The furry ones....... Harvey, Reuben and Monty

Harvey you have met, he is a Cream Colourpoint British Shorthair. He is the eldest and very much the Alpha cat making sure the others tow the line, he is however also the most concerned regarding changes to the house or people. At a year and a half he got out of our front window and went missing for three days, and since we found him he has been a changed cat, before he was standoffish with most people but the experience has made him come back very cuddly!!! However he will disappear with strangers and noises, not a brave one.  For instance we have a painter painting our eaves on the house at the moment and he has disappeared all day into the bedroom.

Reuben is Related to Harvey, same dad but Harvey's mum is the daughter of Reuben's mum! He is a Lilac Colourpoint British Shorthair. Reuben is a strange one! Loyal to the core.... He sleeps on the bed and follows you as a shadow. Although he has all the same genetics as Harvey he just does not seem to be put together as neatly! A little gangly would be kind.... He also does not have a mean bone in his body. So much so he has been a lovely mum to Monty, caring, cleaning and following him everywhere. But the worm can turn....... The only time we have seen Harvey put in his place was when Monty had been pounced on by Harvey, Reuben growled, got in between them, attacked Harvey and then continued to place himself between Harvey and Monty. Harvey got the message soon enough. Reuben can always be guaranteed to respond to Thrives treats, rattle the tube and he will take you down. He has his quirks... he wont look you in the eye unless he's in the sink in the bathroom having a cuddle... don't ask!

Monty is our Curly Shorthaired Selkirk Rex, what a cute boy! He has a boyish charm and looks a bit of a clown. He loves his RAW food, in preference he will eat the solid meat chunks, whole wings and reptile food mice, mince is not his love. He will accept being held like a baby for a while. He is a mute silent cat, when he meows nothing comes out, it doesn't mean he is quiet all the time however, when he sleeps he snores like a large old man!!!! He has given us scares, one of them was climbing the tree in the garden and getting stuck!!!!! like a true cat!!! My youngest 6ft 2in boy had to come to the rescue and pull him down. As I write more for this blog I am sure you will find out more about the boys..... AND our new kitten arriving next weekend.

My daughter

New born daughter

Again it seems such a long time ago now, 20 years!!!! when we had our daughter. Our lovely little blonde daughter.... well I have to say you couldn't really see the blonde she didn't have tooooo much hair although she has certainly made up for it now! Competing with me to see whose is the longest!!!!

If you read my blog post regarding my eldest you will know that pregnancy and birth was not the best, well with my daughter it was so so different. I think the term is " sailed through" the pregnancy, and whilst it was not my choice I had a very natural ie no pain relief birth!! even though she was back to back with me. I was soon home with no lasting side effects.

I did believe at the time I was going to have a clone of my eldest...the same genes and the same way of behaving with them of course they were going to be the same. How wrong!!!!!
Whereas my son needed carrying all the time when he was born, my daughter was happy to keep herself amused. When held she did not want to see your shoulder she wanted to see the world, so we used to carry her face out. Which on occasions looked odd as she would drop off to sleep facing away looking quite uncomfortable. She did not like to go to her cot asleep she wanted to get herself off......and the list goes on.

She was a very cheeky thing who did indeed love the sound of her voice whether that was talking or singing!!!!! No wonder our eldest was called "Monosyllabic".

Bridemaid

Scottish beach, Culkein

She was always interested in how she looked, obviously, as she had a desire to keep cutting her hair and fringe. The most annoying time was just before a wedding when she was a bridesmaid, her resulting haircut became a short bob which did actually look lovely. Into her teenage years her lovely blonde crowning glory did get abused, each time we had to recover the situation with conditioning treatments and a re-dye.

In Stellenbosch, SA

Our daughter wears her feelings openly which can make for interesting moments, and made for many during her teenage years!! with her eldest brother. However we do all know where she stands on subjects and how she feels!!!! Now maturity kicks in, agghhhhhhhh.


Although she could of gone to Uni she made the choice not to realizing that it was not for her. She could not see herself just focusing on IT for three years!! We had been proud of her years before when she had chosen to look for a  Saturday job and had gone into town personally dropping a CV she had produced into every shop, she got a job almost immediately. Then we were so delighted when she proved herself by getting an apprenticeship, against stiff  competition, and she is now in a career she loves. Well done!!

Daughter with our two BSHs

In the Red Sea, Egypt

Two weeks to go - Visit to see our new kitten

At 10 weeks

We have a collection date to bring our new kitten home, a fortnight today..... Hooray.

Bertie is a Blue Tabby Longhaired Curly Selkirk Rex. What a handsome boy! I can't wait to get him and have a really quiet week with him. Lots of cuddles.

I've been trying to work out their sleeping arrangements. Before this summer the cats had no access to the outside garden unless we supervised it however with the new kitten he will have access to the cat flap and a cat proofed garden. My worry is that as a kitten he should be supervised for a while and so we need to find at place at night to keep him secure, not that easy! I don't want to shut the other boys out of their favourite places, however nor do I wish to buy a large cage. I think maybe the Office would be a good spot at night, ohhhh I don't know....I would prefer to have him in the bedroom at night.

Breeders photo at 3 weeks

At 5 weeks

Hopefully he will take to RAW food pretty quickly, with Monty I had bought a range of kitten food none of which he touched as he saw the others boys food and started on it straight away!!!

At 8 weeks, breeders photo

 At 8 weeks











I hope the introductions go well, we have two Feliways running and one Petremedy diffuser. I will also spray the travel box with the Feliway. With all the boys we have carefully allowed scent swapping, then visual introductions with treats, going onto supervised greetings with more treats and a quiet atmosphere. He seems a relaxed Selkirk. We shall see.

Raw Cat Food

I've always try to make sure I read around subjects I am interested in, even when I buy something new I have to research that I have the best against my values.

When we got our first cat I made sure we gave him the best food possible, at the time I assumed from advertising and promotions at the vets that this would be dried cat food. 

Researching it became obvious that a cat without a natural thirst drive would find dried food an issue. Cats,especially male cats had a greater chance, when fed dry food, with blockages, crystals and cystitis. Obviously wet food was preferable.

Wet pouches and tins come from so many manufacturers however supermarkets seem to focus on a few. Again looking into these the methods of collecting the meat derivatives, the fillers and cereals made me question their quality. Why would an obligate carnivore require cereals? Food intolerance, allergies and obese cats are on the rise. Why would they need sugars? Mice aren't sweet! : ) Some tins of famous brands had as little as 4% meat! 

Trekking down brands of good wet cat food showed me they are available but with difficulty! Germany seems to be where thought about  ethics and quality transferred into a fair abundance of producers. Organic cat food, fair trade, sustainability had all been considered. 

You could find different protein sources- beef,lamb,chicken, ostrich, kangaroo, reindeer, sea bream, tuna etcetera. Meat quantities in the high eighties. 

I had delivered quality cat food from a site called "fuettern-mitt-spass-de", delivery very, very quick. Two days! From Germany! And delivery the same as Britain! Also I was able to get many tins from "Zooplus."

In researching these I came across more and more information about RAW/BARF food. Why was it not obvious to me that, yes, a cats natural food is meat, not cooked, all raw, and with all the extra bits!!

There are suppliers of frozen RAW cat food available, we have tried Natural Instinct ( NI ), Honeys, and Nurture through nature. They love NI, especially the Wild game, Rabbit and Venison flavours and all human grade meat etc. Honeys, they adored some flavours and not others. I will try soon www.nutriment.co. A company just starting out but with the best ethics from the sound of it.

My cats have never been healthier, coat and health shining through. Vets mentioning perfect weight and glistening teeth.

NOW I have started to make my own.

Minced Rabbit with bone in, plus heart, kidney, and liver and  supplements. Next is a bowl of cut up wing tips, and at the end some spare kidney.

Below is my first bowl of RAW I made working on the 80:10:5:5 ratio and supplements.

I'll write more about RAW when I have a bit more time!!!!

My Eldest........

Walking at 9 months 6 days.

An easy walk with dad.

Well 22 years ago I first became a mum and doesn't time fly. My eldest boy was a bouncing hefty 9lbs probably due to the bed rest which had been enforced on me during pregnancy! Not a lot went right I was in hospital at 18, 20, and 22 weeks trying to hold onto him, at this time because our house was not lived in we were burgled too!!! I then found I had to be induced ON my due date, due to being induced labour was quite painful so I had an epidural which was super however had the effect of dropping my blood pressure. So they topped me up with fluids. Even so every time they tried to lie me down I would start fainting so in the end I sat. Finally he was born, however loss of blood meant I had taken on an extreme yellow hue having a level of of 8.2. Whoops. I stayed in hospital a week receiving treatment to several areas of damage!

Looking back we did so many things a little wrong when he was a baby, which when we had the others we amended. Parenthood, what a learning curve! Being so unwell when I tried to feed him myself my body had no reserves therefore he was getting little food. He was on me 24/7. I did persevere as at night my body did recuperate and provided him milk which I was grateful for as I didn't have to wake up and go and sort a bottle especially when I was so anaemic. It was during ths time  we found he never wanted to be put down so I wore a sling and took him around like that. Unfortunately family although kind were not close to hand so could not help. At seven weeks he seemed to not want the bottle, in a panic I went to the doctor who said he was bonny and a good weight and that finally my body was able to breast feed him. 

Still as a parent, we got things wrong. He refused a dummy so to sleep he would have a milk beaker! We would then sleep with him to get him down! - the number of times my OH and me crawled out the room on hands and knees so as not to wake him! He ate sparingly when it came to weaning and eating. It didn't help that a friend whose baby was born at the same time, ate heartily. A jar would never be finished. I puréed food like a good mum and it was rejected. He did have fromage frais, cheese and later on, when I went to work, lived on Melton Mowbray mini pies and fig rolls as these were the only things he would eat, how bad is that! Fats, salts and sugars! The upside is that he did seem well coordinated so at nine months and six days he walked, one day after I finished feeding him myself! He was soooooo tiny to walk. The down side was he couldn't be bothered to speak, what a worry! At 18 months, at his test, he did manage mum,dad and tractor! Luckily! His friend was the opposite he would speak sentences but could only just walk at 18 months. 

Why did we worry?

Graduation

Our eldest never liked food until much later, and this is the boy who now loves cooking, an inventive lover of food and cooking. Who can sleep like every teenager does? And has a 2:1 in Chemistry and is finish a post grad. Strangely for a well coordinated kid he hates sport!!! My eldest.

Me and my eldest

Todra Gorge, Morocco

Training Harvey

Well you've met Harvey, our eldest British Shorthair, he is a cream colour point and has turned out to be our Einstein. As he was our first cat we assumed his cleverness was a standard cat attribute.

Within the first few days of getting him, at 13 weeks, he would hear his food sachet open and be down within seconds to eat so his ability to associate an action with a reward was obvious. I decided just to try and see if he could complete some basic training, with some opposition from the family who were of the opinion that a cat should be independent and just be a cat. My only issue was that as we had made a decision that he was going to be a house cat that he would need stimulus.

Dreamies were his favourite treat food at the time, so we would find a quiet moment in the house, no people, no noise and no feet storming into the kitchen. I would sit on the floor and started with asking for a paw, well within the day he had that down pat so to speak. I would use both a hand shape and voice for the command and then give him the treat immediately. I did try clicker training but for me that was a no go, I found using a hand sign and feeding the treat too much  of a juggling act.

It was only a short three weeks thereafter when I had managed to get him to successfully succeed with -

• Paw, sign (upturned flat hand) and voice
• Up, sign (ok sign) and voice
• Down, sign (hand flat on the floor facing down) and voice
• Roll over, sign ( index finger making spiral motions) and voice
• Jump, sign ( patting the object to jump to) and voice

Here is a video of our boy at 22 weeks - he does get better throughout the video. He is our serious serene boy, he likes to be respected. He is now one and a half and still enjoys training in a quiet moment away from his feline brothers.

Remind me to show you the video of him going independant and breaking into the food drawer : ))) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14d2E-TbQ90&feature=youtu.be

Harvey now

'Catwalks'

Just got back from a lovely stroll walking the CAT! Harvey our eldest cat loves going for a walk, he looks for the lead or sits by the door until you relent.

He walks on harness, and I can recommend the "Mynwood Harness." They are made to order from your own cats neck and behind the front leg chest size with the breed taken into account, mainly allowing for short necked or long necked breeds. Harvey is on an extending leash which allows him freedom to go into the undergrowth. So far the harness has been used to rescue him from the canal twice so I can vouch for its strength and security!

Our cats have never been into their travel box, however just as dogs have a car harness secured to the seat belt we secure the cats to the seat belt using the harness. We travel almost every other week to the inlaws house and the cats just sit on the seats with their harnesses and sleep. Harvey goes almost immediately to sleep.

I must get another as the new kitten will have the little harness so I think it will be Monty's turn for a new one. He has his own shape!!!!

Exam Stress

My youngest son is doing one of his A level exams now, horrible. What a horrible stressful time for him. I remember being the youngest in the family and feeling like I had to keep up with my brothers. I hope he realises everything will be ok in the long term.... I wouldn't have met my OH if I had not retaken my A levels to get better grades, and then I wouldn't have had him!!!!!

I don't think it will keep the rain out! My youngest a few years ago.

New to Blogging :)

Well my lovely daughter came to me yesterday and said if you had a blog what would it be about. So I said "My family, me, and our cats." Later she appeared having set up this blog, so here goes.

Photo I like of me, waiting for a ferry in North Uist.
At my best.

Not such a nice photo! Sweaty and tired. Trying out a blow pipe in an Orang Asli village. At my worst.