Nearly 1 week old

Miss Gatsby and her kittens are doing very well. About 24 hours after having the kittens, mum got a little stressy about it all, wanted to hide her babies and wasn't settling to feed them as well as I would have liked, but it wasn't long before she was much happier and now she is a pretty chilled mum.
The kittens are growing well, obviously there is no indication of any charactor traits that they may have but a couple have really nice coats at the moment. They are all fat as butter and very content. One of the girls has had her eyes open for a couple of days already and the other girl is just starting to open hers, the boys are typical boys and can't be bothered to open theirs yet. The girls are the two dark kittens the blue and the other pale coloured one are boys.

Kittens

Miss Gatsby had her babies this morning (early hours). Mum and her 4 kittens are doing well. I think we have 3 boys and 1 girl but will check again in a few days.
Nice to have something to smile about again :-)

When things go wrong

Not having a good week, last week on Thursday evening, I was travelling down to my friend Rosie, near London so that we could travel to Crufts together (a long standing tradition for the pair of us). I set out at 7pm and had to follow a long diversion as the A303 was closed. At 9pm on a dark road with no signposts the engine went on my car. The RAC was called and I was informed that as a lady on my own I would be treated as a priority - he arrived at 10:45, very nice man. There was no option other than towing me back home and he could only take me so far as he couldn't leave his area. We were met at a service station and changed towing vehicles for the remainder of the journey, eventually getting home at 2:15am.
Due to the nature of Grahams' work we had to hire a car the next day, which he said I could borrow to get to London whilst he would have the van. I set off with no problems (brand new car, less than 800 miles on the clock) and arrived on time. Rosie did the driving to and from Crufts and then I set off for home on Sat evening. About 2/3rds of the way home the clutch started to stick so I drove the last part of the journey trying not to change gear. As I pulled into our road the clutch went completely!! Needless to say I wasn't allowed to drive the replacement car that arrived the following day (2 cars in 2 days).

We have since been quoted £5,500 to fix the car, far in excess of the cars value.

Oh well I thought, I know what any money we get from the pups is going towards. Had Martha scanned on Thursday which showed she is not pregnant, Sorry to all those who have enquired about a silver pup, hopefully that is the 3rd piece of bad luck.

So now on top of trying to figure out my transport issues I am having to rethink my puppy plans for this year. I am still waiting for Rhonda to come in season and will mate her as soon as possible, she has always had irregular seasons so although I am disappointed she has not come in yet, I am not surprised. I am now planning to mate Dollar, she is due in season next month. This will be a repeat of the mating that produced Martha, as I have had lovely feedback about this litter from all that had a puppy, and Martha is a lovely dog to live with (and in my opinion quite beautiful).

I think there may have been an accident with Alfie and Betty as she is looking very rounded 6 weeks after her season, time will tell. I think next time she is in season I may have to send her or Alfie to stay with a friend as although I am very careful about keeping them separate, it is a busy household with lots of visitors and doors do get left open.

Hopefully my next post will be a bit more cheerful as I am currently waiting for Miss Gatsby (my black/chocolate smoke Devon Rex) to have her kittens- due any minute.

Square Eyes

Audrey is a confirmed telly adict. She spends most evenings sitting or standing in front of the screen (she makes a better door than a window!). Although her preference is for programmes containing animals, she will study most programmes. Fortunatly she hasn't worked out how to use Emily's Nintendo yet, or I might end up with a total couch potato :-)

Pups in their new homes.

These are just a few of the pictures that the pups new families have sent me. I can't over estimate how much I enjoy receiving these pictures. Thanks to all that have done so, including previous poodle and kitten litters.

The pups in these pictures are Dusty (black/white) Millie (tri) Peggy (black/tan) Bill and Bob (2x black)

All Change/ Silver Standard Poodle Puppies?

Well so much for my breeding plans in last weeks blog!! Those who are waiting for a Rhonda puppy, I am still planning to mate her as soon as she comes into season, but I am now hoping she holds off for a few more weeks as I am taking Martha to be mated this afternoon.

I have changed my plans as I worked out that if I waited for Martha's next season it would mean pups ready very close to Christmas, which is obviously not a good plan. I chose Martha instead of Dollar as Martha is ready to mate now, but Dollar is still not in season, with a bit of luck Rhonda will not come in season straight away so there will hopefully be a few weeks between pups, and the chances are that Rhonda and Dollar will come in together and Rhonda is the one I definitely want to mate this year. So looks like Dollar will be next year now.

This week is going to be a bit of a nightmare, as I have 6 girls in season, walks are out of the question, on top of that it is half term, so I have a group of very fit dogs who are ready to go out every time I move, and at all other times are "having intimate cuddles" with each other! and on top of that my daughter who will need to be kept busy.

On a different note I have had a couple of visits from Bella's puppies in the last couple of weeks, they are cracking little characters, very much on the go and hopefully good working dogs in the making. I have also had several photos from them and others and plan to put some of them on here very soon. (not at the PC with my photos at the moment)

Poor Alfie

Alfie thinks he has died and gone to heaven, virtualy all my girls, with the notable exception of Rhonda (the girl I am waiting to mate!) are in season. He is also some what confused, as he is absolutly besotted with Rhonda, he is frantic to devote all his love to her back leg, she is having none of it.Unfortunatly for him, the reality is several weeks of look but don't touch, which he is accepting reasonably well. On the plus side he is getting lots of individual attention, we went to visit my parents in Worthing at the weekend so he came with us, and thoroughly enjoyed being the one and only.
Hopefuly Rhonda will come in season over the next week or two and I will take her to be mated. I am also considering mating Dollar agin this spring, this will depend on her season being far enough apart from Rhondas (she is the other girl who is not in season).
Miss Gatsby(my black devon rex) is pregnant- I think. She will be due in the middle of March