Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Telling one kitten from the other

The two girls have been identifiable from their head markings for a long time. "Wiggle" has has a central wiggly stripe, "Star" has a broader diamond shape in the same place. Now the boys are becoming easier to tell apart. Not only is one bigger than the other, but he has a short sleek coat like his mother - shorter than other Abys I've had. In comparison the smaller boy looks quite fluffy. The kittens have free run of the house now while we are around, except for the kitchen, and interact with the other cats. Cold weather seems to have brought on a resurgence of suckling, but the attraction of a hot drink seems understandable. This isn't an easy house to keep warm. They've checked out the Christmas tree, but aren't overly interested.

Kittens playing

Lazy Sunday

The only time you can get them all in one picture is when they are sleepy

Development

The kittens soon learnt to climb out of their pen. If we net over the top we could keep them in but we would also keep Hattie out. So the Lindam type pen with bars would have been better. On the other hand they get plenty of exercise climbing up the mesh. So they are free range in my office, and are clawing round my ankles from time to time as I type. Every day they find a new trick, a new height to scale. I have blocked the chimney........ Quite fussy about food. I've been feeding Cimicat milk powder to mother and kittens. Just nearing end of second tub, and not sure if I'll buy another, though that always goes down well. Have been trying to give a mix of cheaper and more expensive kitten food, but, like their mum, they are prepared to leave the cheap stuff for a day rather than eat it. Weighed them yesterday, and it's still a straight line graph, with them around 800 gms each now

Feeding time looks very different now

Hattie feeds the kittens much more rarely now they are on solid food, and often it's just the one slightly hungry kitten. However this is what the entire crew look like