Kittens born 4th November 2006

Pontaby Testarossa (Rosa) x Abychat Pinballwizard (Izzy) 

(Both parents PK deficiency normal)

Rosa has given birth to five(!) kittens; three boys and two girls. All are sorrel apart from the one big fawn boy. This is a fairly large litter for an Abyssinian, particularly a first time Mum. Rosa coped amazingly well with the births, though it took her a short while to settle into the new routine. The kittens were all a good weight when born, the girls being slightly smaller than the boys. Both Mum and kittens are doing well. On the right are a couple of photos of Rosa and the kittens shortly after the birth.

Rosa's kittens are continuing to do well and all have more than doubled their weight in just one week. The fawn boy and one of the girls have even started to open their eyes.  Rosa is proving to be a very attentive Mum, though she still likes to play a game of fetch and have cuddles when her babies are sleeping.
 

What a difference a week makes! The kittens now all have their eyes open and are starting to get mobile. The smallest girl (Lucy) is proving to be a real character and was first to make it out of the nest unaided! Having made her escape she made a beeline straight to her Human 'mum'. (Ahhhh.) I have tried to get some individual photos of the kittens but between their fidgeting and my poor photographic skills, they are all too awful to publish. So, for another week it will have to be yet another group photo of kittens sleeping!

The kittens are all now well and truly mobile. They spend far less time sleeping and more time playing with each other outside the nest in their kitten pen. They have all started to show their individual personalities and I have finally managed to take some individual photos. Some of the kittens are far more cooperative than others when it comes to posing! They all now have names: fawn boy Abderus Primogenito, big sorrel boy Abderus Rightly Rufus, small sorrel boy Abderus Wee Macduff, big sorrel girl Abderus Tinker Taylor, and small sorrel girl Abderus Ilove Lucy. All of the kittens are continuing to put on plenty of weight and Rosa is looking well considering she is feeding five hungry kittens. The coming week will see the introduction of solid food and then comes the joy of litter training!

From Left to Right: Fawn Boy, Rufus, Macduff, Tinker, and Lucy

This week saw the big move for the kittens into a room of their own. They spend most of their waking hours play fighting with each other and exploring. They are all real characters and love their cuddles. None of the kittens are showing any interest in solid food yet and are still relying on their mum to feed them. Surprisingly though they seem to have litter trained themselves already. No sooner were they exploring their new surroundings than they were using their litter trays.

From left to right: Fawnie, Rufus, Macduff and Tinker and Lucy.

It's been all go for the kittens this week. They have all discovered what their legs are for, principally running, jumping and climbing. Rosa has decided that it is time for the kittens to explore the rest of house and is not about to take no for an answer. All the kittens are doing well as far as gaining weight goes, but still aren't really touching solid food. Lucy can be persuaded to eat kitten meat, but only if I feed it her from my fingers! She is proving to be a real attention seeking little diva, just like her Mum.

From left to right: Fawnie (now called Moscow) and Tinker, Feeding time, Macduff, and Lucy

This week has been full of changes for the kittens. They are now well and truly established in the rest of the house. They have met the adult cats and were completely unphased by the experience. Milo is fascinated by the little monsters, but draws the line at having his tail chewed and kittens trying to suckle from him! Laurel is yet to be convinced that having kittens around is a good thing. At last they have all started to tuck into solid food. Until today I had thought that Wee Macduff was not eating anything as, unlike the others, he was showing no interest in the kitten meat. However, I have just caught him tucking into Rosa's biscuits (see photo below)!

From left to right: A tight squeeze, Lucy looking adorable, Macduff tucks in and Rufus relaxing.

A late update this week because of the Christmas break. The kittens have enjoyed the festivities, in particular the extra company. It has given me the opportunity to get to know them better and turn them into total lap cats, though I think this is only going to make it harder to say goodbye once the time comes. They are at the stage of being little monsters and are into absolutely everything. Thankfully there haven't been any mishaps yet, though I'm sure this will change once they are able to jump much higher. They have the run of the entire house a lot of the time and are well integrated with the other adult cats. Both Milo and Laurel are quite happy to take over the kitten cleaning duties from Rosa. All the kittens have now found wonderful homes to go to, with willing slaves to adore them.

From left to right: Moscow, Lucy with Uncle Milo, Macduff, and Rufus with Auntie Laurel

Not much to report this week. The kittens are continuing to grow at an alarming rate, Rufus being the biggest at a whopping 1.3Kg! They all have their own individual personalities, though are all very affectionate. (As I write this Lucy is curled up on my lap, as usual.) Rosa is showing no desire to leave the kittens and is continuing to feed and keep a watchful eye over them.

From left to right: Group hug, Kittens at play, Rufus, and Tinker

This week the kittens visited the vet for their first vaccinations. They were all very well behaved and there weren't any nasty side effects from the vaccine. All the kittens are as boisterous as ever and running riot about the house. I've not had the chance to take many photos this week, though I did manage to capture a rare moment of them all cuddled up together. It reflects quite nicely their personalities. Fawn boy (Moscow) is posing as usual, 'laid back' Rufus can barely keep his eyes open and 'shy girl' Tinker is doing her best to stay out of shot!

It won't be long now before it's time for the kittens to go off to their new homes. In preparation I've started separating Rosa from her kittens for longer periods of time. As you can see from the photo of Rosa and Moscow, the kittens are getting very big now. They are as boisterous as ever and even lent a hand (or should that be paws) sorting the washing out during the week!

The kittens are now pretty much completely independent of Rosa and she spends very little time with them, although she still manages to sneak in the odd feed (see photo below). The kittens have visited the vet for their second vaccinations and once again there were no nasty side affects. Over the next week or so the kittens will be going off to their new homes, so this is going to be the last update of their web page. It's been a joy to have the little monsters for the first three months of their lives, but it is time for them to fly the nest and bring as much joy to their new slaves!

From left to right: Which one is Mum?, Moscow, Rufus, Macduff, Lucy (now Amber), and Tinker (now Fidra).

Here are photos of some of the kittens settled in their new homes. On the left are Amber and Fidra, both looking like little clones of their mum, in the middle are Moscow and Rufus, posing for the camera, and on the right is Wee Macduff, sitting on top of his scratching post and looking like he never left home (see week 7&8 photos). Thanks to their new owners for sending me the photos and allowing me to put them on the web site.