Jack and Lucy’s Story

Jack and Lucy were born at 06:00 and 06:55 on the morning of Monday, 21^st September.

They were very large babies for a Persian Chinchilla mother – Jack was first born and weighed 94g and Lucy followed, weighing 103g. That’s a record for us!

Large, healthy babies, they thrived from the beginning and gained weight rapidly. Kittens should double their birthweight in the first ten days; these two and their mommy excelled. They were fed completely on their mother’s milk.

On around Day 8, I moved Lady Arwen Evenstar’s babies into this plastic sand or water mould. This gave the new babies more space to shovel their little bodies around (they started crawling!) for the next week or so.

Once the babies started moving around more (around two weeks or so), I set up the inside of our main bedroom en-suite shower as a bigger space for them. I placed a box in it and line the rest of the floor with soft bedding (i.e. towels, fleeces and baby receiving blankets.) These got changed once every two days. Some appropriate toys were included.

When the kittens were three weeks old, I set out a baking tray lined with paper towel and filled with Cat’s Best (organic) litter. I use this in case the kittens ingest the litter in any way. At four weeks, I set out cool, boiled water and Royal Canin Mother and Baby Cat dry food. Jack and Lucy started to lap water some time between 4- 5 weeks. They started to use the litter tray just after 4 weeks; by 5 weeks for sure! Before that, their mother took care of their potty needs. (There was never an “accident” with these two from Day One; there seldom is with any of our litters.)

At 4 weeks, I opened up our dressing room so that the babies would have a good area to play in. I then extended their play area into the dressing room plus half of our bedroom – but they slept in the dressing room area with their Mom. I set out a second litter tray in the bedroom. By the time they were six weeks old, they were playing all over the bedroom and dressing room. A couple of days before they were 7 weeks old, the kittens seemed ready for us to leave the dressing room open at night, and the babies immediately started sleeping close to us – Lucy jumped on the bed purring with pleasure and asking for acceptance, and Jack positioned himself on the sofa. They have slept in our room – mostly on our bed – ever since!

Food:

At around four weeks I started tempting the kittens to eat solids – I always hope to take the pressure off their mommy a bit. She gets so thin! I started offering them a taste of Mommy’s watered-down Royal Canin Baby mousse on the tip of my finger at four weeks, but they didn’t want that at all. At around four and a half weeks, I offered them a tiny shaving of baked chicken breast, and they LOVED it – so from then on, twice a day (morning and evening) they ate a little chicken breast with a blob of baby cat mousse on it.  This has been their favourite food. Breakfast around 08:30 and supper between 20:00 – 21:00.

At around 8 weeks, I started giving them their own saucers as there was too much competition for food!  Around 9 weeks, I started including Royal Canin kitten instinctive wet food, which they didn’t gobble, but now – at 12 weeks, they are having mainly a teaspoon of chopped chicken and a heaped teaspoon of kitten instinctive with a few of the  Royal Canin Kitten Instinctive pellets pressed into that. In between, they eat pellets, which are good for keeping their teeth clean.

Play & temperament:

We started bringing the kittens downstairs during the day once they were about five weeks old – penning them in around the cat pedestal in the conservatory first; then at around six – seven weeks, giving them the run of the living room area, penning them off from the dining room and the rest of the house.

Lucy doesn’t like long cuddles and will peep if we hold her for too long, but she is becoming more cuddly all the time. She has always loved to sleep next to us on the bed or beside us on the sofa, or in the ‘out tray’ on the desk while we work. She loves to be with her humans and definitely cries loudly if she can’t find Jack and we aren’t in the room. I’m SO glad they are going together. She is very vocal – and very excited about food. She is very playful – fast and enthusiastic, but she is cautious if she encounters a new situation and may retreat to wherever she has a hiding place if there are strange sounds. She has been very attached to her mommy – calling her when she wakes up on our bed at night, and still suckling up until they had their first bath and groom, and their Mommy didn’t recognise them! Lucy will be a very loyal and loving cat; one who will engage with her family and always be happiest when they are around.

Jack is also very playful, but he isn’t as fast as Lucy. He is more bold than his sister in strange situations. He’s a quiet, calm boy with a sweet, gentle spirit. He’s cuddly and loving and also loves to be with his humans. He and his sister are very close and they keep each other entertained with chasing games as well as playing with various ping-pong balls, feather teasers and all time favourites as below. They also play quite roughly at times, and get a bit cross with each other!

These kittens are two confident, happy, loving, friendly little cherubs!

Vet-Checks, vaccinations and de-worming:

Jack and Lucy were dewormed at four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks, ten weeks and twelve weeks. They had their first vaccinations (Feligen and Leucogen – feline flu and leukaemia) at eight weeks old. They had their second vaccinations (Leucogen, feligen and Rabisen (at twelve weeks). There were no adverse reactions. A thorough vet check was made on both occasions and the kittens are in excellent health. (Lucy has a small sore in her ear from a scratch – rough play.

Bathing and grooming:

Lady Arwen has kept her babies immaculately well-groomed and clean. I have combed them and brushed them to get them used to grooming. On Weds 9 December, they had their first bath and blow dry and nail clip – and a little “tail-feather trim” around their bottoms.

After their bath, their hitherto devoted mommy didn’t recognise her babies! Apparently, (the vet tells me) this happens sometimes when kittens have picked up different smells from a vet or a grooming. She became hostile to them and there was hissing and growling. The babies were confused and became frightened of their mommy – so the cycle continued, as they began to hiss when they saw her. As a result, and because the kittens are well over the homing weight of 1kg, I kept them separate and asked their forever family to collect them two days before their 12 week birthday. I felt sad about this rift with their wonderful, devoted, protective mommy, but I take encouragement from what a wonderful mother she has been, as is evident in the health and temperament of these two adorable kittens.

We have lavished love and delight upon Jack and Lucy. They have given us oodles of love, laughter and delight in return. We know they will bring you years and years of love, laughter and delight too, and we wish their new family every blessing in their future together.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•