Pardalis Ocicats

Since Fizz got back from her ‘honeymoon’ she’s been non-stop miaowing. Poor little girl’s had a lot to put up with lately. She’s not allowed upstairs while Lexi and her kittens are there as Lexi is very protective. Fizz’s tendency to growl at Lexi since she’s had the kittens doesn’t endear her to Lexi either at the moment, so we’re keeping them apart until the kittens are older. Two females with raging hormones don’t mix well!

At the weekend we were sitting at our patio table enjoying the sunshine and Fizz was miaowing at us from the conservatory. We felt sorry for her and were saying we’d have her outside on our laps if we could be sure she wouldn’t jump down. I remembered a cheap harness I’d bought when we first got the Ocicats, the idea being we’d walk them to the garage playroom or outside run. I’d tried it on Lexi once when we first got her but she hated it and I never persevered. I thought it might be a good idea to try it on Fizz so she could sit outside with us but we’d feel happier knowing she couldn’t go far. She was an absolute star and just accepted the harness being put on. Needless to say she didn’t stay on our laps for long, there was far too much to explore! She rolled now and again when she remembered it was there, but was so engrossed in swatting flies and poking her nose into the flower pots that she was barely aware of the harness. It was lovely to see her enjoying the garden safely, and it probably won’t be long before she’s fetching it herself and demanding ‘walkies’!

There’s a short video of Fizz’s first garden walk here http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=H7KNqozBrRY

Lexi’s kittens are now 9 days old and all putting on weight at a steady rate, so far so good!

No eyes open yet though the little ears are starting to unfurl. I can just about tell them apart, the classic pattern does differ slightly between the 4 and 2 are boys which helps too I’m pretty sure the rest are all girls. The 2 spotteds look to have a lovely clear pattern though it’s early days yet.  One is slightly smaller than the other and has lighter spots so they’re not too difficult to tell apart.

Fizz went off to stud at the weekend, we chose Curry again as he proved a worthy suitor for Lexi She came off call pretty soon after so that looks promising! If she’s pregnant her litter will be due around 12th August so we’ll have 2 sets of kittens for a few weeks until Lexi’s leave for their new homes.

It’s been a pleasure to see Lexi and Fizz out in the specially built enclosure enjoying the recent warm weather, chasing flies and watching the birds. Graham made it as a lean-to on our shed using mostly old pieces of wood we already had and wire meshing. It’s in a nice shady part of the garden though it gets a little sun in the odd corner so they can choose to the sit in the sun or the shade. We’ve put walkways round 2 sides and a nice sturdy tree branch leading up to it for scratching on or climbing and part of a wooden bench we no longer wanted in the garden offers more sitting and watching or hide and seek places. At least when we’re in the garden enjoying the weather, they can be near us and see what we’re doing. It’s not as good as allowing them the freedom of an enclosed garden but our garden would be very difficult to make totally enclosed without chopping down a lot of mature shrubs, so it’s the next best thing. As it’s down the far end of the garden we pop the cats into a carrier to take them down there.  Though now they know what’s coming I only have to fetch the carrier and open the lid and they jump straight in! Once we’ve sorted out the shed and made it safe we’ll put a cat flap on so they can explore that too.

This one was in Stevenage so a nice, reasonably close one for us. Fizz got a 2nd in the Open and a 1st and a 3rd in her side classes. She was very grumpy and didn’t seem to enjoy the show which must have effected the judging which is such a shame as she’s a real sweety at home. Lexi, on the other hand, was in her element, much more relaxed than in previous shows, due in some part to the lack of loud tannoys this time and the fact that she was calling All those nice male cat smells ….. mmmmm….. After the show Lexi was taken to visit her stud, so fingers crossed for the pitter patter of tiny paws at the beginning of June!

We took Fizz and Lexi to their second show on Saturday. Only an hour’s drive away and they sang a duet the whole way there and back again! Must remember to take the earplugs next time! Have to say I didn’t expect Fizz to come away with any great prizes, she got some 2nds last time but this time she was up against one of Rosemary’s kittens and was only entered into 2 miscellaneous classes instead of 3 because of an admin error (mine!).

As the judging was about finished we were allowed to come back into the hall to the trade stands but not back to our cats just yet. Graham peered over to where Fizz’s pen was and declared she had a red rosette pinned to it. Nah, don’t be silly…….we counted the pens down 3, 4 times, but yes, it certainly looked like it was on her pen. I didn’t get my hopes up until I stood in front of her where she sat with a ‘didn’t think I could do it, did you?’ look on her face. She got her first Open Class win and best of breed and also a win in one of her side classes.

She’s still quite small for her age, though I don’t know why, she certainly eats enough! We know she’ll catch up though as her parents and grandparents are all lovely big cats. I’ve been reading lately that smaller cats can have easier births and good sized kittens so it’s probably not a bad thing! So, now we’ve got big hopes for getting her at least to Champion stage as an adult, thoughmight not manage it before she has her first litter.

Lexi was much admired, again, lots of nice comments about her. She disappeared behind her pen curtains every time someone boomed into the tannoy system but lapped up the attention the rest of the time

This was our first show. We’d entered Fizz and took Lexi along on exhibition to show off her beautiful pattern to her adoring public We got there nice and early and it was well organised. Even at that unearthly hour there was a queue for the vetting in. That went smoothly even though the vet mistook them for Bengals! Fizz was easy to settle, just the standard white exhibition stuff of blanket and bowls and in she went. She gobbled her breakfast down which was nice to see, she obviously wasn’t too bothered about being in a strange place. She endorsed that by visiting the litter tray twice then curling up for a wash and a sleep! Happy that she was content we set about decorating Lexi’s pen with the drapes. Lexi wasn’t so amused with her new quarters and paced up and down and ignored our pleas to eat her breakfast.

We took them both in and out for cuddles and reassurance before we had to leave the hall so the judging could start. Fizz did pretty well, gaining 2nds in 3 out of 4 of her classes. In 2 of them she was beaten by Lexi’s litter sister so we can forgive that Fizz has still got some maturing to do so we’re sure she’ll do well in the future. There was a great deal of interest in the Classic pattern with lots of lovely comments about Lexi’s colour and pattern. Now and again I had to remind her that she was on exhibition and wasn’t allowed to hide under blanket and she came out with an inquisitive ‘what do you want this time?’ look on her face every time I called her out from hiding, she was very good natured about it all. It was a long and tiring day but very enjoyable and we’re looking forward to the next time!

When Fizz was 3 months old we took this photo of her sitting next to a favourite ornament of ours.

The ornament is only 9″ tall
Now, at 6 1/2 months she’s grown considerably!

We knew putting up a Christmas tree would be like a red rag to a bull………..the box came down from the loft, no sooner was the top off than both Lexi and Fizz dived in. We managed to put the bits together while they played in the empty box but Lexi soon saw we’d got her a new climbing frame! All that time I’d spent plumping out the branches just for her to squash them flat again! Fizz was mainly content to sit at the bottom batting the decorations that were wobbling around thanks to Lexi’s antics. Amazingly no decorations actually got broken even though 2 of the branches completely snapped and were wrecked. Ah well, it was an old tree and I wanted a replacement anyway

Fizz has been here just one week but already it seems like she’s been here forever. She’s quite placid compared to Lexi but more vocal and wants more cuddles whereas Lexi’s happy just bouncing off the walls! Her tummy was a bit upset for a day after we got her home but we put that down to the long journey home and stress of leaving her lovely home to live in our madhouse. We also made the mistake of leaving the two of them together the first night. So, for the following few nights we took Fizz to bed with us. She was as good as gold, hardly knew she was there. She’d snuggle right up into our neck and barely move all night.

Saturday night we had Lexi with us and Fizz slept in the conservatory with a friend who was staying the night. She’s a cat lover so was more than happy to share her bed with her. We thought that’d help Fizz get used to sleeping there in future. Well, Fizz and friend had a lovely, uninterrupted sleep while we were entertained all night with Lexi’s antics! At 2am she wanted to play fetch with her toy mouse, I had to hide it under my pillow! Then she found a cord hanging out of the wardrobe and played noisily with that for ages. Then she’d bounce onto the bed purring loudly and sit on us licking our faces and nuzzling us to wake up and play.

It was barely dawn when she decided to use her litter tray and stink us out……..needless to say, we were bleary eyed the next day and resolved that it was time for Fizz and Lexi to start sleeping in the same room overnight. They’d already been eating out of the same bowl for a couple of days which was a good sign but they’d yet to sleep curled up together or mutually groom. Last night they did both!!

We traveled up to Lincoln today to collect Ameeka Alabama Fizz. A small bundle of Tawny spots you can hold in one hand and who loves nothing more than snuggling up and being cuddled - adorable! It had been a hard decision choosing between the chocolate and the tawny but I’m sure we made the right one. She was so placid being held that, as she was meowing so much in the car, I got into the back seat with her, took her out of the carry cage and cuddled her all the way home - all 2+ hours of it.

Lexi’s a bit put out by her arrival and hisses at her at every opportunity but she did that with the dog for a few days too and now they’re best friends so I’m sure that they’ll be playing and sleeping together by the end of the week. The rest of the menagerie seem very accepting of her which is a relief. Just got Lexi to work on …………..