breeding
let’s hear
Monday, May 3rd, 2010 | breeding, vetmed | 2 Comments
Last friday we went to the university of veterinary medicine to have the hearing of our l-litter checked. The procedure is called brain-stem audiometry and takes just a tiny tiny narkosis an can be done on babies as young as ours. There are little needles (electrodes) placed under the skin of the head and a computer registers the conduction of certain acoustic signals inside the head.
White cats do inherit a higher risk of being deaf. It’s a defect and should not be bred from. Also cats who produce many deaf kittens aren’t meant to be contributing to the gene pool of any breed. So you can imagine I wasn’t completely calm while watching the procedure.
But you may also imagine how happy I felt when we found out all ears are hearing perfectly!
cats now and then
Friday, November 13th, 2009 | breeding | No Comments
Due to a very nice person (and the fact that I may butter my bread just the opposite way of Paul Leyhausen…) I now have a very nice and old book about cats in my collection. It’s from the early sixties and it’s quite interesting to see what Persians
and Siamese did look like back then.
rabies titre
Thursday, July 9th, 2009 | breeding, travel | No Comments
Karayaka has a rabies titre of 3 IU. It needed to be higher than 0,5 IU which means the UK’s pet travel scheme allows her to leave us in six months from now.
It’s good news. Well, not the leaving part but the fact that her immune system works so properly and we don’t have to redo any vaccinations or tests.
Great-grandchildren
Friday, April 10th, 2009 | breeding | No Comments
They aren’t that close relatives but still our great grandchildren, born at Florence’s home. These babies carry cinnamon!
and also at Natalie’s there are some gg-children of our cats.
Genetics I – heads and doming
Sunday, March 29th, 2009 | breeding | No Comments
In breeding cats, heads have always been an important issue. There are stops, nose-breaks, doming, flat planes etc.
Due to the outcrossing to BSH and Persians, the Selkirk Rex has aquired quite a variability in head shapes.
The example to the right shows how nicely rounded a Selkirk Rex cat can be. The girl is not from our breeding but a daughter to Pointilistic Bangkirai.
Years ago, Donna stated the “persian inversion”, the almost complete absence of the sinus frontalis resulting in a no longer domed forehead, seems to be a dominant trait. I have however studied the data of 7 litters and – given the fact that it is a single locus and the same on both sides of the ocean – found out otherwise. This is how:
mother nature
Monday, March 9th, 2009 | breeding | No Comments
Isn’t it fascinating how mother nature tries to enable the tiniest ones, the hungriest ones to find food on their own very early by enhancing their development?
Our smaller 3 kittens all have their eyes open and the big ones have no idea!
The coat on the small ones also is very thin… I’m tempted to blame it on the milk replacer as certain messenger substances do not “survive” freeze drying. On the other hand, Tamino is out of the Grace Slick line, meaning that it could also be a Selkirk thing and these kittens are the ones to have especially curly coats later in their life. We’re going to find out soon!
birth
Saturday, March 7th, 2009 | breeding | No Comments
As my camera is at work without me today, you’ll have to wait for new photos of the babies for another day.
But instead I’ve uploaded a video of their birth.
There are German subtitles this time but I hope you like it anyway.
ups and downs
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 | breeding | 3 Comments
First of all thank you all for holding your fingers and paws crossed for our 2 premature kitties. On 5 continents there are people thinking at us, now in one case it has definitely helped.
Karayaka is growing nicely, still looking quite small as her siblings have of course grown too (and not too little) but she’s on the right path, currently being weaned off the milk replacer as she is indeed able to fight for a nipple on her own. And she does!
Kerry Hill… is still alive. Drinking from the bottle but still not gaining weight. We’re well aware that this can’t go on forever but we’re reluctant to make a decision right now. So we clutch at every single straw there is.
Like a lioness hunting for ants
Sunday, March 1st, 2009 | breeding, kittens | No Comments
Or something like that. Just to discribe how it feels when you spent 48 hours non-stop feeding two little bodies drop per drop. 2 kittens that should better be still inside their mother instead of next to her.
But it’s also a question of where you draw the line. How to accept decisions that nature has made long before we know… most importantly how to realize these decisions and how long to stay fighting.
Karayaka weighted 68g this morning. Not very relieving as she still will only drink from the milk replacer and not from her mother but it’s better than nothing.
Kerry Hill still refuses to forcelessly take any drop offered. Not from his mommy, not from the milk replacer, not even from the glucosis solution. He was put on antibiotics just to be sure but would have 2 times drifted away already if the infrared bulb hadn’t kept him warm and we hadn’t subcutanously given some fluids to keep him hydrated. (big thanks to our vet) We’re fighting.
But can you honestly nurish little lions with ants?
PS: The other 4 babies are growing nicely.
we’re waiting
Thursday, February 26th, 2009 | breeding | No Comments
Update: We’re not waiting anymore! More to follow!