Kittens

My devon rex kitten has suddenly become the most affectionate demanding boy, at about 6 weeks old I had to go away for a few days and this unfortunatly meant that he had to go into a pen in the garden (with his mum) and therefore missed out on all the usual handling and noise etc that he had become used to prior to this. Once back indoors he was a bit of a scardy cat and didn't want to be handled. Obviously this was quite upsetting as my babies are normaly so people orientated. I took a step back from him to allow him to find his feet, didn't try to pick him up and avoided situations where he felt trapped.
I am pleased to say that this approach has definatly worked as he is now what I would call a typical devon kitten - totally in your face. If you sit down he's on your lap, if you get a toy out he turns into a tiger and god help you if you try to eat something and don't share it!
He came to work with me last Saturday for his 1st vaccination and health check but unfortunatly the vet couldn't listen to his heart and lungs because he refused to stop purring.
He is still looking for the right home, I have had numerous enquiries wanting to know if he can be registered on the active list and the answer is no, he will make the most affectionate pet (poss show cat) and he would be miserable shut out in a cattery.
I also have a delightful ginger and white male moggy kitten looking for a home for a nominal price.

Chickens, kittens and Jack

I'll start with the chickens(and Audrey). We have several big friendly chickens in the garden, that are generally no bother to the dogs and the dogs are no bother to them, until now. The poor old chickens have acquired some new house mates- mites. Obviously we had to deal with this, so I ordered some stuff to treat the house. This arrived and we gave the chicken house a very thorough clean and sprayed the birds with frontline. The infested chippings were carefully bagged awaiting a bonfire to destroy them later that evening. When I looked out of the kitchen window and saw Audrey pulling all the contents of the bag over the garden. I called her in and set about clearing up her mess, and gave the matter no more thought.
That night we settled all the dogs as usual but Audrey became very agitated, barking and howling (something she has never done, even as a tiny pup), so after checking her we decided to ignore the behaviour as we didn't want to reward it by letting her out, so we went to bed. This continued on and off until after midnight and by then Graham decided he better let her out incase she needed the toilet, she didn't but he called me down as she was constantly scratching. Then the penny dropped- she was crawling with mites!! I immediately sprayed her with frontline and gave her some piriton. This had little or no effect and she continued creating a fuss until at 3am I ended up having to bath and dry her which I am pleased to say worked very well. Needless to say if we ever have the same problem with the chickens again i shall make sure that the dogs have NO access to the contaminated shavings.

Jack, Cinders pup has found a lovely home and will no doubt soon be spoiled rotten by his new mum and her two children. He will be ready to go in a fortnight. He was out and about in the garden today so have added a couple of photos.

Sybil and Manuel have 1 very handsome cream and white Devon boy looking for a home, he will be ready at the beginning of July and having been brought up alongside all the dogs and handled by my 5 year old daughter and her friends he will hopefully be like his mum, a very sociable cat.

What a differnce 3.5 weeks make.

Betty's little girl has gone off to start her new life today, so I took a couple of pictures of her before she went (as she was so cute and fluffy), then I took some photos of Cinders pup who is approx 3.5 weeks younger. Whereas Miluki (Betty's pup) doesn't stop, is very vocal and very nimble, Cinders baby is still quite unsure on his legs and thankfully not as demanding as Miluki. Obviously the age is the main reason he is not as well advanced, but I do wonder if being an "only Child" means that he hasn't had to fight for anything and consequently is a bit more of a laid back character, time will tell.
It will be interesting to see how he reacts to Sybils kittens now that he is coming out to learn about his surroundings, I have a feeling they will teach him a thing or two as they are a couple of weeks older than him.

Mainly pictures

Betty's pups have now reached 8 weeks of age (very nearly) and are off to their new homes in the next few days, so the dog puppy had a wash and brush up today and I thought I would be able to get some nice shots of him as he is an absolute stunner, but would he stay still? No, so I ended up with several blurred pictures of him coming straight for me and some quite nice pictures of the bitch as she was a little more obliging, although she is waiting to be bathed! Although they are both extremely forward and friendly they have quite different personalities, the girl is slightly calmer but very demanding and has a very good set of lungs on her- her new mum may want to invest in some ear plugs! The boy continues to be bold as brass and will need some kind but firm handling or he will very quickly take advantage of any given situation, he reminds me so much of his dad.

Must get a couple of pictures of Cinders little black boy at 4 weeks today he is starting to develop some character, but haven't taken any yet. He will be looking for a home of his own in the next few weeks.

Audrey is growing well,The photos today showed her before a bath and clip, just after a bath and looking pretty! I was hoping to do an update on her and some of her siblings but unfortunately for one reason or another I have not had many photo updates recently, the exception being Flame- she was the smallest bitch from the litter, her photo is at the end. Charley's progress can be caught up with on his very own blog page, for some reason I can't get the link to stay with the text, it is between the before head shot of Audrey and the standing after shot. http://web.me.com/t9sus4/charley/blog/blog.htmlhtml

Small dogs, big personalities!

Bettys pups may be small but what they lack in size they certainly make up for with spirit. They are both running on Duracell now, they don't stop. Their play is at 100mph. The little girl is very affectionate and not such a hooligan as her brother (who is a bit rough with her)yet full of fun and gives as good as she gets. The boy is a small black version of their dad, he is a wonderful character, bold as brass and a lovely example of the breed. He will be a fantastic outgoing pet and I think he has real show potential, if I didn't own his dad I would have kept him myself.

Growing well??

The pups are developing well, but growing - well they are never going to be big! The girl in particular is tiny, but then when your mum is only 8" tall and weighs 1.65kg what can you expect. The little boy takes after his dad and is absolutely loaded with character, bold as brass and has a tail that doesn't stop wagging. Due to yet another timewaster (who didn't even bother to let me know they weren't visiting as planned several weeks ago) the little girl is now looking for her new home

They are hilarious to listen to and watch. They are extremely quick on their feet, but not yet in full control of what they are doing, hence they often end up on their backs or running full tilt into something or someone. When they play fight they growl so fiercely and take themselves very seriously which is highly amusing from such tiny pups.

They are out and about now and starting to meet the other dogs, cats etc that they share their home with, my 5 year old daughter also brings friends home to see them which is great for the pups and also helps the children learn that they must respect these tiny funny little animals.

They have at last felt the odd hunger pang and are now tucking into solid food, they both appear to be really good eaters which is always a good thing with the toys as they can be picky eaters.

Bettys pups, Audrey and Basil

Betty's pups are starting to come out and about now, as I mentioned in my previous post, they are so well fed they don't actually move around much yet and have absolutely no intention of trying solid food yet. However Betty is at last starting to leave them occasionally so I'm sure they will be keen to eat once they start to get the odd hunger pang! One of the photos shows the female pup alongside a Devon Rex kitten (a small breed of cat) that is a week younger than the pups, as you can see the kitten is bigger than the pup.



I wasn't going to keep one of Rhondas pups. The plan was to wait a couple of years until she had her 3rd and final litter and keep one of them. As they say "best laid plans" All the bitches were spoken for quite early on, I had put one aside for a friend, but due to circumstances beyond her control, at 8 weeks she was unable to collect the pup but asked if I could hang on to her for another couple of weeks. No problem I thought, but of course the longer I kept her the more I had to do with her ie lead training, going out in the car, walking on a lead etc and the more I fell for her.

I kept putting off contacting my friend and eventually Graham phoned her to find out was happening, I have to say I was very relieved to hear that she was still not in a position to have her as obviously I would have kept my word had she been able to take her. So it now means that Audrey takes us back up to 9 dogs and I have given my word not to add any more for a few years- Itzapromise!
I have added the photo of Basil quite simply because I love it. I think he would not look out of place as a witches/wizards cat, he is such a lovely boy