Cacao Criadero Blog

The fall of 2015 Frosty suddenly dropped a lot of weight. An x-ray at the vet's revealed a massive tumor in his intestine. Nothing could be done and he was put to sleep. I hold him as he took his last breath and he crossed the Rainbow Bridge. His mark on my heart is for ever. 

R.I.P. dear Frosty !  

The plan to have Chantilly kittens have not happened ,yet. Mainly due to one reason ; Frosty just can not get it right !!!

A cat who do not understand how to mate ?  Yes, it is true.

He had one daughter with Nova 2 yrs ago, but he must have been so shocked about the mating /her cry/or-whatever, so he seems to be determind not to repeat the last part of it,- the actual mating.  Frankly, he jerks off on her back !!

I have tried to pull him backwards or the female forwards, but then he just runs  away. I have tried two different females to see if Nova was too much superior to him, but no luck with the second female either. A beautiful Somali s.h. visiting from Canada to be mated with Frosty.

I have not given up completly,(yet), but had to take a break in trying, due to my own health.I have been waiting 1,5 year for a neck surgery and could not risk to have kittens born while I was in hospital. And because I did not get a date for my own surgery, I just had to wait. Now it seems like I might get the surgery in September 2015. And then, after that, I will try again with both females. Crossing my fingers that he will get it right in the end with lots of practice !! 

His daughter is very beautiful, and I would love to see more lovely offsprings from him.

All 5 of my B-litter has moved to new forever-homes. And that is the hardest part for me. To say goodbye. I can not help but fall in love with the kittens born in my cattery, and it is really hard to say goodbye.  I miss them afterwards for a long, long time.  When I have to walk away, leaving the kitten with their new family, all I have left is their collar. And that is not much compared to a wonderful , loving, little personality.

The good part is that we are now 5 families in Norway and 1 family in Sweden that owns a Nebelung cat. And I think that is great. Before I got Nova there were none !

But all my kittens will for ever have a piece of my heart. 

The first three weeks the kittens received all their nutrition from the mothers milk. Nova was a good mother and nursed her kittens well, but with 5 kittens I kept watching that each and every one was given a chance to nurse. In a big litter there could be one that always ends up loosing the fight for a nipple/ teat. They were weighed every morning to make sure they all were gaining weight as they should.

I do not have a set date for when I start to supplement their nutrition, I just look for the day when they start putting on less weight or have a fall in their weight. This time the change came two days into their 4th week. Next morning they had not picked up on the weight so I started to give all five some extra milk. They were given Royal Canin "Babycat Milk" from a 1 ml syringe (NO needle, of course !). A 1 ml syringe gave me the opportunity know exactly how much they needed, the flow is not too quick for the kittens to swallow and I would quickly see if they needed more.

Nova was still nursing, but not enough. The weight picked up again, and they kept gaining as they should. Usually mothers will stopp cleaning the kittens' waist when they are given supplement nutrition, but neither Nova or Acey did. Yes. Acey was by this time like a second "mommy". If she could have given them milk , she would have ! Nova seemed to be more than happy for the help given by Acey, so I let her stay with them.

Also, a reason to try to wait a few days with litter training was that the kittens were still wobbly on their feet, I was not sure they would make it to a litter-box.

The day before they were 4 weeks old, they were moved from the nesting box to a playpen. The playpen I have is originally ment for puppies, but what works for puppies also works for kittens. It is not too big. Ab. 122 cm x 122 cm, and 92 cm tall. It can fold together and be placed away when not needed.

From this day they were offered the Babycat milk in a small bowl together with a bowl of Royal Canin Babycat mousse. "Buddy" and "Blossom" gave it a try at once, the rest followed the next day.

To litter-train kittens is usually really easy. As long as their space is not too large !

If you put kittens in a big room they might not find the litter box, and then they will just use the floor. That is a good thing with a playpen. The space is not bigger than what gives the kittens a quick and good understanding of where the food is and where the toilet is.

The first evening, there was one puddle of pee outside the litter box, and the next morning two sets of poops just outside the box. The rest of the kittens had used the box. That has been the only time I have found something outside of the litter-box.  They understood from then on where the toilet was.  No training, just a small enough space where it was easy to find.

By ab. 6 weeks there is usually at least one kitten who learn to climb over the walls of the playpen to get out into the big "freedom". In this litter " Blossom" was the first, and also the only one so far. At 6 weeks 4 days she climed the walls and jumped down on the outside of the playpen. Her 4 brothers seems envious, but none of them has made it to the top. Either they do not dare or they are just too heavy. "Blossom" is the smallest , weighing less than her brothers. Maybee that makes it easier for her, or maybe she just have more guts than the boys ! Or is smarter !

Usually I will take the playpen away when the kittens get over the top of it, but since none of the boys have followed her example I have kept it up for some more days. They are all let out to play in the whole open room ( hall and kitchen) when awake, but I close the playpen when they nap and at nights. It just feels safer than having five tiny kittens running around all the time. They are still tiny,7 weeks old yesterday, but when/ if the boys climb it,too, it will be taken away.

They all eat well now , both wet food and dry food (Royal Canin "Mother and babycat" ) and they drink water from a bowl. Nova is stilling nursing them every now and then, IF she feels like it, but they are no longer depended on her milk.

Did I litter-train them ? No, I did not. 

They did it themselves, I just gave them the litter box.   

How do I pick the names for my kittens ?

Breeders have different ways of how they choose to name kittens born in their Cattery.     Some choose not to give their newborn kittens names at all, because their new forever-home might choose to change the chosen name ,anyway. Others see it as their right and duty to name all kittens born in their cattery. And you will find all of those somewhere in between those, as well.............. 

Some breeders might go with colors, like Mr Blue, Miss Green etc.Some go with a topic, like caracters from a movie or cartoon.  Others have their own way of deciding which names to give.

I have chosen to use the alphabet from A to Z. Starting with A = first litter  ,  B= second litter,  C= third litter and so on.   This will also help me to remember which litter each cat came from in the years to come.

There are many nice names in the world. I do not stick to only Norwegian or English names. I search for names from all around the world, and just pick out names that I like. Afterwards they are eliminated one by one until I have the number of names needed.

ACEY was the only one in her litter, and she was the first kitten after I had my Cattery registered. So Acey, meaning "Number One" seemed very appropriate. The fact that Acey normally is a male name, do not bother me at all. My ACEY is a girl !  And the name fits her perfectly ! 

I had about fifty names on B ready before my B-litter was born. One by one names were eliminated until I had ten names the day they were born, 5 boy names and 5 girl names. I never make my final decission before I actually SEE the kitten. The name must fit. So the 5 girl names I had ended up in ONE name for the single girl in this litter.  "Blossom".   

BLOSSOM was the last to be born in her litter, and she was tiny. Only 76 gram, while her bigger brothers all were between 90 - 95 g.  I wanted to blow strength and life into her in a way, and therefore give her the name for that. I want her to blossom as she grows into the same beauty as her mother. Her mother also a tiny baby,I think, since she was given the name " Petite Nova".  

The four boys were named : BASTIEN, BENITO, BENJI and BUDDY.   

The first , BASTIEN; was his fathers firstborn, and was named after him ( Sebastian). Can mean "venerable". 

Number two, BENITO, as son of an Italian father, he was given a latin name, which means "blessed".  

BENJI is a short form of the Hebrew,Benjamin, and means "son ".

BUDDY is a tribute to a singer named Buddy Holly. He was a rock'n'roll singer from the really early days of rock, but was killed in an airplane accident in 1959, only 22 years old. His big hit was "That'll Be the Day".  He could have been a great artist if he had lived.

The meaning of the name is "brother". Very fitting for the youngest one of four brothers! And "Buddy" also seems to be the biggest one of the four brothers. So far, anyway.  

And the next litter will be given names on C.  I already have started to think about it, so if anyone wants to help me, please, give me your suggestions !  I have plenty of time as it will be another year before I plan the next breeding. 

I name my kittens with much LOVE !