2014: J'suis Malibu, Jaï-purr, Jump-purr, Jellicle cat, Jodh-purr, Jemima Homepage  

Guinness and Brownie are proud to present the first litter of 6 kittens born at la Chacolaterie.

Guinness had planned everything: she started labor at 8h30 on Wednesday, August 6th,
(just the time at which my vet's office opens... just in case...), she had delivered her 6 kittens by noon,
with a full respect of sex parity (3 males, 3 females), nice birth weights and no complication : what else to ask ?

Still wet, the babies found their way to the tits (here, the 4th born, a male)

newborn ruddy somali

Very soon, a "hunch" of little ruddy somalis were fighting for the best tits
(here, it seems there are 5, but in fact one is hidden below the others)

litter of 6

Below are a few pics taken 4 days after birth, first the family, then the head of M4 (left) and F6 (right)

For the time being, the babies have code names giving their sex and order of birth. For instance, M4 is the 4th born, a male and F6 is the last born, a female.
I had to paint the claws of their back paws with red and blue to make sure I don't mix them up, in particular when weighing them...

litter, 4 days old
M4, head F6, head

One week already !

Here is a close-up of M4, lifting his head, then having a big big yawn and falling back asleep again...
Below, F2 sleeps soundly.

male, 7 days old

litter, one week old
female, 7 days old

16th August (10 days), all the little eyes are now open (well... when the kitties are not asleep!),
the last born had even her eyes fully open before one week, and they are now all above 200 grams.
Here is the "bunch" of 6 kitties asleep. When mom arrives, they stretch, yawn,
get a licking kiss from mom, and hurry up to the milk bar!
Now, I hear them very distinctly purr.

Bunch of 6 ruddy somali kittens
Mom arrives milk bar

At 15 days old, they start to explore a little bit outside the nest,
but beware, not too far, because mom tolerates 50 cm at most...

The males
The females
M1, 15 days old
M1, 268 grams
F2, 15 days old
F2, 248 grams
M3, 15 days old
M3, 272 grams
F5, 15 days old
F5, 263 grams
M4, 15 days old
M4 aka "Jelly Belly Bean", 296 grams
F6, 15 days old
F6, 244 grams

23rd August : they haven't been taking enough weight for two days now.
They are nevertheless very active and Guinness takes good care of them, but she hasn't got enough milk left.
I try to complement with replacement milk, but for the time being they are stubbornly
refusing anything but mom's half-empty tits...

On the 26th evening (day 20 on the weight curve), they seem to accept much better with the tiny silicone tits on a syringe,
if I mix up the milk with some very soft weaning mousse.
Despite the slow down in their growing curve during the last days, they are very lively
and look at me as soon as I speak to them, with their little ears pricked up:

litter, 3 weeks old

28th August (22 days) : the weight curve has started to go up again (I must admit they had 4 complements yesterday,
the last born having come to me at midnight asking for more...) :
It's such a reward to see them like it now!

courbe de poids des premiers jours
Weight curve for the first 4 weeks (2 dots a day : morning and evening)

31st August: I moved the nest (it was at bed's height until now) to install the whole family on the "ground level"
in a show cage which is bigger than their previous box ; they enjoyed being able to wander around...

The whole family
The whole family, with
Dad Brownie supervising

Litter of 6, 3.5 weeks old
Guinness and her
6 kittens
F6 explores
Little female
goes exploring...

Here are the individual portraits at 3.5 weeks old - their focus still needs some adjustments, but whoaw how much they changed already
if you compare with their last portraits when they were 2 weeks old!

M1, 3.5 weeks old
M1, 322 grams
F2, 3.5 weeks old
F2, 341 grams
M3, 3.5 weeks old
M3, 339 grams
F5, 3.5 weeks old
F5, 314 grams
M4, 3.5 weeks old
M4, 368 grams
F6, 3.5 weeks old
F6, 278 grams
Two moms

September 3rd (4 weeks old)
Edelweiss, as usual, has decided it's time to
take part in the kitty-sitting.
On the pic at left, she is at the back, inside
the heating basket, while Guinness is in the
middle with kittens suckling. Two other kittens
are playing sandpit with the litter.

Edelweiss is extremely patient with
the kittens : here, she keeps calm
while the first born male is
numbling her ear !

Edelweiss and M1

The ears of the kittens continue their evolution towards their final placement. Here is a close-up of M3:

ruddy male, 4 weeks old

September 28th: At last, here are this month's pics...
(my PC "died" early september, hence this delay)

Guinness almost disappears under a hunch of babies (September 8th)
but, for a few more days, Edelweiss is there as an assistant
(her voluntary baby-sitting stopped after about 2 weeks, when she went back on heat)

Guinness and her 4 kittens all with 2 moms

Portraits of September 13th (they are 5.5 weeks old) :

M1, aka "Malibu" found this little cardboard box just fit for his size and adopted it
to clean himself, munch on it and curl up to sleep

big foot !
excellent for teething just the right size!

The two other males are Jump-Purr (M3), left and Jellicle Cat (M4), right

male, 5.5 weeks old male, 5.5 weeks old

The three females, from left to right, are Jaï-Purr (F2), Jodh-Purr (F5) et Jemima (F6)

female, 5.5 weeks old female, 4.5 weeks old female, 5.5 weeks old

September 28th: individually, each one of them seems a very quiet little child, as shown by Jellicle cat below left,
but when they are together, it's hard to have a second of attention for a still picture (isn't that normal for Jellicle cats ?)
Even mom's licking seems to be a bit long to Jemima...

male, 7.5 weeks old Guinness and Jemima

So I had to take my group picture in two smaller groups : here are the 3 males (left) and the 3 females (right)

3 males

Malibu, Jellicle Cat, Jump-Purr

3 females

Jemima, Jodh-Purr, Jaï-Purr

For their 2 months, they were offered an afternoon at Jean-Michel Labat's photographic studio,
for the Arioko agency

logo arioko

Here are some nice shots from this afternoon (© Labat/Rouquette/Arioko)

Labat/Rouquette/Arioko

Labat/Rouquette/Arioko

Labat/Rouquette/Arioko

Labat/Rouquette/Arioko

Labat/Rouquette/Arioko

Labat/Rouquette/Arioko

Labat/Rouquette/Arioko

Labat/Rouquette/Arioko

Labat/Rouquette/Arioko

Labat/Rouquette/Arioko Labat/Rouquette/Arioko

 

Labat/Rouquette/Arioko
Labat/Rouquette/Arioko
Labat/Rouquette/Arioko
Labat/Rouquette/Arioko
Labat/Rouquette/Arioko
Labat/Rouquette/Arioko
Labat/Rouquette/Arioko
Labat/Rouquette/Arioko
Labat/Rouquette/Arioko
Labat/Rouquette/Arioko

No way to get all six together !!! The best we could get is 4 or 5... for a second...

Labat/Rouquette/Arioko Labat/Rouquette/Arioko

So we settled for groups of 2...

Labat/Rouquette/Arioko Labat/Rouquette/Arioko Labat/Rouquette/Arioko
Labat/Rouquette/Arioko
Labat/Rouquette/Arioko
Labat/Rouquette/Arioko
Labat/Rouquette/Arioko Labat/Rouquette/Arioko Labat/Rouquette/Arioko
Labat/Rouquette/Arioko Labat/Rouquette/Arioko Labat/Rouquette/Arioko

Here is a last pic of this memorable afternoon, with mom (obviously more stressed than her kittens by the environment)

Labat/Rouquette/Arioko

October 25th : here is my only picture of them 6 together... it took quite some time and energy
a teaser was destroyed in the process... ;-)

6 ruddy somalis, 2.5 months old

Here are portraits of the three males (Malibu and Jump-Purr are carriers of the PRA-rdAc mutation, Jellicle Cat is free)

J'suis Malibu
Malibu
« Something fascinates me
in this camera ...
 »
Jump-Purr
Jump-Purr


Brownie and Jump-Purr
« Isn't my Daddy Brownie a beauty ? »
Jellicle Cat
Jellicle Cat

Jellicle cat
I'm the "leader of the pack"

Now for the females : among them too, two are PRA-rdAc carriers :-( and only little Jemima does not carry the mutant gene.

Jai-Purr
Jaï-Purr,
the most inquisitive one !
Jodh-Purr
Jodh-Purr, the quiestest one
(relatively...)
Jemima
Jemima,
the smallest one

The kittens have reached their 3 months. Here are the last pictures of the whole litter together,
just before Jaï-Purr (the first kitten to leave the house) goes to her new home :

From left to right:
Jellicle Cat, Jump-Purr (?), Jemima,
J'suis Malibu, Jaï-Purr, Jodh-Purr (?)

6 ruddy kittens at 3 months old

The 6 kittens with mom


6 ruddy kittens with mom at 3 months old

November 10th - After Jaï-Purr, it was Jellicle Cat's turn to leave his brothers and sisters and go meet
a Sacred Birman cat in his new home.
Here is a picture of their first meeting, and another one four weeks later, nothing can separate them now!

first meeting Grace and Jelly

November 16th - With winter approaching, the kittens seem to appreciate the radiator beds.
Here, a yawning contest between Jemima et Jump-Purr:

Jemima, Jump-Purr Jemima et Jump-Purr

Then, individual portraits of Jodh-Purr surrounded by her two brothers (Jump-Purr at left, J'suis Malibu at right) :

Jump-Purr Jodh-Purr J'suis Malibu

December 6th: some pictures of J'suis Malibu, Jodh-Purr and Jemima at 4 months old.

Jodh-Purr (sitting)
et Malibu (lying)
Jodh-Purr and Malibu
J'suis Malibu,
big eyes, big ears
and dark ticking
Malibu
Malibu
Jodh'Purr,
soft and sweet
Jodh-Purr
Jodh-Purr
Jemima,
cute and impish
Jemima
Jemima

January 24th, 2015 : Malibu and Jodh-Purr have gone to their new home today, both together !

Here are the pictures just before they leave :

J'suis Malibu
Malibu
Malibu
Jodh-Purr
Jodh-Purr
Jodh-Purr

Jemima wonders "Where have they gone... ???"

Jemima

 

© Marie-Bernadette Pautet, 2005-2019
Last page update: 24.1.2015