to review NutriCat over on The Moonspun Blog
and there's a competition there too, but oh, I haven't told you about our competition yet!

The super duper peoples at NutriCat
have generously offered one person the chance to win a whole month's supply of foods all for themselves! They say you may have to share with the other cats you live with, but I don't agree. If you win, tell nobody, then when the bag comes, go hide it away and keep the fact that you are in possession of the yummiest food ever very, very quiet!

So how can you win? All you have to do is visit the NutriCat website
and have a look at the different types of foods on offer. Then you just come back here and tell us what flavour of foods you'd like by commenting on this post. And it's as simple as that!

The competition will run until 12 midnight next Monday 5th of December. Each comment will be asigned a random number, and the winner will be chosen by a random number generator. Then the lovely peoples at NutriCat will send the foods out to you and you can start enjoying!

Remember, for those of you who are fixed on what you eat, NutriCat really is scrummy, and you could enter and use it as a treat food even if you don't have it as your main food every day. Yep, it's that good that you'll eat it as a treat too!

Right, enough from me, there's some more foods around here somewhere, and I gotta get it before Millie does. Good luck to you all and thank you very much, NutriCat, for my yummy scrummy foods!

Just to add that the competition is only available to those living in the UK. Sorry!

My super day at the Supreme!

2011-11-23T18:46:00.000Z

Hihihihihi! My human has just come home from work and she says I can writed the things to the other somebodies today. And Mummycat says this is Ok too cuz she's getting some sleepy time in the human's real nice soft blanket that I really like and she says that if I want to weeeeow our story then she'll just carry on pushing out zzzzzs. So I get to tell you somebodies all about our exciting times and the good stuff that happened and the not so good stuff that happened and everything else!

Mummycat says that it's good to start with the not so good stuff but I don't know how good is not good and I'm confused, but mummycat says I should do it this way and I don't wanna get smackypaw for being naughty so I'll just do it like that and if somebody can tell me how not good stuff is good to start with then I'll say thank you and let you play with me! Anyway, the not good stuff is that I really miss my stinky brother Paws. I've been missing him lots and lots and lots over the last few days. And I looked and looked for him and I called a little and then I went and sat on my human somebody and thinked that I'd steal all her cuddles cuz my stinky brother Paws wasn't around to take over her lap any more. But then I got to thinking that now I'd not have him to play with any more, and then I got sad and I crawled under the sofa to where he used to sleep and I said "eeeeeooooow," over and over again very quietly and sadly cuz I knew he wasn't coming back and I missed him and I really wanted him here even if he was stinky and horrible. And then my human somebody finded me and I put my claws out and hung on real tight when she picked me up for a cuddle and we both cried together for a bit. And I've been doing that for days now, and I don't eat lots and lotsa foods any more either. It's just not so much fun with him not around. I need somebody to beat up!

But now the better stuff that happened. We went to that super duper cat show that we told you all about last week. And I got a very, very pretty pen to stay in for the day. It had all fancy curtains and lotsa toys for me to play with inside. my human somebody says those toys were actually pen decorations and I wrecked them, but I had such a good time that I didn't care and she didn't get mad cuz I was having so much fun. And guess what? Me and mummycat both won first prizes in our classes! And the human somebody was so, so proud! She was so pleased with me that she buyed me a toy spider and a toy thing called a stinky that's like a tiny little fish that stinks real bad of yummy catnip! And she buyed me a plague rat too. Do any of you have those? They're soooooo coooooool! They stink real bad sept that the stink is good even though my human says that the valerian they're filled with smells like dirty feets, but I love it and I go crazy playing with it! And mummycat got the same toys sept for the spider too, but I don't think she deserved them cuz the human says she was real, real grumpy all day, and I wasn't. I was super good and I even asked one of the lady somebodies called judge for a tummy tickle when she was telling me what a pretty girl I was, and I only got a spider as extra! It's not fair! The human somebody says that mummycat gotted the toys cuz she was upset and she wanted to give her something nice, but I still think it's not fair.

Mummycat didn't like the show at all cuz there was too many people somebodies and the judging is different to normal shows and she says it unsettled her so she turned into mrs grumpy for the rest of the day. But I smiled at everybody somebody that went by and lotsa them told me how pretty I was and everything! And guess what? Cuz I was such a good girl and arranged my pen toys so well and showed off my super spider to everybody that wanted to see, I won another prize! I won 5th place in the best decorated pen competition! So all my hard work paid off! Mummycat didn't win anything, but she was shortlisted for prizes. That's so good cuz there was over 1100 other pens there! If you wanna se epictures of how pretty I am and how much of a grumpypants mummycat was, you can. Mummycat is pen number 8 and can be seen Here.
I'm">http://www.catplanet.co.uk/index.php/shows/gccf-cat-shows/55-supreme-cat-show-191111/165-supreme-cat-show-2011-decorated-pen-entries">Here.
I'm in pen number 33 and can be seen Herehttp://www.catplanet.co.uk/index.php/shows/gccf-cat-shows/55-supreme-cat-show-191111/166-supreme-cat-show-2011-decorated-pen-winners">Here>

I think I like shows mostly cuz I always get super duper toys on the day and that's good cuz a girlkitten can never have enough toys! I didn't like it on the way home though cuz I was stuck in that horrible PTU for ages and ages and I just wanted to come out and cuddle my human. But mummycat was in a real mess cuz she did a poo and a weewee in her PTU and then shouted and shouted about it all the way home. She's just as much of a baby as my two stinky brothers are! But shhhh, don't tell her I said that!

I can't think of nothing else to say, so I'm gonna go play with my stinky and my rat and my spider. Wanna come play too?

Bits and pieces

2011-11-14T18:07:00.002Z

Wel, friends, isn't it about time we wrote again? The human has been remis in her duties to us. She said something about new job, 12 hour days, tiredness, struggling to learn new things, no time, no energy, yada, yada, yada and other boring, unimportant stuff like that. But by now, we all know what she's like. Lazy. I'm considering putting her up for adoption, especially as last week was rescue week. Would anyone like to rescue a useless human? I'm afraid it's very clear that she's a pity case, and you'll need a lot of patience if you're going to take her on. On the plus side though, she uses the human litterbox faultlessly and never toilets inappropriately, she will give stinky goodness on a regular basis, she provides a self heating bed in the form of her lap whenever it's demanded, and she is adept at rubbing all the right spots to make your eyelids go droopy and your purr motor start up. I'm not sure if that's enough to outweigh the negatives though.

Millie: Mummycat, I'm not sure I want my favouritest human somebody to go up for adoption. That's when you go in a PTU and you don't come back again, right? Like what happened to my stinky brother Fatboy and my stinky brother Paws, right? I'd miss the human if she didn't come back, cuz I love her lots and lots and lots, and even Dogman isn't as good for scritches as she is. I love her so much that I rub rub rub all over her with my head until I fall over and I say purpurpur all the time even when I fall, cuz she tickles me the whole time and tells me what a pretty girlie I am. And I know she doesn't tell lies cuz I know I'm pretty cuz every people somebody says the same thing, and they can't all be lying. If I had another human somebody, I'd probly not be allowed to be eated by the bed thing and sleep in its belly where it's all nice and warm and there's lots of human to cuddle up to and you get tickles until you fall asleep. Mummycat, can we keep her?

Tia: Ah, kittens, so naive, so prepared to overlook the glaring flaws in character in favour of the nice bits. It's refreshing in a way. I'm still open to adoption offers though. As Millie mentioned, little Paws is now gone. To be honest with you, I'm quite relieved. It was high time he was out of here. I don't know about you others who've had kittens, but I got to a point where I just didn't have any patience for them any more. Admittedly, this was when I was searching for a new mancat, but Paws just didn't get the hint that I wanted to be left alone. Even after I'd finished my calling for my new boyfriend, I decided that it was high time for my babies to go off into the big wide world and seek their fortunes. It was with some relief that I listened to the human as she explained to Millie and I that Paws' new mum would be coming for him on Saturday. She, of course, was not filled with the same relief, and had a rotten case of leaky eye syndrome which is still a bit of a problem today. His new mum is really lovely though, and I heartily approved.

Millie: I didn't though, cuz even though he's stinky and a stupid cry baby, he's my stinky, stupid cry baby brother, and now that he's gone, I have nobody to beat up or clean or chase or play with. It's pretty lonely now. I haven't tried to find him like we did when stinky Fatboy went. I'm bigger and clev, clev, more smarter now and I know he's gone and he's not coming back. But I did cry a bit and I sticked to my human like a kitten to Da Bird, and I cuddled her lots and lots and we both cried together. And now I sleep a lot rather than playing, and my human says it makes her sad to see it. But it's just not as much fun when you don't have a stinky brother to steal toys from and beat until he screams like a silly little girlkitten and goes running to the human. I miss him. My human's looking into finding me a playmate though. She says she wants me to grow up with another kitten for company. Mummycat's boring. She hardly ever plays, and when she does, she's so much bigger than me that I never win. She plays a bit hard sometimes too, and so I really squeal when she bites me and then the human has to separate us.

Friends, I bit her hard because she had the audacity to try and get in a cube that I was already very much occupying! As you all know, I am queen of this house, and I'll not allow anyone, even my own children, to ever forget that! To be honest with you, although she has her moments, Millie is a pretty easy baby to live with. She lets me have my own space and is generally well behaved. Ok, perhaps generally is a bit of overkill. Let's go with she's not naughty absolutely all the time. She does need a playmate though, and we're still searching for another girlkitten to come and join us here in my house, so fingers crossed we find something soon!

Millie: We've got a real exciting week coming up, sept the first bit isn't so exciting cuz it means I'm gonna get put in the stinky wet bath again whether I wanna go in it or not, and I don't! The wet water feels icky, and I even smell icky when I come outta there! I know my human somebody says I smell real good, but she says I smell good enough to eat and that makes me a bit ascared, cuz she's a lot bigger'n me and she could probly eated me all up in one big bite. And the thing is, when she picks me up I can't get away if she doesn't wanna let me go, so if she wanted to eated me all up I don't think I could do anything about it. Do nice human somebodies eat babycats like me? Is that why she's putting me in the horrible bath? So that I'm all clean and ready for the eating? Heeeelp!

We gotta get clean though, cuz we have something real, real important on Saturday. It's that super duper important cat show that we ran a competition for a while back. I get to go with mummycat, and we both get to show all the people somebodies just how pretty and beautiful we are. I enjoyed the last one, and this one's even bigger so I think I'm gonna have a real good day out. And the human bought me new toys after the last one, and gave me real yummy stinky goodness. Do you think she'll do that again? I hope she does!

Tia: The human always buys us something nice when we go to shows, just to make up for the fact that it's a long day for us. I've heard a whisper about her buying us a new Catit track that has speed bumps in it and everything. How cool is that! I even play with those ones because they're a lot of fun. Apparently, the sections of this new one can be joined to our old one to make a massive track. I can bet that's going to be a lot of fun!

I think that's about all for now, except one last thing. We will be running a super duper competition on here next week, and it involves food! Lots of yummy food! And there will even be more than 1 winner! Interested? Then come back here next week to find out how you could get a very full belly.

Long overdue update!

2011-11-02T11:34:00.000Z

Hi there, friends. Wow, it's been a long time since I've seen any of you! As usual, it's the human's fault, although I have to confess that I'm not giving her a hard time about this absence as over the last few weeks we and she have been through a lot. Don't tell her, but i actually feel quite sorry for her. I'm sorry we've been away for so long, and I'm sorry if any of you have been worried. I swear that I'm going to learn to type one of these days! As usual, there's an update from her point of view over on The Moonspun Blog
so rather than going into it here again, I'll let you go there to read about the day to day practical boring bits.

Millie: Mum, mum, mum, mummummummum!!! I gotta talk too! Muuuuuummy, will you share with me so's I can tell my friends all about the cool stuff I did? Please? Muuuuuum!

Tia: Cod, but kids are annoying! Just when you think you have a moment of peace and quiet for a good miaow and catch up, they come and hassle you to get in on the action! Ok, for the sake of my sanity, I'll share a post with her. Sorry, friends!

Millie: Hihihihihihi friends! It's me! Did you all miss me? Cuz I missed you lots and lots and lots! Oh I've done so many new things since I said "weeeeow! Weeooow!" to you last time. I'm learning new noises now!

Tia: She is indeed, and me and the human have even caught her practicing them to herself when she thinks nobody's listening. I praise her for her commitment to her elocution, but the human laughs behind her hand.

Millie: Muuuuuum, stop talking cuz it's my turn! Anyway, I can now say "Eo, eo, eo!" I make it short and sharp when I'm asking for something from the human somebody. I do it at food time, and she laughs and says I kinda sound a tiny bit like a dogkitten who wants some milk. I thought about giving her the smackypaw for that, but I still love her too much. I say "wow, wow, wow!" now too to make the bed thing sick the human somebody up in the mornings, and it always works! I have even learned to say "rrrrrrrrreow purpurpurpur rrrrrrrrrreow!" She calls this a chirp. This gets the human somebody's face all smiley and she always gives me yummy food or a tummy tickle or some lovins when I say that, so i prac, prac, try to learn it real hard.

Oh, I gotted real brave the other day too. The human had been eated by the bed thing again, but I gotted to thinking. Perhaps the bed thing wasn't nasty, cuz it always sicked her up again and there was never any of her missing. I decided to go and explore, so when I saw a space between her skin and the thing she calls a blanket, I took a deep breath, said a farewell weeeeow to mummycat and my stinky brother Paws, then dived under it. What I found was a very warm, cosy place with a lot of human smelling thing in it. The thing was warm too, so after I'd explored a bit, I cuddled up against it. Then, get this! The human's big paw hand came down and tickled me! Inside the bed thing's tummmy! Well, I was so shocked that I didn't wait for the bed thing to sick me up again. I runned really fast outta there and climbed on the human's head and then stopped and looked around. The blanket was shaking. There was a strange hahahahaha noise coming from the human. I wondered if she was sick, but she wasn't. I don't know what that was, but mummycat said I should have given her smackypaw for it. Why? I gotted brave a couple more times since then, and I actually went to sleep in the bed thing's tummy cuddled against the human this morning. Aren't I brave?

Tia: Yes you are, but you're also post hogging! Friends, our cat show went quite well. Paws came second in his class, and I came first in mine. Millie came...

Millie: Muuuuuum! That's my story! I went to this big place where there were lots and lots and lots of people somebodies and lots and lots and lots of other kittens and big mummycats and big daddycats and some big cats that weren't mummycats or daddycats. And I gotted to go into a thing called a pen all day, but I kinda liked it cuz the floor was all soft and snuggly with a blanket on it, and there was good food in the pen, and in the afternoon I even got a ping pong ball and a ribbon to play with! And the human brushed me and my stinky brother Paws until we were all fluffy and beautiful, well, more beautiful than I am all the time, and then she went away and left us. And I was a little bit ascared when she went away, and so was my stinky brother Paws, so we both putted our paws through the bars and he said "roooooow! roooooow!" and I said "weeeeeeeeeow!" until a people somebody came and took us both out for a cuddle. And then there were lots of different people somebodies who cuddled me and looked at my teeths and my eyes and my tummy and everywhere! And I talked to them all, and my stinky brother Paws even said purpurpur!

And then my human came back, and she brought lots and lots of somebodies with her. I've never seen so many! She was pleased when one of the somebodies hung a ribbon on my pen. She said it meant I'd won. I was just pleased cuz it was something else to play with. And all the somebodies stopped and made nice talk noise at me through the bars, and if they didn't stop, I said "weeeeow!" until they did, or grabbed them with my paws until they told me how pretty I was! And Paws was really naughty, cuz he kept putting the smackypaw on the bumbum of the people somebody next to us who had a kitten in the pen beside Paws. The human and the people somebody laughed, and the people somebody even snuggled my stinky brother Paws and told him he was a naughty boy, that she loved him and that she hoped he wasn't trying to tell her that her bumbum was fat! I was annoyed though. It's not fair, cuz when I bite Paws' bumbum, mummycat and the human get real mad, but he can smack people somebodies on the bumbum and nothing happens sept he gets snuggles! It's not fair! I won't beat him up for it though, cuz he's got a new home to go to now, and he goes on the 12th of November. And I don't know if I'll miss him when he leaves. He's stinky and I like to beat him up, but he's my brother and when he goes I'll have nobody to play with. Do any of you want to come play instead? Maybe Truffle and her new sister would like to come live with me instead? We could have great fun!

Tia: You might have a new playmate of your own soon, Millie. The human has continued to make kitten enquiries from breeders who will actually let her have a kitten despite the fact that she refuses to get involved in the politics in the cat world (long, long story there), and so something may come of that in the next few months. Besides, I'm feeling certain urges again... I've been thinking a lot about mancats yesterday and today. There's a handsome black tom who now regularly comes to our garden... I know he has no breeding behind him, but still, the way I'm feeling at the moment, I wouldn't much care. I've been really shouting for him all morning, but he hasn't heard me, and the human won't let me go out and find him. She's cuddling me lots though, and scratching at the base of my tail which takes my mind off things for a few minutes. She says she wants to hold off for as long as possible before I have more babies. She wants to give me time to recover from the C section, but ironically, she says she's never seen me in such a strong mood for company since perhaps a year and a half. Now that I know what I'm missing though, I want it all the more! Those pesky kids won't leave me alone to go hunting for love, mind you. I've had to really discipline Paws twice already today, with yowling and smacking at the same time. I don't care if he wants a snuggle. I don't! Thankfully, the human's stepped in and taken him away from me each time, reminding me that he's just had surgery and that I should leave him be for a few days. Maybe he'll learn not to bother me for snuggles then!

I know I'll miss him when he goes. I do love him a lot, and we cuddle together most days when I'm not hunting for a mate. The human hopes he'll go while I'm calling cuz she and I both think I'd notice it less if it happened then. We'll just have to wait and see though.

The decorations for our pens at the Supreme cat show are going well, and should be finished this week! We also have a very interesting competition coming up in the near future. It's food orientated, so if you like your yumyums, then watch this space!

Just to answer some of the comments, I did indeed have fun at the show, but I didn't do much screaming at peoples to come love on me. I left that glory for my babies, and boy did they do well! Tina, we don't have Petco in the UK sadly. Random Felines, Porker is doing very well in his new home now! He is now called Bianco, and they love him lots! Carmine and Milita, we don't have Greenies either! We're deprived in the UK! Truffle, how exciting for you! My human says she thinks she's convinced Bug to bring some over when he comes at Christmas... Or at least, she'll convince him when she asks him. Ahem, Bug, if you're reading this, I love you, and you owe me a Christmas present! Please make it Party Mix! Thank you all for caring enough to keep stopping by! Again, I won't go into details, but those comments spaced as they were over the last few weeks, have given my human smiles on days where she thought she'd have no reason to do so. Thank you!

I'm back... With winners!

2011-10-07T10:14:00.002+01:00

Friends, I always seem to start these posts with apologies on behalf of my human, and this is no exception. There's been a lot of things going on in her life (they're too boring to go into details about), and she just hasn't had the time, the inclination or the motivation to write. I think she's coming out of it now though, thank Cod!

I don't even know how to begin to start apologising for the fact that she totally forgot that the competition ended over a week ago. She said she thought it was this week! Honestly, I don't know why I waste my time trying to train something that's got so few brain cells. Still, one must help the less fortunate, isn't it so?

We headed over to find a random number generator after combining the two results from this blog and the Moonspun Cats Blog.
And guess who the winner is? The winner is.........................

Jimmiechew! Congratulations to you for getting the coolest tickets ever in the universe! My human asks that you email info@moonspuncats.co.uk and tell us where you'd like the tickets sent to. For those of you who didn't win, I'm very sorry, but thank you all for entering and making the competition a success!

Porker has now gone to his new home. You can visit the Moonspun Blog
to find out how he settled in. Would you think I was a bad mummycat if I said I didn't show any overt signs of missing him? My human didn't think so, neither did Dogman, but then they're very observant, and both of them had seen me giving Porker a long, long cuddle and a last feed from the milk bar in the hall the morning before he left. I don't like to let them drink now, but I wanted to give him something to remember me by, and so I washed him all over really gently, then folded my paws over him and held him while he drank. My human had told me he was going,you see. She always tells me things that are going on, and she sat down and explained to me that he'd be going to live with peoples we already knew and liked, and that it would be the best home ever and I wasn't to worry about him. I trust my human, and I knew that he'd have to go some day anyway, so I just made the most of the time I had left with him. Just before the human put him in the PTU for the last time, she brought him to me. I was on the arm of the sofa when she came. She held him under my chin and told me this was it, that he was leaving us now. Her eyes were awful leaky and she could hardly talk enough to tell him to be a good little man, but I understood. I gave the top of his head a last wash, then went off to comfort the other two who were very confused by all of this. That was the last time I saw my little fatboy.

Hamster, or Paws as my human calls him, spent all of that night and most of the next day running around and calling for his brother. I'd known the two boys were bonded, and the human had a good idea, but she never realised that it ran so deep. Of course, the more he called, the more her eyes leaked, and it got to the point where I was really worried! She decided to take the gate off the door to the kitchen (she'd put this up to stop my babies from going in there when they were small). Then she opened the door to our screened in tiny porch at the back door. This was enough of a distraction to make Paws forget about Porker for a little bit, and it helped him and Millie bond more as they had a new place to explore together. Of course, I showed them everything. I love sitting in the screen, and it was nice and warm out, so I took them out there. We had a great time!

All has returned to normal now. Paws is settled, Millie is her usual cheeky self, and I'm eating loads of stinky goodness! The human says she can feel my ribs again now though, so she's not being as strict about what I can and can't eat. I'm relieved and I don't mind admitting it! Millie, on the other hand, has been stuffing herself and is so fat that she now weighs 1.5 KG! For some strange reason this pleases the human no end. I don't know why they have these double standards! Why is it Ok for her to pile it on and not me? Can someone explain that to me? And I don't want any of this "she's growing" rubbish. That doesn't cut the tuna when it comes to who gets more stinky goodness!

A crisis has happened here too. Last year on my 100th post, Amy and the House of Cats did a toy exchange with me. As part of the exchange, she put in loads of yummy treats, but my favourite ones were the Party Mix. I loved them so much that I'd even do what the human told me to get one! The crisis is this. Yesterday morning I ate the last Party Mix in the bag! I don't know what to do! We can't get them here, and I can't live without them! The human says that I can have Dreamies instead, but although they're scrummy, they're not the same as Party mix! Thankfully, neither of the babies has been brave enough to try them, so whatever I get, even if it is stupid old Dreamies, I can have all to myself! But I need a substitute for Party Mix!

All three of us are going to a cat show tomorrow. It'll be the babies' first time out, so me and the human are all very interested to see how they'll react. Of course, I'll lie on my back in the middle of my pen and shout at peoples to come talk to me. I'll also growl at the human every time she tries to put me back in after taking me out for a cuddle. I'd rather be cuddled than stuck in a pen all day, and I'll make it known! That's just the way I roll. I'm allowed to be a diva when I'm on show anyway, right? This will be the first time that the human has showed three cats, and any kittens, so we're all a bit nervous about how this one goes. I'll let you know!

Well, that's gonna have to be all for now. Paws is beating Millie up, so I'm gonna have to go teach them some manners!

Millie's Bad Day

2011-09-23T09:41:00.002+01:00

Hihihihihihi! It's been forever and forever since I got to writed to you somebodies who I don't think are somebodies, and my mummycat says that we shoulda writed sooner but she also says that the human's blue funk is making it difficult. What is a blue funk? The human hasn't had a smiley face for days and days though sept when I cuddle her and purpurpurpur hard! Then she has a smiley face. I think the blue funk must be something bad if it makes my human unhappy.

Anyway, enough about her cuz I gotta tell you all about my adventures for the last ages while I didn't writed! I can't member much about them cuz I forget easily cuz there's so many new things to do and what's the point membering the old things when there's new ones? But I member yesterday cuz that was a big adventure and I was a wee bit ascared and I always member things that scare me.

So I went and woked the human cuz the bed thing had eated her again and she was making the sleep noises and I was worried. I climbed up the scratchy post, stood on the top, gotted brave, then did a the best jump ever to get across the huuuuuuge gap that my human says is only about 3 inches between the scratchy post and the bed, and then I runned really fast all over the human's feets, but that didn't work cuz my stinky brothers and me do that when we're fighting and she's learned to keep making the sleep noises regardless. So then I runned at full speed right up to where her head hadn't been eated and was on the pillow. And I stood right beside her ear and I took a deep breath and I said "weeeeeeow! Weeeeeeow! Weeoooooooow!" in her ear. And it worked! I can't say meeeeeeow yet cuz I can't make the mmmmm sound, but that doesn't matter, cuz weeeeow woked the human up. And then I said "eeeow purpurpur" and climbed onto her face and then walked everywhere and rubbed my head on her until I falled over! But it was Ok cuz the bed is soft so I didn't hurt myself and I just started all over again!

Well, that was a good idea, cuz it made the bed sick her up which meant that she would put down the stinkky goodness that I love! And after we'd all eaten, she got out the horrible box that moves that my mummycat calls a PTU, and she put me and my stinky brothers in it and she took us in a big, growly monster called car to the somebody that mummycat says is called the nice vet ladypeople, sept I don't think she's all that nice.

When we got to her house, we had to wait before she'd see us and in the place where we waited, there was a huge, hairy monster somebody thing that said "woof!" at us. My stinky brother Porker was really ascared. So was I, but at least I didn't make a stink and have a accident in the horrible PTU on the way to the vet ladypeople! But Porker does this even when he's just a little ascared. But when the thing said woof, he gotted real brave, and he went to the front of the PTU and he said "rrrrrrrrr!" and the human and the somebody with the monster made laugh noises a lot! I didn't know what was funny though. I thinked that my brother was super brave even if he is stinky!

Both the boys are real babycats though, cuz while we were waiting, they started to cry and Porker was really whining, and they both put their paws through the front of the horrible PTU, and the only way they would be quiet was when the human held one paw of theirs in her big paw! This made her make laugh noises again, and I joined in this time. What babies! I, meanwhile, sat in the PTU and just looked around at everything and was as good as fish. I didn't even cry!

Then it was our turn to go in and see the nice vet ladypeople who isn't nice, and it was my stinky brother Porker's turn first to come out of the horrible PTU and get looked at. I don't know what she did to him, but he screamed worse than he does when the human's cleaning his eyes or mummycat has gived him the smackypaw for being real bad, or even worse than when I bite his bumbum and run away! Oops, I didn't mean to say that! Don't tell on me, will you?

And then it was my stinky brother Hamster's turn, but he's braver than Porker and he didn't make a squeak. And then it was my turn and suddenly the PTU didn't seem like such a horrid place after all and I thought about staying there, but I'm a good girl and so I came out nicely when the somebodies asked me to. I was really ascared, but I knew I had to be brave to show the boys how it's done, so I only clinged to the vet ladypeople and hided my face for a minute and then I let go and went on the table.

She did lotsa things. Looked at my teeths, put a big thing on my chest to listen to my heart, looked at my eyes, felt my tummy, and then she picked me up and cuddled me real tight against her. I was enjoying it for a minute until I felt a sharp prick in my leg. I was real good though and I didn't cry and I didn't flinch. My mummycat told me later that that was the vaccination. I don't like it. But there was worse to come.

She carried on holding me real tight and then she said to the human, "Ok, I'm doing the nasty one now," and my human's eyes got all teary and then there was this real big sore at the back of my neck and I knowed why Porker had screamed like a babycat girl cuz it really really hurted! But I was brave and I didn't move or scream cuz I membered that my mummycat had told me that you should always stay still when people somebodies are doing things to you cuz that's what a good cat should do. You get a bad rep, rep, um, something for yourself if you get out your claws and your teeths whenever they do nasty things, she says, and that's not something befitting of a well bred ladycat! The vet ladypeople letted go of me then to get some other stuffs, and I runned really fast and jumped on the human and I hided and she cuddled me tight and told me that I'd only ever need to go through that once cuz it was something called a micro chip and I'd not need another one. But she lied!

And then the vet ladypeople clipped my nails which I was really good for cuz I know it doesn't hurt, but the stinky brothers cried like she was cutting their toes off! And then she put a thing in my mouth that she said is a swab which tests DNA whatever that is, to make sure I have no kidney disease and to check if I carry the gene for chocolate coat colour. I don't understand any of this. And then she maked me swallow a horrible thing she said was a worming tablet. And then it was all done and I went back into the lovely PTU and we went home.

But when I said "weeeeow, weeow!" to the human and she picked me up for a cuddle later, she feeled a funny thing at the back of my neck and it was stuck in my fur and she pulled it out. Then I heard her say to her friend, "Damn, that's the chip!" And she made talk noise on the phone and they said things that I don't understand like "it's incredibly rare for a chip to come back out once it's been inserted. We've never seen it happen before, but bring her and we'll have a look anyway." And the next thing I know my human is carrying me somewhere and it smells different and there's air blowing on me and there's no walls and no ceiling and she tells me that this is outside and I'm never to come here on my own. And then we gotted into another big growly monster called car, but I wasn't in my PTU this time so I had a great time climbing on the human and looking out at things going by. And I was really good cuz I only tried to climb off her about 10 times in 5 minutes.

When Car stopped, I was ascared cuz I could see that we were back at the vet ladypeople's house again and I didn't want to see her, but I had no choice. And there were more hairy monsters but they didn't say woof this time. And all their somebodies said what a lovely girl I was and how well behaved, cuz I just sat on the human's knee or on her shoulder while we waited. But then the peoples had a look at the thing that was in my fur and they said it was the chip and they said I'd have to have another one putt back in. I membered the needle from earlier and I gotted real ascared, even more when a somebody called nurse came and stealed me away from my human!

They took me into another room for about a million years, and they putt another needle in the back of my neck and I was sore all over again. But then they bringed me out and I saw my human and I wiggled and wiggled and wiggled until I jumped on her and I put all my claws out and hung on tight and I'm not ashamed to say that I hided my face and didn't take it out again till we were out of the nasty vet ladypeople's house and away from the horrible somebody called nurse.

Yesterday we all slept all day. I was quite worn out by my horrid day, and I didn't feel too good either. Neither did my stinky brothers, but mummycat says not to worry and that it's only the vaccination making us like that.

One of my brothers will leave for his forever home on Sunday. I'm real sad cuz I don't want him to go, and whenever the human is arranging things, her eyes get so runny that I could have a drink from them! And she says she wonders why she did this but then says that if she can give other peoples somebodies the joy that we've brought to her then it'll be worth it in the end. She wants the boys to go together though as it would be better for them, but we'll see what happens.

I can't think of nothing more to say sept enter the competition cuz then you'll get to see me and I'll even say "Weeeeow!" to you too!

It's competition time!

2011-09-14T15:31:00.001+01:00

Friends, nothing is sacred any more! It seems as though my blog is not my own now, nor will it ever be again. Oh well, it was good while it lasted...

I actually told her she could post as she's now got a name of her very own, and anyway, she's getting to be a big girl now! It's about time she learned what a horrible thing Computer is. It's good for her language development too. She struggles to concentrate on one thing long enough to see it through to the end, so by encouraging her to blog, it should help that too! I hope you found her amusing if not interesting. Obviously she could never be as interesting as me... Right?

Well, friends, on to the good stuff. I promised you mo cats this week. First you got the news on the new kitten, then you got to see Millie in all her dubious glory. But I also promised you a treat that you wouldn't want to miss. Today is the day I reveal that treat. Yep, it's competition time!

Like me, you may have noticed that not only did my human miss celebrating my 200th post thanks to these kittens, but she also missed my blogoversary! I couldn't let her forget about this, so after some stern words to her, I've come up with an absolutely stonking competition that will rock your socks! Or your paws... Or somethin. Anyway, this is quite big to make up for the fact that it's only one celebration instead of 2. Ready for this?

Myself and my human are offering one lucky person the chance to win a pair of tickets to visit the Supreme Cat show which will be held on the 19th of November in the NEC in Birmingham. This is an absolutely amazing show which is the equivalent of Krufts in the cat world. Normal cat shows get anywhere between 200 and 300 entries, but the Supreme gets an average of 1600! All the pens are decorated, and cats have to qualify by winning a CC to enter, so it's only the best of the best that can be shown there. This is truly a cat lover's paradise. If looking at cats all day isn't enough, there are tons of trade stands there, most of which have special offers, and all of which sell just about anything you can imagine for the cat lover and their cat. you will be able to see pretty much every breed of cat that is registered with the GCCF, and maybe get to cuddle a few too! You also have the opportunity to watch them being judged, something which is usually forbidden in GCCF shows. Household pets enter too, so there is literally every type of cat imaginable there! This is an amazing prize, as tickets are quite expensive.

And do you know what makes it more amazing? I'll be there too! And so will little Millie! It's Ok to tell you apparently, as long as I don't mention either of our pedigree names so that the judges can't work out who we really are. If you win the competition, then I'd love to see you at the show, so you'll have ta come find me there!

If you'd like to enter, then please leave a comment on this post telling us why you'd like to head to the Supreme, and why you should win. Of course, the winner will be picked by a random generator, but we want to know why you'd like to go anyway! I'm not restricting this to peoples who live in the UK only, cuz I'd like to give everyone the chance to enter. If you're overseas and you'd like to come, then you'll obviously have to travel to England to visit the show, but we can help you find good hotels etc. If you don't want to come, then we're happy for you to donate tickets to someone else. Really, we just want to give the opportunity to visit to as many peoples as possible! To increase your chances of winning, head on over to the Moonspun Blog
And have your peoples comment there too. The competition will be running on both blogs, so if you enter on both, you double your chances! Please also feel free to spread the word about this to as many friends as possible. I want to see loads of you at the Supreme!

Millie Monday

2011-09-12T23:00:00.003+01:00

Hihihihihihihi! Hi, hi, hi! I don't really know who I'm sayin hi to, cuz I can't see nobody, and the talky thing that my mummycat says is called Computer doesn't look like a nobody neither cuz nobodies aren't square and they don't have leads coming from them and they don't not move. Nobodies, ah, scuse me, my mummycat says they're somebodies, not nobodies, are warm and they move and if they're mummycats then they talk to you and clean you and sometimes give you milk and smack you when you're bad (I don't like that bit). And if they're people somebodies then they make strange noises at you and you can climb on the flat places they call shoulders and you can attack their nose things or their hair if they have any, cuz some people somebodies don't, you know. The one who's here all the time, The Human, has loads of it, and sometimes when I attack it I get stuck in it and need help to untangle myself, but her friend, the other people somebody, doesn't have any hair at all and if I attack where his hair should be he gets cross, at least, I think that's what he is when he makes the ouch that hurts noise, cus he pulls me off his head then and spoils all my fun.

Oh, I'm Millie, by the way, or at least, that's what the people somebodies have decided to call me. I kinda like it. Do you?

Introducing...Millie!

I find other fun though. I love my crinkle balls that mummycat says were hers from another somebody called Amy and her cats. Are all cats mummycats? I don't know. But anyway, I chase them everywhere, and I steal pipe cleaners and carry them in my mouth, and I sometimes hide them in the litter tray, but then the human spoils the game and throws them away cuz she says they're dirty but I don't think so. I'm learning to jump real high too. I jump right up in the air to catch the flying feathers that sometimes come out when the human is around, and I jump on people somebodies when I want them to pick me up so that I can get on their shoulders. The other morning, I jumped so high that I landed right at the top of the man people's (the one that has no hair) leg . He musta been really pleased, cuz he made the funniest gasp, then a sort of half squeal, then picked me up real, real quick and said to the human somebody, "Holy crap. That was too close for comfort!" I tried to tell him that it wasn't. I was quite comfortable now, thank you very much, and he shouldn't worry cuz I jump real good and I always remember to put my claws out to grip, and he only had on thin trousers anyway so I'd have got his skin if they ripped, so he shouldn't be afraid of me falling. Do you think he was?

Oh, I love, love, love the human somebody, perhaps even better than my mummycat although I don't know yet cuz the human doesn't clean me sept with stinky, nasty wet water like she did today, and mummycat's cleaning feels much nicer, and the human doesn't give me milk but sometimes mummycat does. But the human doesn't smack me either if I'm naughty, and mummycat smacks me all the time if I bite her tail or if I chase her or if I want a drink when she doesn't wanna give me one or if I don't do what I'm told. She's sooooo boring! Anyway, we got to go into a new room yesterday, my brothers and me, and we'd never been there before. And the stuff on the floor, carpet, mummycat says, was real, real soft so that your paws sink right in when you walk, and you make no noise when you jump, and it smelled different. And there was a big soft thing up high in the middle that the human called bed. It was real hard to climb up on, but the human put a tall scratchy post beside it and I'm real, real good at climbing. So if I climbed to the top and then gotted real, real brave and did a best jump ever across the space in between the top of the scratchy post and the bed thing, then I could be on there and look down and wait for my brothers to walk by below and then jump off the bed thing and onto their backs. Oh, I love, love, love that game, specially cuz they never see me coming!

I love to play!

It's hard work though, climbing and doing the best jump ever and being afraid in case you fall down when you do it, so one time I just went to the human to see what she was doing. The bed thing had mostly eated her, cuz I could only find her head sticking out from the stuff that covered it, so I went to lie by her head cuz I didn't want her to be eated. I'd miss her and have nobody to follow and have no more shoulders to sit on. She was making funny noises too, sorta like something my mummycat calls sleep noises, so I cuddled in real close against her neck and thinked that I could stop the bed thing from making her eated all up. And then it musta worked, cuz she stopped making the sleep noises and she moved and then the bed thing sicked up one of her arms cuz it wriggled out from under and came and tickled my tummy and then she said that I was real cute and that she loved me lots. She told me she's always wanted a cat to come sleep all snuggly with her, and that made me feel good. But then the bed eated her arm again and the sleep noises came back, so I stayed on her pillow and when she moved I moved too and snuggled in real, real tight, as tight as I could. And I didn't even attack her hair or anything!

The bed thing sicked all of her up when the bright thing in the sky called a sun came out from hiding, and that was good, and I was happy. So I climbed onto her shoulder thing and helped her make my breakfast which I eated lots of cuz she says I need to eat more so that I get big and strong like my brothers. I don't need to be though. When you're small, you can bite their bums and run away before they know it was you. Hahahahaha! Woops, mummycat heard me say that. Gotta go!

Human note: The Katnip mommy will put some pictures of little Millie up for me soon, I think, so check back to see what miss naughty looks like this week!

Mo cats, mo blogging cats and mo treats for you!

2011-09-09T21:23:00.000+01:00

Friends, it's going to be a short post today. My human went to the human vet people called Dentist today, and when she came back, she could hardly talk or anything! She says that Dentist did a lot of stuffs to her teeths which hurt her, so to stop it hurting, they put a big fat needle in her mouth about 6 gazillion times so she wouldn't feel it any more. That made her mouth go real numb and it meant that she couldn't talk propperly. She couldn't make the P sound for ages! I politely raised a paw... So that I could laugh behind it at the stupid human! She says now that the numbing stuff has worn off, she wishes it was back even though she doesn't like the feeling when it is there. She says it feels like she's been kicked in the face a few times, then once more for good measure. She wants to go to bed, so I promised to keep this short mainly because I can't be bothered listening to her whining about her teeths. They got fixed, didn't they? So I don't see what all the fuss is about!

I couldn't let this day go by without posting though. Why? Cuz it's Mo Cats day, and that makes perfect sense to us! After all, even when you think you have enough cats, there's always room for mo, right?

Right! If you noticed our sneaky references cunningly slipped in last week, you'll know that we really do believe that's right all the way down. Soon we'll have more cats here. Little tiny ones! Yep, you've read that right. Casa de Tia will soon have another furry new arrival.

Now, put away those claws, mancats. Stop fighting with each other, Ok? I wasn't available for any dirty weekends to make this new arrival so you didn't miss out! However, if you'll form an orderly queue and register your interest... Ahem, where was I? Oh yes, little furries. Nope. This one is coming from a different mummycat. She will come from another breeder to join us and make babycats of her own. We know she'll be a she cuz mancats can't make babies, sept when they're working the peoples for more foods, of course, and then we know they need the extra to support the pregnancy! Right, lounge cats?

This little girlkitten will come from a lady people who has mummycats who make kittens. She lives in a lovely place by the sea, and she actually used the same mancat as my babies were made by in a lot of her breeding! So who knows, the new addition might be a half sister to my little girl! Wouldn't that be something? At the moment, she's only just over 4 weeks old, so we'll have to wait a while to see if she's coming to stay with us. You know how the stupid human is about show quality kittens, and the ladypeople is just the same, so we need to wait to see how she develops. Watch this space!

We will also have more cats on this blog very, very soon... Intrigued? Well, you'll just have to come back and see who it is. I promise you, it'll be worth the wait! The mystery blogger is very cute! There will also be something else going on this week that's worth watching for. If you love cats, then you could be in for a very, very big treat! I'm a tease, aren't I?... Oh wait, I'm going off topic again aren't I?

This and that and labour of love

2011-09-05T23:17:00.001+01:00

Friends, I don't really know what to write about today. It's gonna be a bit of this and that I think, cuz my thoughts are directionless. oh, spet for the fact that my human gave us all chicken last night, and real, propper little fishies today!

She made a roast chicken last night. When she does this, she always gives me some meat, but in true cat fashion I turn my nose up at it to show her that just because she's gone to effort to keep me some doesn't mean I have to like it. The kittens haven't mastered this yet though, so they really tore into the meat as soon as it was down. The one thing I've noticed about this lot is that they don't fight over foods. Perhaps it's cuz my human never lets our bowls go empty, but other peoples and cats have said that kittens will fight and growl at one another whenever choice meat is put down. My babies just all eat together. Sure, they push and jossle a bit, but the bowl is small and their heads are big, so I'll allow that. I'm convinced that their lack of fighting is thanks to mine and the human's conscientious raising of them!

We like to Wrassle!

And Pounce on each other.

I have another problem though. The older they get, the more they grow to love my human. Yes, my human, not theirs. My little girl is the best at this. That human goes all mushy whenever the Baby squeaks to be picked up, and I can't stand it. Why? Cuz her lap is for me and me alone! The Baby will always climb on there when I'm having a good cuddle too, and that's just plain rude! Of course, I'm the soul of politeness, so I leave her lap every time this happens. I don't come back either, no matter how much she coaxes me! And if she pushes the Baby off and picks me up instead, I struggle till she lets me go. I just don't like to share! She always says I'm sulking when I do this. Me? Sulk? Never! I take offence to that! My human says I should take a gate instead of a fence, but this doesn't make any sense so I ignore her. it seems to amuse her though.

Cuddling with Tia's Human

Her blue funk is still here, and I still haven't worked out why it's called that. She ain't blue, and there's no funk going on! Still, she got all smiley after she'd been to spend time with Horse on Friday, and actually, there might be a photo of that! I've found out that Horse is a really big animal called Paddy. He's so big that she actually can sit on his back! Can you believe that? It's a bit off-putting to think of something that big, cause I reckon if it stepped on you it'd hurt a lot, so I think she's quite brave to go and make it angry by sitting on its back. After all, would you like that if someone did it to you? She says that it's not an it, it's a he called Paddy, but I'll go with it for now. She also says that it lives with a stable cat and it never stands on him. That cat's one brave mancat! I'd not go living in a stable with something that big! Does anyone know what a stable is?

Some of you asked about the new kitten that will be coming to live with us soon... Well, I ain't telling nothing yet! It's a secret! If everything turns out though, we'll have another girlkitten to come stay with us in about 7 weeks. The human's already real excited even though we don't know if it's gonna happen yet. My Baby is also super excited as she says it'll be someone for her to play with that isn't boring and old and/or human. I cuffed her soundly for this, but as usual, it made no difference.

Oh, and I've got my old, favourite stinky goodness back! The human says she hates feeding it as the meat content is so low and it makes my poops super smelly, but the Baby wasn't eating a lot, so she thought she'd put some down in desperation, and me and her loved it so much that she's put it down every day since. The Baby's gaining weight like crazy! I, ahem, might be as well, but we won't talk about that, will we? But I haven't told you about the fishies yet. They are called Pilchards and they come in a tin and they're in tomato sauce and they are super duper yummy! The human mushes them all up and makes human gonna be sick noises all the time she's doing it cuz they still have some bits inside them, and then she lets me have them. There's a problem though. The Baby really, really, really likes 'em too, and she has a bigger apetite than me! I'm not used to having to fight for my food. You see, before I came here, I ate only dry, and there's no point in fighting for that. When I came here and got taught about stinky goodness, there was only me, so even if I walked away and left it, it'd still be there when I came for some more. now though, if I leave it, it's gone by the time I get back! That's what happened with the fishies today, and judging by the licking of her chops and the neormously bloated tummy, I'd say that the Baby had the vast majority of it. I did ask her if it was her, but she just squeaked sweetly and told me that she'd never do such a thing as steal my favourite foods! The human caught her licking the bowl clean later on. She's heartless though. She wouldn't give us any more!

So now everybody's sleeping sept Hamster who's running around like a crazy thing. I've given up and gone to sit on my scratchy post, but as usual, the peace never lasts for long! They jump onto the litter boxes now, then climb to the top of my post. What's a girl to do!

Porker On the Scratchy post!

Well, I spose that's it for another day. I need my beauty sleep, and anyway, there's some more stinky goodness in the dish! A couple of last things before I go though. First, We'd like to join in on the Labour of Love, the human and I, for ML and KC who work so tirelessly to keep the CB going so seamlessly. you do an amazing job, you two, and it's cuz of you and the CB that I keep making my human write for me! Thank you for providing an environment where I can get human tips and training advice, and where I can air my frustrations about owning such a dim-whitted pet! Thank you for preserving my sanity!

The other thing is that Truffle is Home!
You should head on over there to read all about her home coming.

And the last other thing is that you should go visit Lucy the Dtupid Dogface in training to be a guide dog
She's just about smart enough to make her human, my HG (human grandma for new readers) write for her. She knows lots of folks read, but most don't comment so it would be nice to show her how much she's appreciated! But, HG, I have a bone to pic with you (Oi, stupid dogface Lucy, not you!). HG, you sent my human lots of yummy goodies in the post this morning. She says it was very expensive chocolate and she loves it and thank you and all that boring human talk noise jazz that you're sposed to say when you get something nice (is anyone else bored yet?). But HG, I snoopervised her opening the box, and I even explored inside it and there was nothing for me! Not one single treat, not even a tantalising whiff of tuna! HG, has owning a stupid dogface made you forget me? Are your priorities slipping? This needs immediate rectification! I eagerly await the delivery of a box packed full of Dreamies for me. You gotta earn the title of HG, you know!

Anyway, that's really enough this time. If there aren't pictures when you first look here, then keep checking! The Katnip Crew and their mommy people will add them for me soon!

It's all about me! Sorta

2011-09-02T08:43:00.002+01:00

Friends, my human is an idiot, and I think I'm going to have to learn to type myself. Why? Cuz she never does it for me! This time she's come clean and admitted that it's lack of motivation. Well, I ask you! She doesn't need motivation! I'll tell her the words. All she's gotta do is tippy-tap them into Computer, then tell him to put them on my blog! How hard can it be! She says she's in a bit of a blue funk though. Funny, cuz the last time I saw someone in a similar situation they called it the Black Dog. Perhaps she's saying blue funk cuz she knows how stupid stupid dogfaces are? Who knows. Either way though, she says it'll pass. She just doesn't know how soon, and we both hope that you'll stick with us until it does.

Hey, did you see the updated kitten pictures? What do you think! They've done so much since the last time I wrote here, but rather than me waste my limited time telling you about it, why not head over to The Moonspun Blog
and read about them for yourself? Admittedly, it's the human that's writing it and not me, so it'll be inferior, but hey, you can't win'em all, can you?

For a change, I'm gonna talk about me! Well, me and the human, just like the good old days before these babies came along. First let's get the human out of the way.

Longterm readers of my blog will know that the human got offered a physiotherapy job way, way back last September. You'll also know that she ran into difficulties with it cuz of logistics, paperwork, getting everything sorted etc. But guess what? They got it all sorted this week! She's been offered a start date of the 26th of this month, but it'll mean very swift organising to mmake sure all her support is in place before she starts the work hunt thing again. I don't know whether to be pleased or upset about this. On the one paw, it will help get rid of this blue funk, cuz she'll be out and doing stuff and helping peoples and meeting new peoples. It'll also bring home an awful lot more moneys than she's getting at the moment, which means more stinky goodness and treats for me, and more new toys and more everything! On the other paw though, it'll mean she's gone from me for most of the day again, and I don't like that bit. She'll leave very, very early in the morning, and not be home till 6 at night. That's almost 12 hours in total I'd have to do without her! I'll have my baby girl though, and another kitten who will be coming from a different breeder, if there's one of show quality that is, so I'll not be on my own like I was last time she went work hunting. I reckon I'll be happy enough, but nothing beats having the human here all day every day to feed you on demand when you tell her it's time.

Next, me! Well, I'm less of a milk bar than I was. Even when the babies come to find my nimples, I'm refusing to give them milk. Sure, I'll let them suckle. They're still babies after all, but there's hardly any milk coming from me now. They still don't get the message though! Right now, Hamster is attached to me. I've told him I need to concentrate on what I'm telling you, but he doesn't listen, and goes right on whining for a nimple if I get up and move. I've just decided to give up, lie down, let him get on with it and dictate my instructions from across the room to the human.

They're all still using my litter trays which I'm not pleased about, but I've decided to put up with it. After all, there's no getting away from it. Wherever I move to, they follow! Hopefully peace will be restored whenever the boys find their forever homes, but then perhaps not. Only time will tell.

My human says I'm getting fat and she doesn't know what to do about it. I could tell her that it's all the kitten food that's making me pile on the weight. I could tell her to take that up and not let me have stinky goodness, but I won't. Anyway, the kittens need it down low cuz we Persians don't jump, so she has no choice. She says I'd better stop putting it on though, cuz she doesn't want me any fatter than I am already! Really, I think that the more yummy tummy you have, the better, but she says it'll get me marked down at shows, and it'll also make birthing more kittens even harder. Right now I don't care though.

I went to the vets on Tuesday, and it was our very nice vet lady people who was there who always talks nice to me and cuddles me before she does her horrible stuff. This time, the horrible stuff was a needle in the back leg. Why the leg? Well, as the CB has been so painfully reminded recently, vaccinations, however safe the manufacturer tries to make them, do carry a risk even if it is only a small one. The reasoning behind the leg vaccination is that this can be removed should the worst ever happen. To be honest, I'd rather not have the vaccinations, but that carries risks of its own, so the human says we must grin and bear it, cross fingers and paws, and hope we never find ourselves in that situation. Our vet lady people was shocked at what had happened and sends her sympathies also to Mom Paula.

The human says that I have a bath coming up some time in the next few weeks. She wants to get us done before her work hunt starts so that she doesnt' feel stressed or rushed when she's doing it. Yuck, I say. I've enjoyed my bath free few months! The human says I stink though. I don't really, and in her more lucid moments, she'll admit this. I just smell a bit more catty than I normally do. I keep my floof so clean that I often smell like the stuff she washes her clothes and our blankets in, but now I smell of milk and kittens and cat. She's paranoid that her house smells like cat too. She's strange, isn't she? I mean, after all the work I do to scent up the place for her, she's complaining! I make sure to rub on all the furniture, spread my furs around, only poo in the trays in the living room so that her and visitors can have the full benefit, and she's not grateful! What's a girl to do!

Evidently, a girl is to stop her mewsings. My human says she's just noticed the time, and she has to go spend an hour or so with big smelly Horse. I still don't know what it is, but she says she's going Horse riding. Perhaps horse is something at a fairground then? Or a car? But it doesn't smell like either. Does anyone know?

Eight Weeks Old; no Privacy

2011-08-22T23:04:00.001+01:00

Friends, my babies are eight weeks old today, and they're hardly babies any more!Porker is so big that he weighs a third of my body weight already! Well actually, probly more like a quarter on accounta the extra padding my yummy tummy now has.

Hey, guess what? My jacket came off last night! I got a photo of it taken this week by Dogman. He's so horrible to take a picture of me in such a compromising outfit, but there's no reasoning with him. It looks simply ridiculous! I feel better now that the jacket's off, but I'm right back to wanting to suckle my babies. The human says she wishes I wouldn't call them to me cuz she doesn't want them to suck too much and make the nimples start producing milk again. I must say, I'm not fighting her too much on this as they have teeth now, and they aren't afraid to use them! I do call them frequently though, just to see her jump up and have to distract us all until we lose the urge to suckle and be suckled. It keeps her on her toes!

My last bastion has been breached too, and I'm not happy about it. They've worked out how to get on top of the scratchy post, and I can do nothing about it! I can't push them off cuz it's an awful long way to fall for a kitten. I can't smack them in case that makes them fall. No matter where I go now, they can get me. They've even made it to the back of the sofa and onto the human's shelves where even I'm not allowed to go! To be fair, she isn't pleased, and keeps moving my babies off them when she catches them on there, so at least she's not showing favouritism with discipline. She keeps shrieking about how the shelves are wobbly and she has really nice ornaments on there, yada, yada. If she wants to keep them, I think she'd better move them to a safer location, like the moon!

They've been stealing my toys again too, and yesterday they even started growling while they were playing with one of them, or at least, Porker and the Baby did. Hamster wasn't interested. I was so proud though. Both of them tried to drag the kill away. Both bunny kicked it till it was good and dead, then chased it every time when it came back to life again. And both growled so fiercely that if I was a toy, I think I'd run and hide and never come back!

I have another problem though. I once overheard someone telling the human that the moment you have kids is the moment when you lose all of your privacy. Sharing a bed with me is one thing, and even stealing my scratchy post, well, I can't say I didn't see it coming, but when they share the same toilet as you, well, that's taking it a step too far. It began when I started using the open tray by the TV. They didn't want to use that one until I started, and then they all piled in and left smelly little piles everywhere. I don't mind so much sharing with an adult, cuz at least with them it's only a few clumbs a day, but when you share with babies, they leave tiny, but very numerous ones, so that you can't help but stand on them as you move around in the tray. It's disgusting!

I stuck it out for only a day or two, then changed my toilet spot so that I was going in the tray by the computer. Only problem was that they followed me there. So I used the last resort; the covered one by the kitchen door. I'd rather have open than covered, so this was a big sacrifice for me. It's also quite a deep tray, so I was fairly confident that they wouldn't be able to climb in and out. I was wrong. My stupid human folded a towel and put it just in front of the entrance to make a kitten step. Suddenly, it became a huge adventure to see how many poopies and peepees you could do in the big cat covered litter tray. Friends, I despair! Can't a ladycat have any privacy at all? I was good to them. I ate their poo for four weeks! Doesn't mean I should have to stand in it as well! The human says that soon she's gonna give them access to the hall, and that she'll make sure there's lots more litter trays out there for me to use so that I might just get one of my own. Role on that day!

The human's still feeding us all super good stinky goodness, and she's got this dry food called Babycat which tastes just divind. She says I'm eating like a horse though and that I should stop eating so much soon. My response to that? Slurp, slurp. If it's in a bowl and in the feeding area, I'mma eat it!

My human says that this time next week we all have to go back to the vet lady people again, and she says I'm not gonna like it. We all have to have our vaccinations done. For the kittens, it'll be their first, so no doubt they'll feel quite ill for a day or two. For me it's just a needle. My human says I'm such a good girl when they give me injections. I don't cry, I don't struggle, I don't even flinch! I just sit there and let them get on with it. I do put myself back in the PTU pretty quick though. I know, I know, nuts isn't it, that I'd voluntarily go into a PTU, but it's better than being stuck with needles when you're outside.

I can't think of anything else to tell, sept that my human got some photos of the times on Fridays when she abandons us all and comes back smelling of something strange that she says is a horse. I don't know what a horse is, but it smells like grass and poop and sweat. Maybe Horse is her man friend same way the kittens' daddycat was mine? or maybe it's a place. Anyway, she says she goes riding once a week, but even that doesn't make sense. She says if you'd all like to see photos of this horse thing, then she can put some up.

We've asked Mom Paula to put some pictures in for us today, so if they aren't here when you first read this, keep checking back, as they're coming soon! To finish off, I'll give you their weights as usual.

Note from Mom Paula - So sorry it's taken me so long to get some pictures up of the kittens. With the loss of Beignet last week, I just couldn't do it. I hope you enjoy some of the pictures that have been posted today.

The Baby: 807 grams.

Hamster: 893 grams.

Porker: 977 grams.

Seven Weeks Old!

2011-08-16T23:42:00.002+01:00

Friends, my babies are seven weeks old! Least, they were this morning. And they're crazy!

Many of you have suggested I find a high place to get away from them, but unless they're in their pen, no high place is safe! They chase me all over. They slepe on my spot on the sofa. They hog my human's lap. In short, they are everywhere at once, and I don't know what to do about it!

Going crazy with the red cube!

And get this, they're even stealing my number one favouritest toys in the world! First they stole all my ping pong balls, then they even stole my pipe cleaners that The House of Cats
sent for me, not them! But now, they've stole Da Bird! They played with him for ages today while I tried too. Course, I'm stronger and faster than they are, so I caught him whenever I wanted to, but the problem is that what with all their toys and their pen, the running space is quite small, and I need to be careful where I jump so as not to hurt them. They can zip around everywhere cuz they're so fast and tiny, and there's three of them, so they had an unfair advantage! In the end, I just lay down and let them play on their own. It doesn't matter that the human gives me individual playtime when they've been put to bed for the night in the pen. It's not the same. And the Da Bird is mine, not theirs!

Playing on the scratchy post

I had to wear the stinky jacket again today, but not before we went on a trip. It was back to the vet lady people again, not for my nimples, but for a worming this time. All my babies had to have it done too, but the vet lady people and my human were good. They let me sit on the table and watch everything that was done to my babies. I didn't like it when they cried, but other than that, they didn't hurt them at all, so I didn't need to put the bitey on them. They're lucky!

Having a little wash

Speaking of biting, Hamster's been really bad for that lately, but he's my favourite, so I dont' discipline him. Instead, I just give him a good old wash all over. I love him lots! My human says I should give him smackypaw when he's bad like I do the other two, but I can't find it in me to do it.

Snuggling on the Human

I did something the human wasn't pleased about too. I started using the teeny weeny babycat trays for litter that my human has around the living room. I'm an edge pee-er. I like to get my pee as close to the wall of the box as possible. Only problem is that these boxes are so small that not all of me can fit in them! So when I go close to the rim, I overshoot a bit. The pad that she has down around the trays was getting soaked with my peepee before she realised. She's been mean. She took that tray away and put my old covered one there instead which she says I gotta use. Course, I ignored her and chose one of the other, larger trays instead which she'd put down just for me but which I'd been ignoring till now. That'll teach her!

My babies go back to the vet lady people tomorrow to have the second day of their worming, but I don't need to go cuz I'm big enough to have a tablet, and I only need one of them. Lucky me! I could do without seeing vet lady peoples for a while. I'll have to go back in two weeks for my booster injection though, so the rest will be short lived!

There will be pictures later on today courtesy of the Katnip Lounge Crew
so please check back so that you can see just how cute they've gotten!

And one las thing. The HG has a new stupid dogface who is writing her own blog to tell all about how cruel the HG is when she's training her to be a guide dog! It's sort of fascinating to read, but I didn't say that. She has hardly anyone who comments, and we know how bad that feels, so if you like what you see, please tell her so! The blog is Guide Dog Wannabe
and it's great! Ahem, did I just admit that?

(Note from The Lounge Mommy: More photos over at Moonspun Cats!)

No rest for the wicked

2011-08-14T19:48:00.002+01:00

Friends, I'm not wicked, am I? But if I'm not, then why is there no rest at all for me sept at night time! It's terrible, awful, and what happened before is even worse! There follows a tale of cat cruelty. Those of a tender disposition should not continue as this story contains scenes of a graphic nature.

It all started with a swolen nimple, just one. A nimple is such a tiny little thing, useless for most of your life except when you turn into a living milk bar, that you'd think it wouldn't be able to cause major problems, right? Wrong. My swolen one was very uncomfortable, so painful in fact that when the kittens tried to feed from it, I had to beat them up until they stopped. I'm not proud of that, but I'd asked them nicely, then told them, then smacked them when they tried, and nothing but nothing was getting through to them! My human, who keeps a check on me every day anyway, wasn't helping matters. She kept trying to plug the babies into that particular nimple all the time, telling me I'd feel better once they'd drank all the milk I'd been storing, but I was having none of it. The next day, she took me to the horrible vet lady people. Well, she's not horrible if I'm honest, but she's not our really nice vet lady people who knows everything.

The vet lady people agreed with the human, and I was diagnosed with mastitis. I wasn't happy when I heard I'd have to take stinky pills, and that my babies weren't allowed to drink from the milk bar as that was perpetuating the problem. And get this, I was supposed to survive on reduced food!

A cat's body only makes milk under two conditions; firstly that there's a demand for it, i.e, the kittens drinking at the milk bar, and secondly when the cat has enough food to sustain her own weight and to produce the required amount of milk. The reasoning was that if food was reduced, my body would go into survival mode and I'd stop the milk. The stinky tablets were to make sure that the infection, which is usually present, didn't spread anywhere else. I also got some more stinky tablets called urtica which makes milk dry up real quick.

Friends, that first day she took away my dry foods, and she only fed me one sachet of wet stinky goodness, all day! And all night! I don't know how to describe the horror of that day. Imagine your stomach being so hungry that it decides to eat itself... Literally! I could feel it gnawing away inside me. I cried at the human, but she didn't listen. I screamed at her, pawed at her, crawled on her with the last of my strength and begged. She went out. Can you believe it? She left me, at death's door, and went out! She did something even worse though. She put a huge plate of stinky goodness in with the kittens, then closed the pen so that I couldn't get at it. I could see it and I could smell it, but I couldn't eat it. Chinese water torture has nothing on this. I was sure I was going to die. I didn't even have the energy to write and beg you all for help in my hour of need.

The light began to fade, or perhaps it was evening, I don't know, and I wearily lowered my head onto my paws. As I closed my eyes, my last thought was, "Well, at least the kittens are well fed. They will survive." My heart ached for them, and so did my nimples! The pressure of the built up milk was unbearable, and I needed them to suckle, but I couldn't get at them. They howled and cried for me too, but, as I said, the light was fading. Alone, cold, hungry and no more than a skeleton, I laid myself down in front of the cage and my eyes closed for good...

A ting, ting sound intruded on my senses. Strange, I thought, for feline eutopia to be tinging. But then I realised, that was the sound of my food bowl! Oh, eutopia would feed me! I leapt up, hurtled towards the sound, and pulled up short. I was in my own kitchen, and there was the human in front of me. Immediately, all my lacitude came flowing back. I slumped pitifully at her feet, let out the faintest of miaows, and fixed my eyes on the bowl. Was it true? Was she really going to feed me? It seemed she was, but the amount she gave me was terrible. It just about took the edge off the ravenous beast that was my yummy tummy!

For three days that continued, and for three days, I teatered on the edge of death itself. There was one good point though. She bought me a clever little cat jacket which is loose enough not to restrict me, but secure enough that it covers all my nimples. That meant that I could socialise with the babies, but only when their stinky goodness was taken away. My human is too careful sometimes! The other one good point was that she phoned the vet lady people again the next morning, as my other nimples were beginning to swell. That vet lady people, a different one, told her to let the babies suckle, just not lots, as that would keep the milk flowing and make me more comfortable. With a bit of coaxing, she was able to plug a baby, Hamster I think, into the really sore nimple, and cuz she held my paws and tickled my chin and said all sorts of nice things to me the whole time he was feeding, I didn't even beat him up! Ok, perhaps I tried and she had my paws so I couldn't, but that wouldn't be so romantic, would it? I surrendered to my child, gave him life-giving flluid, even though I had little strength myself, and prayed that it would be enough. There, that's much better, isn't it? It's no lie when I tell you it really hurt though, or at least, it did until he got the flow of milk going. Then it wasn't so bad until near the end when I wanted to beat him up again. It's just as well he'd had his fill and all the milk was gone, cuz the human says that she wasn't going to keep restraining me for too much longer!

Yesterday though, everything changed. On the one hand, I'm glad, cuz I get to eat normally again. On the other though, half of me wishes that things were the way they were this time last week. Why? Cuz the kittens have been let out of the pen. While many might think this is a good thing, let me tell you, it isn't. Now they can chase me everywhere, and they're much harder to keep together too! They run in three different directions, and no sooner have I gone and got one and put them where I want them to stay, but they've run off again. I can call and call them, but of course they don't listen. I ran myself ragged yesterday, then gave up and just lay down. There was nowhere for them to go. My human has closed off the doors to the living room and has put a baby gate with a screen sewed to it over the kitchen door.

As soon as I lay down though, they all came and jumped on me and attacked my tail and bit my nose and chewed my whiskers. In frustration, I went to the top of my scratchy post, but then all they did was climb it. That made it shake, and I don't like shakey things, so I ran to the sofa instead. Well, it didn't take them long to discover that either! Now all of them can jump up on it really really well, so I'm not safe there either! No space is sacrosanct sept for the human's bed, but that's only cuz they can't get in there yet. It won't be long, I'm thinking. Help! Can anyone look after them for a bit? They're wearing me out! Now that I'm allowed to eat normally again, I'll share some stinky goodness with you Oh, and if anyone knows a humane disposal method for cruel peoples, do let me know, won't you? I'd be tempted to dice my human up into cat food for what she did. After all, it would be just desserts. But I wouldn't inflict that on other poor cats. I'm sure you'd be able to taste the evil in her, no matter how much seasoning was used!

Week six, and changes afoot

2011-08-09T08:16:00.004+01:00

Friends, yet again it's my human's and the kittens' fault that I haven't been writing in a while. If you read the Moonspun blog, you'll know that she hasn't helped because Computer wouldn't listen to what she was tippy tapping in, and kept ignoring half the letters she was tapping. That's because she cut up an old box (I was most angry!) and put lots of yummy selotape on it and stuck it round the wires at the back of Computer. I thought she was packing him up and sending him to a new home. I got hopeful. Sadly though, that wasn't the case as he's not moved an inch. What it does mean though is that the signal that goes from the tippy-tapper to Computer is apparently dulled and not as effective.

Anyway, my babies were six weeks old yesterday. Well, they're actually all the way 6 weeks old at 10 this morning, cuz that's when they were born. I understand that my human put seven weeks on the CB. Just shows how tired she was, cuz she actually put seven weeks on the blog initially too until she realised that she was having another case of the sleepy stupids and changed it.

My kittens have already been asking some questions. They're getting to that stage, you know. Everything is why. "But mummycat, why should I not eat the yummy smelling stuff that I do peepees in?" "But mummycat, why should I actually do a poopoo in the yummy stuff when it's nicer and more fun to do one on the floor?" "Mummycat, why do you make the happy rumbly noise that you do when we are having a drink when the big scary monster picks you up and changes its voice so that it sounds real soft and stuff?" Why, why, why, it goes on and on! And no matter how much I answer, there's always another one in the next miaow! My little girl is the cleverest. She's occasionally pulled herself past the why stage and has started asking what instead, which is a big improvement! "Mummycat, what is that place outside of our world (the pen)? I like it out there a lot, but is it safe?" "Mummycat, what happens if I beat my brothers up? Would you mind?" Of course, I told her I would, but did she listen?

They're fighting so badly now that I don't even wanna be in there a lot of the time cuz they all jump on me and bite me and generally put paid to the idea that well raised children will be well mannered! I'd say that myself and, yes, even the human I spose, have done a great job in bringing these kids up, but you wouldn't know it to look at them. If you're a mummycat, your tail is subject to pouncing, your ears are subject to chewing, and your whiskers were put there purely for their enjoyment. If you're a human, not The Human mind you, your hands will be attacked, your fingers will be bitten, albeit very gently, and your clothes will be clawed. Now, with consistent handling they have learned that a bite to the human will get their noses tapped, that attacking with claws will get the same, or get them put back in the pen, and that if you climb up the human's hand and miaow pitifully, you're guaranteed to be picked up for a cuddle, a tummy tickle and even kisses! My little girl has this down to a fine art now, and just loves peoples company.

You'll notice that I haven't been calling her the Baby lately. This is because I really need to come up with a propper name for her. She's staying here, so whereas we're trying hard not to give official pet names to the boys (it'll make it much harder for us when they go), we do need to find something soon for the troublemaker. My human and I really like Dora, but we also love Tilly. What do you all think? And do you have any other ideas? If so, we'd love to hear them!

My human's been putting boxes and rolled up towels and screen everywhere. She calls this kitten proofing, but sadly, it's Tia proofing as well. As many of you will remember, I don't like to jump. We Persians as a breed prefer to have our feets on the floor and keep 'em there. The highest I ever get is the window sill which is about 3.5 or 4 ft off the ground, and I don't stay there for long, I can tell you! But with the babies, things at floor level have to be blocked off. This means that, thanks to a baby gate which is screened, I don't have access to the kitchen any more, and when they do come out, the human tells me that for the first few days, I won't have access to the hall either, cuz the door will be closed. I'm not happy about this, I'm really not! I spose they have to come out some time though.

I've been eating lots of stinky goodness lately. My human says I'm gonna grow to the size of an elephant! After giving her smackypaw for her rudeness, I sweetly explained that I was doing this for her benefit. She loves the yummy tummy and has always said that I could do with putting on a pound or maybe two just to fatten me up a little. Well, I've taken her at her word! "I said a pound, Tia, not 20!"

Those babies get some mighty fine foods too. And they're eating it like little hoovers! My human has to put down almost half a tin now overnight. That's only 100 grams, but when you think about it, that's in a 6 hour period, and most of it's gone the next morning. I may have had something to do with it, but I ain't admitting nothing. Anyway, they eat just as much in the daytime when she's around to be horrible and prevent me clearing their saucer. That's incredible really. A 3.5 kg cat needs only 200-250 grams of this food for a whole day! They're not even a kg yet and they're eating far more than that already.

I'm afraid I've gotten no further on the photo quest either. Stupid Dogman hasn't given me the ones he took last week, and what with the human on a kitten proofing rampage for the last few days, I didn't manage to persuade her to take some yesterday either. She's gonna ask Dogman to take some today though, but I ain't holding my breath that he'll give us them today too. Stupid Dogman! I'll have them up as soon as I can, I promise you.

As usual, I'll give you their weights so that you can see how much they've grown. They've gotten very big in the last week!

The Baby: 596 grams.
Hamster: 655 grams.
Porker: 774 grams, the fatty!

Gooshy Food!

2011-08-01T23:57:00.002+01:00

Friends, you might be forgiven for thinking I'd died a horrible, lonely death in the freezing wilderness of Oxfordshire, or that I'd been catnapped, stuck in a PTU for a year, tortured, poked with sticks and generally abused. Well, you'd be right! About the abused part anyway. I've been neglected, forgotten, thrown by the wayside by that human of mine who can't even be bothered to write for me any more! The words I hear her say are, "Not enough hours in the day," or tired, oh so tired, shattered, need sleep, other things to do. Well, you get the picture. I won't go on about the inadequacies of my slave. We've been there. you're smart. You get that she's a challenged people, so I'll not revisit.

My kittens have reached five weeks old today, and boy have they changed from the mousies that they used to be! In a way, I wish they still were mousies, and that I'd cherished that time more, cuz now they're crazy! If I leave them, they come to the front of the pen, climb the wire and scream and scream and scream at the human to be picked up until I'm convinced that they're being brutally assaulted even though I can clearly see they're not! I have to climb in with them then, pull them down off the wire and get them in a headlock or lie on them or lick them until they be quiet. All that crying makes my ears hurt, and it leaves me feeling awful anxious!

But if I'm in there with them, they jump on me, attack me, claw my face, bite my tail, use me as a spring board to attack someone else... The list goes on. When they're not running around like something possessed, they're either sleeping or trying to drink from the milk bar. I don't like it when they drink now. They have teeth, and if they're fighting for a nimple, the one holding on will bite hard to make sure to keep their grip and not be pulled off by someone else. For those of you who have nimples, just imagine how it would feel to have someone rip one off and you're getting close. It's unpleasant! Thankfully, they only feed for short periods. Since they started eating propper gooshy food, they haven't been as hungry which means that the milk bar is starting to dry up. They lose interest pretty quickly when nothing comes out of my nimples.

There is a massive plus side to having babies around though, and I've already mentioned it. The gooshy food. To say that it is heavenly doesn't do it justice. To say it's the best thing since life's tuna doesn't even come close. Normally I avoid stinky goodness once I've licked the sauce off, but with this stuff, I'll eat everything the human sets down, which frustrates her no end. "That's for the kittens!" she keeps telling me, but I ignore her. Why? Cuz it's fun, and anyway, she deserves it! I'm getting a very nice yummy tummy with all this food. In fact, when the vet lady people came to look at my lump the other day, I got weighed and I'd put on 200 grams! That's good for a ladycat who could never get above 3.5 kg. I wasn't even 3 KG when the human took me on as her new owner, so I think I've done all right!

The babies' food is gooshy, not just stinky. The human mashes it until it's very creamy so that they can eat it easily. It's Bozita, the stuff she got me before and the stuff I wouldn't touch. Well, tastes change! She says that she only has one more carton and then she's run out, so we switch to another type tomorrow. I bet I like that just as much though.

Hmmm, I can't think of what to tell you other than that. I did mention that my lump was nothing, didn't I? The vet lady people thinks it's my kidney. The organs often become more prominent after pregnancy, and ever since she's been to look at it, the human hasn't seen it again, so I know I'm all right.

Ok, that's really it now. I'll have pictures for you tomorrow of the babies. We think we know what colours they are too! Until then, I'll leave you with their weights.

The Baby: 448 grams.
Hamster: 488 grams.
Porker: 588 grams.

Oh, one last thing. Today, my human got featured on a very popular blog written by another breeder. To read it, visit The Cat's Whiskers
Please do comment, as I'm sure she'd love to hear from you! Until next time, friends.

Poopy human and sharp-toothed thieves

2011-07-29T07:44:00.002+01:00

Friends, yet again, those kittens of mine have stolen something from me, but this time, I spose I should be fair and mention that they did it indirectly. They stole my blog time!

As you know, I don't bother to tippy-tap all of my things I want to say into the man in the box Computer. That's one of the principle reasons I keep the human, the other being that she can open tins of food. Up until now, she's been, well, sort of all right if you discount the times where she's been really lax and hasn't updated for me at all, but that all changed last night. As usual, she left writing till the very last thing. Yeah yeah, she says she had other things to do and was running all over the place yesterday, but we all know that a people's concept of importance is so flawed that being busy isn't an excuse. My dictation comes before meetings. It comes before stupid peoples food shopping. It definitely comes before the de-furring of the house with the sucky monster.

Anyway, she started writing our Moonspun Blog
which charts the growth and achievements of my kittens from her point of view. Again I say yeah, yeah. We all know that peoples are selfish when it comes to our needs, and that we cats are supremely unselfish. I graciously allowed her to continue in peace until she was finished, but you know what she did? She turned off Computer, put him to bed and said it was time for sleeps! Well, I was furious. I had so much to tell you all, but I couldn't. I tried tippy-tapping once or twice, but the problem is that you can't get a good foothold on the blasted keyboard. There's always little square bits melting away when you step on them, and to be honest with you, I don't like it. So I'm stuck depending on her to do it for me.

The human says that a lot of stuff that I wanted to tell you is already on the Moonspun Blog
so I suggest you pop on over there for a really quick read, as I'm certainly not gonna give her the satisfaction of listening to me repeat something she's already written!

There is something she didn't mention though. Yesterday, our really nice vet lady people, who wasn't so nice to me last time come to think of it, came to the hous. The human had asked her to come have a look at me cuz she's felt a lump in my side ever since the kittens were newborn mousies. She initially thought it was the uterus, but as it hasn't gone down yet, she thought it best that someone took a look. however, whenever she arrived, the lump went and hid itself! It does this from time to time, and the human was furious that it had happened just then. However, the vet lady people had a feel of my yummy tummy anyway and said that she thought it was my kidney. This is apparently normal in skinny cats, and I do feel like a bit of a skinny minny at the moment cuz those kittens are sucking me dry, literally! But when they weighed me, I'd put on 200 grams compared to before the pregnancy. It's very, very strange. We're going to keep a close eye on that lump, the human and I, but let's hope it's nothing terrible.

My milk flow hasn't been as good lately, and the kittens are suffering from it. They only feed for short periods before losing interest altogether. Their weights are yo-yoing, and nobody's gaining like they should. Even when the human gave me urtica stinky tablets which usually keep my milk going for days, it dried up quickly again. She wishes they weren't losing weight, but she says it's only to be expected. It's around the time when the little monsters should be weaning. Their teeth are too sharp to keep feeding anyway, so I'm not fighting her. Well, I am, but not very hard. I will push them away from the dish whenever they come too near, and if the human's feeding them from her fingers as she did yesterday to try and encourage them to eat, then I'll push the kitten out of the way and eat it myself. Oh, food always tastes so much better from my human's fingers. I don't know why I'm doing this. It's some sort of instinct, but I really don't understand it. All I know is that it has to be done. The human says that in the next few days, she might separate me from them for a few hours so that they can get a little hungry, then eat undisturbed. Porker is the only one who has actually eaten from the dish, so he'll have a head start in the weight department... As usual.

As much as I love them, and I think I do love them now, they are disgusting little monsters. they're all pooping in the bedding now, or at least, one of them is, but as none of us knows who, and the kittens aren't telling, I blame them all. That is something I can't put up with. I'm a very clean cat, and this drives me mad! How do I stop them doing this? I'm not eating this stuff. It's solid. It's one thing cleaning their bums when they're tiny and can't do it for themselves, but I'm certainly not doing that now!

Anyway, that's all for a bit. Feel free to send hate mail to my human for being horrid enough not to write for me and only consider her own selfish needs instead of my unselfish requirements. Her address is selfishpig@dontcareaboutcats.com. Also feel free to lambast her in the comments. The more discipline she gets, the better!

From mousies to kittens

2011-07-25T23:29:00.001+01:00

Friends, I've had my mousies around for a month now, and I think the time has come. Yep, that's right. Today they graduate. They are no longer mousies. They are now kittens! It's true. They look like kittens, they talk like kittens. They are clumsy and fall over like kittens, and most of all, they smell like kittens! At least, Hamster does.

My human woke up this morning, and when she went to do what she always does, which is to climb in the pen and smoosh and cuddle us all to within a very inch of our lives, she found Hamster with a very dirty back end, and a little pile of stinky poo on the bedding as a present for her. Now, just for a moment, allow me to reflect on the injustice of the whole thing. If I'd done that, I would have been told off, but when he did, she made lots of silly smooshy noises and told him what a good boy he was. She says this is a big thing, cuz it's the first solid poop he's done, and on his own too, but really, did he have to do it right where we sleep? She has put a kitten tray into the pen now though, right where he went before, and everything got washed, so it now smells lovely and clean and like my human's clothing things that she uses instead of sensible fur. The kittens all had fun investingating the litter tray. They romped and rolled all over in the litter, and when my human did their bums tonight, she made sure they were in the tray when she did them, then buried the wipes so that they would get the smell of their own wee to guide them back there again.

Hamster

They are all making leaps and bounds, literally! Whenever she takes the front off the pen now, Porker and the Baby automatically try and escape. hamster is a little more reserved, and will just put his paws up and watch, but the other two make a break for freedom. I don't like it. I tell them off all the time, and try and herd them back into the pen, but they just don't listen to me! They're so disobedient! If the front is on, all three will climb the mesh and squeak. The Baby squeals at my human to come and pick her up for a cuddle, and sometimes the boys do too.

Baby

She's so quick at everything. She's the first to really understand what a tail is for, and she's already talking to me with it. When they walk, she keeps herself low which means she can really move when she wants to, but the others try hard to stand up tall when they move, which usually means they fall over. I must admit, it's cute to watch.

I take myself out of the pen when they start to fight though. I've had to discipline them so many times for getting too carried away and clawing my face! I won't have it. It's rude, and they need to learn manners! Whenever they do this, I take them in my two front paws, wrap them around the bad kitten, then squeeze them in very tight to my chest and sort of give them a little shake. I'll hold on until they go limp and stop whatever it is they're doing. The human is now doing this as well when they bite her, as it seems to be much more effective than tapping their noses. She says that she thinks the cutest part of them is their noses at the minute, and that she could just eat them all up. I hope she doesn't!

She made me some yummy blended stinky goodness today which means that it's easy to eat, and it won't hurt the kittens if they want to try some. I sorta hope they don't want to try though. It's mine!

Soon, the babies will be getting their propper, forever names. They will be registered soon, you see, so will need them. We think that we already know what the Baby's name will be, but we aren't sure yet about the two boys. There are a number of options, actually, as the Baby could still be registered under a pedigree name, and we could use the name we have for her as a pet name, like the way it is for me. Anyway, we could have a themed litter. My human likes some drinks names. Maybe Georgia Peach for the Baby, then the choices of Southern Comfort, Heart Stopper or Cryptonite for the others, but we don't know. Remember, Moonspun will come before all of those names. We could also have Arianwen which means silvery white for the Baby. It's Welsh, and we really like this one too. There are so many choices! What do you all think? We'll keep the pet name of the Baby a secret for a little while longer, we think, just till she gets old enough that she can decide for herself if she likes it or not. I think it's only fair!

Porker is doing well, although when he talks, his miaow still sounds a little bubbly. He is still beating everyone up though, and he gained good weight today. I swear, whenever I'm in there, he's constantly at the milk bar! He's such a greedy kitten! Hamster lost lots though, so I'll need to make a special effort to make sure he gets fed more tonight. Because it's their fourth week, I'll give you the weights again so that you can see just how much they've all grown. Pictures will come soon, and, if you're lucky, perhaps even some videos! Watch this space, but they'll be here soon! Thank you all so much for praying for Porker. It means so much to me, and you can see that the power of the purr is working once again!

Porker

The Baby: 392 grams.
Hamster: 395 grams.
Porker, 481 grams.

And here is some video!

If the video won't load, see it HERE

Friends, if any of you are up for a spot of wrasslin with unruly children, please, please, please, be my guest! I could do with some peace!

Highs and Lows

2011-07-24T22:58:00.000+01:00

Friends, this last weekend has brought so many milestones that I don't even know where to begin. Not all of them have been good though, I warn you.

The HG and her family friend, now called FF, arrived late on Friday, but straight away, they wanted to see my mousies. That was fine by me. The mousies were all sleepy and easy to handle. The HG did fine, but FF managed to drop Hamster. Luckily, he was sat on the sofa, but it meant that Hamster fell to the sofa, then slid off the edge and landed on the floor. The human has very, very thick carpets in the house though, so he wasn't hurt in the slightest. Despite this, she got that look about her that she gets when I've done something real, real bad. She didn't say anything to FF, but she was so mad that she says she was shaking. I was worried for my mousie, but he was just fine. I'm not going to say more on this, cuz it makes the human mad all over again just to think about it. Poor FF was so shocked and upset that he couldn't even say anything. She knows that it was an accident and that he didn't mean it, but she looks at those mousies as hers too, and she says she just wanted to scream and shout at him and tell him what she thought! She knows he'll beat himself up more than she ever could though. It's clear to see that he loves us all. He wanted to cuddle me, but as you know, I'm not very into snuggling at the moment. He watched me a lot, but he didn't pester me once. He talked to me all the time though!

The HG on the other hand. Well. I like her, or at least I think I do, but sometimes I just wish she'd leave me alone. If I'm anywhere near her, she wants to touch me. I understand that she loves cats very much and that she doesn't have a cat of her own and desperately misses them, but really, does she have to stroke me all the time? She says nice things to me though, but one thing I can't understand is the name she calls me. She calls me Matilda, and that's not my name. My human says that she gives pet names to all her animals, and even other peoples', but normally they're not another propper name. they're something silly. I sort of wish she wouldn't call me the weird name, but she does, so that's that. She loved my mousies. She told me how cute they were, and she said to the human that she wanted to take the Baby home with her! No way though. She's staying here with us! I do like the HG. She buys cool toys for me!

On Saturday, the human told me she was abandoning me again, this time to go into town with the HG and FF. She gave me some foods before she went, and as Porker was very interested, she decided to wait and see if he'd take his first mouthful from the bowl. It's just as well she did wait!

Porker got hold of a chunk of my stinky goodness. The human had been told by another breeder that mousies can cope with soft chunks, as their teeth are sharp enough to chew through. Porker sucked, then chewed, then... gagged, choked, and finally stopped breathing. I've never seen my human move so quick, nor shout so loud. Swift movements frighten me, so she tries to keep her hands slow when they come towards me, but this time, she swooped in, grabbed him, and before I could even say miaow, she had him upside down, was tapping his ribs and shrieking at the HG to phone the vet. Well, they told her she was shrieking, the HG and FF, that is, cuz she can't remember a thing about it. She says she's felt less panic even when resussing people patients, but panic she did. At long last, the food popped back out again, but now she was worried that he might have breathed in some tiny pieces of it. She listened to his chest with something she calls a stethoscope, and sure enough, it sounded noisy.

Straight away, she dosed him with glucose to avoid him going into shock, and put him back in with me, but I didn't want to know anything about him. I pushed him away, but the human put him right under my chin to lick. She said that a thorough wash might stimulate him to cough up anything lodged in his chest. But I pushed him away again. For some reason, this upset the human no end, but he smelled wrong to me, too much like death or illness or, well, just something not good, and I didn't want him near.

The human phoned the vet lady people, but all she said was that my human had done everything that she would have done herself, and she'd done a good job. She said we were to watch him till Monday, and if he'd gone downhill, we were to bring him in. By the time she got off the phone, Porker was at the milk bar filling his face! I didn't push him away from there. I knew he was hungry, and I'm not that cruel.

His miaow still sounds rusty even after a whole day, and he lost weight today, but then, the Baby didn't gain anything either, and it's not unusual for them to do this during the day. The night will tell though. Porker always gains massively at night, well, they all do, so it will tell whether he's getting sick or not. he's still moving around just fine, and fighting for his spot at the milk bar as ferociously as always, but you know what the human's like. She can't help but worry.

They've all learned to fight now, and are regularly having massive tussles with each other. I spend more time out of the pen now, cuz I don't like being involved in their fights. Also, their teeth are getting sharper, and to say it's uncomfortable when they feed is an understatement. I'll be glad when they learn to eat on their own.

Tomorrow they'll be four weeks old, and what an achievement that will be to get them all to that milestone! Pray for Porker, won't you? It worked last time, so perhaps it can help him not get sick!

Stealing my friends!

2011-07-22T21:18:00.000+01:00

It seems, friends, as though this is going to be a weke of stealing posts. First, they stole my attention. That was all right though, cuz I went and cuddled the human and reascerted my position of number one catness in the house. Next they stole my foods, but thanks to all of your reassurances, I'm not so worried about that any more, cuz you've made me be able to hope that I won't starve! But I don't know what to do about the next thing they've stolen. They've stolen my friends! Well, not mine, but the human's, and what belongs to the human is mine by proxy, so they stole my friends!

The human had a friend over this afternoon. She always cuddles me and says nice things to me, but this afternoon, most of those nice things were said to the mousies instead. She made talk noise to them and told them how cute they were. She cuddled them, she stroked them, she even sat on the floor with them! She took lotsa pictures of them, and she forgot about me! She didn't even look at me, not once! I showed off my great mummycat skills by washing my mousies, then by brrrrping at them, and even showed off how well I was eating my stinky goodness! But it was all in vain. She didn't even know I existed! My human says that she did make a big fuss of me, that she came and made a point of cuddling me and telling me how beautiful I was, for a long time, but for the other eleventy zillion hours that she was here, she was with the mousies. What's a girl to do! If I was a people, I'd put my feet up, put on a good movie and have some chocolate to make myself feel better, but as it is, if any of you are up for a mammoth snuggling session, then I could do with one. Who needs peoples friends! Well, I spose my human is a good one. She always gives me all kinds of love, and I'm sorta glad she doesn't use the baby talk she does with the mousies with me.

Hamster ate some of my stinky goodness this morning, but the Baby wasn't interested at all. Thank Cod, I say. more for me! My human abandoned me again this morning for 13 weeks, or it seemed that long, and when she came back, she wouldn't even talk to me but went straight away to get into the shower. She smelled funny too! She says she was only gone for about an hour and a half and that she smelled funny cuz she'd been horse riding. An hour and a half? I could have died of starvation in that time, and she wouldn't have cared! Horrible human! She did give me all kinds of lovin when she was done with her getting soapy though. And she gave me a fresh plate of stinky goodness, cuz I'd eaten all of mine. Well, I spose her priorities are right when she's here, cuz she reminded me that she didn't even have breakfast this morning so that she could make sure I was fed before she left.

The mousies all gained weight through the night which pleased the human no end. She does worry so when they lose, but she doses them with drops which give them a ravenous apetite, so it all comes right in the end.

The HG is coming tonight to see my mousies, and she's bringing someone with her. The human says I'm not to worry, cuz he loves cats just as much as the HG and he'll love me. Well, I had no doubt of that. After all, what's not to love! But I wonder if they'll give the mousies all the attention too and ignore me? They'd better not!

I got my human to steal some of the pictures that her friend took today. Do you see how big the mousies have gotten? The first one is Porker. I'd say he's big enough now that he's almost a kitten. What do you think? The next one is Hamster. He's still pretty small, but he's getting there. The last one is the Baby, and isn't she yummy! My human says that Hamster and the Baby are so similar in size and shape that she wouldn't be surprised if Hamster turned out to be a girl when they go for their check up at nine weeks. Well, we'll just see about that! I hope you enjoy the pictures. Can you tell them apart yet? I know I certainly can!

Porker

Hamster

Baby

Tia & Porker

Stealing my foods!

2011-07-21T22:53:00.002+01:00

Friends, A few days ago, I told you that my mousies were stealing my human's attention. Well, they've progressed now to something even more hanus. They're stealing my foods! And they're aided and abetted by that human!

As you know, friends, I am a clever ladycat when it comes to getting what I want to eat. I'll pretend to like something, then wait for the human to bulk order it and go off it completely. Case in point, my Hills stinky goodness that I loved for ages. She ordered 8 boxes day before last, and yesterday and today, I've hardly touched a mouthful. Well, today actually, cuz yesterday I did eat a fair bit.

She had to go out today (that's peoples code for abandon the cat and make up some pathetic excuse about needing something important), and her travels took her to a pet shop so she bought a few different brands of stinky goodness for me to try. When she got home, she gave me something she calls Nature's Menu. Man, I thought all my christmouses had come at once! The stuff smelled heavenly and it tasted even better! I got down to some serious eating.

When I eat, my human usually mousie watches for me so that I can munch in peace and not worry about them escaping, so I thought nothing of it when her hands came into the box and started to move the mousies around. I didn't even look up when they squeaked. Her hand came towards the bowl, but then it went away again, so I carried on. Then it came back again, and again. I looked up, and there was Porker licking and licking at her finger. What was this! Her finger was covered in my stinky goodness! Porker only liked the juice though, and spat out any bits that went in his mouth, and Hamster wouldn't taste it at all. I stopped worrying. Juice was nice, but I could live without it. She took some more stinky goodness, and this time, she fed it to the Baby. Well, something unexpected happened. Unlike Porker, the Baby didn't spit out the bits. in fact, the more she got, the more she wanted. When she started to chew on the human's finger, that human took a big gob of food and held it in her fingers. The Baby licked, then, liking what she was tasting, she sucked and sucked and sucked. She doesn't know you're sposed to chew, you see. When the human's hand came back for some more food, I knew I was in trouble. I know how much those mousies drink, so if they eat just as much, there'd be no stinky goodness left for me! I began to gulp, but the human's big fingers kept scooping more out for the Baby.

When I looked back again, she had finished. She says the Baby ate about a teaspoot full of stinky goodness, but she got more on her than in her. Her little face was covered, which meant I had to clean her. Hamster and Porker too, but I didn't mind all that much, as they tasted of stinky goodness. I did a thorough job on them!

I have this feeling though. I don't think it's gonna be too long before they are stealing my foods on their own, and I don't like the idea! Do you think there's any way of getting the human to give me more foods so that I'll still have some to eat? Is there even a small possibility that their new apetite will mean that I might starve? Is my life drawing to a prolonged, hungry close? Is that a light I see at the end of the tunnel? Stay tuned to find out!

Attention stealing mousies!

2011-07-19T15:19:00.000+01:00

Friends, I hate that stupid little man in a box that my human calls Computer. He's so moody! He got the huff last night cuz I called him names cuz he'd had my human's attention all day long, and you know what he did? He stopped talking! But it's even worse than that. he waited till my human had tippy-tapped everything I wanted to tell you into his box, and then he wouldn't read it back to her, and he wouldn't keep it in his memory either! The human said a lot of words that she usually only says when she's angry. She said she felt like kicking Computer. I told her she should. I don't like the man in the box, and it would have served him right cuz that was a mean trick he played, waiting until he could spite me by getting rid of my mewsings! It was late when he did this. The human had stayed up specially so that I could talk to you all, so when he got in a mood and wouldn't let her see what I'd said so that she could post it, she got in one and told me she had to sleep on accounta it was stupidly late and she was tired.

My mousies were three weeks old yesterday, and I didn't even get to share it with you! I think they will turn into kittens soon. In fact, I think they already are, cuz they're starting to talk to me now, and it isn't in mousie language. My girl mousie will miaow at me and she even answers me when I brrrp miaow back at her, well, she does sometimes anyway. So does my big boy, the one the human calls Porker, although he usually just screams when I come into the box, whereas the Baby will actually have a conversation with me. I like them more now that they've stopped drinking absolutely all the time, and have started moving around and actually getting interesting. Cuz they are moving now. Porker is walking pretty good, and the Baby is too. Hamster tries, but he's still very wobbly. The Baby fell out of the bed the other night which she wasn't happy about, but she was Ok once the human rescued her and put her back in.

They're also starting to play more too, although Porker is a bit rough. He has no manners yet. He doesn't realise that he has to be gentle with the human. She will let him play with her fingers, but I know he shouldn't be doing it, cuz she has taught me that that's a bad idea. She says it's Ok while they're still learning that she is a nice bean and not a big scary monster, and when they have, then she'll start to teach them right from wrong, but I don't like to see it. he's grabbing her with his claws, then biting her. Sure, he doesn't have any real teeth yet, just tiny little points, so it doesn't hurt, but soon he will and soon it will!

Today I was cuddling him when he saw the human's hand and started to attack it. Now, he was right up by my face at the time, and his claws kept thwapping me in the nose and eyes. I didn't like that one little bit. I told him off with a loud chirrup, and when he didn't listen, I took him round the middle in my two front paws, then hugged him in really close to me and squeezed him tight. I didn't hurt him, but he got the message real quick and stopped his bad manners. The next time the human played with him, he held onto her, but he didn't bite her as hard.

She's just had a good play session with the Baby too, although she prefers to lie on her back and bat at my human's fingers rather than holding on and biting. Her teeth are really through now though! I'm not enjoying feeding them as it is, but when they come all the way through, well, I can tell you, those kids better start eating solids mighty quick, cuz I'm not going through that!

Hmmmm, what else to tell you. There isn't much other than that. They do what they've always done. Sleep, eat, and now play. The Baby purred twice when the human was stroking her, but after only a few seconds, she opened her eyes and realised it was my human and then boy did she scream! I had to reassure her that the human wasn't gonna do what the Catnip mom Trish people does and put her in the stew pot. I wonder if one of the boys who's been kitten sitting has been telling stories to frighten them? Fess up, boys!

As they play more, the human is giving the mousies more and more attention. I tell you something, I don't like that one little bit. It's not cuz she's touching my mousies. That's fine. I know she won't hurt them. I trust her totally. In fact, even when they scream when she's weighing them, I do no more than brrp at them to tell them it'll be Ok. But when she's giving them attention, she isn't giving it to me. I've gotten used to being the only cat in the house and having her undivided attention, but that isn't the case any more. If she plays too long with my mousies, I get in the box and brrp at her, and if she still ignores me or thinks I'm talking to them instead of her, I lie down on that mousie, or put my head on them so that they can't play any more and the human will have to cuddle me instead. She tells me that it's rude, and that it's important for the mousies to learn that she's not big and scary. I do agree it's important, but her attention should be all mine, not divided between them! I've even been letting her pick me up more since I realised what was going on, and I've sat with her each time for about two minutes instead of a second. It's not cuz I feel sorry for her. I'll never admit that! No, it's cuz when I'm sitting on her, her attention is all mine and not the mousies'. That's the way it should be, right? When I demand attention, I should get it!

When I climbed in the box just now when she was playing with the Baby, she actually put her hand under me and refused to let me lie down on her. She told me sternly that I was being rude, and reminded me that I'd just ran away from her when she offered to cuddle me. I'm sneaky though. I worked out real quick that I wasn't gonna win, so I started to do the Baby's bum instead. I know that she'll never get in the way when I'm cleaning my mousies, but this time, she just kept on playing, and cuz the Baby was playing too, it was real hard for me to clean her! The human did hold her still while I did the messy bit which I appreciated, but when I started again as soon as she started to play, the human did a dirty trick. The boys were at the other end of the box, and that human put one of her big hands under a kitten and rolled him over. He was awake, so it didn't startle him, but they will squeak when she first touches him, and as soon as he did, I had to go investigate and see if he was all right. I thought I'd wash them both while I was up there, and while I was, that sneaky human carried on playing with my Baby! She says that she'll give me attention whenever I want it, and that she'll even cuddle me if I'm in the box, but she says that just as the mousies have to learn manners, I too have to learn not to be so jealous, as it may hamper their development. She took me out of the box when she was done playing though, cuddled me on her knee, gave me loads of yummy treats and told me I was and always would be the bestest cat ever. I flounced away in a huff though... After I'd gotten all the treats. My human should know that I'm the only one who deserves all that attention!

We did have some photos taken today, but the computer thing that Dogman's friend uses to transfer them from his flashy box is broken, so we'll have to wait a little. the human says she'll ask Dogman to take pictures tonight though, so you should have them tomorrow. Oh, to finish off, I'll give you the mousies' weights just so that you can see how much they've grown. They're getting big, and fast! And there's a surprise in the weight gains. Look closely at Hamster in relation to everyone else...

The Baby: 316 grams
Hamster: 325 grams.
Porker: 384 grams
Isn't it super!

More kittens and an apology

2011-07-16T20:58:00.000+01:00

Karen, as you so rightly said, we haven't updated in ages! Blame my human for that, no please, I insist! She says she doesn't do no sleep plus full days very well, and wants to spend all her free time resting rather than writing. I don't understand it. We cats do all right with catnaps here and there all the time, so why can't she!

But why wasn't she sleeping? Well, you see, my mousies have gone through another period of losing weight. First it was Porker which worried her no end. He's the biggest, so should have the least trouble feeding. When Hamster lost that same day, she knew that a sleepless night was coming. She had to stay awake and help Porker and Hamster find one of my nimples, then hold them there while they had a drink, stop others fighting them, stop them fighting each other, and still leave room between her big paw hands for the Baby to have a space at the milk bar. It really wasn't easy. She says it wasn't helped by the fact that every time the mousies cried, I'd curl round them instead of stretching out. Well, I was worried for them! I thought if I could hide them, they'd stop crying, but it only made them worse which made me curl tighter which made them scream. In the end, I thought it was the human's fault and really shouted at her, but she took no notice, pulled me out to be stretchy again, and just went on plugging them in. Of course, they stopped crying as soon as they got a drink, so gradually, I learned that the human would help me to stop them instead of making it worse.

By the time the next morning came, the human was exhausted, but she couldn't sleep. She needed to keep going. By the time bedtime rolled around, she was really ready to make her snore noises, but it turned out that the Baby had lost weight during the day, a lot of weight, so now it was her turn to get the special treatment.

Dogman came up the next day, and the day after that, she abandoned us all to attend something called an exhibition. She says that's rather like a cat show, sept that the things on show are computers and technology, not cats. It sounds boring if you ask me, but she enjoyed it. She said she had to go cuz she'd committed ages ago. I punnished her though. When she came back, I totally ignored her. I wasn't left alone. Dogman's mummypeople came in to watch us all and feed me and make sure everything was all right, but I didn't care. She wasn't my human!

Speaking of ignoring, I've been doing a lot of that lately, and the human says it's making her miserable. As you know, I prefer to play at being a mummycat from afar, but even though I don't wanna be in the box with my mousies, I don't wanna be with the human either. Well, that's not true. I don't mind being nearby, but every time she tries to pick me up, I jump down again and go somewhere else. She says she's really missing her snuggle time with me, but I can't bring myself to care. She says it's probly the tiredness, but she feels like she's doing a lotta work for little return. She also knows that's stupid, cuz the mousies are all thriving, and, besides the milk bar, that's thanks to her for all of them now. But she wishes that I'd show her some appreciation, even once a day. I do still purr for her when she comes to help the babies access the milk bar, but that's about it really. Oh, and I shout at her for food. I followed her halfway to the litterbox room today, but I wouldn't come in with her like I normally do, and I wouldn't let her pick me up either. Well, it's a compromise, isn't it? She says that she needs to touch and hold me on accounta her broken eyes, but I think she's probably asking a bit too much. I mean, I've got a lot of demands on my time. What do you all think?

Porker is playing now whenever the human tickles him. The Baby thinks about it, but would rather cry and squeak so that I'll come see what's wrong with her. She did climb up the box to stand under where the human's chin was though, and she doesn't run away, so I know she's not frightened. Hamster plays sometimes, but not very much really. He and the Baby should break the 300 Gram marker today. Porker has already done that days ago!

I can't think of what else to tell you, so I'm afraid that's it for the time being. I'm sorry that some of you were worried, I really am. I promise not to leave it as long again between posts. Thank you all for caring though! It's particularly helped my human today. She says it's helped keep the black dog at bay, but I dunno what that is, as I see no black dog anywhere! My human's strange sometimes. Well, most of the time, actually.

Mummycat Monday: two weeks old!

2011-07-11T22:04:00.000+01:00

Friends, today my mousies are two weeks old, and already they're looking less like mousies all the time! They're too big for one thing. They've grown massively in the last week! Also, they're now starting to miaow rather than just squeak. I've begun to talk to them which my human finds very amusing in the daytime, but not so great when I mingle that with my shouting at her at night.

I did feed all the babies just like I said I would. There's pictures to prove it! See the first one? you can see I'm being a good mummycat! Don't you think they've grown?

The next one shows Porker, and boy is he bigger than everyone else! His weight tonight is 268 grams. Isn't he a handsome fella! He doesn't cry now as much when the human cuddles him. He still has his moments, but they're getting less and less all the time.

Then there's little Hamster. He's still the smallest at only 234 grams, but he's slowly catching up, and he gained 13 grams in the last 12 hours which we're both very pleased with! He feels much skinnier than the others though, and the human says she has this funny feeling about him. She says something just doesn't feel right. She's hoping she's wrong, and so am I, but she thinks he might become an angel quite young in life. Why she thinks that she can't say definitively, but he's just different to the other two in so many ways. He's quieter. he doesn't fight, doesn't struggle, doesn't cry half as much, and doesn't suckle with the same dedication even now that he has the energy to do it. he also feels different when she handles him. I guess only time will tell, but please keep him in your thoughts.

Next we have another picture of Porker. Isn't my boy cute!

Then there's the Baby. She's the human's favourite, maybe because she knows we'll most likely end up keeping her, but maybe, just maybe, cuz she's the cutest. She loves tickles, and licks the human whenever she obliges. She has a tiny little squeak of a miaow, and she is the only one who will stay totally limp and asleep in the human's hands when she picks her up. She's just a little poppet, and I love her a lot! She weighs 240 grams today, so Hamster is catching her up nicely. She's the only one who has trippled her birth weight, although Porker is getting mighty close.

Wow, that's quite a lot of news! I'm all tuckered out! Anyway, as you can see from the last picture, there's no rest for a busy mummycat, so I think I'll head off now. I have hungry babies to see to. Ahem, I mean mousies!

Sunday Sadness

2011-07-10T21:45:00.002+01:00

Well, friends, I don't know what's wrong, but whatever it is, is't stopping all of my babies gaining weight, and I don't like that one little bit! I've been feeding them, honest I have, and the human even gave me some stuff she calls homeopathy to increase my milk flow, but nothing is helping. Porker actually lost 4 grams last night, and that's without me even bothering to scream at the human for attention. I've been super duper good, and it's still not enough! Am I a bad mummycat, friends? Have I done something to them by ignoring them for so long that now they've decided they don't want to be my mousies any more? I'm confused!

Tomorrow they'll be two weeks old, so there'll be some pictures for you to look at! They've gotten mighty big since the last pictures. They're almost twice the size they were then! In fact, Porker is easily twice the weight, even though he did lose some last night. Dogman's mummypeople says that Porker's colour is coming in round his mouth. Can you see it in the pictures?

There's not much else to tell you, sept that I got fish and chicken today! I didn't eat my morning foods and the human said I felt a tiny bit dehydrated, so she made me some fish and mixed it with my foods. Well, I wasn't gonna say no to that! She also fed me some of the chicken that she made for her, Dogman and his mummypeople for their dinner, and boy was it nice! She says I can have some more of that tomorrow with my food if I like. I say yes please!

She says she'll leave us all alone tonight sept for when my mousies cry. Then she'll come help. I've decided that I'm gonna be so good to them that they won't need to cry at all!

I've been in my propper litterbox again today. To answer your question, no, Tori, they don't eat anything yet, let alone litter. They just drink from me. And anyway, they aren't able to get into my box. They're too small. When they do they'll probly have a go at eating it, but every mousie does, and it's Ok cuz the litter won't harm them if they have a taste. They'll soon learn that that's disgusting and stop doing it though!

I learned something sad today though. It's part of the reason why I haven't been eating so good, as it quite took the heart out of me. My dear friend, Whicky, crossed the bridge five days ago. It was quite unexpected by us all, never mind his family, and he's left a hole behind him much bigger than he was. I had a soft spot for that handsome mancat. Do you know that he was the first cat ever to come see me and leave kind words? If you'd like to visit his blog, I know his peoples and his brothers could do with your love and support. The blog can be found Here."
Whicky, my friend, have fun up there at the bridge, and make sure to play as hard as you loved!

Well, that's all from me till tomorrow. It's the mousies' bedtime, and my time to think and remember.

Quick update

2011-07-09T21:55:00.002+01:00

Just a quick note from me to tell you that the mousies' weight gain today has been horrible and we don't know why. Sure, I left them, but I always leave them and I didn't do it for any longer than normal. My human thinks that the nimples on top when I lie on my right side aren't as good as the ones on the left, so after she weighed them tonight, she turned me over for a little bit. The mousies are all feeding now, and the human says she hasn't seen them stay attached so long all day, so they must be getting something! She says she might be a bit stricter with me tomorrow and ask me to go back in the box more. I hope she doesn't!

Well, me pooing on the mat had a good side. Sure, the human got mad, but it means that now every time I go in my litterbox in the right place, I get more treats than you could shake a stick at! I don't know why you'd want to shake a stick at treats mind you. It's wasting time that could be spent eating them! I make a big thing about going in the right place now. I get in and scratch about a bit until the human says "Good girl, Tia". Then I know she's noticed, and treats will follow. I make quite a ceremony out of going to the bathroom now!

All of the babies enjoy the human's tummy tickles now, and the Baby so much that if the human stops before she's had enough, she'll cry and squeak until she starts again. She's taken to washing the human's finger clean too while she's being tickled. The human thinks this is adorably cute, but I'm just pleased that my little girl is learning manners and helping the poor human keep herself clean. They do such an inadequate job with their own tongues, you know. It's particularly nice cuz she's never seen me cleaning the human, so she learned that one all on her own!

Last night I stayed so quiet in the pen that the human was awful worried. She thought I wasn't staying with the babies. you see, she changed things around. She took out the small litterbox and put my big one there instead, only she put it outside the door. She blocked it all off so that I couldn't get out, then put my foods and water at the back of the pen, and the baby basket at the front. So I would have had space to go lie away from the babies if I'd wanted. And I was so quiet that she thought I'd done just that! But I hadn't, cuz when she weighed them this morning, Hamster had gained a massive 11 grams in 12 hours all on his own! Just as well, cuz today he gained the most, and he only gained 2! Poor Porker actually lost weight today! She hopes everyone will do better overnight. In fact, she's banking on it.

That's all for today, friends. I'm too busy feeding to write more right now. I hope you'll understand!

Thirsty Thursday

2011-07-07T18:55:00.001+01:00

Friends, my babies were thirsty all right when the human finally got up this morning. Why? Cuz I did exactly what I did the night before. I yelled and yelled, and when that didn't work, I chirrupped at her. That woke her up. She told me to lie down and give the babies a drink. I listened to her the first time, but the second, third and fourth I pretended I couldn't hear her.

She gave in at three in the morning and took me out for a cuddle. Of course, I tried to run off, but this didn't work so good, as it got me put very smartly back in the pen. She says she hopes I'll learn soon enough that if I whine (how dare she call it whining!), I can come out, but only for a cuddle and not to abandon the mousies and go adventuring. I say forget it, lady. Anyway, when she put me back, she laid me down again and helped me stretch out. Then she plugged the babies in and went to bed thinking she was scot free...

She gave in again at 5, and then again at half 6! Boy am I good! The chirrup seems to wake her more thoroughly than just yelling. She says she's able to tune out the usual yelling, but she can still wake up if Hamster is crying too much, or if my screaming turns urgent or distressed. She's far too clever, my human.

Hamster's umbilical chord fell off today. His was the last to go. The human held each of my mousies today while I had a really good wash of their bums and tummies (they aren't as yummy as mine yet, Ok?). It's easier when she holds them. If she doesn't, they squirm away from me, and I end up having to follow them all round the box. I get fed up of trying halfway through and come back to it again later, but when my human had them today, no matter how much they squirmed and wriggled and squeaked, they didn't go anywhere. I was able to give them a very vigorous cleaning, and I wonder if it was that which made the chord fall off. Either way, his tummy is yummier without that hanging off it.

The baby had another tickle from my human today, and she even got to licking her finger, the tickling one, that is. Then later, when she was sleeping, the human came and stole her for a cuddle. I didn't mind. I'm slowly learning that my human always brings the mousies back to me, and even if they cry when she has them, it's not cuz she's hurting them or being mean or anything. She curled the baby into her hand, and even when she woke up a little, all she did was sniff the human, then settle back down to sleep again. This is the first time she's been able to pick up any baby, asleep or awake, without them crying like someone was killing them!

I'm still not too sure about this mothering thing, but I like the little mousies well enough. I think they'll be good company, and anyway, it's cuz of them that my human gave me a whole cod fillet yesterday, all to myself! I've never had cod before, and this was fresh and still warm, and oh so juicey. Friends, as you know, I don't eat a lot, but I ate half of that in one sitting, and then the other half with my stinky goodness! The human says she has one left which I might get next week as a treat, but only if I'm extra special good. I can do that, oh yes I can! And if I can't, then all I gotta do is come and smoosh her for five minutes and she'll give me whatever I want! She has her faults, but at least she's easy to manipulate.

Weary Wednesday

2011-07-06T18:08:00.002+01:00

Friends, it's a weary Wednesday all right, and my human is a heartless pig! She doesn't listen to me!

I spent all of last night, Ok not all, but some of it, screaming at her to let me out of that stupid, stupid pen that she put me in with those squealing mousies! They were crying, I was crying, and the human said it sounded like she had a zillion cats instead of only four! I was sat at the front of the pen screaming at her, while my babies sat round my feet and cried for milk. But I was bored. I'd fed them once already. I wanted out to do things. What things? Well, hide under the bed, in that little spot where the human can't get me, then not come out for love nor tuna! The human says that's why she didn't let me out, cuz I need to stay with my babies to warm and feed them. Codswallop, I say.

I got excited when she opened the pen door, and tried to dart past her, but as usual, my human was too quick for me. She managed to catch me, then she told me that if I wanted a bit of loving, I could come out, but that was it. I had everything else I needed in the pen; food, water, a litterbox. She picked me up and I squirmed like mad to try and get away from her, but she was having none of it. She sat on the bed with me and cuddled me in the blankets, just the way I used to like. Friends, I let the team down. I enjoyed it for a few minutes. Then, suddenly, I remembered that I'm a torttureshell, not a mousie. I made a flying leap... And got nowhere. She'd been waiting for me to do it and she caught me. With a final stupid kissie on my head, and a last stupid chin tickle which I'll never admit I liked, I was put back in with the squealers who were really noisy by this point.

She laid me on my side, then stretched me out so that the mousies could get at my nimples. Almost straight away, the noise stopped and I calmed. I don't know what it is, but when they have their mouths on my nimples, everything doesn't seem so bad any more. I'd say I go to mush, but of course I don't. I'm way too fierce to go to mush just cuz of a couple of little mousies. But it does feel good. Makes me feel like I'm lying in front of a warm fire, but inside me. Does that make sense?

That sneaky human knows that I get quiet when the mousies are on my tummy, and she very silently eased the pen door shut and crept away to bed again.

This scenario repeated itself quite a few times, but she didn't take me out again. Instead, she gave me scritches when I let the mousies find my nimples. She says their weight gain suffered because of it, with Hamster only gaining 1 gram overnight, compared to the 9 he'd gained during the day. Well, she shouldn't be so mean to me! Who cares if the mousies get cold and hungry! Well, I spose I do, but come on! A cat should retain her independence, no matter what!

I've had no more litterbox issues. She blocked my access to the kitchen, stupid human, so I go in the one by my babies. I do have one that's nice and far away that the human thought I'd use, cuz mommacats don't normally like to go too close to the nest, but as with all other typicalities of mothering, I've totally flouted this expectation.

That's about it for today, sept that Porker has started to consistently purr now. Oh, and the human has started her own blog. She says it's to chart the mousies' progress from a human point of view. Sounds boring, but if your beans want to read it, it's Here
We're sorry, there's no pictures yet, but we're working on it. Oh, she's also almost got the Moonspun cattery website launched, but again, we're just waiting on pictures and something to do with a database connection something or other (I stopped listening at that bit). Anyway, we'll tell you when it's launched! We'd love you to come visit and give us feedback!

One week old!

2011-07-05T14:06:00.000+01:00

Friends, I'm exhausted which is why I haven't been writing so much lately. It takes too much effort to think of things to say, and then when I do think of something, these eating machines decide it's time for their next feed and I can go nowhere! They are a week old today, and it's been the longest, longest week, both for me and the human. For her, it's been long cuz she's so tired. She's up in the night with little Hamster still, and it does take it out of her. Well, I'm up with them all the time, and let me tell you, they take it out of me... Literally! I'm sure each mousie drinks sixteen million pints of milk a day, and they're still hungry! They are still fighting fiercely over my nimples no matter how many times I tell them off, but at least little Hamster is doing it too now, so that gives us one lest thing to worry about. He's getting fatter too. The human says he gained 11 grams yesterday all by himself! Well, kinda by himself, even though she's still helping.

Hamster is the last to do everything. The last to fight, the last to learn to suck and the last to purr. Cuz oh yes, my babies have started to purr. The baby was the first. The human heard this funny noise coming from the box after she'd plugged them all in on Saturday night, and when she touched the Baby, her body was vibrating! Porker was the next to pick it up, and this morning, we heard the first tentative purrs from Hamster. I think he's always gonna be slow, but I can't wait till all three of them purr at once! nor can the human. It'll be marvellous!

Their eyes are almost all the way open now, and their ears are beginning to open, but the umbilical chords are still attached! I know I'm sposed to lick them off, but they're icky and gross and I don't wanna! The human says they may well fall off, but I'm not so sure. What do you all think?

They're starting to try and stand more now too. Soon it won't be long till they're walking around, and then the fun really, really starts!

I keep trying to leave the babies behind and run away to escape them. My human wouldn't let me leave them for long the first few days, but as time has progressed, I'm allowed to come out for longer as long as I don't do it frequently. I even had a little play session this morning! I also did something else that I know I shouldn't have though.

Last night, the human heard me scratching at the mat in the kitchen. I don't normally do this at all, so she came to investigate. It wasn't long before her nose told her what had happened, and I tell you what, she got real, real cross. I'd left a number two on the mat for her. Just a little one, but it was enough to send her absolutely hopping mad! Why? Cuz I had a litter tray in the pen with me. I had one in the living room. I even had one in the hall nice and far away from the babies. So really, I had no excuse to do what I did. She caught me at it again this morning. Both times, she scruffed me just like an angry mommacat, and said lots of angry words with a big hiss thrown in for good measure. I got the message right quick, I can tell you. This morning, she even took me to my hall litterbox, put me in there even though I didn't wanna go, and made me dig in it with my paws. The indignity of it! I decided I didn't want that to happen again, so I ran straight back to the pen and went in the tray in there. I got massive praise for doing that, and a whole handful of treats and ages of snuggling, so I guess it was worth it in the end. My human's scary when she's cross though. Do your peoples ever get mad at you? Is mine the only one that does the mommacat grab and hiss? It's far too effective for my liking!

So, back to mousies. They grow bigger by the day! I'll tell you their weights so that you can see. Tori, to answer your question, the human will record their weights right up until when they leave us, as it's a good indicator of how well or poorly each mousie is doing. When they start eating and gaining well, the frequency will go down, but that's about it. Keeping detailed records is so, so important when mousies are depending on you though!

The baby:
Birth weight: 71 G
Today's weight: 165 G

Hamster:
Birth weight: 101 G
Today's weight: 151 G

Porker:
Birth weight: 92 G
Today's weight: 192 G

As you can see, the Baby and Porker are very healthy weights. Kittens should double their birth weight in the first week, or at a stretch, 10 days. Hamster has only gained half the weight of the others and half his original birth weight, but he's picking up now, so let's hope it won't be too much longer before he's doubled! He's not much smaller than the Baby, but he's a bit weaker which means he works so much harder. Porker is so big that he just bullies everyone else until he gets his own way which neither me nor the human like to see. We know this isn't necessarily an indicator of his personality, but it's hard to remember that when we watch him shove Hamster out of the way to steal his nimple even though Porker has one of his own right at the back, and those are the best ones! Ah well, in two weeks they'll start eating propper food anyway, so this won't go on too much longer I hope. Then maybe I can have a break!

Thank you to those of you who keep stopping by. We love to hear from you and cherish every comment!

Babies and Boredom

2011-07-03T15:59:00.001+01:00

Friends, I'm not gonna write much today, cuz I'm tired and out of sorts and the human is exhausted. We just wanted to let you know that little boy is doing well. The human has been helping him latch onto me instead of syringing him. He was struggling so much against the syringe that he was using all the milk for the energy it took to fight her, so he wasn't gaining at all. She tried and tried, but that just wasn't working. He's stupid. He sucks wherever his mouth lands, whether that's my stitches, my skin, my fur, the human's finger or, just occasionally, a nipple. So for ages, well, ever since I last posted, actually, the human kept sitting with us every time my other little mousies were having a drink. She would find a nipple (I quickly got over my embarrassment at her touching them), then put his mouth against it and just held him there. He struggled, he fought, he screamed until I was convinced she was killing him and I tried to lie on him to protect him. That made the human even more frustrated, so she had to hold my head away with one hand, and plug him in with the other. After about half a day, I realized what she was trying to do, and although I wasn't happy with it, I did just let her get on with it. Well, it's not that I wasn't happy with her. It's just that I don't like to hear any of my mousies cry!

That first day, it took him about 20 minutes each time just to latch onto the right place. Then the human would have to hold him there till he was done and stop the others fighting him off. She was up on average about every two hours she says, but really it was more, cuz I feed my babies more often than that, and she was awake every time she heard him crying cuz he wasn't getting any.

Gradually, he's gotten stronger and stronger, and now he doesn't fight as much when she plugs him into a nipple. She had planned to stay up and feed him last night, but he had a massive weight gain during the day and seemed quite strong, so she thought it was time to leave him to it and see if he gained anything. It was the hardest thing she'd ever done, she says, and she lay in bed with very leaky eyes, making the strangest kinda gasping, hitching noises every time she heard him cry, but she knows that he needs to learn to fight for himself, cuz she can't be there holding his head to me every minute till he's nine weeks old. She couldn't resist helping him before she slept just once though, and again when she got up this morning, but guess what? All on his own, he gained a whole 7 grams! That made her feel less like a cruel, evil witch, but she still says she can't help helping him in the day.

My little girl lost a gram last night and didn't gain a thing. The human is so on edge that she went into a total panic thinking she would go the same way as the little boy, but then she looked back at the weight chart and reminded herself that little girl had gained a massive 25 grams the previous day, which is 2.5 times the recommended daily weight gain. She's almost the same size as her little brother now, but the big one is 31 grams ahead of her! He's massive, and such a bully! When the others fight to keep their nipple, they just push gently with their paws to maintain a distance between them and anyone else coming too close, but the big boy will hook them with his claws and physically drag them off their nipple, even if they aren't even trying to get hold of his! I told him off, but it didn't work. The human says that's cuz he's deaf and blind at the moment, so he won't hear or see me. He must be, cuz he makes an awful lot of noise that I'm sure would bother his ears as much as mine if he could hear it!

I noticed their eyes starting to open on Friday afternoon, and they're much more open today. The human says that's pretty quick for Persians, cuz they're usually the slowest to do anything. We might be lazy, but we ain't stupid!

She's been helping the little girl all day today so that she'll hopefully gain some more weight, and the little boy, but not as much as she was yesterday. I'm bored though. Every chance I get, I'm leaving the nest for a walk around. My stitches are sore from them sucking on them, and my nipples are for the same reason. They've scratched my yummy tummy which hurts too, and you know what? I just need a break. The human keeps putting me back in all the time, saying that they will get cold and hungry without me in there, but honestly, I can't bring myself to care some of the time. I love them, but they are an awful tie. My human tried to put a heat pad in which helped the little boy get warm enough to gain weight initially, but it made me too hot and I was even more insistent about getting out, so that had to go too. She took it out yesterday. I also decided that the lovely tray that Mom Trish sent just simply isn't suitable for nursing. I can't stretch out enough, so I made the human take it away. sorry Mom Trish. I know you posted it for us, but I just don't think it's right at the moment. I think I'll use it when they are a bit bigger, and I do still use it at night, but not in the day time.

I finish my antibiotics today too. I'll be kinda sad about that, believe it or not, cuz the human always feeds me them with treats, and I've worked out that if I eat the treat but spit out the pill, she'll give me even more treats until I swallow it all down. Oh yes, I know how to milk a situation! So do those blasted mousies. They're calling me again, so I'd better go. Smoochies to you all, and thank you so, so much for purring. You don't know how supportive it has been to me, and to a very, very worried and upset human. We really thought we were going to lose the little boy, but the power of the purr came through yet again! Oh, by the way, we have informally given names to the kittens which we are sure will change. The biggest is Porker for obvious reasons, the middle one is Hamster, cuz when the human picks him up, he curls into her hand and reminds her so much of a hamster, and the little one is the Baby, again, for obvious reasons. She is the cutest though. Today, she's started rolling over with all four feet in the air whenever my human tickles her chest. She doesn't scream so much now when she's picked up. In fact, she had the loudest scream when she was born, but Porker does now. he screams like a little girl! The human thinks that the boys are pushing the Baby away when she goes for a drink at the milk bar, so that's why she'll need the help. No way is my only girl gonna become the runt, not after doing so fantastically well after she was born so small! I hope you enjoyed the pictures from yesterday. Thank you again, Mom Trish!

Kitten Pictures, and a Purr request...

2011-07-02T15:11:00.000+01:00

Kitties!

Katnip Lounge Mommy here with a quick kitten report:

All the babes made gains yesterday which is good, but little boy Two is still having difficulties latching onto the milk bar. Can you spare him some purrs?

Tia's Human is dead tired. Who knew tiny tots were so much work?

I think she could use some purrs, too.

I think the kits are, from L to R:

Little Girl, Little Boy Two and Little Boy One, aka "The Porker"!

And a close up of Little Girl...so tiny!

Tia hopes to post later.

xx Trish

Fading baby

2011-06-30T15:13:00.002+01:00

The human here. I'm sorry, but I'm too exhausted to write for Tia today. I'm having to hand feed the baby that isn't gaining weight, as he lost again overnight when left with only one feed. This means he's being fed every two hours around the clock. I'm finding it very hard, and so is Tia who wails piteously every time I take him away for topping up. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up, but I know I'll go as long as I can. I just hope and pray that he doesn't have some hidden health defect that's preventing him from gaining. Keep praying, folks. I don't know when I'll write again. My priority for the next little while is these kittens, and next to that, I need sleep for myself whenever I manage to snatch some. I'll write every time I feel up to it, and will try and keep mom Trish up to date with what's going on with the little fading baby. Boy do I hope that what I'm doing is enough.

Thank you to all of you who stopped by and left comments, not just in these last few days, but over the last week as well. I'm sorry if I haven't commented back. I've tried with every one of you, but either you have word verification which i can't get past, or Blogger won't accept the comments for some reason. I'll keep trying whenever I have the energy. Know that I read every one of you though. thank you for being so supportive!

Are they really mine?

2011-06-29T17:15:00.002+01:00

Friends, it's me back again, and boy am I tired. These babies really do take it out of you.

I can't tell you much about how they were born. I know, I know, I promised I'd remember and tell you, but the strange thing is, I can't. one minute the human was sitting talking to me on the floor. I wouldn't let her move a muscle. Every time she got up to try and organise things, I cried and cried for her till she had to sit back down with me again. Labour is scary. I knew I should be pushing, but I couldn't do it. I knew that something was wrong, but I couldn't tell anyone. I was terrified.

The human called the nice vet lady people who I don't like so much any more. She came to see me, and she had to check that I was dilating. Friends, do you know how they do that? They have to feel around inside your looloo! That's the polite term for it. The human tells me that's the word her family uses (they're weird) so that little kids won't come right out and talk about rude things in public.

Anyway, when the vet did this, I screamed my head off cuz I wasn't dilated and I can tell you something, it hurt. If it hadn't been the human's gentle, reassuring hands on my face, I'd have bit, but it's a mark of how far I've come that I only opened my mouth and screamed. When the human first got me, I'd have pulled no punches. Well, I wasn't dilated, and I was leaking out of my looloo too, and so they thought it best that I had something called a C Section. I don't know what this is, but when the vet lady people put me in a PTU and took me away, I was terrified! I was going with her, and my human wasn't coming! I can't tell you how scared that made me, but the vet lady people kept telling me it would be over quick and I'd be first on the list and wouldn't have to wait. First on what list?

When we got to the vet place, she took me into a room, out of the PTU and then... Well, then nothing. Blank. No memory. I came to a little later in a cage, and there were these three tiny little squeaking things beside me. I sniffed them. Smelled strange so I ignored them. I hurt. My yummy tummy was all sore, and even worse than that, they shaved all of my floof off! I was bald!

To cover the shame of that, I sat up so that only my floofy bits were on show. I started to clean the vet smell off of me, and then I felt something very, very strange. A small tugging was going on in my lower belly region, and you know, it felt uncomfortable and right all at the same time. I felt like I should lie down, so I did, but I don't know why. The tugging increased, and so did the squeaking from the moving things. Then a second gentle pulling started. In spite of myself, I felt my body relaxing. I looked down, and there were two of the little wrigglers, and they had their mouths around my nimples! That was what the tugging sensation was. I was too groggy to complain, so I just let them get on with it and wished that my human would come back and get me. I missed her so, so much.

She did eventually come back, and she took me home with her, but the white wrigglers came too. I wasn't too sure about this. They were kinda like mousies, and I know how upset my human was the last time there was a mousie in the house and I wouldn't kill it. I didn't want to kill these. I sorta liked them in a vague kind of way.

I was very gently placed in a soft bed when I got home. I was too tired to give thanks propperly, but I can do it now. Mom Trish sent the big, deep trays that my huan had lined with vetbed for me. Thank you, mom Trish! I watched in some fascination as the human very gently placed the wrigglers in with me, and made sure they were up against my yummy tummy. Strange. If they were mousies, she'd not have allowed them to get loose. But there seemed little danger of them running away. They didn't seem to be able to move propperly, and they all scrabbled at my yummy tummy as though searching for something.

"Those are your babies ,Tia," the human said some while later as she climbed into the pen with me where my bed was. She spent a lot of time cuddling my head, then fiddling around by my tummy. When she did, the tugging started again, and the squeaking stopped. She gave me a little mouse to cuddle under my chin, but I didn't know what to do with it, and anyway, it went wriggling back towards my tummy. I was just content to be home with the human.

Every time the little mousies squeaked, I felt an overwhelming urge to protect them. The only way I could think of to hide them was to lie on them, but this upset the human for some reason. She spent a lot of time soothing me, reassuring me that nobody wanted to take the little mousies away, and that I could keep them all to myself. Lots of times that day she reassured me, talked to me, cuddled me and told me that the tugging was ok and I needed to accept it. Eventually I felt calm enough to go to sleep with my head in the human's hand.

The human took us all to bed with her last night. She has another littler pen in there that she put us all into. I wasn't too bothered. I just wanted to sleep, but something about the mousies bothered me. I nudged one of them away from my yummy tummy and sniffed. It smelled like me now, and I didn't mind it as much . I gave it a friendly lick and it shrieked. I almost did too . I hadn't meant to hurt it! I stopped straight away, but when it stopped too, I decided to try again. The same thing happened, but now I knew I had to lick it all over. Maybe if I got rid of the last of the vet smell, the human would forget that the mousies came from the vets and I could keep them.

I washed all of my mousies all over from head to toe, but I didn't like it when yucky stuff came out of their back ends. I had to lick that all up cuz although it didn't smell like the vet, it didn't smell like me neither. I only washed them once, cuz I didn't want to have to do the cleaning chore again.

When the human looked in the pen this morning, she found me and three clean mousies. As she helped the biggest one to find a nimple to suck on, she told me again, "These are your babies, Tia". But I knew they weren't. My babies were stil inside me. I hadn't pushed them out. Still, if she was Ok with me adopting the mousies, then I was willing to give it a go.

For the next few hours, I pondered this strange phenomenon, but the more I looked at the mousies, the more I listened to them squeak, the more I wasn't sure. They sounded like kittens. now that they were clean, they even smelled like kittens. And there was the other fact that I couldn't feel my own kicking me any more. Could it be?

Friends, I'm still very confused about this all, but the human keeps telling me that yes, it could be, and in fact it is. She never lies to me, so I guess I'll have to believe her. She says the vet lady people cut a hole in my yummy tummy and took the babies out that way cuz I couldn't do it myself. Seems a bit weird to me though. I mean, they come out the same way they go in, or that's what my mummycat told me. But again I say that my human doesn't lie to me.

I have decided that they must be my babies, and I will adopt them and feed them. I have oodles of milk, but despite the fact that I have eight nimples, they all fight. If one is having a drink, the other two come and muscle in on them cuz they want some too. It's stupid cuz I have more than enough for three of them to have more than two each! But they all want the same one! The human says that she told you through Mom Trish that the girl mousie, ah, excuse me, kitten, was in a sack with pus in. Well, she's surviving superbly well and is gaining lotsa weight. She gained one and a half times normal daily weight yesterday, and is still vigorous today! The middle boy has gained loads too, but now your prayers are needed for the fattest mousie. he isn't gaining weight cuz he lets the others push him off the nimple too easily. He's a gentle little thing who seems to like snuggling and loving more than fighting, but he will need to fight if he's to survive. The human's friend expressed some of my milk for him yesterday so that he would get all my immunity, and she tube fed him this morning. The human will syringe him tonight with some extra milk if she feels that he hasn't gained again, but all day she's been fighting his battles, attaching him to a nimple and then keeping the others away for ten or fifteen minutes at a time so that he has a chance to get some mummy's milk instead of powdered stuff. We'll have to wait and see if it's enough though.

He got very cold today as well, so had to become what Mom Trish calls a booby baby. He got to cuddle down the human's top so that he could steal her heat and get warm enough to feed again. She says that they won't feed when they're cold, so it's really important. However, she's worried that all the handling is reducing my already fragile bond with the babies. I've been out of the nest three times today. Perhaps she's paranoid, cuz I usually go a few minutes after the babies start crying, but she says I'm either very relaxed and trusting, or not attached enough, as that is not normal behaviour. I do have a lot of cleaning to do though. I'm leaking icky stuff out my back end, and whenever I try to clean it in the pen, the babies scream at me cuz the milk bar has moved. I can't be dealing with it all the time. I have to have me time as well as baby time.

So, are there any of you that wouldn't mind babysitting for a bit? I could really do with the rest!

Now, I really must go off to the litter tray while these squealers are all asleep. Excuse me...

We have Kittens!

2011-06-28T18:41:00.000+01:00

Kitties!

Katnip Lounge Mommy here...

Tia has had her kittens!

Two whopping big boys (over 100 grams each) and a petite little girl (78 grams).

As you can see by the incision, Tia had a little trouble with her delivery...she was ready to go but the babies weren't coming, and then she started to have some creamy pus-type discharge; so off to the vet she went for a quick C-section!

Tia is home now, resting comfortably, and learning all about how to be a proper Mummy. The kittens are nursing, and Tia is eating for England...she ate a whole day's worth of food in ONE meal!

The only worry is the little girl kitten was in the sac that was filled with pus; so the hope is she didn't aspirate any into her lungs during the surgery.

Tia's Human is overjoyed to have Tia and her babes home, safe and sound. I bet she ends up sleeping in the kitten pen with all of them tonight! When I spoke with her on the phone I heard the tots wailing in the background for the milk bar, and they all have mighty sets of lungs, heh heh.

Please purr that Tia heals up quickly and that all the kittens stay healthy.

There are more pix to come later, when each one gets weighed...

Stay tuned!!

xx Trish

No Babies yet...

2011-06-26T16:54:00.000+01:00

Kitties!

I got a quick note from Tia's Human:

Temperature has dropped another 02 degrees. She's maintained it below 100 for the last 9 hours or so, so it really shouldn't be that long now. They say 12/24 hours is the length of time it normally takes, so fingers crossed and we'll have babies tonight or tomorrow... I feel like I've been saying that for a long time now!

Keep your paws crossed for kittens soon!

xx Katnip Lounge Mommy xx

The Tummy Full of Kittens!

2011-06-25T16:58:00.000+01:00

Kitties!!

It's the Katnip Lounge Mommy here, and I have exciting news!

Do you see this great big Tia tummy?

It is soon to get smaller!

Yes, Tia's Human has reported to me that Tia had dropped her mucus plug and will be starting labor shortly...fingers crossed!

Tia: I'm gonna be a Mommy, what a relief!

Stay tuned...I'll update as I get news from the maternity ward!

Cross your paws for a safe delivery for our first time Mama Cat.

xx Trish

The Birth

2011-06-24T00:01:00.001+01:00

So the day has arrived and kittens are due. But what should you be looking out for? How will you know when the queen has begun serious labour, and what should you do when she has?

As mentioned yesterday, the queen will drop her mucous plug when she is ready to birth. This announces the first stage of labour, and she could remain in this state for 12-24 hours. Not much happens visibly, but her cervix will be dilating in readiness to pass the kittens. She will most likely be over affectionate, either that or ignore everyone completely. They tend to extremes in this period, and it's often one of the first warning signs an owner has if they fail to notice the plug.

Second stage labour is also known as active labour, and for a very good reason, for it is now that the queen begins contractions, and will start to actively push to birth the kittens. It is now that she should be encouraged to enter and stay in the birthing box. Some cats wish to be left alone while others have been known to follow their chosen human from room to room, often with a kitten half born, hanging from them. The cat's wishes should be respected at this time, but rather than leave her, sit back and watch as help may be needed if problems arise.

Experienced queens can produce kittens as quickly as five minutes after contractions begin, but for a maiden, a first-timer, it commonly takes much longer. However, no cat should be allowed to actively push for any time greater than an hour without the production of a kitten. If this happens, a vet visit is in order.

About 40% of kittens are born tail and back legs first. In humans this would be grounds for a C section, but in cats, it's regarded as normal. As birthing begins in earnest, allow the cat to do as much as she can before stepping in. Kittens will be born in a sack, the consistency of which is like very thick egg membrane, you know, the stuff you get right next to the shell? Normally, the mother will begin to lick the kitten's face as soon as it is born, but if she does not do this, human intervension is necessary very quickly. The kitten inside is being deprived of oxygen and will need help to breathe. The sack should be broken with fingers around the baby's nose and mouth. Then the kitten needs to be rubbed vigorously with one of those facecloths we spoke of yesterday. In times gone by, it was suggested to swing the kitten gently to remove fluid from the lungs, but research has shown that this can lead to brain damage. It is now recommended to hold the kitten with its head lower than its body, and stimulate with rubbing in order to encourage the breath.

Each kitten will be born still attached to its placenta. The mother will pass this shortly after the kitten is born. She should chew the umbilical chord herself, but if not, this should be cut about 1 inch from the kitten's body after it has turned blue and blood has stopped flowing. This is normally about three minutes after birth. It is normal, and should even be encouraged, for the mother to eat her placentas. It provides a good source of nutrition for her. As disgusting as you may find it, it is the right thing for her to do. Placentas must be counted, and there should be one per kitten. If she retains one, she will need to visit the vet fairly urgently. Retained placentas rot and cause major, sometimes life-threatening infection. An injection of oxytosin will encourage the placenta to be passed.

If the cat has a large litter, she may tire in between kittens. It is permissible for her to sleep, sometimes for hours at a time between kittens, but only if she does not have any active contractions at the time.

Kittens should only be separated from mum if she is restless, upset or frightened and is in danger of standing on them. Where possible, they should be left with her. A kitten's whole drive once it has been born is to suckle, and when they do this, it stimulates the release of a hormone called oxytosin. Not only does this bring in the milk but it strengthens uterine contractions which means that the rest of the kittens will follow more quickly and easily. Mum will normally be more content with her babies with her, and the kittens will feel secure. They will also be able to maintain their body temperature by using mum's heat to stay warm.

Expect the cat not to use the litter tray for a day or two, and only to leave the nest to eat and drink. In the wild, it is paramount that she avoids detection by predators. Her babies are defenseless and easy pickings. Instinct tells her that the smell of her wee or poo might draw a predator to her, so she will hold them in for as long as possible. It is not a good idea to place the litter tray too close-by until this period has ended as it will potentially stress her to have her smell so strongly in the nest. That being said, some cats take security from this. Again, it's a case of whatever works.

As soon as kittens are born, weigh them, then record this weight in a chart. It is important to monitor the weight gain over the next few weeks, as this will tell you if a particular kitten needs topping up with KMR. If you are forced to hand feed a litter, it will be an exhausting process. Kittens need fed every two hours, and while that doesn't sound like much, weeks of broken sleep are terrible on the body.

Kittens can be handled from day one. Contrary to common misconception, the mother will not reject them simply because they smell of humans. Remember, she knows those humans and their smells, and realises that they pose no threat. Outsiders should not be permitted to handle the newborns as the unfamiliar scent can upset the mother. However, the earlier they are picked up and cuddled by family members, the quicker they will socialise and come to enjoy the contact. Initially, a kitten will scream and cry for its mother as it thinks the human is a predator. Because of this, they should only be handled for short periods. As time progresses, however, they will come to realise that you don't want to eat them for a mid morning snack, and will begin to appreciate that good things happen once you pick them up. Be respectful of the mother. If she comes running as soon as the baby squeaks, handle him near or in the pen so that she can see he is unharmed whilst being able to remain with the rest of the litter for comfort. If you are across the other side of the room and the little one is screaming, when she leaves the litter, they will call for her. This leads to a mum being pulled in two directions, and it will make her take the kitten from you to return it to the nest. This means shorter handling time for you and less socialisation for the kitten. When I handle young kittens, I do so almost under the mother's nose. Many of them will give a comforting lick to the shrieking baby to reassure him that he is not for supper, and while it rarely quiets them, it does indicate that she is happy with the handling.

So, kittens are born and with mum. The hard bit is now over... The harder bit has only just begun. That's all for my week of education, but I hope you've enjoyed what you have read, and perhaps even learned a thing or two. If this helps even one unsure fosterer, breeder, or unfortunate recipient of an oops litter, then I've done my job. I wanted you to see what is happening with Tia at the moment, and what will be happening here when I am unable to write during the birth. I really hope it's given you a window into the workings of a breeding household. Kittening is no simple business! Now all that remains to do is to wait, and it's that which I find the hardest. Will you all wait with me? It'd be nice to have the company!

Tia is due on Monday evening if she carries exactly to term. however, it is not uncommon for cats to birth at 63 days. if so, that's tomorrow! I'll let you know as soon as anything happens!

Preparing for Kittens

2011-06-23T00:01:00.002+01:00

Pregnancy can be a very exciting time, but it also brings with it a whole bundle of nerves, especially if you are a first timer. There are many preparations to be made and relatively little time to make them in. Arrangements range from very elaborate to almost too simple, but they do share commonalities.

The first thing to do as the end of the pregnancy approaches is to identify a quiet place for the cat to have her kittens, then change your mind once you've found the perfect spot, settling instead for the most inconvenient or awkward to get to place in the house, as no doubt, the queen will choose here. To be fair, many of them will settle where you've decided, especially with a little coaxing.

At the very least, a cardboard box should be placed in the spot that cat and owner have compromised on. This is normally sufficient for an oops litter, but if a person is breeding, it is more common to place a kittening box or pen here instead. This structure contains mum and babies securely and also serves to keep other cats out of the nesting place, something which mum is normally grateful for. Line the box with soft towels, but allow mum to arrange these to her own liking, i.e, try not to neaten them once she's pulled them around with her nesting.

Cats prefer dark, cave-like areas to birth in. In the wild, they seek out thick clumps of bushes or similar accommodation. To simulate this, cover the pen. Mine is draped in a sheet, then covered with towels with only the front left unobstructed. This enables an anxious mum to feel secure whilst in the nest, but to keep an eye on her bonded human which settles her anxiety.

Whether you're using a pen or a box, it's important to ensure that mum has a way out but the kittens do not. Babies crawl erratically with no clear idea of where they are going, and if they travel too far, they will not manage to find their way back to mum. A kitten cannot regulate its own body temperature for the first few weeks. In the first days it is blind and deaf. It finds mum by smell and through the vibrations of her purr, so if it travels too far, it has little chance of making it back. Not only will it grow hungry, but it is also at risk of fatal chilling. The tops of kittening pens can be left open to allow mum to jump in and out. Boxes can have openings cut in them high enough that kittens will not crawl over the top. If given free access, the queen can continue to interact with other members of the household, but be aware that this will permit other cats entry. If the queen is very stressed by this, it is often better to close the pen and give her solitude.

Providing a secure area is not enough however. As the birth approaches, certain equipment should be bought, gathered and stored in a kittening bag to have ready to hand when labour begins. Some people only store the bear minimum; towels, scissors and that's about it. I would not kitten with such a small kit, but many do, and some are successful. However, I will list what I carry and tell you what each thing is for.

human incontinence pads: These are far better than towels, as they actively soak up the mess produced during labour. These are layered in the birthing box. As kittens are born, soiled layers are peeled away to allow mum and babies always to lie on a clean area.
Small box: This is used if kittens need to be separated from the mother. It contains them safely.
Heating pad:A hot water bottle also works, but ensure it is no hotter than body temperature. Remember that kittens cannot maintain their body temperature. This is to keep them warm if separated from the mother during birthing.
Rough facecloths: These are for stimulating limp or lifeless babies. Rough ones are good for rubbing, as they simulate the action of a mother's tongue. They can mean the difference between life and death.
KMR, syringes and soft teats: KMR stands for kitten milk replacer. Syringes and teats are used along with KMR if the mother's milk fails to come in, or if she rejects her kittens and refuses to feed them. Hand rearing is very difficult and has a high mortality rate for kittens, so should only be a consideration if all attempts to encourage the mother to suckle them have failed.
Scales: These must weigh in 1g intervals, and are used to keep track of kittens. Babies should be weighed at the same time every day for the sake of consistency, as weights vary dramatically. A kitten should gain between 7-10 grams a day and should have just about doubled its birth weight in the first week of life. More weight gain is good, but less will mean that the kitten needs topping up (supplemental feeding with KMR) to keep him on track.
Iodine: This is to dab the end of the umbilical chords once they have been cut. It prevents any infection.
Sterile scissors. They are used to cut the chord, although it is better to do this with fingernails. A more ragged end leads to quicker healing.
Baby sterilizing tablets: These are used to keep syringes and teats clean. Kittens should be treated as though they were babies when it comes to infection control, as they are just as prone to illness.
Nutri drops: A high glucose, high calory liquid. Nutri drops can be given to a struggling mother or a very week kitten. They provide the burst of energy need to push out another baby or to latch on for that all important suckle.
Various homeopathic remedies: Secale and Caulophyllum to increase contractions in the case of a queen who is having difficulties with labour. Pulsatilla to keep contractions coming at regular intervals. Urtica to bring in the milk if she produces nothing. Carbo Veg to revive blue or still-born kittens. Arnica to ease the bruising experienced during labour.
Baby wipes: For cleaning up mum once she's done. This is not necessary, but she is usually so tired by that point that she will appreciate the help.

As you can see, it's quite an extensive kit, but as you can also see, a lot of it is quite necessary if you wish to ensure a safe delivery for mum and babies.

Next, you need to speak to other members of the household about the birth itself. Select who will attend carefully. Now is not the time to invite friends, family and neighbors round to watch, as this will stress the labouring mum. Limit this to those who live in the house, and/or a mentor, and experienced person who has agreed to come and help you with the first birth. This source of knowledge can be invaluable, as problems may arise that only they know the solution to. A mentor should be sought as soon as pregnancy is confirmed.

Be aware that still births are quite common during kittening. Think carefully about whether you wish children to see this. Watching the miracle of new life being born is an incredible experience, but to watch it die, sometimes in your very hands, is one to break the heart of even the toughest person. It may be too much for a child to deal with emotionally. It may also be difficult for a small child to remain quiet and calm throughout labour, as it can take quite a long time to complete.

Watch the mother for signs that her time is approaching. In the week leading up to the birth, she will begin nesting behavior; pawing at carpet, seeking dark, quiet places to rest. She will also self-groom much more. In the last few days, her belly will drop and kitten movement will lessen. They are tightly packed at this stage, and there is little room for acrobatics. As her body lines them up in readiness for the birth, that space becomes even more limited.

About 12-24 hours before the birth, the mother's temperature will also drop from 102 to below 100 degrees. This is a sure sign that birth is imminent. You may also notice a small plug of mucous on her fur or on your floor. This is quite normal. It is the vaginal plug, and signifies the first stage of labour has begun.

Tomorrow I will talk about the birth itself; how to know when second stage labour is beginning, what to do when it does, when to call the vet and what to do once kittens are born.

How to know if a cat is pregnant

2011-06-22T00:01:00.002+01:00

Before we move on to the next post, I'll give you the answer to yesterday's question as promised.

Tia, a seal tortie point, carries dilute and chocolate. The dad, a cream point, does not carry chocolate. This means that all dominant coloured kittens, red, seal or tortie, will carry dilute. All kittens will also be colourpoint. Any of the kittens could carry chocolate, but only a DNA test will tell us which ones, as none of them will show the colouring.
Girls: red, cream, seal tortie, blue-cream tortie.
Boys: Seal, blue, red, cream.

Now that that's out of the way, on to pregnancy.

The question that I see over and over again on forums, websites and groups is this. "What are the signs that a cat is pregnant?" There are certain signs which, when you know what you are looking for, are unmistakable at confirming a cat's pregnancy. Let's start with the mating.

When a cat is in season, she is said to be calling. Anyone who has lived with a calling cat will know why the name is so apt, for they do indeed call, usually very loudly and incessantly. The call varies in length from cat to cat, but normally lasts between five and seven days. A cat will become unusually vocal, will roll around on the floor and often become much more affectionate. One of the very obvious signs of calling comes when she lies on her stomach on the floor, tucks her back feet under her and lifts her rear into the air. Touch her lower back and her tail will move to one side and her back feet will tread in place. This is her way of presenting herself to the male, and any red blooded tom will not ignore such a blatant invitation. I don't need to explain what happens next, right? Most owners don't know that their cat has mated for sure or when they've done it. If the girl is an outdoor puss, the owner may have no idea that mating has happened until pregnancy is well established. If an indoor cat escapes while in call, they will have more of a rough idea, but timings will still not be specific. That's why other signs are essential to confirm a cat's pregnancy.

One of the earliest signs anyone will notice is what breeders term as pinking up. This normally happens at about three weeks gestation. If the cat's nipples are examined, they will often be slightly enlarged, and a nice, rosy pink colour. It's very noticeable when they do pink up, but a few cats never show this sign, and others don't exhibit it until much later in the pregnancy. First time mothers, or maiden queens, will normally pink spectacularly.

At four weeks of gestation, an experienced vet will be able to feel the babies when they palpate the queen's stomach. They are about the size of walnuts now, and easier to count than later in the pregnancy when they are more squashed together.

The fifth week sees the queen begin to eat more food and gain weight. She should be fed a high quality complete diet, preferably wet and preferably kitten food as this has extra nutrition added to it that her growing babies will need. If the cat will not eat wet, then don't worry too much, but it is the first choice if tolerated. She may also experience morning sickness during the 3-5 week period. This is very normal.

At seven weeks, there can be no doubt. The cat is fat and kitten movement can now be felt. There is an easy way to tell the difference in a fat cat and one who is pregnant, as a pregnant tummy bulges out to the sides rather like saddlebags, whereas an over-weight cat's tummy will simply hang down. The queen will have a huge appetite to cope with the demand of the growing babies, but will probably go off her food in week eight due to the over-crowding of her abdomen. If any cat exhibits these signs, then they are definitely pregnant.

Average cat gestation lasts for 65 days, but birth can happen anywhere from day 63 to day 70. This is quite a large window bearing in mind the relatively short pregnancy time, but it is proposed that the time period is so great due to most owners not being aware of the mating date of the cat. Vets have a hard time setting an accurate date based on the pregnant cat's condition, so this somewhat alters averages and allows for much more variation.

Vets have a number of tools which can be used to diagnose pregnancy. The first, and least stressful for the cat, is that already mentioned; palpation. Using their hands, the vet feels the cat's stomach, searching for an enlarged uterus and the small uterine swellings which indicate kittens. However, unless a vet is very experienced, there's a chance they may mis-diagnose. Some cats have been thought to be pregnant when they are simply constipated. Others show no sign of uterine swelling only to produce a large litter a few weeks later. This test should be used as evidence in the case for or against pregnancy rather than the definitive answer.

Vets can also perform an ultrasound exam. This will definitely confirm pregnancy if the cat carries kittens, but it does not allow accurate fetal aging or counting of a litter size. This is because babies are aged by looking at their crown rump length. They are curled up in the stomach, making this very difficult to measure. Babies also curl around internal organs, hide behind one another and generally try to avoid detection, so although pregnancy is confirmed, ultrasound will most likely predict a much smaller litter size than is present. It requires shaving the cat's abdomen which many do not like.

If the pregnancy is more advanced, a vet may choose to x-ray the mother cat in order to accurately predict litter size, and more closely estimate the age of the babies and the date birthing will take place. However, this is not normally a routinely used diagnosing method. For one thing, calcification of the bones, the stage necessary for babies' bones to show up on the film, doesn't happen until much, much later in the pregnancy, by which point it is clear without an x-ray that the cat is in fact pregnant. For another, x-rays do pose a risk to the unborn babies, one which is normally not worth taking. it is used mostly when a queen has had difficulties in the past, or if a breeder absolutely must know the size of the litter to expect.

X-ray allows more accurate fetal aging as it defines the crown rump bone structure very clearly. As this is on a physical film, it can be measured with a tape measure, and the size will correspond to a certain gestational period. In this way, the birthing time can be more closely predicted. The size of the litter can be seen by counting skull bones on the film.

There is one last test which can be used. This is a hormone test, and requires some of the cat's blood to run. however, very few labs perform the test, mainly because it is not normally demanded. It is used in early pregnancy to confirm that the queen carries kittens.

Most people would never dream of using ultrasound, x-ray or hormone tests, and often, the palpation combined with physical signs that the cat exhibits are enough to accurately predict the presence or absence of a pregnancy. However, if a cat has escaped and mated, and kittens were not planned, it is worthwhile considering having her spayed. Pregnancy carries enormous risks which can claim the life of a mother and some or all of the babies. Treatment for illness or birth problems can be very expensive. Even raising healthy, problem-free kittens is a very costly business. When considering whether to allow the cat to have kittens, one must also come to terms with the harsh reality that you might exchange your girl's life for the new ones.

If the father of the kittens is not known, the queen and/or the kittens may have contracted numerous diseases. FIV and feline leukemia are very real possibilities, and queens should be tested for these as soon as possible. If the father is known and vaccinated, this is less of a risk.

In short, breeding is not for the faint-hearted, and should be something very carefully considered before embarked upon. If the breeding of kittens does not contribute something to the breed in question, then it would be much better to spay the girl and enjoy her as a much loved pet. However, if she can better the breed somehow, then kittens should be enjoyed and cherished as much as possible.

Tomorrow I'll talk about preparing for the arrival of kittens. What sort of area will the cat need to give birth in? What equipment will you need? Will you have to help? What if things go wrong and how will you actually know they're going wrong? Until then.

Genetics: Part 2

2011-06-21T08:01:00.000+01:00

Colour prediction

Ok, now to colour prediction at last. There are two ways to do this. The first is to look at a cat’s pattern and work through it until you reduce the genes to the dominant red or black (remember, every pattern is made from these colours). This is called de-construction. The second way is to take the cat and begin with black or red, adding the modifier genes until you come up with the existing pattern. This is often what we breeders have to do to work out the possibilities for colour and pattern from specific matings. I will give you examples of each and talk you through how to do them. I’ll start with de-construction, as it’s probably a bit easier. I’ll concentrate on tabbies, colourpoints and bicolours as these are easier to get to grips with.

Deconstruction

1. A blue tabby. First of all, remove the tabby gene. This leaves you with a blue cat. Then remove the dilute to leave black.

2. A cream and white bicolour. Remove the bicolour to leave a cream, then remove the dilute to leave red.

3. A blue tortie colourpoint. Remove the colourpoint to leave a blue-cream tortie. Remove the dilute to leave tortie.

4. A white. Remove white to get… Anything is possible. Remember, white masks any colour or pattern combination.

5. A lilac tabby colourpoint. Remove the tabby to leave a lilac colourpoint. Remove the colourpoint to leave a lilac. Remove the chocolate to get blue. Remove blue to get black.

Construction

1. A cream tabby. Add dilute to red to get cream. Add tabby to cream to get cream tabby.

2. A blue and white bicolour. Begin with black. Add dilute to get blue, then bicolour to get a blue and white bicolour.

3. A blue-cream tabby colourpoint. Begin with tortie, red and black. Add dilute to get blue-cream. Add tabby to get a blue-cream tabby. Add colourpoint to get a blue-cream tabby point (also called a blue tortie tabby point).

4. White. Start with black or red, and add anything you like. As long as you finish with adding white, the cat will appear white, no matter its genetic colouring or patterning.

5. A red chocolate colourpoint. (Remember, chocolate only modifies the black gene. This cat would actually be seen as a red colourpoint). Start with red. Add chocolate to get red chocolate (this will appear to the eye as still a red cat). Then add colourpoint to get a red choc colourpoint. Note: The cats would be classed by registering bodies as red colourpoints despite carrying two copies of the chocolate gene.

Notice that in the last examples, I have avoided black colourpoints. This is because, when a cat is pointed, the black gene is called by a different name. It is called a seal. It is the same gene and behaves the same way, but is just known as a different name.

The challenge

As a breeder or owner of a pregnant cat, you will need to be able to generate colour/pattern possibilities based on the pattern and colour of the mother and father. To this end, I am going to leave you with the colours and patterns involved in Tia’s mating. I’d love to see if you can come up with the colours of kittens she might produce. Do remember though that torties or blue-creams are usually only female. Also remember that a tortie mother can pass on either black or red to her offspring, while the father can only pass on one colour.

Tia is a seal tortie colourpoint carrying dilute and chocolate. Remember, seal means black. So in simple terms, she is a tortie colourpoint carrying dilute and chocolate. The father is a cream colourpoint who does not carry chocolate. So, what colour kittens will she produce? For the really enterprising among you, I’d like to know whether they will carry chocolate/dilute as well. I’ll tell you the answer in tomorrow’s post. For those of you that read regularly, you may already have seen it!

To help you, I will outline the mating combinations of Tia’s parents.

Mother: blue tortie tabby carrying colourpoint.

Father: chocolate colourpoint.

De-construction:

Mother: remove tabby to leave blue tortie, and dilute to leave tortie.

Father: Remove colourpoint to leave chocolate, and chocolate to leave black.

Combinations:

All kittens will carry dilute, as the mother has two copies and the dad has none.

Therefore, blues, creams or blue-creams are not an option, because no kitten will get two copies of the dilute gene.

All kittens will carry colourpoint as the dad has two copies. Colourpoint kittens are a possibility if the mother passes on her single copy to offspring.

If the mother carries two tabby genes, all offspring will be tabby. I know Tia’s mother did not, which means tabby is a possibility as she only carries one copy of this dominant gene.

Girl kittens: black, black tabby, seal colourpoint, seal tabby colourpoint, tortie, tortie tabby, seal tortie colourpoint, seal tortie tabby colourpoint.

Boys: black, black tabby, seal colourpoint, seal tabby colourpoint, red, red tabby, red colourpoint, red tabby colourpoint.

Note that boys are not torties, and that boys can be solid red where girls cannot. This is because the father always passes a black gene. Girls, because of their x chromosomes can express both black and red at the same time, but for the boys, it is the mother who has the final say on colour, hence the ability for her red to be expressed. This is because it is the mother who passes on the X chromosome and the father the Y. Remember that the colour genes are on the leg of the chromosome missing from the y.

I hope this has been helpful, and sorry it’s been so long and confusing!

Genetics: Part 1

2011-06-20T06:38:00.000+01:00

The human here. As Tia mentioned yesterday, all this week, I’ve been allowed to post on her blog to address some things that I hope will help others if they ever find themselves in a position where they have a mum cat to look out for. I really hope this week’s posts help even one person.

So, your cat is pregnant. One of the most common questions people ask is what colour the kittens will be. This all comes down to genetics, and they are complex enough that I’m going to split them into two posts. I’ll start with the basics today.

What is a gene?

In its simplest form, a gene is a part of your DNA. It is a chain of different molecules which code for the production of a protein in the body. These proteins and coding strands are responsible for many things from hair colour to height, skin tone and even weight to some extent (no, that can’t be used as a valid reason to go eat chocolate!). In short, genes are the things that make you look the way you do, and often, have the health problems that you experience. They are passed to you from your mother and your father. In this post, I’ll be looking at genes specifically linked to coat colour and pattern, as these are the best understood so far in the cat world.

How do we get genes?

At the point of fertilization, a sperm from the father and an egg from the mother join. Each of these cells carries genetic, DNA information which binds together when the cells join. DNA, and therefore genes, are housed on things called chromosomes. Most are x-shaped, one half being formed from the mother’s DNA and the other from the father’s. Genes therefore have a pair partner on the opposite strand of the chromosome. However, whereas a female possesses all X shaped chromosomes, a male has one in each cell that is a Y shape. It is missing a leg. This means that genes on the opposite corresponding leg have no pair partner. Cat coat colour genes exist on this chromosome, which explains why girls only are torties. Boys can only express one colour at a time due to not having a pair partner in the DNA for the colour gene. Those male torties that do exist are sterile. This is because they not only have an x-y chromosome as normal males do, but they have an XXY set-up, meaning they have an extra, unwanted chromosome. This has the added effect of making them sterile.

Dominant and Recessive/dilute

Genes come in two types. These are called dominant and recessive. Dominant genes do what their name suggests; they dominate. Just one dominant gene will mean that a cat exhibits the trait linked to that gene. Recessives cannot manifest alone. There needs to be two recessives in order for the physical trait to be noticed. To understand genes, you need to remember that they always come in pairs, one from the mother and one from the father. When it comes to coat colour, the recessive gene commonly seen is called a dilute gene. This is because it dilutes the true colour of the coat to form something else.

A person can be said to be a carrier of a recessive, but not a dominant. Why? Because carriers possess the gene, but do not show the physical trait. Remember, if a person, or a cat, has a dominant gene, they will show that trait even if they only have one dominant. So, if they have a dominant, they cannot carry the gene because they show the trait. The same is true if they possess two recessives. However, if they have only one recessive, then they will possess the gene but not the trait, so can be called a carrier. This will be important when we come on to predicting colour possibilities in cats.

Speaking of cats, let’s get to colour. Believe it or not, there are only two true colours in cats. Despite the profusion of different coloured coats and combinations out there, they all come from only two colours. Those are black and red. Every coat colour’s genetics can be traced back to either black or red. But how? That’s what I’m going to try and explain. And that’s when it gets complicated.

Dilutes, the recessives remember, are very important in coat colour in cats, as they allow deviation from the blacks and reds. Black and red are dominant, but the dilutes, even though they are recessive, are able to work in tandem with this dominant to alter it. If a cat has the dominant gene for black, but also possesses two dilute genes, then instead of black, their coat will turn blue. Likewise, if another cat has the dominant for red, two dilutes will work with the red gene to produce a cream coat.

But you’ve seen cats that show black and red together, haven’t you? Or cats who show blue and cream? Well, that’s very common. These cats are called torties and blue torties/blue-creams. Most of them are female, but a very small percentage can be male. However, because colour genes are sex linked, any tortie male is sterile and can never reproduce. Females exhibit black and red or the dilute forms of them due to having two x chromosomes. So although the two are dominant, they can both exist in harmony given their position on chromosomes. If a boy had two x chromosomes, he could do the same thing.

So, by the logic we’ve already explored, you couldn’t have a cat with red and cream in its coat. Why? Because it takes two dilute genes to make cream, and if you have two dilutes, they cancel out the red. Similarly, you couldn’t have a cat with black and blue. The same is true when you look at red and blue or cream and black. I hope you understand why. Remember, two recessives/dilutes code for cream and blue, so when they’re there, they cancel out the red and black. Blue-cream exists together because both are dilute colours. Red and black exist together because both are dominant colours.

Chocolate

Just to complicate things further, there’s another way that colours can vary. Well, there’s more than one, but let’s keep it simple. Chocolate is rare, and is an alteration of the black dominant gene.

Ok, I lied when I said we’d keep it simple, because chocolate isn’t. It’s the interaction between a dominant and a recessive which can also be altered by a dilute. Confused? I was for a long time. Basically, chocolate is a recessive gene. That means, as with the dilute, that two copies of chocolate must exist before the cat can have a chocolate colour visible on its coat. One copy alone makes the cat a chocolate carrier. However, here’s where things get extra tricky. Chocolate, although it is a recessive which will modify only the black dominant gene, can itself be modified by that old friend, the dilute. If a cat has two copies of chocolate and two dilutes, then it makes lilac. Obviously, if a cat only has one dilute then chocolate still wins. If it has only one chocolate, then the dilute will act on the dominant coat colour, red or black.

Ready for more complication? Chocolate cannot impact or modify the red gene, so if you have a red boy or girl, they can have two copies of the chocolate gene and not show it. They can also have two copies of the dilute and still not show chocolate or lilac, although in this case, the base colour of the coat would be cream, not red (remember, red plus two dilutes =cream).

White

Although this isn’t exactly a colour, it is almost like a trump card, for if copies of a white gene exist, they mask all other colours. So even if a cat possesses the genetic make-up to be a tortie, it will still appear white due to the masking properties of this gene. Even if only one copy exists, the cat will still be white. This is the ace of spades when it comes to colours!

So, to recap

Black and red are dominant, so only one copy is necessary to see a physical trait presented.

Dilute is recessive. If only one copy exists, a cat is a dilute carrier. If two copies exist, black cats become blues, red cats become creams, and tortie cats become blue-creams.

Chocolate is a recessive gene which only modifies the black dominant. Any reds with two copies of the chocolate gene will remain red but are called red chocolates. Two copies of the gene on a black cat will make it a chocolate. One copy will make any cat a chocolate carrier.

The dilute modifies chocolate, if two copies exist, to become lilac.

White is the trump gene, masking all other colours. Any cat with even one copy of the white gene will appear as all white. Any cat with two copies of the gene will consistently produce offspring who are all white.

Ok, now that we have that sorted, we do, don’t we? It’s time to move on to patterns.

Patterns

Colourpoint is a recessive gene, so two copies are necessary for a cat to be pointed.

Tabby is a dominant, so only one copy is necessary for tabby to become the pattern.

Bicolour is also dominant. When one copy of the gene is present, a black cat becomes a black and white bicolour, a red cat a red and white bicolour, and a tortie a calico. Remember that with the influence of the dilute, you can also get blue and white bicolours and cream and white. If a cat has two copies of the gene, it will be mostly white and will be called a van.

Shaded/smoke/shell: This too is dominant. One copy alone makes a black cat a black smoke, a red cat a red smoke and a tortie a tortie smoke. The smoke gene varies in its expression though, producing something called variable penetrance. This basically deals with the length of the hair shaft that the colour extends to. Smokes have a hair shaft that is mostly coloured, but with a white undercoat. When the colour extends 50% down the shaft, the cat is a shaded rather than a smoke. Some cats have colour just on the tips of the shaft, and these are called shells.

There is one final pattern, silver/golden, but it is quite a complex one to explain given that it is a combination of three genes working together. If any of you wish to know more, please write me privately and I’ll direct you to an informative article to read.

Sleepy Sunday

2011-06-19T20:41:00.000+01:00

Friends, as my pregnancy progresses, I find myself wanting to sleep more and more. The only problem is that I can't! Why? Cuz my babies have been injected with wiggly worms that make them keep moving all the time. One baby has gotten itself into a real comfy position next to my ribs, and when it kicks, it plays football with the bottom one. This is guaranteed to make me get up from a comfy position and roll around or walk a little to try and ease the discomfort and settle the baby so that I can go back to sleeping. I'm spending a lot of time on my back now. I find that this alters the position of the wrigglers inside me and gives me a few moments of kick free peace. It doesn't last long though. All those babies weigh a lot, and that weight presses on my organs when I'm that way up. That isn't too comfy either, so I have to keep rolling.

I'd gone off my food a little in the last few days too. This isn't uncommon for a mummycat with a yummy tummy stuffed full of babies. There simply isn't room in there for a big meal. however, the human knows that everything I eat is going to my babies. Even though I have a belly the size of a small whale, she can still easily feel my backbone and pelvis, so she knows it's very important for me to keep eating. She got out the really special treats, the ones I'd do anything for, and she's been crumbling them on the top of my stinky goodness. They're freeze-dried chicken and they crumble to powder which makes the food smell and taste so good that I can't ignore it. Those babies just have to move over and make room, cuz it's not staying in the bowl! So much for not eating...

My safe place has now been augmented by an upside down cardboard box with a hole cut in the front for me to go in and out. It's great in there, very dark and private and cosy. She's set one up in the bedroom for me too after she caught me trying to nest under the bed, but I haven't bothered with that one yet. I prefer to spend most of my time hanging out on the towel she's put on top of the kittening pen. It's comfy up there, and I can watch the world go by whilst guarding my safe place. She says she'd rather I nested, but she's not worried. On the pen or in it. Either's good enough for her until babies come along.

My belly gets bigger by the day, and even the human can easily feel baby movement now. The little footballer even managed to kick her in the stomach the other day when we were cuddling. She found this highly amusing. My ribs did not.

There's almost only seven days to go now, and I fear I may have passed my last peaceful weekend for a long, long time to come. The human's having silly nightmares about the litter, that something will go wrong when I'm delivering. I'm not worried though. What will be will be. Dogman came this week and took some pictures of the yummy tummy, so as soon as he emails them to the human, I'll get her to put them up here.

For the rest of this week, I've asked her to put up some educational posts. We're going to look at genetics, how to prepare for the arrival of kittens, how to help your cat during birthing, and how to care for mum and babies once they have been born. The genetics alone is massive, so will probably take up two posts, but we hope it will be helpful for some peoples who find themselves with a pregnant cat. I'll pop in from time to time to give you updates if anything happens, but this last week is likely to be long and tedious and very uncomfortable. Thank cod it's not stupidly hot here too, that's all I can say!

I have to go to see our nice vet people tomorrow. She's going to cut my nails and probably have a feel of the yummy tummy, as she's excited too about babycats. She'll then show my human how to take my temperature, and that I'm not looking forward to. It's important to take in the last week though. When birth is close, it will drop within 12 hours. The human's breeder friend is coming down to help us if we need it, so that gives the human an indication of when to call her to come. It's a loss of dignity for me though, and i intend to put up a tremendous fight whenever I see that thermometer thingy coming! She may be able to placate me with lotsa treats though... Who says I'm not shallow!

Anyway, friends, I hope you enjoy the week of education. Think of me as I grow fatter, eh? Soon, very soon, there'll be lots of little me's running around. I can't wait!

Kittens and weddings and plane birds, oh my!

2011-06-16T18:29:00.000+01:00

At last, friends, it's time to update you all propperly! My human says this post is gonna be hard to write, cuz my safe place is in the way and it's disrupting the signal of her wireless keyboard to the computer box. I'll tell you all about it, shall I?

My safe place is a kittening pen. It's mesh on all sides so that I can see out when I want to. It's nice and big and made of wood framing. The bottom is a solid floor lined in a soft plastic lino. It's cushioned, so I could lie on it without any bedding if I needed to. Of course I'd never need to cuz my human has made it all soft in there, but babies crawl, and they sleep where they fall when they're tired, so it keeps it nice and comfy for them. She's put some huge fluffy towels in there for me cuz next to her fleecey sweatshirt and dressing gown, she knows these are my favourite things to lie on. She's gone one better though.

She got a massive quilt cover which she draped over the top and sides of the pen. Then she got another of those big towels and put it over the top of the cover. Now, not only is it comfortable to lie on top of the pen as well as inside, but inside is all dark and cave-like for me so that I feel safe. I think it'd be a good place to hide my babies away. She's left the front and a little of the sides uncovered so I can still see out. The door at the front is open so I can come and go easily, and the top is also open. Most of this is covered, but there's a small square where I can jump in and out. She's put my scratchy post with the platform near this so I can jump on there and then into the pen. She says this is what I'll have to do when I have babycats, as if she leaves the door open, they're likely to crawl out and get lost. What do you think? Do you think babycats would be safe here, or should I carry on trying to nest behind the TV where I know she doesn't want me? It would almost be worth doing it just for this!

So, my human's trip to Alaska. Where to start? She said she would update you herself, but in typical human style, she didn't. She says it was hard and slow to access the blog with her little tiny man in a box, the one she calls Laptop. I say that's still no reason not to post.

The plane bird ate her just as I said it would, and just like I told you, it spat her out in Seattle, forcing her to beg another one to take her the last bit to Alaska. I told you she had lots in her suitcase that would make him not want to take her the whole way, and I wasn't joking! She did get there eventually though. my human doesn't like being eaten for a long time by plane birds, so she was mighty glad to get there. She was also super glad to see Bug and his family.

She didn't do tons while she was there, but she didn't mind either. She says that the time to relax sat well with her. Bug's mummypeople cooked her super good dinners though, and she got to try lots of strange foods that peoples in this country don't have like Corn dogs and quessadillas (think that's how you write it) and lots of different sweeties (they call it candy). She got to eat cheese curds again too which she loves so much that she had to go back again and again for more of them.

She says they also went back to the gold mine that she had visited last time she was there. She found a lot of gold in the dirt, and Bug, Bug's step-sister and her little girlkitten gave my human all the gold they found too! She told them she's saving a little every time she goes there, and eventually she'll have it made into a small piece of jewelery. Speaking of jewelery, she bought a bit while she was there. It's a beautiful gold nugget that has been put on a chain, and she loves it very, very much.

They did something even more exciting than that though. They went to a real, real big pet shop! And you know what she bought for me? She bought kitten milk just in case my babies needed feeding up a little, in case I don't have enough milk for them, but that's not the cool part. She also bought Da Bird. the real Da Bird! I like it a lot. This one I can really wrassle with when I catch it and it still doesn't break. I nearly exhausted myself totally when I tried to catch it when she brought it out for me after she got home. I love, love, love that thing!

The human also spent time with Bug's family. His mummypeople is such a good cook, and his step-dad is lotsa fun too. His step-sister came over a lot and brought her two kittens, a boy and a girl. The girl is older, but the boy is way cuter. He sang her lots and lots of songs and even taught her the tickle song which him and his mummypeople made up. That meant that he got to tickle the human while singing it, but she did it right back to him too! She recorded him singing so that she could remember it even when he grows up. She's been singing it to me, but I keep telling her that the yummy tummy is not for tickling, cuz the babies go crazy when she does. I also tell her that the right to give kissies is not, in fact, a right, but an earned privilage. I think all the kissies the little boykitten gave her when he was tickling her turned her soft. This she of course ignores as she plants kissies on the babies.

My human can now feel the babies kicking a lot. There's one that we both think is a tortie like me, cuz that one kicks the most and the hardest. The human is sure she felt all four feet going at one point this morning. I'm more than sure, cuz it was kicking at my poor ribs!

I'm quite uncomfortable today. The babies are kicking hard and I can't rest for long. I think it's about time they came out of me, but the human says I have to keep them for another 11 days to let them grow a little more. Well, aren't they big enough already? The human now thinks I might possibly have more than three, cuz I'm so big. Even though I am not even eight weeks pregnant yet, I am already bigger than Phoebe, and she had five! She's not sure though, as she can only feel three distinct movement patterns in my yummy tummy, and I'm not telling how many I'm growing inside me. I did tell you I'd work hard on growing a big yummy tummy for the human while she was away though, and I've certainly done that!

It took her a massive 38 hours to travel from Alaska to Ireland, and this time it took four plane birds to get her all the way home. She says she never wants to travel that long again. She was so tired when she finally got there that she was doing stupid things like bursting into tears for no reason. She was even like that at the wedding the next day.

The wedding went so well. The bride was gorgeous, and the groom, her cousin, was the most handsome groom ever! My human does admit to being somewhat biased though. He's her cousin after all. He is deaf, and had brought a lot of his deaf friends along. He and his new wife hired an interpretor to stand at the front and sign so that they all could hear the talk noise that the peoples were making. My human thought that was a very nice touch. Glen also spoke all of his own speeches rather than signing them, something which is very hard for him to do. He doesn't speak very well and he knows it. Talking is a great effort for him and also an embarrassment cuz he worries what peoples will think of his funny noises. But he stood in front of everyone and told his wife how much he loved her. It would be fair to say my human had such a bad case of leaky eyes that she used up all the tissues in the place. That cousin is the closest to her in so many ways. They were born only two months apart, and they are the only two cousins who both share a disability. Sure there are many more in their family, but they were the only two in that generation. They looked out for each other growing up, she speaking for him when he couldn't, he taking her places that she couldn't go on accounta her broken eyes. She's so glad that he's happy now with his new wife. They go off to Sri Lanca for their honeymoon tomorrow.

So that's it for my human's trip. She really enjoyed it, but she loved getting home to me too. As much as I'll most likely live to regret this statement, I'm enjoying having her back, and I'm glad she won't be going away for a long time!

oh speaking of babies, even though we weren't, phoebe and her new family are doing well, although the mummypeople thinks she may have a temperature today. The human has advised taking her to the vet, but I don't know whether they will or not. Mom Trish, don't worry. We definitely won't we seeing the same vet! For one thing, we choose better, and for another, she livs in Ireland and I am in England. Thank goodness! I'm so glad that a lot of you found the post educational. I'll remember everything about when my babycats are born so that I can tell you all that too! I'll also do a few genetics posts this week and one on the things in my human's kittening bag if you like. Would you all like to see that?

My human says thank you to everyone who hoped she'd feel better today. She is, in fact, feeling a little more like herself. She says the pain killers are now working, but I say it's all thanks to the attentive nursing I've been doing. Cat spit works wonders!

Phoebe's Family

2011-06-15T18:17:00.000+01:00

Friends, I'm afraid our update today will be short and sweet. My human has been very, very sick with a sore tummy, has taken way more pain killers than she normally does, and is too tired from throwing up with the pain and blissed with the meds to write much for me. I'm sorry about that, and I promise I'll get to more interesting things tomorrow or late rin the week!

The only reason I could get her to write at all was cuz I shouted and shouted till she thought I might be going into early labour (Isn't she paranoid? I think I'll start calling her Marvin. Eternal smoochies to any of you who get the reference!). I wasn't, but I wanted to make her think it, cuz then she thought about Phoebe from yesterday and her babycats. That, as I had hoped, made her remember that she'd promised you an update.

In total, Phoebe now has five babycats, one white with cream paws, face and tail, two black with a white paw, one that looks like a tiger, and another that's a little tortie, or so says the mummypeople. They had to take her in to see the vet peoples who are shockingly ignorant when it comes to birthing. Phoebe wasn't passing enough chord to let the mummypeople cut it easily, and instead of giving her oxytosin straight away, the vet lady people advised the mummypeople to pull gently on the chord to ease out the placenta. Well, you don't do that ever, as she found out, as when you do, it tears the mummycat. Hardly surprising when you figure that the placenta is still attached to the wall of the uterus and will let go only when the mum makes an effort and goes with her contractions. Phoebe wasn't. Thankfully, the mummypeople was pulling real gently and as soon as she saw the first drops of blood she stopped, but that could have been real, real bad. The fourth baby was still attached when Phoebe pushed out a fifth, and it was then that she got took to the vet.

They cut the chord on the fifth one, but she didn't pass the placenta. Again, they showed their ignorance by telling the mummypeople that Oxytosin, although it would make her pass the placenta, would be painful for her, and the increased contractions would kill any remaining kittens. Well duh, stupid vet people, how do you think kittens get born in the first place? It ain't by relaxing! Instead, they opted for a course of preventative antibiotics to make sure that she couldn't get sick if she didn''t pass the placenta. If it was me they'd done that to, the human would be filled with dread. She tried to explain this to the mummypeople, but by that point it was too late and the antibiotics had been given.

So Phoebe is at home with her babies. Me and the human will wait to see how things develop. Three babies remained attached to mum with no slack in the chord, and the first born actually got tangled in its chord and mum did nothing to help. The second born was the only one in this litter who won't be at signifficant risk of abdominal hernea due to pulling on the chord.

Why do I tell you all these things, negative as they are? For a lot of reasons actuallly. Phoebe, at nine months old, was too young to be a mum, and made no effort to clean, de-bag or chew the chords on kittens. She didn't have the reserves necessary to complete a delivery due to being too skinny in my opinion (they didn't know they had to feed her higher quality food, and more of it, while she was pregnant). Four out of five kittens may have life threatening health issues in the near future. The mum may also face the same risk through infection. Lack of preparedness and being informed led to the lives of five cats being put unnecessarily at risk, and to the addition of five mostly unwanted kittens into the already over-crowded kitten world. The family now find themselves having to look after a large litter, a sick mum and pay all the expenses, and they're not rich. I tell you these things to illustrate how important it is to have your cat spayed or neutered if you're not breeding to a specific end or for a certain purpose. It's so, so important. I'm also telling you this cuz I know the human needs to rant, specially cuz it's her family who are being so unforgiveably stupid. She loves them, but she thinks they're idiots today!

That's all we have for now. I'll update you as soon as the human makes the talk noise on the phone thing with her auntie, the mummypeople, and I know more about how the new little family are doing today. Thanks for listening to our rant, and sorry there wasn't more interesting stuff to read!

Return!

2011-06-14T19:13:00.001+01:00

Friends, my state of abandonment and dreadful neglect has finished! My human is back!

She arrived home yesterday morning to find me in a terrible state. I tell you, I was so, so upset and missing her so much that I was on my back in the middle of the floor with my paws in the air considering giving a full stretch to show off the yummy tummy in all its glory. Dogman was tickling me, so i thought it only polite. I was so upset, so mistreated that when the human walked through the door, I didn't even get up to greet her straight away. I barely had the energy to turn my head to look at her through sleepy eyes. Do you see the abuse I have to put up with? Animal Rights organisations would be horrified!

This lasted for all of about ten seconds though, all until she spoke. I'd been resolute until then. I'd decided to ignore her until she begged me to relent, to make her pay for daring to go away when she did, even though she said she'd gone then so that I could have her with me in the last part of my pregnancy and right up until the babies were born and had left home.

But friends, when she spoke, my resolution disappeared as fast as tuna juice on a hot day when you really, really need a drink. She sat down and I walked to the side of the sofa and started to shout at her. I couldn't contain myself. I shouted and talked and brrped and told her everything that I'd done while I was without her. All this while standing at her feet. She asked me to come up and see her, and I obliged. Oh what bliss followed! I've said before that my human is a good cuddler, but I'll say it again. I smooshed my face on her. I climbed on her. I cuddled right in, then rolled over so that her hands could touch all over my big, baby-filled tummy. She loved it and so did I. We were otgether again.

I didn't leave her for a whole half an hour, but when I did, I decided that I had to get a grip on myself again. With a nonchalance that I pretended, but certainly didn't feel, I turned my back on her, walked to the food bowl, ate enough to choke a horse, then went and sprawled on the floor. This too lasted about ten seconds, cuz she got down there with me, and I just had to roll around on my back and purr and headbut her and generally love on her.

She didn't leave me all yesterday sept when Stupid Dogface came to visit with Dogman's mummypeople. The human and Dogman left me then to go outside and talk to her an dDogface. Dogface had just been to the vet, so the human didn't want her in the house in case she was carrying something with her. As soon as my human stepped outside and closed that door, as soon as I couldn't see her any more, I set up a tremendous yowling. No way was I going to be separated from my girl that soon! It was so bad that even the mummypeople commented on it. In the end, the human opened the door and let me come out a little with them all, but I was still separated from Dogface. Why? Well, I'll tell you why. Cuz we have something new!

While the human was away, Dogman and I and his friend were busy! His friend is a builder, and Dogman is a super designer. I am an excelent project manager, and between the three of us, we cooked up something super! I knew the human had been wanting this for a long time and so did Dogman, so while she was away, we ook our chance and built... A screen door! It's super! It's got two layers. The inner one protects against flies and is strong enough to withstand climbing cats and kittens. The outer one is a thinner mesh which prevents midges and mosquitos, but that can't be ripped by us when we climb. The whole thing is on a strong timber frame. It is held shut with a normal handle lock. If that fails, two strong magnets help hold it in place. If they give way, a chain lock will let the door open only so far before it will not go any further. The only thing that could escape is a very tiny kitten, but only after the first two defences have been broken, so basically, they have no chance. It's super for me too, cuz now I can go and sit outside without feeling frightened. You se,e when I'm behind a door, I feel secure, and can watch the birdies with no fear! Isn't that marvellous? All day today, I've been bounding off the human to run and have a look at them when I hear one chattering.

And here, the post will be cut very abruptly short. Phoebe has gone into labour and the human needs to go and help her peoples help her. As we speak she has had four babycats. She has cut the chord on none of them. The mummypeople had to do the first three. The third one was so close that the chord was cut a little too short and bled. Thankfully though, the peoples managed to stop this. When she gave birth to the third, she did nothing for it. She didn't break the sack and it was cold and wasn't moving which is why they cut the chord. That baby is now full of life, but the fourth is still attached to Phoebe. It's so close that they can't cut the chord without injuring the baby, but this one is moving around a little, so isn't in immediate danger. However, it's been half an hour and Phoebe hasn't pushed out the chord or the afterbirth. Babies, when they remain attached for a long time, run the risk of herneas if they move around too much and pul on the chord. Phoebe is getting tired and sleepy and isn't pushing any more, so the human has asked the mummypeople to call for the vet and take them in. I'll write more as soon as I know anything. Please pray hard, friends. Phoebe is only a baby herslef, so it's little wonder that she doesn't know what to do with babycats. They're all gonna need some help to pull through this. Let's hope the vet peoples can sort it all out. Sorry if there are typos in this, but the human won't re-read as she's still talking to the mummypeople to reassure her.

Disable to help the Disabled

2011-06-13T17:41:00.000+01:00

Zoolatry Girls

are responsible for the grapics for today and for putting it together. We'd also like to thank ML and KC for putting this up on the CB!
Friends, the human is back! She arrived back this morning, and I'm very pleased to see her. However, I'm not going to say any more about that today. Why? Cuz today is a very special day that both me and the human would like to draw attention to. It's called Disable for the Disabled.

When someone sets up a new blog, Blogger's default option means that, in order to comment, you need to enter a word verification. As we've said before, this makes it very difficult for me and the human on accounta the fact that she has broken eyes, can't read the word, and can't use the audio as it never works. Others have different disabilities that prevent them from commenting too. Some have physical discomfort which means they can't sit at a computer for too long, and if they want to read everything everyone has to say, they just don't have the extra time it takes to comment when word verification is an issue. So it's not just the broken eyed peoples and cats that this affects.

Today, we'd like to ask you to disable this option if you feel comfortable with doing it. You may well get more comments on your blog because of it! If you tell us in the comments that you have, then we promise to stop by and comment. We're very much looking forward to getting the chance to talk to you all!

Ann, Maggie and Zoe of the

Please, friends, think about disabling if for no other reason than the irony of the thing! By disabling, you're actually enabling!

Goodbye, but not Forever!

2011-05-26T20:35:00.000+01:00

Friends, I'm being neglected in favour of suitcases and clothes folding, and I don't like it even one little bit! I know she has to do these things before she goes away for her trip, but I also know that it doesn't have to interfere with Tia time! Sometimes I despair of ever having this human fully trained, I really do. And I don't know what she'll get up to in these few weeks that she's away from me.

This is the longest she'll ever have spent apart from me, and she says she's not looking forward to how much she knows she'll miss me. After tomorrow, I won't see her again until the 13th of June! That's forever! But I've decided to give her a surprise when she does come back. While she's away, I'm gonna work real, real hard on growing a ginormously fat tummy! She thinks I'm like a little butterball at the moment. Well, you just wait till she sees me in June! Hah!

She cleaned out my stinky litterbox today and washed it with icky cleaning stuff. She says it's so that Dogman doesn't have to do it, that it's only fair cuz he's looking after me. Well, honestly! She should be doing it for my benefit, not for his!

She also got out a bag today and started putting my kittening kit together inside it. She says that as things arrive in the post, they'll go straight in there so she knows where everything is when the big day comes. Sensible of her for once.

Now, what else to tell you? Oh, I know, more pregnancy news, only this time, it's not mine! There are two pregnancies to talk about, one of them welcome and one not. Let's start with the good news, shall we?

You remember the ladypeople that came down to see us and see if my nimples were pink? The same one that had the Burmese babycats? Well, she also had another girl who, despite being off to visit a mancat quite a few times, was just like me and wouldn't let him have a dirty weekend with her. Well, she went off again day before yesterday and you know what? yesterday, she let him do his work. Not just once, but loads and loads of times! They're still at it today, so if she takes, there'll be more little Burmese babycats for my human to love on at the end of July!

Now the not so welcome news. Do you remember Phoebe? That tiny little babycat that belonged to the human's auntie and cousins? The one who was taken in as a feral off the street? Well, she's also pregnant, and she's only eight months old. The human and I aren't gonna do our rant here. Poor Mom Trish has already heard it all by email, and I'm sure she doesn't want to hear it again! In summary, they could have had her lady gardenectomy for very, very cheap on accounta she was a stray and the vet peoples will do it cheap for strays, but they didn't take her in. They let her out in the garden cuz she liked to go out there. Well, one day they must not have watched her. They called the human a few weeks back to tell her they thought she was pregnant, and the human advised taking her to the vet peoples to see if it was too late for a lady gardenectomy, but they never did. now it's too late. The vet people says she'll have them in a week, but the human thinks at least another two weeks, as nobody can see or feel babycat movement yet. She's furious though. I haven't seen her that mad in ages. Phoebe is too young to have babies, and even if she wasn't, it's irresponsible to put her at that sort of risk. Who knows what diseases the daddy could have carried, and what of all those other poor babies in rescues! Goodness knows where her babies will end up. The human doesn't want to think about that. She wishes she didn't know about the pregnancy, but prays that poor Phoebe will hang on until she gets there before she gives birth so that the human can help.

Oh, that's right, we didn't tell you that bit. When the human comes back from Alaska, she travels straight away to Ireland for a weekend. Her cousin, the one closest to her in age, is getting married and wants her to be there. By the time she gets to Ireland, she's gonna be beat!

The plane bird that flies humans in the sky will eat her and her bags at 3 tomorrow, and will then fly for ages and ages. When it gets to Seattle, it'll be so tired of carrying the heavy suitcase that she has with her that it told me it's gonna spit her out and make her get another plane bird to fly her the rest of the way to Alaska. It's only fair, really. One plane bird can't be expected to do all the work, after all! I hope it doesn't get indigestion! I've seen what's in that suitcase, and if I ate even a quarter of it, I'd be sick for weeks! I wonder if the RSPCA should be told? I don't know if they have a cruelty to plane birds department, and as I can't use the phone thing, I guess I'll never know.

Speaking of phones, Mom Trish tells me she did in fact see me yesterday! Well, if I'd known, I mighta pretended to be all shy and cutely embarrassed for her! mom Trish, no spying on me like that when I don't think you can see me! Naughty, naughty people, you are! And how come you didn't cuddle me! Oh, and when it comes to cats being bloated and picking out kitten names, why would you think I had anything to do with that? For the benefit of those who can't see me, my face is now angelically innocent, and it's accompanied by a lot of purring. Mommy Trish, maybe they're picking out names cuz they're so excited for me, but just in case they might have babycats themselves, you really should feed them more stinky goodness. It's essential for a healthy, problem free pregnancy, you know. Your cats wouldn't lie to you, so listen good and crack open those cans! Oh, and to the Random Felines, even mancats can have kittens! Just ask the Katnip Crew. They'll tell ya!

Admiral, the daddycat of my babycats is another Persian colourpoint. He is a cream point though, so his face, feet and tail are all cream, and his body is very white. He has a super flat face which my human doesn't like, but as we explained before, by combining his flat face with my open one, we'll get babies that are somewhere in the middle, but without all the health problems. So they're able to still be shown. Perfect!

Oh, tragedy struck today. You remember the wonderful toy I told you about yesterday? Today, it died! All of its feathers fell out and came off the string that makes them fly! I got so upset and cried so much that the human gave me a feather to play with, and taped the other one to the string. It's nowhere near as good, but it'll do until she brings me the real da bird which she says she'll get for me in Alaska. I can hardly wait! RIP, little pretend birdie. hmmm, I wonder if she could steal me a feather from a plane bird? I bet they're huge and fly real well! Have any of you ever seen one? Are its feathers worth having?

Anyway, that's all from me for a bit. I will pass this blog now into the hands of the human to do with as she will. She says she might write from time to time to let you all know what she's up to and share any updates on me, but she's making no promises. Check back though. We're thinking about that competition still! Until then, keep safe, dear friends, and remember to work on kitten names! Mom Trish and all the other good cat moms out there, repeat after me, and learn well. "I must feed more stinky goodness. I must feed more stinky goodness!"

Katnip Toys

2011-05-25T19:34:00.001+01:00

Friends, it's been a busy few days for the human, what with her getting ready to go to Alaska and having to order all the things for my babycats to arrive. She needs such a lot of different things, you know!

yesterday started with us being rudely summoned out of bed still early in the morning by the man who brings the big boxes that have stuff in them to our house. I'm not allowed to say hi to him any more, cuz the first time I did, I was so pleased to see him that I went right out the front door past him! To be honest, I didn't know what to do once I was in the big outside. It was all so huge and scary and it smelled so different! I just sat down on the garden path to look around and see where I was, and next thing I know, the human's begging him to help her get me back in, and he's picked me up and passed me back to her. I didn't mind all that much. The outside might be fun to explore, but I'm not desperate. Now when he comes, she closes the door on me so that I can't get out the front. Spoilsport human!

The parcel man brought loads of boxes this time! There was a zillion... and three! The first had nothing but tins of stinky Dogface food in them, as the human orders for Dogman to feed stupid Dogface. The next was slightly more interesting, but only slightly. it had a bag of dry dogface food in it, but it also had some nice fresh cat litter for me. But the third box? Oh, friends, the third box!

It started with food. Boxes and boxes of wet food all for me! So it must mean that Dogman is gonna feed me loads when she's away! Then there was a new scratchy post. It was a huge big tall one, but it didn't have a platform on the top. The human learned her lesson after buying me a platform one last time. I hardly ever scratch it. I mean, would you, given the risk of bumping your head on the underside of the platform if you really got into a groove scratching? This one is well over 2 ft tall, so I can stretch and stretch all the way up it. it's super cool!

Ok, you think that was good? Well, what followed next made that all seem way boring. She got out a long thin plastic covered thing, and when she opened it, I got interested right away. It was a long, well, a very long, metal pole with a string on the end. And you know what was on the end of that string? Feathers! The human says it's the pet store's own version of Da Bird, but I don't care. What it is is flippin' brilliant!

Persians, as a rule, don't play all that much. We're too interested in napping and preserving our reputation as the ultimate couch kitatoes of the cat world. Rarely do we play very much past about two years old. Although we still show a healthy interest in toys, we'd rather lie down and wait for the play people to swing the toy close to us so that we can grab it. Chasing requires way too much energy, and anyway, it's more of a challenge to train them to your way of playing than to leap about as they swing the toy wherever they want. We're also not motivated by hunting, so don't really see any need to go to great effort to catch something. if it's there, then fair enough, but if it requires us to move? Forget it.

However, when it comes to this Da Bird thing, you can forget all of that too! I couldn't believe my eyes when it came out of the package. It flipped. It spun. It glided. Because of the length of the pole, it skittered over the whole room. It not only bounced off the ground, but it flew, my, did it fly! I just had to have it. Friends, I haven't leapt about like that since I was a babycat. I lost all sense of dignity as I performed every maneuver possible to catch the pesky thing. I played for about 10 minutes solid, and believe me, that might just tip the record books for a Persian ladycat of my age! The human didn't give me a chance to get bored of it either. As soon as I stopped leaping, she'd take it away from me and go to put it away. I only stopped her by clambering onto her knee and hauling it back out of her hand. We've played with it twice more since then, and each time with the same reaction from me. I just love the thing! And cuz the human is so quick to put it away, it keeps me wanting more, more, more all the time!

As if that wasn't news enough, we have something even more spectacular to tell you! For once, I'm jealous that I don't do something the human does that I usually find pointless. I'm jealous I can't make talk noise on the telephone. Why bother wasting jealousy on something as stupid as that, I hear you ask. Well, I'll tell you why. Yesterday, my human spoke to the Katnip Mom, the real Mom Trish, in person, like actually the real her! How cool is that! They made talk noise for quite some time while I did lotsa different things to try and get Mom Trish's attention. I played with a pipe cleaner that Amy and the House of Cats sent me, I whapped my ball in the track, I even went behind the TV where I've been trying to make a nest (I chose here cuz I know the human doesn't want me to nest way back the cuz it's hard to reach). then I remembered that when a people is on the phone, it makes their eyes broken so they can't see me. The human says that's cuz they're still real far away, bubt I know that's not true. I can hear the talk noise they make, and I know that if they're far away, I wouldn't hear them. I don't know why being in the little phone thing makes their eyes broke, but it does, and I didn't want to miaow cuz I know it's rude to talk when someone else is talking. Mom Trish is helping us withsomething we need for my babycats. She's going to be instrumental in providing me with the best nest ever for my babies! I'll tell you more on that in another post. Katnip hoard, you have a super duper mommypeople, and that's saying something for a people!

,p>The human says that she was planning to get out her suitcase tonight and put stuf in it, but the more she thinks about it, the more she considers that going to bed early and spending a long, relaxing night watching TV might be the thing to do. Time enough for packing tomorrow. We have more parcels arriving tomorrow too, and then she'll go to a local pet store an pick up some kitten dry food so that I can have a variety down at all times. Now that's thoughtful! She's going to start putting things in my kittening bag now so that she doesn't lose track of what's been bought and what hasn't. Tomorrow she has to pack her case, pick up these parcels, go to the pet store, put on another wash for the laundry she has left, change the bed so that Dogman has clean sheets to sleep on, take a long, relaxing bath, oh, and cuddle me! She's gonna be one busy human! until then, friends.

oh, and just as a by the way, when you have convinced your human to give you one brand of stinky goodness and one only, wait until she puts in a bulk order for enough of it to last you through to the end of your pretend pregnancy (remember, friends, we're all pretending we have kittens). Then decide you don't like it and you're not going to eat it any more... I did. Happy Wednesday!

Mommacat Monday

2011-05-23T18:37:00.000+01:00

Wow, friends, it's my second mommacat Monday already! Isn't time flying! The human says she wishes it would, so she obviously doesn't feel the same way. Since last we spoke, we've had an eventful few days!

It all started yesterday with a trip to the litterbox. Nothing abnormal about that, I hear you say, but the litterbox is the one not agreeing this time! Friends, to put it very politely, I was in a bad way, and came out of there leaving a stinking liquid mess behind me and with my poor lady bum covered in the stuff! The human found me, or rather, the mess found her when I jumped up on her. I thought if I pretended like nothing had happened, the mess would just go away. I know from experience that I can't clean that off, but was too embarrassed to ask the human for help. Do you know how that makes a girl feel? Very very small, that's how.

As soon as the human found me, she whipped me off to the bathroom to clean me up, but once there, she realised that the baby wipes (they should be marketted as cat bum wipes, cuz they're real good at this!) were in the other room. In the time it took her to get them and come back, something else had happened. A small amount of sticky liquid had dribbled out of me and made my fur very wet. the human went into uber panic. She thought it might have been blood, and if it was, it would mean that I was reabsorbing my babies for some reason. She still doesn't know whether it was or not, but she kept a very close eye, or should I say hand, on me all night long, and I didn't do the same trick twice. It may have just been a bit of left over litterbox stink that I couldn't hold onto when she started to clean, but neither of us are all that sure.

That first clean up was to be one of many, well, four to be precise, but each one was very liquid and incredibly stinky. It smelled just like it did last year when I got real, real sick, so the human spent a sleepless night worrying about me, and cleaning my litterbox before my feet had even touched the floor on the way out! She says you don't leave that stuff hanging around.

Well, all that sickness last year must have taught her something, cuz her clean up of me and the box was so good that this morning was my last bad episode and I haven't shown signs of having another. Two hours after my last one, I threw up a big hairball, so she's wondering if that had something to do with it, although I've never had the runs before when trying to get rid of one of these. The simple fact is that we don't know what caused it. She dosed me with a pro-biotic that breeders like her give to kittens who have the squits (she says that's what you call it when you have runny bum syndrome). She says it's really good not only for clearing squitty bums, but stopping them as well. It's called Fortiflora for anyone else who may need it and it's made by Purina.

I've been tired all day and very quiet. It takes it out of a girl to produce that much poop! The human thought my tummy had changed shape this morning and was convinced that I must have lost a baby or two, but when I did finally start to eat again, I plumped right out. She says she's gonna try and find her stethoscope as she should be able to hear baby heartbeats about now, but she doesn't know where the stethoscope is, so her and Mark are gonna have to hunt for it.

She's been busy ordering stuff for my babies all day. She says she'll make a list of all the things in her kittening kit on a post so that you all can see what kinds of things you need to have at hand. That will fill a post while she's away in cold, cold Alaska. She says she may even do the genetics post then too so that you can all have fun with trying to puzzle out what colour babies I might have! Oh, how about this for an idea? The human and i are thinking of running a competition but we're not sure what everyone else thinks. We'd like you all to guess how many babies I will have. I know the vet peoples said three, but as I told you, that doesn't really mean much at this stage. It would also be fun for peoples to guess how many baby boys and how many girls there would be. To make it really, really interesting, we could get you to guess colours too which would mean you'd have to read and learn about genetics! But this might be too involved for most peoples. What do you all think? Would you enter if you had to guess litter size and sexes? Would you still enter if you had to guess colours as well?

We gotta think about prizes too, and something kitten related to tie in with the competition. Any ideas?

Well, that's it for today as the human says she has to go out for a little while. See? no sooner am I better than she's abandoning me! Heartless human!

Three is the Magic Number

2011-05-21T08:25:00.000+01:00

Friends, I'm sorry I couldn't update you yesterday as to the outcome of my vet lady people visit, but my human couldn't get Blogger to work again, so we simply couldn't post. Before I get to that though, a little ramble first.

To begin with, you should all go back and check Tuesday's post. The HG has left a comment, and just to reitterate, she is so, so thankful for all of your support. It really has meant a lot to her.

To the Katnip boys, let me assure you that you neither need to be a girlcat nor have ever had girlie bits to pretend that you're having kittens for the sake of conning more stinky goodness out of your peoples. Remember the mantra, "Peoples are stupid". They won't even realise that mancats can't have kittens. Actually, if you combine kittens with tapeworm you might be on to a real winner! Have a care though. Sometimes peoples get the urge to worm you if they think you've got 'em, and that requires foul tasting medicine forced down your throat. Not fun. Nah, I'd go with the kittens myself, even if you are a boycat.

Random Felines, those boys are already wrapped round my paw! Dogman looked after me at Christmas, and even though he said he wasn't a cat person (does such a thing exist?), me and the human knew that wasn't true. When she came back, it was to find me on his knee being hand fed the finest tuna... So much for him not being a cat person! Now he even makes up songs for me and miaows at me and everything! As for Mark, well, he said he hated all cats cuz he was allergic, but apparently he has no reaction to my floof, so he picks me up and cuddles me and gets sad if I don't come say hello to him whenever he comes in the house. I don't think I'm gonna have any trouble getting them to do what I want them to do! It might be glorious being rid of that over-bearing, stinky goodness rationing human for a couple weeks.

Hannah and Lucy, the human says that she doesn't know whether we'll be keeping a babycat or not. She says if one of my babies is particularly stunning then maybe, but if not, then we may let them all go to forever homes. She doesn't want to end up with eleventy zillion big cats in the house, you see, so needs to be selective about what she keeps. I'm not convinced though. I know my human better than she does, and I bet she'll end up keeping one for us. I don't mind either way. I'll have more babies, and I know eventually I'll get to either keep one of them, or keep a grand baby. As long as my human's around for me, I'm happy! Tori, the spray is a vinegar one that takes the lingering scent of imbedded weewee out of the litterbox. The human hasn't tried it yet, but will let you know when she has.

Mom Paula, that show sounds fascinating! The description of these pictures are too, although I'll confess that the human's eyes leaked the first time she read it. However, she does agree with Zippy and crew that they are very educational. Whicky, I'd love Oliver's help! Keeping babycats clean is a full-time job, so any help is welcome! Tell him I'll need him around 27th of June if that's all right.

Wow, that was more than I thought it would be! Anyway, on to the news from yesterday. You remember I said that I'd be going to see the nice vet lady people to have a look at my yummy tummy and see how many babies I have inside me? Well, we did just that. The human put me in the PTU that straps to her back, and off we started. It takes about 15 minutes to walk to the vet lady people's place, but it's a nice walk. It's past a kid's playpark and then up a little path with trees and hedges on either side. Even though there were loads of birdies to watch, I still remembered to complain loud and long occasionally about my incarceration. I mean, how dare she! I was admired by quite a few humann kittens on the way though, but I'm thankful of the mesh separating me and then so that their sticky little fingers can't touch me!

We didn't have to wait long when we got to the vet lady people's, and in we went. When she took me out and looked at me, do you know what the first thing she said was? "Well, she's certainly got nice boobs!" Friends, if I didn't already have a tortie face, I'd have turned bright red!I mean, it's one thing to look at the nimples and say I'm pinking up, but for someone to out and say that I have nice boobs? And she's a lady people! That's wrong on so, so many levels! Have you ever had anyone say anything as outrageous to you as that?

She proceeded to feel my yummy tummy, and I sat nice and still for her while she did it. She said she could feel at least three babycats in there. Now before you all get excited, even she says this is no guarantee. Vets can and do frequently get it wrong, and this should be treated more as an indication of the size of the litter than an exact number. Babycats can hide behind one another for one thing. For another, not all babycats make it to term and some can be reabsorbed by the mummycat. At least we know it's not a singleton kitten though. That's what the human was worried about. Singletons grow very large, and as we Persians have large heads anyway, it would have made birthing an absolute nightmare. Three is about right to keep babies a decent size without making it too hard for me to push them out, so we both hope the vet lady people is either right, or had underestimated the numbers of what's in there.

So there you have it! Three babycats at least... Hopefully! And we can be expecting pretty much any colour too. Boys can be red or seal colourpoints both carrying dilute (if you'd like, we can explain colour genetics in another post as it's very interesting, well, for the human at least), or blue or cream colourpoints. Girls can be either seal torties like me carrying dilute, blue-creams (also called blue torties), red carrying dilute, or cream, all colourpoints. The only thing we can't get are seal or blue girls. All of them may carry the chocolate gene as I do. This is something very, very desirable in a Persian. This is why it's very good to have your mommacat as a dominant tortie carrying dilute, cuz it means you can have just about any colour of babies, unless, of course, you mate her with a seal or red stud boy who doesn't carry dilute. Dilute is the thing which gives more colour possibilities... I'm gonna stop now, else I'll explain genetics in this post alone! If any of you would like to know about them, then just tell me and I'll get the human to work up a post.

Ok, onto the link. Remember that one with the pictures of babycats? One of you made a really good suggestion which was to give peoples the choice, i.e, put the link, not the pictures on the blog. That's what I'm going to do. Please, if you don't want to see pictures of babycats at different stages of development in the womb, please don't click this link.

Well, friends, that's all for today, cuz the human's just put down my breakfast... I'm off!

PS: The human here. I have amnaged to mis-label something and I'm trying to delete a label from the list so that it doesn't comxe up as an auto complete every time I type my labels into Blogger. Do any of you know how to do that?

Things on Thursday

2011-05-19T18:53:00.000+01:00

Friends, it's gonna be a bit of a hodge-podge of things today I'm afraid, but that's the only way I can tell you stuff that I need to tell you.

The HG hasn't read the post on Tuesday yet. Me and the human still don't think she's ready to, as she is still a bit of an emotional wreck after Nicki Dogface's passing. However, I know that when she does, she will be so, so thankful for all of the support you showed her. I'd like to thank you all as well. I know you didn't know her, so it's so thoughtful of you to come and wish the HG well. We really do appreciate it more than we can say!

The human says that my pregnancy is coming along well. She noticed the first tiny sign of a bulge yesterday, and today, I asked her for another portion of stinky goodness only about half an hour after eating the first... And that was half a pouch! She gave it to me, and it's all gone already! I've gone back to eating my dry food, cuz she says I'm getting no more wet until bedtime. Heartless human! Doesn't she know that babycats are eating the stuff in my tummy too? She says she's fully aware of that, but also knows that I don't need to double my food intake just yet. I shouldn't eat more until the end of this week apparently, but she's not sticking to that religiously. She says she'll give me a little bit more when I want it, within reason of course. Why do they have to work on reason! Why, why, why! Sure, if I get fat it will make babycats a lot harder to push out, but when it's a choice between that and stinky goodness, does she really think I'll care?

You remember the ladypeople who came to see us on Monday? Well, she left me some really, really, really nice treats which the human held out of my reach until Tuesday night. They're called Thrive, and they're dried cubes of chicken. My goodness are they nice! Ok, you gotta chew them cuz they're too big to swallow whole... I know this. I tried it, multiple times. I don't like chewing. But when you do eventually bite them, boy are they ever nice! I'm only allowed 2-4 bits twice a day though, and that's the not so good part. You should make your peoples buy them for you, even if they are so expensive that my human says I'll only get them on very, very special occasions once this jar is done.

Speaking of the human, she was talking to me today, and one of the things that came up was her suitcase. Now don't get me wrong, I like suitcases a lot, but I know that when they come out, it means the human will be going away for a little while. She confirmed this today when she told me that she would be heading off to see Bug a week from today. It's in a place called Alaska. The human says I wouldn't like it there cuz it's cold and there's snow a lot of the year, but I reminded her that a ladycat in my condition wouldn't let an aeroplane bird eat her anyway. It'd be too much stress. She agrees, and says she's asked my other favourite person, Dogman, to come stay with me for most of the time she's gone. There's only four days when he won't be here, and then Mark, my sort of favourite people, will come stay for those nights. He's only my sort of favourite cuz he doesn't like it when I play attack the feet under the blanket with him when he's making the snore noises in bed.

I will miss the human, but she's gone away and come back before, so I'm not worried about her staying there. I will use the time wisely and concentrate on growing my babycats big and strong. I bet she'll see the difference in my yummy tummy when she comes back! She says we're taking a trip to see the nice vet lady people tomorrow so that she can have a feel of my yummy tummy and tell the human whether she thinks I'm having a big litter or a small one. You can't really get more accurate than that at this stage, so there will still be an element of surprise with the number of babies that come out of me.

The human has been getting things ready. She's ordered lots and lots and lots of kitten food, but she says that this is for me instead of my babies. She says I'll have that all eaten before they start eating, and as she's only ordered 48 pouches of stinky goodness, I agree! That's hardly enough to last me until she gets back! I say that banking on the fact that if I cry enough, Dogman and Mark, who are much less heartless than my human, will believe that I'm starving to death, that the boring dry food is poison, and that I can eat nothing but wet. I'm Ok with that! Hahaha! While the human's away, this cat will play!

She's also ordered me a new scratching post, as she says one of mine is getting too ratty to use propperly now. I love that old post, no matter if it is only a kitten one that I have to really crunch down to scratch on. She says in a few weeks, I won't be able to even do that any more cuz my yummy tummy will be too big. That's not the point! She says I've also got two new toys coming which are supposed to get me more active, as it's very, very important for a mummycat to keep good muscle in her yummy tummy. It makes pushing babies out much more easy, you see. She won't tell me what they are though!

She spent a little of today trying to put together the names of peoples on the waiting list for one of my kittens. We had three, but one of those is looking doubtful, as she still doesn't have her own place to live yet, and none of my babies will go to an uncertain future. If any of you know anybody wanting a little colourpoint Persian baby of mine, please do let me and the human know, and we'll arrange to call you for a chat.

Hmmm, now, what else? There's not much more to tell, actually. The human says she will have a long bath tonight, which means I get to warm her towels for her. She puts them down so that I can sit on them and keep an eye on her while she washes. I'll never understand why they try to drown themselves in a whole tub of water, but that's a whole nother post! I do keep a close eye though. Just like kittens, the human can't be trusted to wash propperly without my snoopervision!

until next time, friends, demand stinky goodness! If you pretend to your peoples that you're pregnant, you might even get it!
Disclaimer: Lady Gardens not essential for pretending you're pregnant. Peoples are stupid. It'll work anyway.

Woofie Tuesday

2011-05-17T13:25:00.000+01:00

Friends, it is with a heavy heart that I write this post, and this says much when it has something to do with Dogfaces.

It's going to be a short one, as the human has just got the news and her eyes are leaking badly enough that she needs to go get tissues. Do you remember our HG? The nice ladypeople who went to the cat show with me and bought me a toy? She has a dogface that did the same job as the human's, you know, the guide dog thing? yesterday, she noticed that the Nikki dogface had a lump which she was worried about. Thinking it was an enlarged splean, she contacted the Guide Dogs organisation who came and took her to a super duper vet nearby to be checked out.

Unfortunately, they found cancerous growths and tumours which couldn't be totally removed. At most, Nikki dogface would have only a few months left with us as the cancer got worse, and nothing could be done. Reluctantly, the Hg put her own heartache aside and made the decision that was best for Nikki, not her. Today while still peacefully asleep under anaesthetic, Nikki crossed the rainbow bridge, and the poor HG is heart broken. I'm writing this here cuz I know how much support helped my human when I was sick, and I also know how much others who have had pets cross the bridge have valued it too. I know you know her only a little through this blog, but please spare a thought for her today. She reads often, so will see comments and this post when she's ready to.

Nikki dogface, my human and you may not always have seen eye to eye, but know that she will miss you deeply. You don't know what you've got until it's gone, and in this case, it's very true. Be at peace as you wait at the bridge for your HG human.

HG, we love you lots and both of us wish we could give you a huge snuggle right now. Please be strong.