No kittens (this time), but 4 newly scanned perfect hearts.

For a breeder without a litter in 2,5 years, I have a very intense and turbulent life. That is because I am a cat Mom, and because breeding is not just about putting two unaltered cats of opposite sex into same room and getting kittens out of that rendezvous 9 weeks later…

Bad, very bad news first – Claire had no kittens this time. 😥
She went down in weight after 7 weeks of pregnancy, little by little, but still carried what turned out to be empty amniotic sacs to the term. Sleepless nights before we knew she has no kittens in, her started bleeding a bit, urgent visits to veterinary clinics, worries and tears. Claire is a tough cookie, she already started resorbing the stuff in her uterus. No signs of infection or inflammation. She got a medicin (Alizine)e to help her expel the contents and they sampled the fluid coming out. We will take her to a new ultrasound exam now on Monday, see if all got out, and in 10 days we will see a specialist in gynaecology/fertility for cats to discuss why this happened.

Good news – Jossan, Electra and Claire got heart scanned by a cardiologist at Albano and all three girls have perfect hearts. ❤ ❤ ❤
I was worried about Claire being scanned, she was there to get another injection of Alizin only, and had her heart scan booked in 2 weeks, but the veterinary thought she was well enough and that her condition would not influence her heart scan, so they scanned her as well as her mom and half sister.

And the best news 🙂 ❤ 🙂 – Funtes has a healthy heart, and is absolutely approved for breeding!
We went to see a cardiology specialist today (previously Funtes was scanned by a consultant within cardiology, whom I guess is good, but matters of heart are difficult, in every sense, and in Funtes case we needed what we were told by some of the other breeders was one of the best teams in Sweden. Ultuna cardiologist team).

Ultuna was informed about the previous scan and what I was told.
Well, it turned out that what Funtes has, is not an aberration or thickening, it is something called a ‘false tendon’! (I must admit I’ve never heard of the term before). It is some kind of fibrous tissue/bands and is an anatomic variation, not a pathology.

Other thing that was noticed on the first scan – turbulence on Doppler when Funtes yelled and struggled (poor him hates to be held by force, it was much easier to scan the girls, they just were lying calmly, protesting very little) were not considered a pathology by the expert today, it was normal “bubbling” that Doppler showed. All the measured parameters fall within limits for a normal, healthy heart! He was absolutely approved for breeding and his heart was declared healthy today!

We are very happy. First and foremost because his heart is perfect (which in a way we never doubted), and then because I got so much support and good advice after being open and writing about Funtes on Facebook also, which prompted my breeder colleagues and friends to give me good advice and pushed me to look for a second opinion, which led us to where we are today.

Openness puts us out there with all the bad but also good things that come back to you.
I am grateful and believe that if we ask for help when confused and sad, we will get help and ultimately together we will do the best for our cats and the whole race we work with.

It was the same with TF, I got helped the most, by absolutely by far the most by people that had read this blog and mailed me. I am grateful to them forever.

So that is a lot lately – our expectation of kittens led us to a heartbreak for Claire and the loss, the girls hearts are scanned, and Funtes is back to being perfect hearted and kicking. 🙂 So much to take in, so much!

Next station – checking why this happened to Claire and trying to fix it if possible, and then attempting to mate Claire (if she is ok) and Funtes and Funtes and Electra.

Hug cats. Sleep. Try to enjoy the other half of my vacation. I love my cats. So much.

LillMupp is here

Let me introduce you to LillMupp, Claire’s kitten.

He was born via c-section, 31st of October, after a whole day drama. He was the only kitten and Claire was 69 days pregnant with him. The nurse came with him to us after the operation and we had to wipe him and rub him with the towel for half an hour while Claire was waking up. We were scared, he was so fragile and not at all as lively as the kittens we saw before, that were delivered the usual way.

The veterinary came to us with Claire as soon as she was done. She did not know where she was, was still under the influence of the anesthetic, did not understand that it was her baby, or that it was a baby at all. She did not recognize us either. The veterinary helped us milk Claire and get a drop into the kitten’s mouth, and after some time he managed to nurse a bit. It is a reflex. The veterinary told us that he is a very strong boy, although Joakim and I were very skeptical, he looked so small and weak. But he had a good weight. After 8 hours at the hospital we went home with confused Claire and a kitten that I kept warm on our way back.

At home, Claire, still somewhat drugged recognized her mom and got very happy. Albert got confused and failed to identify Claire as her sister, since she smelled like medicine and hospital, so he stood there in the middle of the hall, being confused and worried. When I showed them the kitten, Jossan did not give it any attention; she cared only about Claire, and was trying to lick her clean. Albert still sat, utterly shocked, and Maven and Miii joined him, thinking.

And then Leroy, our rock, came to the kitten, all delighted, and started licking the little one’s bottom, to help him do #1 and #2. Small kittens cannot empty their bladder and colon without their mom or another big cat licking their tummy and bottom (or a human mimicking that gently, with for example a q-tip). I don’t know how Leroy knows that, but he always knew that, since Jossan’s first litter. Instincts. So he took care of the small one, and afterwards he licked Claire.

We went to sleep very late, after being on phone with my friends and dad cat’s owner, who all gave me good advice. We were trying to get Claire to understand that the little one was her ktten, and that it was a kitten at all, and that she should nurse him. Jossan took care of the kitten as well, keeping it warm, after she licked Claire clean. She would not leave them alone, so we had to let her sleep with Claire and the kitten in their rrom. First I, and then Joakim slept on the bed next to their cat house. He slept there almost every night at start.

LillMupp, 1 day old on Mom’s back

LillMupp, kept safe between mom Claire and grandmother Jossan

LillMupp, 1 week old

LillMupp, 16 days old, showing some attitude

LilMupp is adorable, and very  loved by all of us. Albert has recovered from the initial shock, and understood that it-that-we-brought-from-the-place-that-made-his-sister smell-odd is a kitten. And he loves kittens. 🙂 Claire has recovered fast and without any problems from her c-section, and she adores her kitten.

Jossan was close to her delivery when LillMupp was born, her kittens saw the light of the day 8 days later. I’ll present them next time, when I have more pictures of them. They are all doing well.

56 days

Today is 56 days since Claire was mated. There is about 7-10 days only left until Claire’s kittens arrive, and 10 days after that Jossan’s. We saw movements in both of their bellies. So exciting! We are getting more nervous.

Claire has gained a lot of weight since the mating – 950gr, but that is hard to see. Siamese are very long cats and somehow they manage to distribute all that newly gained weight so that it is not that visible. 🙂 Her tummy was pretty prominent and looked big until about 1-2 weeks ago, when the babies seem to have moved down in a way. Jossans seems to be carrying more kittens than Claire.

Jossan, resting. About 17-20 days to go

Claire, balancing on the chair, 7-10 days to delivery

Claire, bombing the picture and stealing the candy from Jossan

Jossan, geting another candy

Here is also a video of the Siamese from this morning. Sorry about the mess in the background. 😦

Jossan is picking the food and candy from one of her favorite toys, and at the same time Jocke is trying to take a good photo of Leroy. He calls him ‘Tjockis’ which in Swedish means something like ‘fatso’ and Leroy understands the word and gets offended! Look at his tail! He gets really upset when someone calls him ‘tjockis’. Well, who wouldn’t? I sound silly, since my voice gets ridicilous when I talk to cats and I tell Leroy that he is cute and handsome, not a ‘fatso’.

You can also see a bit better how Claire’s and Jossan’s tummies look like!

The cats seem to feel great. They eat more of the Queens RC food which has high fat and protein content which Leroy finds irresistible and he started to put on some extra weight again!

About TF, the parasite which I wrote about previously, we have nothing dramatic to say. The cats feel great and if we did not have them tested we would not notice much of a difference now. The smell of their stool is still foul, but the consistency is ok, most of the time. No irritation, no problems at all. They are happy and healthy, eat well and show nothing out of order.

I’ve been reading for days and weeks all I could find and am still reading more about TF, treatments, symptoms, medications and so on. I’ve talked to helpful people whose cats had TF and who cured them. I am optimistic and not too worried. This parasite is less troublesome or damaging than many other things cats can get. It is treatable and often cats can even get rid of it themselves.

Knowledge and science FTW! Only the best care is good enough for our beloved fur babies. And I wish that for all other pets, all of them deserve love and care.

Waiting

If all goes well, in three weeks Claire will get her first litter, and ten days after that Jossan will get her kittens. We are excited, but also a bit worried, hoping that all will go well.

This is Claire’s first litter, and we still do not know if she will be a good mom, if she will have milk for the kittens, if she will have an easy time delivering the kittens…. that is part of the reason why we tried to time Jossan’s kittens close to Claire’s, if something goes wrong, Jossan can help out. Albert and Leroy can of course help with almost everything, but they cannot nurse the kittens if Claire does not have milk, or has problems with it. We would have to do it, but a cat mom is always the best option.

We got to borrow two really gorgeous Siamese boys with exciting pedigrees; their pet names are Sigge and Jack.  Jack is seal point, and Sigge is a seal point tabby (lynx) Siamese.

Jack is actually Sigge’s son.  Sigge dated Jossan, and Jack dated Claire. Bellow are their pictures. And here is one picture from this afternoon; moms to be are resting on a soft blanket, and Albert is also there, cool and loving as always. He will soon be both hands-on uncle and big brother, and we know that he will be so happy about it. There are no better nannies in the world than him and Leroy! See, Claire’s belly is a bit bigger than Jossan’s, since she is 10 days ahead in her pregnancy. She maybe also carries more kittens, we do not know.

Claire, Jossan and Albert, taking a nap

Here are the pictures of the parents to be:

La Bell Jumping Jack, SIA n

SE*La Voix Claire, SIA w67

Jack & Claire, pedigree on Pawpeds

Sirius Naryschkina*D, SIA n21 (photo by Heide Petersen)

S*Me-Na-Yak Call Me Josephine Brown, SIA c

Sirius & Jossan, pedigree on Pawpeds

On the balcony

The spring is very much here in Stockholm! The weather is lovely and we are planting the flowers and working in the garden and on our balcony when we can.

The cats are helping us (according to them).

Jossan sniffing campanula

But, this is not how it is supposed to be!  Jossan is my angel, she only sniffs at little campanula flowers.

Claire and her salad choice

Albert eats them as salad! Which is what Claire does with my small pelargonium plants that are ready to be planted in the big pots.

Albert and pelargonium; a view from the inside

But, the worst of all – look where Leroy is sitting!

Leroy, Albert and Claire; doing the things they are not supposed to.

The net must go up soon!

Albert got a prize – Food maze

There was a competition on Siames i fokus for the best Christmas photo, and Albert came second (with the picture of him in the Christmas tree), and we got a prize! 🙂 It was this picture that came second:

Albert the White Squirrel

We got Catit Senses Food Maze for our cats!

The Food Maze has one design flow (whoever made it did not have Siamese and their loooong noses in mind) – our Siamese can get their heads right into the top level and simply eat the food from there. But, we put a lid from one cookie-box on the top and now it works perfectly!

I filmed the cats eating Siamese 38 dry food from Royal Canin, which, according to the independent Swedish veterinary institute test, is not such a great quality food (our cats eat dry food from Eukanuba and James Wellbeloved and also Bozita and Mjau wet food – those two are Swedish brands), but it tastes great, so they get it instead of candy sometimes.

Claire is crazy about cat candy, and also, other cats let her get it first since she is the youngest. Albert does not care about candy that much (accept for Dreamies, and I am always strict there – everyone gets Dreamies from my hand, so there is no stealing). Albert likes lettuce. He is a special cat.

When we want other cats to play with Food Maze, we play with Claire in another room. And here is why:

2012

Many things happened in our cats’ lives in 2012.

Albert was the cat of March month on siames i fokus, a mostly Swedish/Norwegian social site for Siamese and Oriental cats.

Albert (again) fell and fractured his breast bone on Easter which bothered him until late summer, when he was successfully operated. Now he has recovered and is jumping happily around as he did before the fall.

“♬ ♪ You ain’t nothin but a hound dog… ♬”

We managed to put a removable net on our balcony and furnish it so that the cats could safely enjoy the fresh air.

Leroy and Maven on the balcony and the net between them. No, this is not how it should be! 😦

Amazing mother and my beloved one-human-cat Jossan delivered six precious kittens (C-litter), who were raised and taken care of by the whole cat family for the first 3 months of their lives when five of them moved to their new permanent homes where they are very loved and taken care of.

Jossan, the queen of our castle

We kept Claire, a kitten cared for by all the other cats, a little clown that loves all the cats and humans equally.

Claire – I mostly care about mice!

Leroy had a lump in the skin (yes – ‘in’, not ‘under’, there is a difference, and his was more likely to be malign) removed in the summer. Luckily that turned out to be only a lipoma. So, basically, he got his first liposuction this year! (I am joking now, but poor him, we were so worried) He was x-rayed and all his blood values checked on the same occasion and he is a very healthy, now a 6 years old cat!

Maven took many walks with us outside in our neighborhood where we have very little traffic and many pretty houses to look (and sniff) at. She and Miii spent a substantial amount of time with us in the garden, helping us.

Maven, gardening

Leroy was (unjustly?) pronounced fat by his humans and exposed to various methods of torture. One of them, putting him on a special diet for overweight cats, made him go UP in weight even more! Well, that is over now. Buying a new toy (Da Bird) and wrestling with Claire seems to keep him in shape. In spite of what his humans think, he got ‘Excellent’ as condition mark from both judges on the exhibitions he attended.

Yes, the exhibitions – Leroy and Claire were exhibited and that went great. We might do it again some time.

The cats got a few new beds and furniture that they seem to like.

Miii – warm and cosy

Our cats were very much loved, played with and well fed during the whole year, as always. Sisters Jossan and Miii turned five years on December 27, and not only them but their two siblings from the same litter, also Leroy’s kittens – their handsome brother Gandhi that lives in Denmark and sister Noora that lives with one family in Stockholm. Happy birthday, dear cats!

Jossan and Miii spent their birthday lying close to and caring for their humans that fell ill with a bad influenza and were in fever for days (getting better as I write this). Our beautiful, beloved cats with big hearts whom we love so much, we wish you happy birthday and every other day! We are so happy to have all of you in our lives.

And to mark their fifth birthday – Miii was a model for our Christmas and Happy New Year card this year and I am working on a small painting of Jossan that will be finished when I feel better.

Miii – Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

I’ll post a picture of the painting of Jossan when it is done.

Much love and happy New Year from Jelena and Joakim with the cats. ♥

Claire opens hunting season

A hunt? On what? TOYS! Except that those are not toys, but Christmas ornaments! Or, well, that depends – if you are a cat the world is your playground and all the items lying around (or arranged in a silly manner by humans) are certainly left there for your pleasure and entertainment.

I was strategically placing our beloved figurines of bearded tomtar (pl from tomte) on the highest shelves so that the cats cannot get them (oh, those lovelly beards made of wool from sheep from Öland, nom nom!) when Claire started running around with a little angel doll I got from Jocke’s mom!

“Look what I found! A toy!”

She did not destroy it, she just carried it all over the house, but it was hard to get it back from her. “MINE!”. First she teased Albert who got to follow her around, but no, he did not get to touch the angel doll.

“Albert, won’t you come and see what I have here?”

“Look, it is so pretty!”

“Don’t touch! Only I may touch it.”

Jocke took a few pictures and then I rescued the lovely angel doll from Claire who was NOT HAPPY! That little cat is so cute and cuddly, but very obstinate. A cat; obstinate? No! 😉

Rescued angel doll

The fat Siamese diary – part #3 (Exhibition)

Leroy’s story:

Week #3

It seems that Mom gave up on torturing me.

There is always this new, really tasty food out, and I can eat as much as I want! Yum, yum! I still get Tasteless Mud few times a day as well, but it is actually not that bad (or I got used to it). I love my Mom and Dad, they are not that unreasonable after all.

Week #4

Mom said that I am the best cat in the world and such a good example for The Little One. Then she put me and the baby in the cage and Dad drove us to a place I had never visited before. It was a huge hall with hundreds of other cats and even more people. The Little One was scared, but I was just curious. I wanted to walk around and inspect the place. Mom put me and the baby in one big cage, arranged everything like a little room for cats, with a cat house and curtains and a litter box. We got food and water, too. It was good. I could see many other cats from there and when I told my humans to take me out and carry me around so I could see more, they obeyed.

I liked being there. People came to me and admired my beautiful face and eyes, said how pretty and cool I was. I liked that not many stupid people were there. Mom took me to a lady with white hair that called me ‘Big Boy’ and everyone laughed. She said many good and true things about me, except for one – that my head could be bigger. Mom petted me later and told Dad that that was a nice way to say that I was fat: “He is not big, it is his head that is small”. I do not care, small head or not, I am the King.

In the afternoon we went home just to go back to the same place the next day.

The Little One was less scared the next day. She looked at me, and also, at her Dad who was there as well, and imitated my royal posture and utter coolness. A new lady judged our good looks this time, and she also called me ‘Big Boy’. She did not complain about my head (except for my ‘somewhat flat forehead’. Ha! SHE had a flat forehead!), and she also told me many nice things. My humans carried me around again and I saw many cats of different races I never saw before. People came to Mom and asked about me and were surprised that it was my first time on a cat exhibition ever; I was so relaxed and cool. Yes, what did they think. I am cool. Like, the coolest cat ever.

Leroy: “Carry me around! Show me the world!”

Cat exhibition – our story:

We were never that interested in exhibiting our cats; that takes a lot of time and also, cat shows are beauty pageants and for us our cats were already the prettiest in the world anyway! Our kittens’ dad Goofy has a title, he is a GIC (Grand International Champion, which is high title), but we would have liked him all the same even if he was not.

Until a few years ago, and even now sometimes, there have been cats that got sick on exhibitions and some of the breeders had to stop with breeding completely after getting cats sick for life. I was very scared of that. But now, everyone is cleaning tables, cages and hands with alcohol and the cats are handled very cautiously, so the risk of getting some bug is very small. And of course, you cannot exhibit a sick cat and there is an obligatory veterinary check when entering the cat show. The infections are not that bad for big cats, but if you have small kittens at home, they can get really sick.

We did not plan to have any litter soon, so we decided to exhibit Claire, since white Siamese are rare, and that way people can get to see her.

When it comes to beauty – Albert and Jossan are our prettiest cats, but Albert is not fond of being lifted after his injury (I hope he forgets about it now when he is operated and fine), and Jossan is fertile and can get upset and nervous if she is close to male fertile cats, so I do not want to stress them.

Leroy is chubby, and Miii is caramel blue, not ‘ordinary’ blue (caramel is recognized in England, but not here in Sweden, so she would have to compete with the “true” blue Siamese and she would get low points for her fur color, which is not fair. They are not even the same color! Jossan and Miii’s grandfather was an import from England and had the same, amazing fur color, which is not that appreciated in Sweden). Maven cannot be exhibited, not because she is a mixed breed – there is a class for them, too; the reason is that she has a tail kink.

But, we did not want to take little Claire there alone!

And so we thought – Leroy, although chubby, is such a cool cat, and has a lot of charisma. That counts for something, right? So, we decided to take Leroy as a company for small Claire, and since he already was going to be there, he could compete in his class as well (class 10, neuters). And so we went to Birka cat club’s two-day exhibition last weekend.

Leroy: “I am watching you!”

It went really great! Leroy got his first two certificates, CAP (Certificat d’Aptitude de Premier )! Wow!

Claire; a loooong kitten.

And Claire got two Ex1, which is the best she can get in her class, since she is only a junior. 🙂

Both judges said (in a very polite and nice way) that Leroy is a bit chubby, but also, that he is neuter and almost 6 years old, so some extra weight is not unexpected. Well, I am trying (still, in spite what he may be thinking) to get him slimmer! And not for the beauty reasons, but for his health.

Anyway, this is what they got as evaluation from the judges, on Saturday and Sunday. You’ll see, it is good! “Exc” and “Ex” stands for “excellent”. The ladies that judged our cats were very nice to them. Thank you! What matters the most to us is that the cats took being there pretty well, especially Leroy who enjoyed all the attention and was curious about the other cats.

Sat, Leroy, judge Steph Bruin: Type: Big boy. Exc body length. Head: Head could be a bit more ‘edgy’ as to details. Eyes: Good blue. Ears: Fair size/set. Coat: Exc lilac points. Exc structure Tail: Good length. Condition: Exc. General impression: Charming. Calm boy.	Sun, Leroy, judge Anna Wilczek: Type: Ex strong & svelte, quite long but could be more elegant Head: ex wedge, nice profile, but forehead too flat Eyes: Ex blue, but too dominant. Ears: Ex placement, medium size Coat: Ex short, ex close lying with some shades on corpus. Tail: Ex, long and tapering Condition: Ex General impression: Lovely temperament.
Sat, Claire, judge Steph Bruin: Type: Well developed, exc overall type Head: Nice long straight wedge Eyes: A bit ‘full’, but nice blue Ears: Nice ears, relatively large Coat: lovely pure white. Close lying texture is exc Tail: Fitting with body length. Exc! Condition: Top. My compliments! General impression: Charming, happy cat.	Sun, Claire, judge Anna Wilczek: Type: Ex elegant, slender & long, ex built Head: Ex wedge, ex profile, nice chin Eyes: Ex blue, good size and shape Ears: Could be larger in size, but set well Coat: Ex short, ex texture, ex white Tail: Ex tapering Condition: Ex General impression: Lovely junior.

Claire’s dad, Goofy, was also there and took two certificates (he is a neuter now). Claire met her dad for the first time and they sniffed each other and he also ‘petted’ her gently with the paw on her head. It was so nice to see that! They are similar in behavior and very friendly cats. 🙂

Goofy, a friendly cat!

The Siamese tree

Saturday afternoon at our home. It has been raining all day and it is already dark outside (it is 6 PM here). There is a whole 2 months left until Christmas but it already feels like the holidays are around the corner!

The heating is on, and our ‘furry lizards’, how Jocke called them, the pride of Siamese, are lying close to the radiator, the beloved source of warmth. 🙂 Maven with her fluffy semi-long fur does not feel the cold, she is lying in another window, looking at the street.

The Siamese tree. Up – Jossan, Claire, Leroy. Down – Albert, Miii.

 

Bad Claire!

All the kittens from the C-litter have moved to their new homes some time ago and they are very happy and loved there. We kept Claire. She looks like Albert, since they are siblings and she is also white, but they are not that similar in temper. We are not sure yet how she will be when she grows up, personality wise.

Play, play, play!

Claire is a bit like Leroy in her attitude; “I am above you all and I am no one’s cat”. But she is also cute and affectionate and is purring when we cuddle with her. She sleeps next to us when we sit in the living room, on the pile together with the big cats. Albert and Leroy are the ones who take care of her (Albert) and discipline her (Leroy). But, also her aunt Miii helps a lot with the disciplining part.

Claire has a lovely profile; she looks a lot like Jossan. Notice how Miii is trying to became one with the background. 🙂

Jossan seems to be relieved that the kittens have moved out and does not care much about good upbringing of her white daughter. Well, she deserves rest and all the help she can get, she is such a good mom and had a lot to do this summer. Now she is back to being my cat and is very cuddly and affectionate.

Jocke took some pictures of the disciplining session earlier today; Miii and Claire, this is how it was. 🙂

That naughty look again!

Miii: “Mau mau! Bad Claire! Show some respect for the big cats!”  Claire: “Mau, mau! Never!”