Shukti & Kamla	Got It	Pravina & Hassan
Ajit, Rajiv & Hassan	Five watch the birdie	Shukti & brothers
Kamla	Pravina peeps out	Pravina
Hassan leaping		Hassan

Sunday 19th November 2006

Just another update to let you know that more people are expressing interest in my kittens. Mr and Mrs Field, who will be having little Shukti came to visit today. It was a joy to meet them again and their little niece Ellen who played so carefully and tenderly with the kittens. Mr Field took some lovely pictures of the kittens and I take great pleasure in showing these here. These babies definitely require two hands to pick them up now as they are both large and very active. They are always thrilled to leap and cavort about so you have to have a very good camera to catch them in action. My thanks to Trevor Field for his excellent camera work. Today I am completing the form to register the kittens with the GCCF. Once the registration forms come back with the kittens' unique numbers and names on them, I shall be completing their pedigree certificates.

Nine weeks old today, Thursday 16th November!

The time has come for the children to have their vaccinations (Part 1 of 2) and tonight. The vet duly examined each kitten thoroughly, vaccinated them and gave them a pill for worming. They will be protected against flat- and round-worms, and vaccinated against enteritis, flu and leukemia. All kittens have good heart beats, nice breathing, no hernias, clear eyes, clean ears and botties and nice strong limbs. No-one has reported a kink in the tale (like last litter).

8th Week

This week the babies have continued to grow well and all babies are doing things in a bigger and faster way. They have developed a liking for high places so its a good thing they have the tall cataerobic centres in their playroom - its also a good thing they are indoor babies only as they would probably be on the roof by now if they could get outside.

The food bill for kittens has of course grown. They devour a good mixture of home cooked food and high quality commercial fare which can be obtained from any supermarket or good pet store. The fact that the bills have increased shows that the kittens have excellent appetites. To date, they have tasted a wide variety of meat and fish. Their all time favourite is chicken, then lamb but strangely, they also like a small amount of cheese. In fact, I have even offered them scrambled eggs when they were weaning and they still like it, provided that it is done soft.

With this litter, I have been very lucky indeed and had no issues with sticky eyes or runny noses or tummies as is sometimes the case with litters (tummies can be an issue when weaning). This time though, they have all been very good and even the toilet training went quite smoothly with only a couple of little mishaps. The kittens have all been clean now for about two weeks so all in all, I am very pleased with the way Suki has raised this litter. I also have to give some credit to the lovely Kiki whose care as a big sister has been invaluable.

I hope you enjoy the selection of pictures taken this weekend, Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th November 2006. Next week's exciting episode will tell of their first visit to the vets.

Hassan in the box	Hassan coming out of the box	Hassan
Ajit	Pravina	Rajiv & Shukti

7th Week

This week the babies are really starting to eat like there's no tomorrow. My bank manager will be writing me warning letters soon because of the amount by which my cat food bills have gone up. Still, its what we all expected - babies do not stay babies - they grow into large feline devourers of anything edible.

The kittens are also, as expected, so active that I have to watch carefully where I step all the time because there is likely to be a kitten wanting to "help" with anything I do. Making the bed is impossible with this lot about. They clamber up there and decide to lie down just where I wanted to put the shaken duvet. Those kittens have me so well trained now that they want me to feed them in a different room - its not the dining room now, its the kitten room again. Perhaps they like to be back in their baby place. No. Probably not as they are so happy to jump and tussle with each other.

Here they are at various stages of eating and sleeping - even whilst they eat they like to have toys nearby. The kittens are now just over 7 weeks old and heading towards their eighth week very fast. Soon it will be time to arrange for their first vaccination - will do this in a fortnight. Still time to enjoy their little kittenhood.

Pravina	Kamla	Shukti
Hassan, Rajiv, Ajit		Ajit

6th Week

Suki’s kittens were six weeks old on Thursday 26th October and all babies are sprinting about the house now.  The only place I will not let them come into is the kitchen (risks; food surfaces, hot things etc etc) and the utility room (risks: washing machine, ironing).  The utility room is being used much more nowadays .... {knowing wink but embarrassed cough}

I have to admit that the kittens are taking longer than expected in consistently using the litter tray – occasionally there are still the odd accidents and yesterday, I discovered the disadvantage of the kittens’ ability to clamber up onto the bed in the master bedroom now.  Strangely, they do not do this on the bed where we are sleeping (in their nursery, for the time being).  Each morning nowadays, there is a kindle of all six kittens plus Suki on the duvet.  Poppy is usually nearby if not actually on the bed and Kiki is sometimes with her younger brothers, sisters and mum too.  This means waking with about eight cats/kittens on the bed.  Such purring is always a delight to hear in the morning.

Kittens are still suckling as well as eating solids but I have noticed them eating more solids including biscuits (eg Royal Canin and Hills).  All babies enjoy their meals but often visit the food dishes at different times ie not all six together sitting in a row but two or three and then perhaps another two or three together - or maybe just one alone.  Strangely, I often find that the boys don’t mind visiting the food dishes to eat on their own but the girlies usually go when someone else is there.  Their growth rate continues as normal and I really do need to use two hands to pick them up correctly now.

It is so nice to see the kittens climbing on the cat aerobic decks that were bought specially to exercise feline limbs – developing their strength and agility.  Here are a few pictures taken recently of the kittens at play. 

Week ending Friday 20th October 2006

All the kittens are growing and romping about the house now so they are weighed weekly rather than daily.  Suki’s kittens are in the process of weaning but are eating solids mainly.  The “children” do enjoy a nice warm suckle from their doting mummy Suki who still encourages them to come to her.  They now have two sources of nutrition – the food bowl and mummy’s milk bar.

From the food bowl they like a variety of foods for example;- steamed white fish, gently roasted chicken (their favourite), grilled tuna, grilled gammon steaks chopped up, softly scrambled eggs, goats milk yoghurt, minced beef lightly tossed in a pan ... anyway, they eat most things, including Hills Science Plan biscuits for kittens and Royal Canin biscuits too. 

This is the time of great laundry washing and frequent floor wiping too.  Now that they are almost weaned, they are also learning to use the litter tray.  Nearly all of them go to the tray and use it correctly now.  Last week I showed one or two of the kittens where to make their ‘deposits’ and big sister Kiki or Suki must have continued the message of showing them or they must have passed the message on to each other because I always see little contributions for me to scoop out in the mornings and evenings.   That is not to say that there are no little accidents occasionally – unfortunately this does happen but then it must be cleaned straight away to avoid starting bad habits.  

The babies love to run and climb on things now, which is normal for their age – now five weeks old!   I shall have to get them some more toys to play with – egg cartons, boxes to run in and out of, pipe cleaner spiders, aluminium foil or newspaper rolled up into little footballs etc (they have a few but some toys are coming to the end of their useful lives having been bitten and torn to shreds).   Yes, my house does seem messy but that’s life when you have lots of little furry children running about playing all the time with anything and everything.

Individual kittens are showing their own personalities now and I shall be able to put more information about each one separately soon.  At the moment, although they are different, they tend to run about like a little kindle all together in one group – or else five in one batch and one is hiding somewhere.  Then I start searching -   “where is Ajit / Shukti / Rajiv / Kamla / Pravina / Hassan?” ... always a different one. The missing kitten is usually in one of the cat aerobic drums or in a box or under a duvet, peeping out to see if I have seen him or her.    

I shall not put a table of weights now but will add their overall graph showing the progress they have been making and are still making as I write these pages.  I shall of course also be posting new photographs as the kittens get bigger so it will be apparent that they are growing into lovely little beings.

This weekend I look forward to a visit from potential kitten buyers.  They would like to have one of the females.  At the moment there are still some kittens available to (ideally) non-smokers, who can offer a permanent loving indoor environment.

Kits Snooze On Drum	Rajiv & Shukti tussle	Ajit, Kamla, & Pravina
At ease	Hassan eats crunchies	Babies

Week ending Friday 13th October 2006

Although I am pleased in general with the babies’ growth, I am not entirely happy with this week’s achievements. Purely on a quantitative level ‘Could do better’ would be my report on these children this week, with the notable exception of little Ajit. Ajit was the smallest kitten at birth and look how well he has grown now.

The others’ comparatively poor performance this week could be due to the fact that they are so full of glee and excitement with using their little limbs to run about and climb that they forget about the task of suckling or eating (more about eating later) and growing.  Here is the graph with the table of figures for you to see.

Date	Rajiv	Shukti	Kamla	Hassan	Pravina	Ajit
07 Oct	470	422	395	400	375	395
08 Oct	495	434	400	405	380	425
09 Oct	495	445	405	422	400	445
10 Oct	503	456	418	448	415	458
11 Oct	508	477	430	438	417	468
12 Oct	522	501	447	460	426	475
13 Oct	537	515	460	480	445	495

Qualitatively, though,  I am reasonably happy that the kittens are doing ok.  Suki’s babies have all started trotting about the upstairs part of the house.  They have now started to wander out of the nursery, into the other bedrooms and the office.  If they could, they would wander into the bathroom too but this door is kept closed or the loo roll would be all over the place ...

Regarding eating, some kittens are already starting to wean and have tasted scrambled eggs, cooked, finely chopped chicken drumstick meat and some kitten Felix.  They prefer the scrambled eggs and the cooked chicken.  Since they are still suckling a bit, they are not eating solids full time and I believe weaning is not a thing that can be forced - merely encouraged.  I shall offer them some steamed white fish today and perhaps some tuna tomorrow.  They may also get some tiny little scraps of wafer thin ham to see what they think of it - however, this is going to be fed in moderation as it is quite salty.

Weaning time is also an opportunity to watch carefully what they do regarding toileting.  If I catch them at the right moment, it is possible to lift them up and pop them gently onto the litter tray. Suki’s kittens are encouraged to use a baby litter tray with very fine litter so that it does not hurt their little paws.  Am watching them to see that they do not actually eat the substance because this is commonly what kittens do initially with litter.  I have left a little bit of ‘substance’ in the tray so that they may learn the purpose of it.  Helpfully, their big sister Kiki uses it for the correct purpose and the babies learn by example.

Already three babies have been spoken for but three still remain available to loving permanent homes but not before mid December. 

Kittens At 4 Weeks	Little son Ajit	Little daughter Kamla greeting her mum Suki
Little daughter Pravina	Little son Rajiv	Daughter Shukti (foreground left), Kamla (with her back to us) and son Hassan (foreground right)

Week ending Friday 6th October 2006

This week I have seen the development from purely suckling kittens who stayed in the nursery pen, sleeping, crawling about and suckling to kittens who like to scramble about, have left the nursery pen now and are toddling about in the nursery at large. They have grown physically (of course) from kittens that can easily lie down full body length in my palm to kittens that require both hands to cradle them properly. They do still sometimes trip over their feet and land on the little botties and roll about waving their feet in the air but the kittens are rather keen to use their limbs now.  Always a good sign.  There is one little baby who I would especially like to use his limbs much more but this may come in time.  The kittens faces have now become a bit more cat like, their ears are more triangular and colouring can already be seen coming through.  Although it is early to tell just yet, I believe that there are at least three but maybe four blue points - the others are probably lilac points. 

My Suki’s babies are still suckling and will probably be doing so for another week at least but over the next two weeks I shall be feeding their mother in front of them so they can see how eating is done.  Suki will also be offered some nice milky food (as well as yummy meaty fare) so that babies can join in should they feel inclined.

Already two babies have been spoken for but four still remain available to loving permanent homes in due course. 

Date	Rajiv	Shukti	Kamla	Hassan	Pravina	Ajit
29 Sept	360	326	314	310	298	285
30 Sept	380	344	333	325	310	303
01 Oct	391	358	344	339	330	320
02 Oct	412	367	351	341	338	330
03 Oct	420	380	375	358	346	342
04 Oct	431	385	380	376	355	343
05 Oct	441	405	392	382	358	352
06 Oct	456	414	408	396	367	366

Supper Time	Blue Point Girl aged 3 weeks	All 6 In A Nest

Blue Point Kitten aged 3 weeks	Leaving The Nest	Suki, Kiki, and some of the babies
	Learning From Harley

Second Week: 21st-27th September 2006

All babies are making progress during this week. As can be seen by this graph, Pravina’s is the most erratic but she is doing well nonetheless. The one with the loudest voice is Rajiv - he is the one who protests most at the milkbar and everyone seems to make way just for some peace and quiet. However, Suki is such a great mum that once he is full, there is still plenty more for everyone else.

All babies eyes have been open for a week now and they have really started to develop little characters already. The babies are crawling about in the pen and very soon, they will be crawling out of the pen altogether.

Over the next week I shall be watching little daughter Pravina and little son Ajit very carefully to make sure they get their fair share of the milk bar. I have not intervened very much because so far, they have coped well and not shown signs of weakening - all kittens are getting bigger and stronger as the days pass.

Time	Date	Rajiv	Shukti	Kamla	Hassan	Pravina	Ajit
21:00	21 Sept	242	217	206	210	195	205
20:45	22 Sept	255	224	216	230	213	213
21:00	23 Sept	270	247	231	234	225	227
21:00	24 Sept	275	261	240	246	240	235
20:45	25 Sept	290	265	255	250	247	243
20:45	26 Sept	311	283	270	269	269	252
20:45	27 Sept	328	301	284	280	272	271

(top) Ajit, Hassan (lower, L to R) Rajiv, Kamla, Pravina’s back and little face peeping out is Shukti		Suki and her babies - nearly 2 weeks old - Wednesday 27 September 2006

First Week: 13-20 September 2006

All babies seem to be doing well and growing fast. I have been keeping a very special watch over them for this first week. It is always good to make sure that they are gaining weight as they should and if they do not, then it is sometimes necessary to feed them a bit extra in case Suki cannot do this. However, Suki is doing very well indeed without any help from me. Here is a progress check at a glance. You will see that I have had to give them names in order to keep my records straight. These names need not be permanent.

Time	Date	Rajiv	Shukti	Kamla	Hassan	Pravina	Ajit
birth	13 Sept	120	105	95	95	100	90
21:00 hrs	14 Sept	122	115	101	95	102	90
20:33 hrs	15 Sept	118	115	101	96	97	92
21:00 hrs	16 Sept	165	145	131	125	120	117
20:45 hrs	17 Sept	180	160	148	147	138	138
21:00 hrs	18 Sept	196	178	166	165	159	155
21:00 hrs	19 Sept	212	182	175	186	172	171
22:00 hrs	20-Sep	230	205	189	202	190	183

This week, the babies are all starting to open their eyes. Some are more reluctant than others but normally the kittens should all have their eyes open by between 5 and 10 days. My next task will be to look out for any sign of eye infections and to wipe their eyes if necessary. So far, it is still very early days and their eyes appear normal. Suki is obviously doing an excellent job in keeping both ends clean and spotless.

Cute Kitten		Cuddle Time With Mummy
Suki with 5 kits suckling		Poppy, Kiki, Suki and kittens

(The sixth kitten is hidden because he is lying down underneath his borthers and sisters)

All babies have good vocal cords. I know because the babies use them more now, especially when the time comes to weigh them all. However, they must be handled, cuddled, kissed, stroked etc in order to get them nice and friendly. They are lovely and warm to touch and still have fluffy, downy coats. This may change as they get older.

Please look back at this site and see their progress as the weeks go by.

Happy Suki With Babies	Day 2 - 6 Kittens In A Cube	Day 3 - Cosy Kits In Nest With Mum
Day 3 - 6 Kittens in Nest with Mum		Day 3 - Adventure Boy Climbs Out