Friday, December 18, 2009

Seven Days to Christmas Everyone!



This is such a nice time for me. I am home with the kittens and savouring every moment I have with them. Yesterday, they had their first nail trimming, and it was so easy. The easiest ever! Wonderful kittens, who don't mind having their feet touched at all. Don't you just love squeezing feetsies! I trained them for this from the moment I start handling the kittens. Nothing can be worse than kittens who won't let you clip their claws. No problem with this bunch. Just get them while they are lounging and you won't have a struggle.

Today, I was going to train for leashes and collar harnesses, but the tree trimmer is cutting down my trees outside and the kittens were concerned at first, now they don't mind the noise at all, just happy, playful kittens, watching from the patio window, as tree branches fall. It is already giving me a headache, and they are only on the first tree. But the way I train the kittens is to put Cleo's collar on first, and she will automatically run to the door, she loves her collar, as it means she gets to go somewhere. The kittens see her enthusiasm and the collar is no problem. And Cleo will walk with me around the house with the leash on and the kittens will follow along. I have never let them play with strings, and so seeing the collar and leash becomes fascinating and they want it. Leash training with Cleo as a role model is so easy, it is silly.

I broke through to Ginger over the last few days. She no longer pulls away from me when I reach down to touch her or pick her up. Females take awhile for me to win over. I play vigorously with the boys and the females get trampled on so they tend to fall back and not get much attention. They don't get to explore my hands, feet, and legs, so they don't know what I am or what I might do, so they tend to avoid me until my boys leave home. But Ginger and I made a breakthrough.

See, over Thanksgiving, I had relatives here, and was busy talking with my sister and cleaning litter boxes at the same time, and I backed on to Ginger foot who was standing behind me. Since then, she didn't trust me. Because I was busy cooking dinner and entertaining, I didn't stop and take the time to convince her it was an accident. I didn't address the problem. My mistake.

So she has been avoiding me for the last three weeks. I have been spending extra special time with her lately. I let her explore my bedroom as a treat. I keep my bedroom without heat, as I like a very cold room at night, so I can breathe well. So the room is shut off from the kittens. I don't let the cats in there. It is the forbidden zone. So getting to go in there is a treat, and they know it. It is my space. Mine. And they know it and have to earn the right to go in there. It is my way of teaching them I am the boss, that I decide where they go, and I have things they can't destroy. They get it. So when they do go in, one by one as a treat, they appreciate me all the more. I first take each kitten in by themselves, early in the morning, when I get out of bed, I grab one and take it back to bed with me. I put them under the covers and I stick my head under there too and we have a private moment and conversation. It is warm and wonderful and they love it. The fact that they only get it once or twice while they are here, makes them crave it and whola! you get a cuddling Ragdoll pillow to sleep with when you take your kitten home.

So back to Ginger... We connected and were having a wonderful week. And then, ... it happened... again. Crap!!!! I stepped on Ginger's foot again. OH NO!! This time, I stopped everything and ran after her. She hid under my ottoman, and I just laid on the ground in front of it and whined and apologized profusely. Cleo was next to the ottoman a few feet away from me, and she was so moved she came over to me and rubbed against my face, purring. So I grabbed her, and kissed her all over, and flipped her on her back and kissed her belly, and then kissed each one of her feet the whole time talking in the same voice I spoke to Ginger with. Then I reached over and grabbed Ginger out from under the ottoman, and....(no, she didn't just melt into my arms with forgiveness)... she fought me to get away. And I usually let her go, but not this time. I held on tight the whole time apologizing and pleading with her to forgive me. I kissed her feet, one by one, and kissed her belly, and then kissed her nose, and said, ok, if you want to go, go, but I love you. And I started to let her down, and instead of leaping out of my hands, she just stepped down on the ground and looked around at me. Whew! That was too close! And then I called in her into the kitchen and opened a fresh bag of treats and gave her a handful, petting her the whole time. I was forgiven. And she is now on her way to being a wonderful girl. Her attitude since then has changed. She realized it was an accident, and I think she realized the first time was an accident. She knows I love her just as much as the boys, and her confidence is soaring. She has been running after the toys and jumping with self assurance. Instead of falling behind, and just chasing the boys chasing the toys, she is in the front and out running the boys.

She is going to be a wonderful kitten. She has a perfect body for breeding. Long torso, so she can carry her babies well. This is the body Cleo has. Ginger is the closest Cleo has ever come to reproducing herself.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

10 Days to Christmas. Have you hugged a Ragdoll today?

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

I would like some assurance from everyone who is waiting for a kitten that you have read about Ragdolls or will make yourself knowledgeable about the breed. They have a sensitivity to vaccines and are not vaccinated for certain common diseases among stray cats. This is one of the reasons they are strictly indoor. Also, vets are not as familiar as they should be, because they don't see a lot of them. Therefore, you need to be able to take charge when you see a vet. They can only tolerate modified live virus vaccines. And should get a booster no more than once at 4 months and once at a year, and then there shouldn't be a need.

They can't tolerate Rabbies vaccines at all. Deworming has put several of my kittens in the hospital, and I am not deworming at the cattery anymore. But if you have a dog going out, then there may be a need to deworm. The kittens both survived the ordeal who had bad reactions, the owners were just freaked out and didn't want to take a chance on the kitten getting over it. They foamed at the mouth afterwards, so they rushed them back to the vet and they vet kept them over night, with intervaneous feeding. So you need to be aware that this can happen and keep a close eye after deworming.

It is important to realize that if you pet an outside animal, you could bring a disease to your indoor cat. Encourage your neighbors to neuter and spay their animals and keep them indoors as well, so they won't come in contact with your yard, and your dog.

They have a lot of fur, and so grooming, while not a chore, like with a Persian, is necessary with the heavy coated males. I feed my cats a variety of cat food, both dry and wet. I feed Eukanuba Kitten food for the first year, as well as Fancy Feast Dry in several flavors. After a year, I switch over to Eukanuba adult hariball formula, with the Fancy Feast. I have been feeding these kittens Royal Canin, but am gradually weaning them off it. I also feed Science Diet hairball formula here, and everyone likes it including the kittens. It is huge chunks, but they like it. They
(this long pause was Red Bull saying hello, as he explores my desk for the first time.) are eating Fancy Feast wet food once a day right now. It is important to do everything, gradually with their diet. It is important to give them a variety of food, since outside they would eat a variety of things,( that we have no idea they eat.) But they do outside. Ragdolls are massive cats with heavy dietary needs. I want new owners to be able to feed their cats anything, and I strive to make that possible. Most breeders don't do this, and this is why there are cats with temperamental eating habits. By exposing them to a variety of foods here, it insures a metabolism that functions like it normally should. I take great care with starting the kittens off right and want to be safe with whosoever hands I place these awesome creatures in.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Just 20 days until Christmas everyone. I have already been shopping, and delivering my gifts early.

If you have noticed changes in the website it is because I purchased a new Windows 7 computer, and my old programs won't work with it and there is no comparable program for editing my website, without being able to edit the html directly. Complicated. But I have had the website so long, and have made changes, and because it was in the html, I am not able to update the pages to a new style. This is why when you browse around the look changes. Today, I am back editing on one of my old computers that has the Old Netscape Composer from back in 2000. Love that program! Works great. But on my Windows 7 computer Microsoft Word changes the code, and I lost my slideshow at the top of the page. So I had to work around with several programs. I have to edit the photos in Photoshop, then make a page in Publisher, then covert it to a jpg, and then edit in Wordpad to add the code nto the webpage, and then upload the files.

Whereas, in the program I am writing in now, I can add the photos, adjust their size visually, then check the code in another view, Composer provides, and then save, and upload the files. I don't know how to get along without Composer. Have you had that happen? Lose a compuer program that you hat to give up? It's hard to let go.

Kittens have left the nursery for good. sigh, they are growing up too soon. Now, everyone will pressure me to get these babies into their arms, ripping them right out of mine. lol

Red Bull has gotten over his hang up about being held up in the air.  He has become the big baby, and very affectionate. He has a high sounding meow, that appeals to me and calls to my emotions. It breaks my heart, if you know what I mean, and at the same time melts me like butter, with me wanting to drop everything and run to him and give him whatever he wants. He is the only one with a real meow. The others still have their kitens mews.

Jumper's tail has bold red stripes, not Dreamer's. This changes everything. I am adjusting the names on the photos in the previous blog so you will know who is who. The two photos of Jumper and Dreamer are switched. I was using the tail as a guidline between the two. But Jumper has the darkest tail. Red Bull has the whitest fur. Jumper is the heaviest kitten. Red Bull and Jumper are twins in the face. And of course, Ginger and Raisin, are easy to determine.

The reason I can finally identify them is that after their vacs on Tuesday, Red Bull and Jumper have dirty noses. Dreamer's nose is pink and pretty, although this morning he is finally sneezing and looking puny.

My sister and I swabbed the kittens last night for their genetic DNA testing. I didn't want to do it until after their vacs were done, but I am feeling pressure to get it done, so the kittens can leave at the end of December. It will probably take three weeks or more because of the holidays to get the results back. I also swabbed Cleo, but Chairman, the father, is more difficult, to say the least. (We want to test them both for genetic breeding purposes, not specifically for disease. I am trying to determine what makes Cleo so unique.) Ever tried to hold a stud Ragdoll against his will, and try to open his mouth? Especially after, having just visited his queen, who was in heat last week? I have to swabb the kittens again tonight, and I may have to do it again tomorrow. It takes at least 4 swabbs per cat. The tests will tell who who is carrying the Chocolate genes and the probalities of mating outcomes. For instance, if Chairman is bred with a Blue female, will he pass on the double dilute gene of his ancestors, and create a Lilac and Chocolate?

Here are some photos of babies' first day out.