Pardalis Ocicats

Lexi’s kittens are now 9 weeks old and have had their first vaccination and all given a clean bill of health by our vet.  We had to make sure we counted them back in to their baskets as the nurse had deep pockets!! We’re very pleased with how they’ve all developed, they’ve continued to grow fairly evenly and are all nice and podgy.  They eat very well and haven’t refused anything yet.  Mum’s still got the milk bar open too and is still looking good on it despite the fight for space when all six fancy a suckle at the same time. 

We’ve decided to keep the black silver girl and add a silver line to our programme.  It was a colour I’d have loved to have had right from the start of our breeding ‘career’ but there wasn’t one to be had at the time. She’s a very sweet little girl, fairly quiet compared to her boisterous brothers and nutty sister.  She seems to be developing very nicely, though time will tell.

Her siblings have all been reserved now and her black silver classic sister will join her on the show bench from her new home with her half sisters from Lexi’s previous litters.  One brother is heading down to Sussex, another to Warwickshire and two leave together for Manchester.  Until then we have another four weeks to enjoy their company while we wait for Fizz to decide it’s the right time for her to go visit her boyfriend again.

Lexi gave birth to six gorgeous kittens last week.  The labour started in the afternoon with Lexi chirruping to Uno and wanting him with her.  She was also trying to round up Fizz’s kitten as if she wanted her kitten family with her.  Unfortunately Fizz and Kolo weren’t invited to this particular party :-)  Around 9pm the purring deepened and got louder and the first kitten, a chocolate, made his entry to the world at 9.30pm.

He didn’t seem too interested in latching on though was lively enough.  He tried a couple of times but was content to snuggle in and get washed.  It was the best part of two hours before he got the hang of it and whilst there was movement still to be seen in Lexi’s tum, none of the others were in a hurry to make an appearance.  I started to worry about the possibility of a still born holding things up, and maybe a caesarian being needed.  There weren’t any contractions and Lexi was purring quietly, happily washing her kitten. 

Then around 1.45am the purring got louder followed by the usual ‘ouch, something’s on it’s way’ noises and out popped the second kitten.  Phew! It was breathing and no sooner than it had a cursory lick it was headed for the milk bar.  The other four followed in quick succession and it was all over in an hour. Six nice evenly sized hungry little bundles!

Now, a week on, they’re all putting on weight and growing rapidly.  Lexi is a wonderful mum yet again and is positively glowing.

Last weekend saw Fizz’s last kitten go off to her new home.  It was really hard to part with this one that we so nearly kept, especially as she was over 6 months old now and we knew Fizz would miss her too.  Hopefully we’ll see her at the next Ocicat Club Show in October.

Fizz won her second Open Class at the Short-haired Cat Society Show on 18th April.

She just needs one more CC for her to earn the title of Champion.  However, she’s far more interested in getting the next litter started than earning titles so she’s paid a visit to a stud and we’re waiting confirmation that the meeting was successful.  Her next show may then have to wait until much later in the year, which she’s, no doubt, very happy about as she doesn’t really enjoy being at the shows.

Whether she finally earns the title or not, she’ll always be our little Champion

Also at this show were two of Lexi’s kittens, Connie and Delphi.  Owned by our good friends, Lorraine and David, they’re helping to gain the required merits for the Ocicat Classic’s progression to full championship status.  Both got glowing merit reports and did very well in the miscellaneous classes.  Off to a flying start in their show careers and a credit to their beautiful mother!

The kittens are finally in their purpose built own room and relishing the extra space to create havoc in!  And we can be happy in the knowledge that when we can’t be there to supervise them, they’re in as safe an environment as possible with no cables to chew or blind cords to get tangled up in. Meanwhile the chaos of our kitchen being rebuilt alongside them doesn’t seem to faze them at all and certainly doesn’t interrupt their snoozes!

They continue to put on weight and are eating healthily.  A favourite pastime is shimmying up the tall scratch post, and seeing how long they can balance on the top. When the radiator’s on, they like to climb into one of the baskets under the bench and curl up together, all safely snug and warm purring like little tractors.

I’m sorry to say that one of Lexi’s beautiful kittens died on Wednesday.  He’d lost a little weight overnight so I monitored him during the day and watched him feed.  As the day went on he seemed to weaken and feed less even with help and encouragement and the offer of formula milk to top him up.  He’d lost more weight by the evening and sadly quickly faded and died.  It’s horrible to lose a newborn like that, especially when he seemed to be thriving up to that day. RIP little one.

The other kittens continue to put on weight and are growing well, are opening their eyes and we’re just awaiting the arrival of their ears

Lexi woke up on Thursday morning full of miaows.  She was restless all day, if a door was shut she wanted to go through, as soon as she’d gone through she’d turn around and come right back in! Uno, her boy from her first litter, was getting a lot of attention and non-stop washing, as if she was having a trial run for the birth and had suddenly remembered that he was once her kitten

It was very frustrating for me as I realised she was going into labour but she just wouldn’t settle, I wanted her to have some rest, she didn’t sleep all day.  She’d go into the nice cosy box we’d set in the corner of our bedroom, rummage around a bit, sit for a while, then off she’d trot downstairs again only to go through the door routine once more!

Then it dawned on me that once she’d gone through a door she was wanting Uno to follow her, and if he didn’t that was why she was coming back.  So I let him go up with her and she was happy with that but he didn’t want to sit in her box with her, he wanted to explore and play and everytime he moved she’d move with him, give him another wash, follow him around.  He soon got bored and let himself out of the bedroom (he’s a great one for opening doors!) so I put Fizz upstairs with Lexi to keep her company, but that wasn’t good enough, it had to be Uno!

Eventually she went into labour so Uno had to get out of the way.  The first kitten took its time coming, it was breech, but once that one had come into the world the second was only minutes behind.  In all she had four, all Classics, beautiful clear markings, 3 tawnies, 1 chocolate.  Once they were all dry we weighed them quickly as we transferred mum and babes into a new cosy clean bed and attempted to sex them.  One girl, three boys?  Not sure…..jury’s still out.  Days later and we’re now thinking 1 boy, 3 girls!  Or maybe they’re all boys but one’s better endowed :-))

All excellent weights and very even, just a few grams between them still a few days later, and they’re gaining fast. They seem to be a very contented and quieter than our previous litters. They squeak rather than squawk

Meanwhile Uno transferred his attentions back to Fizz :-)  Must be his aftershave!

Premier Pardalis Genesis, aka Florence, won her well deserved Premier title at the Midland Counties Cat Club show on Sunday.  Florence is Lexi’s daughter and has been doing us proud at all the shows she’s been to, having been shown from a young kitten.  She won three open classes in her first three shows as an adult (from nine months) which wins her the Premier title. Well done Florence!!!

Lexi’s daughter has been shown at a few cat shows now and is maturing into a little champion!  Yesterday she was entered into the Coventry and Leicester show and won her open class, getting best of breed too, and came first in all 4 of her miscellaneous classes!  Well done Florence! Following in grandma’s footsteps - Imperial Grand Champion Thickthorn Meadowsaffron.

Last Saturday saw the 3rd annual Ocicat Championship Show. This year it was twinned with the Tabby Cat Club in a lovely hall in beautiful Alcester, Warwickshire. We took Lexi on exhibition and put her son, Uno, in with her for company. They both spent most of the time hiding behind the curtain!  We also took our moggy, Kolo, for his first ever show at the grand old age of 5 or 6 (we’re never sure as he was a rescue cat).  He wasn’t impressed at being kept in the night before so we could ensure he’d be around when we wanted to leave at some silly hour soon after dawn. He settled in his pen without any complaint when we got there but refused to eat or use the litter tray in protest!  We’ve always known he’s a gorgeous looking cat with a rich coloured coat and beautiful temperament, now we know the judges agree with us :-)) He won all his classes and got the ultimate accolade of Best Household Pet.  As soon as he was transferred to his plush winner’s pen with it’s black interior and gold curtains he looked very smug and much more comfortable!

Also at their first shows were three of Lexi’s other kittens.  Lorraine and her family brought Florence (Pardalis Genesis), a beautiful chocolate kitten, and Gillian brought Ossie (Pardalis Kanati) a very handsome Classic patterned boy, and very cute Selu (Pardalis Selu). It was lovely for us to have our prefix represented for the first time and we’re very grateful to Lorraine and Gillian for taking the time (not to mention the expense!) to bring them to show. They all did really well, with Florence winning her Open Class and Best of Breed and 2 of her 3 side classes, then going on to earn the title of Best Female Kitten and her place on winner’s row.  Selu was just pipped to the post in the Open by her sister but gained 1st, 2nds and 3rds in her side classes. Ossie was in the new Ocipet classes as, being a Classic, he can’t be shown with the spotted Ocicats. We should hear this month whether the separate breed of Ocicat Classic has been accepted and can be shown in its own right in preliminary classes very soon.  Ossie won all his classes and had his pride of place next to Kolo’s pen also on winner’s row as Best Overall Exhibit.  All in all a very successful day!!

Uno is relishing his position as the ‘big’ kitten.  He’s only ten weeks older than Fizz’s kittens but he looks enormous against them! He loves to wrestle them and bounds towards them, knocks them over then grabs them in a headlock and nibbles their ears :-)  They squeak a bit if he gets too rough….. Fizz doesn’t seem too worried and just watches with a bemused look on her face.  She wasn’t too happy to find Uno still here when she first came downstairs with her kittens but from the looks of things she’s accepted him as one of hers!

Uno had a trip to the vet this week, to be neutered. He was starting to take an unhealthy interest in his mum.  So, while he’s still a little young to actually sire a litter, we weren’t going to take any chances!