Rollercoaster ride with Gypsie

Gypsie has been poorly, up until a few days before she was due to set off for her new home she was tickety boo, but she suddenly started a nasty bout of vomiting and diarrhea. She was taken to the vets where she was prescribed antibiotics, painkillers and an injection to stop her vomiting. This helped to some extent, but unfortunately the vomiting continued, although it was less often.
She then had a 2nd visit where she had blood tests which showed that her liver and kidney function were fine but she was fighting an infection, so she had a change of antibiotics. This time they really seemed to help and we thought we had cracked it, but on Thursday night she was sick again, this time it was accompanied by a swollen tummy, indicating a significant build up of gas (which reduced when she was sick). By the time we got her to the vets on Friday she was much happier and hungry so was sent home to see what happened. Throughout her illness she has remained bright and essentially well, and is super affectionate.

This morning I came downstairs to find she had been sick again, and her stomach was slightly distended, so back to the vets. She had a series of xrays which showed that there is no blockage and although there is a lot of gas in her intestines, everything appears to be working through her system in a normal fashion.
We are now trying a 3rd type of antibiotic, along with a 3 day course of panacur wormer (she has previously been wormed with Milbemax). We remain hopeful that she just needs more time and support, the vets still feel she will eventually make a full recovery.

The family who were going to have her have now decided that they don't feel able to take her on, a decision which I fully understand and support, so she will stay here until she is completely fit and well before we make any further decisions about keeping her or finding her another family. She is an absolute delight so keeping her would be no great hardship!

It is 3rd time lucky

Today Audrey and Spirit were both scanned for pregnancy and both are pregnant :-)  This is Audrey's 3rd litter and this is the 3rd time that Spirit has been mated. I have to be honest and say that I was not confident that Spirit would conceive, given her previous history, which is why I mated Audrey at the same time. Of course I should have realised that mating the two girls together would ensure Spirit would become pregnant! So it looks like we will have a delightfully busy few months coming up.

Puppies are expected mid March.

Quietly confident :-)

Just back from a flying visit to see my bestest friend in Surrey. I took Spirit and Tiffany with me and we were lucky enough to be able to walk at Virginia Water after a light snowfall. This was the first snow the girls had experienced, and they loved it.

It is now just over 3 weeks since Spirit was mated, and almost 3 weeks since Audrey was mated, and although I have yet to get them scanned (will be scanning mid week next week) I am almost 100% sure that both are pregnant. I'm so excited!!

Almost back to what passes for normal at Itzapromise :-)

Spirit and Dime are now right at the tail end of their seasons and today have had a bath and groom in preparation to reintroducing them to the boys and neutered girls tomorrow. Spirit had 3 really good matings with Morse so now all we can do is wait. Dime was successfully kept away from the boys, much to her disgust. the girls have been providing their own entertainment for the last week or so, as can be seen in the picture!

As we were unable to proceed with my initial plans (and indeed secondary plans, due to various issues, not least of which was a broken car) Audrey has also been mated to Morse, again the matings were good and again, we must now wait and see. She and Tiffany are still very sexy girls so it will be another week or 10 days before they are all back together. All the dogs have coped very well with what is undoubtedly a stressful situation and thankfully the boys have remained happy in each others company.

All my entire female cats are calling, and all are being kept under strict lock and key for now, as I don't think I could cope with potentially 2 litters of pups and kittens! We will aim to have some more kittens in the summer months :-)

Margos babies, Gypsy and Gizmina, are just wonderful, they are off for their 1st vaccinations this week so won't be long before they are packing their bags. Graham and I are thankful that they are winter kittens and we have been wearing trousers as they are both insistent that our legs are climbing frames.

Puppies?

Today Morse lost his cherry, he and Spirit have mated and now begins the anxious wait to see if we will have puppies, followed by the anxious wait until they are born safe and sound :-)

Very quick update

Last but not least, Tiffany has now come into season. Dime is now standing and would be ready to mate, but that won't be happening this time. Spirit is getting close, she is flagging her tail and allowing the girls to jump on her with minimal grumbling, but won't tolerate the boys near her yet, will continue to introduce her to Morse on a daily basis. Audrey is likely to be another week or so before she is ready.
The boys are coping incredibly well, there is no sign of any discord between the 3 of them, They all seem to have different coping methods. Cash is playing a calm waiting game, Alfie is humping Purdies tail (not sure who I feel for most there!) and Morse bless him is obviously full of adolescent testosterone and is taking more than a passing interest in the neutered boy he encounters on a walk, a behaviour that is new to him and hopefully once he has lost his cherry he will settle back down. They are accepting that they can't be with the girls at home and all are quiet and settled :-)

Gypsy and Gizmina, Margo's kittens are amongst the boldest that we have had, they are growing well and it feels like we have 10 kittens in the house as they perform their wall of death every night!

That turned out to be not as quick an update as I planned, lol

A slight change of plan

Unfortunately we have had to postpone Audrey's trip to Ireland, where she was to meet a particularly handsome boy, so instead she will be mated to Morse. As with Spirit, this should give us a litter consisting of apricots, blacks and phantoms. Morse is a very happy lad :-) Audrey will hopefully travel to Ireland for her last litter in due course.