Jumping Jack Flash

<p>I'm a bad, bad person. I know I know. I haven't updated in days!
That's because life has been hectic, and for the last two nights, I
haven't been able to consider going to bed until gone half 11. When
you get up at 5 to do cats before work, the blog takes a bit of a back
seat in those circumstances. I'm really sorry!</p>

<p>So, progress is being made again. The kittens have learned to jump!
Or at least, Stripe and Berry have. I'd just cleaned the pen and had
counted the kittens back in. After a while of leaving them to it with
mum, I went in to check on them. Red was asleep. Apache was asleep.
Guess what Dreamy was doing? But where were Berry and Stripe?
Adrenaline started flowing. They weren't in here. They weren't on the
floor and they weren't even in the litter trays! I'd just opened my
mouth to say, well, a lot of things that won't be printed on a family
friendly blog when I heard "eeeeeew!" right by my left ear. It was a
very sleepy little eeeeew, a very self satisfied one too! With
disbelief, I checked on Millie's shelf, and there they were, fast
asleep and perfectly comfy. I thought nothing of it. Millie had
obviously put them up there to cuddle with her.</p>

<p>But the next day the episode repeated itself, and Millie had only
been back in the pen 5 minutes, so not really long enough! So I've
come to the conclusion that they can now jump, or at least climb, 9
inches. Well done girls!</p>

<p>They're all growing more and more fond of cuddles as the days go
on. I can't open the pen door any more without them all barrelling out
to the accompaniment of many little squeakings and demands for love.
They will all quite happily sit in a pile on my knee and they just
love being fussed! They still bite, but at their age it's normal,
painful but normal. I can vouch for the fact that they all have their
teeth in nicely!</p>

<p>So can Millie. She's feeding them much less now, and will only let
them suckle for a few minutes before she's had enough and gets up to
go away. This is good in a way but also worrying. Her teats were very
engorged this morning, and while she let them take a little, she
didn't let them drain her totally. So now I'm on mastitis watch. I'm
particularly worried about one of her top teats, so will probably end
up doing some hot compresses when I get home tonight, then expressing
a little of the milk for her so that she can feel more comfy and the
mastitis risk is reduced.</p>

<p>My greedy brood have already gotten through a grand total of 5 KG
of raw since last Thursday! It's hard to believe it, but it's true.
I've given up and am now looking for a very small freezer to buy so
that I can have more room to store their food and subsequently cut my
costs on delivery a little more. I've just ordered another 6 KG which
will come today, but that won't last me for more than a week I'm
guessing! Millie's eating more than I thought possible, and she will
eat literally anything that I put down! She hasn't turned her nose up
at a single flavour yet. Tia is getting closer and closer every day
and just can't help herself from watching the other two longingly. I
know how she works, so I will continue to ignore her and carry on
making much of this new food as a treat. Sooner or later she'll have
to have some for herself, and then it'll be plain sailing from
there.</p>

<p>I don't know that I'll be able to update again today, and I'm not
sure about tomorrow either. I've got some friends coming down tonight
as it's Gabby's first show tomorrow and they want to learn about cat
showing. I'm so excited to see how she does. Tomorrow will be a long
day, but if not tomorrow, then I'll let you know how she does on
Sunday.</p>

<p>The kittening pen is supposed to arrive today. Yippee! So they may
be in their new home by the end of tonight. I may also get brave and
clip claws although I don't know about that as I really, really hate
that bit, but it does need to be done. Wish me luck!</p>