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