Baby Bliss-Brown

Wednesday 01 July '09
Welcome to the world Joseph Luke Bliss-Brown. Katey gave birth to a wonderful healthy baby boy. It was a natural birth and mum and baby are doing just fine.
Jacky

katey's pregnancy update

Wednesday 1st July '09
6.30am - phone call from Vicky letting us know that Katey is dilated to 3 cms. we find it nerve wracking waiting for phone calls that never arrive. its a time for husband and wife to be together with the birth of their first baby, but my goodness its hard being a mum sometimes and trying to keep out of things.
mid-day. Finding it impossible to wait any longer for news, we contact the hospital for news - Katey is dilated to 5 cms.
5pm -ish. we take a call from Malcolm informing us that she is dilated to 7cms and he will ring us once their baby is born. Everything is now finally going well and they are now anticipating a normal birth.
Still more waiting!

we seem to have been working on automatic today. Everything seems to have been done, the cats and kittens are all well. The fans are really appreciated by them all, some cats and kittens sitting on shelves waiting for the fan to swivel round to them.
Only Cash doesn't like the fans - she is hiding under our table in the entrance conservatory keeping her eye on some snow kittens we have running around between the kitchen and conservatory. They don't seem to understand where the breeze keeps coming from when they go near the fans. Cash makes sure they don't go outside which means we can keep the doors open - i wonder how long that will last until they learn they can escape to the world outside.

Moved the 2 Illusions kittens that are waiting to be collected out of the lounge, and moved in Treasures kittens - they love it, although they don't seem as interested in the TV - or maybe its the news that doesn't interest them - he he!

Had to move one of the blue kittens out of the kitten room today as its being bullied by the rest of her brothers and sisters.

Devils snow litter vaccinated today - one of the boys seems to have a temperature this evening - need to keep an eye on him. syringe some cold water down him and make it into a game to encourage him to drink lots at the same time. Once it cools down tonight i will give them all some chicken juices to drink to encourage them to drink more.

Allie has gone in with Timmy - we'll just have to wait to see what happens as they are not interested in anything but laying down.
hopefully tomorrow i will be writing about our new grandchild.
Jacky
http://www.pureblissbengals.co.uk/
http://www.pureblisssavannahs.co.uk/

katey's pregnancy

Tuesday 31st June '09
12.36am - A phone call from Katey - she is having contractions every 5 mins which goes to 4 Mins whilst on the phone to me. i tell her to keep me informed and tell her to try to rest as she can't go into hospital until they are every 3 mins.
7.15am - i give Vicky a call to see if she has heard anything about Katey. Vicky is on her way to Katey's to pick up her cats and bring them to us for their holiday whilst Katey is in hospital. Once Vicky arrives at Katey's she gives us a call to let us know that there are only cats there so they must be in hospital.
mid-am - we get a call from Katey to say her labour has slowed down, so its a waiting game. She is going to try to get some rest and will let us know when the pains heat up again.
Meanwhile everything continues in the cattery.......... kittens need to be fed and cared for ........... as do the Queens and Studs. All the fans are going on full to keep the air moving in the quarantine, the boarding cattery, and Purebliss Cattery.
we have a visit from 2 lady's wanting information on hybrids and harnesses so we send them to talk with Kelly and Sara of Kelsar Bengals who make great harnesses.
Lunchtime - Vicky is making lunch and we can all have some iced drinks to cool down.
pm - we will keep our fingers crossed that things speed up for Katey. when Katey was born i went into labour on the Friday and she was born on the Monday, i wonder if she is going through a similar thing.
jacky
www.pureblissbengals.co.uk
www.pureblisssavannahs.co.uk

meat day

Tuesday 16th June
Fed weaning kittens and very young kittens with warm cooked chicken in juices - they love it!
Older kittens given fresh raw, along with some of the adults who love it. we are also hand raising a savannah litter who's mum had decided it was time they stood alone - they can't quite manage it yet, so we are syringe feeding them every few hours to encourage them into early weaning.

Vicky collected Katey on the way to work this morning so that she could spend time with us - Katey is too close to her due date to drive.

Mid-morning and the vet makes his daily visit to Purebliss Quarantine - checks the cats and signs the book. Tim and Vicky had just finished cleaning out Betty. She is becoming cleaner in her sleeping area now she is nearing her due date - her pregnancy is so very different to the Bengal and Savannahs, and much longer.
Syringe feed the Savannah litter that needs help weaning.

Then the rest of the morning is taken up with mincing lamb hearts and chicken breasts. Then its onto the whole chickens - all to be ground twice so that no bones are left - full of goodness!

Lunchtime - Vicky and Katey are making the sandwiches whilst i hand feed the savannahs for early weaning.
Katey is very close to her due date now, so the warm weather is getting too much for her at times. After lunch she has her daily nap before Malcolm picks her up to take her home. Lunchtime feeds for all the kittens.

pm - cash and carry visit to buy some tinned and dry cat food, sundries etc. picked up some new toys for all the kittens. Put some straight into a couple of kitten litters - I'm really pleased with them (the kittens love them too) will buy some more later in the week.

no sooner back then Tim comes looking for me to answer the phone. Kittens need to take priority, especially these that need hand feeding. people don't understand sometimes that the kittens need feeding on time or they don't improve. we don't always answer every phone call as we are working with kittens or cats that need our attention.
Managed to get the early weaning kittens fed.

pm - time to take photos - took some photos of a couple of savannah kittens that i haven't had time to take before.
Hand feed the early weaners.
Nightly feed for all the cats and kittens - check all waters are full, and remove any poo from kitten litters.
take the savannah kittens from the webcam into the lounge. Leave Tim to clean out the kitten conservatory ready for a Bengal litter to go in. its lovey to see the kittens running and playing on camera.

8pm - time passes too quickly - we need to eat.
Hand feed the early weaning kittens, and check kittens all have dry to eat during the night.

we need to take some more photos but instead we have a cup of tea (for Tim) coffee (for me) and view a DVD.
the rest of the photos will have to wait until another day - there are only so many hours in a day and the health and welfare of our cats and kittens have to come first.
Jacky
www.pureblissbengals.co.uk
www.pureblisssavannahs.co.uk

bank holiday

Things are still very busy at Purebliss.
Hand feeding, then weaning kittens. LouLou giving birth early during the early hours of Sunday morning, she started about 2.30am, meaning we didn't get much sleep before going to show on the Sunday.

Picked up Mum from Leeds on Monday - we are very proud to say she is 92 years old this year and fit and well. We had a day shopping on Tuesday and dinned out in the evening. We gave Mum a birthday party on the Wednesday evening which we are pleased to say she really enjoyed. Mum had flowers and chocolates, and gifts from Vicky, Katey, Paul and Malcolm. Tim and I bought her a gorgeous suede jacket which i would have loved myself.

Vicky and Katey (daughters) took Mum back on Thursday whilst we got ready for our visitors. We were very happy to see Per and Tove Ingrid again, and enjoyed their company for dinner in the evening. They stayed with us overnight and helped us the following day with the cats and kittens. Per and Tove Ingrid took Leila and Hero back to Norway with them on the Friday by an overnight crossing. Leila and Hero did very well and took the long journey in their stride. We miss these cats that have been with us in quarantine for so many months, we've grown to know and love them.

Saturday was a Seminar - I love to go to these as there are so many things we can learn about cats in general, and different breeds. Maggie was with us for 6.30am and we set off in order to arrive about 8.30am. We had a good day and happily met up with friends from the show world.

Much of Sunday was trying to catch up on work. Tim did a great job keeping everything ticking over nicely on his own as Vicky decided to have the weekend and bank holiday on the Broads - I'm pleased to say it sounds like she and Paul are having a wonderful time - a much earned rest so she can start all over again on Tuesday.

Monday is Vicky's birthday. lots of work trying to get everything done so that we can have a birthday party in the afternoon. Vicky, Paul, Katey, Malcolm, Tim and myself celebrating the birth our daughter Vicky, she will always be our baby girl. Same with Katey, always our baby girl. You mothers out there know what i mean!
Well - I'd better go and get ready for everyone coming now.
Jacky
www.pureblissbengals.co.uk

friday 15 May

Ambition has lost too much weight and condition so we've decided to take her kittens away and hand raise them. they aren't too happy about us feeding them powdered milk instead of their mothers milk, but they will get used to it.
Even though they are weeks old, we feed them every 3 hours until they take to the milk.
Night feeds are tiring but a necessity until they start to take the milk more happily. we need to make sure they don't dehydrate.
Friday pm - bath Renegade and give Timmy a good brushing. both have dropped some weight due to their need for girls. they will have to learn to wait until the girls are ready.
Jacky
http://www.pureblissbengals.co.uk/
http://www.pureblisssavannahs.co.uk/

sunday 3 may

Life has been manic lately - so very busy with birthing, kittens and changes in the cattery. White House Boarding Cattery is now open and almost full at times already. Maintenance is almost finished and Vicky has been doing a great job with the painting of the pens once maintenance on each pen has been completed.

I made time to visit Carol of Eriador Bengals on Sunday to see her gorgeous Bengal kittens - carol has produced some stunning Bengal babies and I just had to make time for a visit.
We had a great time catching up on things and then she placed both of Summers kittens in my hands. Knowing how much these 2 girls mean to Carol, I was honoured to be asked to choose which i would like as part of my breeding programme. How could i possibly choose, No, Carol must make the choice. My thanks go to Carol for entrusting me with such a treasure!

Then to my delight Carol handed me a very striking rosetted Mink female Bengal kitten - Esmerelda - my Mink girl - Wow! I love her so much already - I'm thrilled!
Many thanks to Carol - I'm so very pleased and happy for these wonderful girls to be part of my breeding programme.
Jacky
www.pureblissbengals.co.uk
www.pureblisssavannahs.co.uk

"c" section

tough night again last night as we had to rush Floss to the vets. she just couldn't pass her kittens. After a long struggle on her part we decided to ring our vet, Sophie agreed to meet us at the surgery and the 2 wonderful Bengal kittens that appeared from the "c" section showed that there was no way Floss could pass these huge kittens in the normal way. we were so relived to see that Floss and her babies were well and we were all back home and back in bed for 4.30am.

6.30am - hand feed the brown spotted male and female from floss, and check their hot water bottle and heat pad. floss is thoroughly fed up with herself and so we check her heat pad and make sure she is clean and as comfortable as we can make her. Check that her hot water bottle is still warm with the help of her heat pad. the hot water bottle is there to give her the comfort of movement - a bit like the belly of her mum when she was a kitten.

7.30am - cook the chicken for the weaning kittens, cool and dish out

8.30am - its a cleaning and moving day today. Floss goes back in my bedroom to recover and get used to her kittens.
Lil and her kittens are moved downstairs and Katey does a great job of cleaning out the middle bedroom.
Jade and her kittens are moved downstairs and the front bedroom is also cleaned ready for the next mum to be.
Bedrooms need to be thoroughly cleaned and sprayed before the next mums to be can join us. the risk of infection is still there no matter where in the house they are. As well as sweeping, washing and spraying everywhere, there is all the bedding and any throws, quilts, cushions etc to wash - a job not to be taken lightly.
Jacky
http://www.pureblissbengals.co.uk/
http://www.pureblisssavannahs.co.uk/

great weekend

Treasure has had gorgeous Savannah babies - Katey did such a wonderful job delivering Treasures kittens.

Sunday - early start to get all the raw meat minced and the chicken breasts cooked ready for the kittens and their mums during the day. Tim is holding the fort and looking after all the cats and kittens.
a long drive to the AGM for the BCCGB this afternoon but well worth the effort - trophies are being presented today.
we have a lovely catch up with friends before going into the AGM, a very good buffet lunch is provided for everyone whilst we socialise. then onto the serious stuff that we are all there for. Discussing all the hard work our committee and show team have put into running the club for us. Then the trophies are presented to the owners of the cats and kittens that did so well at the BCCGB show last year. I was presented with the trophy for best seal spotted mink kitten for Purebliss Renegade which I was thrilled to accept.
We all had fun with the raffle.
Many thanks to everyone there who put so much effort into making it a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.

Unfortunately there was a massive hold up on the M1 on my way home which made it a tiring drive home.

Approx 10.30pm - check on Ambition to find she is in labour, and screaming at every pain. so i set her up in bed, laying her on a quilt doubled over and cacoon her in another quilt so that no mess escapes onto our bed. She continues to shout out whenever she gets any discomfort - i feel so sorry for her I didn't mind not sleeping all night.
Approx 9am Monday morning - Finally a kitten is born, followed soon after by another. She no longer shows any sign of discomfort as she knows there is serious stuff to be taken care of here. I stay with her throughout the morning, then Katey, Vicky and Tim join us for lunch. By mid afternoon all is done - 5 healthy, happy kittens born. Mum is purring loudly and loving every minute of looking after her babies.
I'm shattered and looking forward to having a good nights sleep tonight - he he!
www.pureblisssavannahs.co.uk
www.pureblissbengals.co.uk
Jacky

Devil has kittens

am - after feeding Vicky and I go into town for the chickens for the kittens.
At Purebliss we feed cooked chicken in its own juices to the weaning kittens, so my first job once I arrive home is to prepare the chickens for the rest of the day. Chop up 2 chicken breasts and place in a microwave proof dish, then add water and stir, cook for 1 minuet and stir, cook for 30 secs and stir, cook for a further 30 secs and stir, if not cooked through then repeat for another 30secs or until the chicken is lightly cooked. Add cold water and once its cooled but still warm serve to the weaning kittens and their mum - they love it.
Once the kittens are older we also feed them a little raw chicken. One of the main things to remember with regard to feeding raw diets to cats and kittens is that the food should be fresh and human grade. if you wouldn't eat it then don't feed it to your kittens or cats. If its been in your fridge over 24 hours then either cook it or discard it.
we also leave down dry food for the cats and kittens to graze on throughout the day. Once the kittens are about 6 weeks old we start to add manufactured kitten food to the cooked chicken so that the kittens can get used to the additives used in processed foods.

After feeding the kittens lunch i check on our "little Devil" She is in some discomfort so i stay with her rubbing her back and tummy. its not long before her first kitten pops out, but not so with the placenta, that takes much longer to come out - about 20 mins. but Devil lays there licking her baby with placenta attached.
5 mins after the placenta is out the next kitten is on his way out - again the placenta takes about 20 mins to follow. But Devil is quite happy looking after her babies with the placenta still attached to her second kitten.
The third kitten out, including placenta is much smaller than the rest and completely white, but unfortunately this little girl is dead. Its so sad when anything like this happens, but it does happen occasionally and we don't have time to stop and think before her next kitten is on the way out, again leaving the placenta to follow about 20 mins later.
5 mins after and the next kitten is on her way out, this time the chord broke leaving the placenta inside. Devil is very happily cleaning her kittens and takes her time before pushing out her placenta.
Devil has given birth to 3 boys and 1 girl, 4 wonderful healthy babies, all "done and dusted" in less than 2 1/2 hours. All spotted lynx Bengal babies. What a wonderful mother she is going to be. i would say she thoroughly enjoyed her delivery. she loved having her back and tummy rubbed whilst she licked her kittens clean. we've given her some warm cooked chicken in some warm juices and leave her to enjoy looking after her gorgeous Bengal babies.
Next job is to let Kelly and Sarah know as they bred our little Devil (Kelsar Ur Eyes Only).
Jacky
www.pureblissbengals.co.uk
www.pureblisssavannahs.co.uk

early start to tend to the kittens before we set off for the show. Katey arrives before 6am to help load up the car, and on the road for 6.30am.
Arrive at the show to be almost the last to vet in, but everyone is lovely and welcoming as usual.
First ring and what a wonderful treat when Purebliss Valour is put 1st in his colour - brown spotted Bengals. He comes 2nd Division to Lynn's gorgeous brown marbled Bengal and he comes 3rd best of breed and is finalled 10th best shorthaired cat.
A fabulous start to a wonderful show.
We had a great picnic that Katey put together, although i admit to digging into it throughout the day - he he!
Its was fabulous to see Purebliss Fiction again and see him gaining a place in the brown spotted colours.
Timmy (TGC Purebliss Optimus Prime) may not have been finalled but he wowed people with his amazingly clear stunning snow marbling. He's still looking for that magical final to make him a Quad Grand Champion.
Another Glaciers son, Nedd a Poshpaws bred boy, did his usual magic to make the day special.
It was great to see Purebliss Shadow Dancer in her first show as a kitten and gain best of breed in one of her rings. She is such a sweetheart and at only 4 months old behaved wonderfully well.

Then of course there was Purebliss Leonardo di Vinci, our silver spotted Savannah boy. At only 4 months old he wowed everyone who cuddled him with his personality and need to hug and cuddle everyone he met including the judges. Carol and Richard are his new mum and dad and I'm so thrilled to see how much they love him, and I'm also very proud of him. He took 12 merits over the weekend and 5 of them against a gorgeous brown spotted adult Savannah boy.

Many thanks to everyone who showed Purebliss Bengals or Savannah's over the weekend. They all enjoyed themselves and behaved wonderfully well showing how happy they are at show. I feel a great deal of pride in our Bengal and Savannah babies.

we only showed on Saturday but what a wonderful day it was. We met up with old friends, made some new friends and reestablished a friendship with a good friend.
Jacky
http://www.pureblissbengals.co.uk/
http://www.pureblisssavannahs.co.uk/

Day before show

Friday 10th April '09
There has been a problem with our ISP for the last couple of days, but looks like its sorted now as we are finally receiving our emails again. I've been able to send emails but not been able to download them for a couple of days. I have well over 100 emails to go through, although almost half of those are junk mail.

Jan came round for coffee this morning, we had a lovely gossip, it was really good to catch up - arranged to go shopping next week.

lunch was a quickie as time was moving on much to the disgust of Mavis. Mavis is a blue eyed snow (seal spotted lynx) Bengal girl who is pregnant and loves her time with us at coffee breaks and lunch breaks. She just can't make up her mind who to sit with for her tummy rubbed.

Katey brought Timmy in and we trimmed his claws. Katey put him in the warm water in the sink and we soaped him well, then a good rinse off and over on to the towels. Towelled dry and then the hairdryer. Timmy is such a good boy letting us brush and dry him with the dryer, although he had plenty to say for himself - he he!
Mavis is looking through the conservatory window as it over looks the kitchen sink - mmm - she likes Timmy! Mavis keeps bobbing from side to side chatting to Timmy, and Timmy's chatting back to her.
Once Timmy is dry its out to his clean pen with lots of lovely warm bedding next to his lovely warm heater. Need to make sure he is warm enough after having his bath so we put the heating on in plenty of time for his bedroom to warm up.

Next its Valour's turn to have his claws trimmed. A quick brush to take out any dead hair and then into the warm water. Lots of Soap and he loves the soaping up with the warm water and massaging his body. We leave his head alone as he's not keen on water around his head.
Mavis is enjoying herself again, a really good view of Valour flexing his muscles gives Mavis lots of entertainment. We keep telling her she is pregnant and shouldn't be looking but she takes no notice of us at all and continues bobbing up and down calling to him.
A good rinse off with warm clean water and onto the towels with Valour. He loves the towel drying, but hates the hairdryer, so this time we leave him to run around the kitchen without drying him off with the dryer. He thoroughly enjoys spraying in every corner of the kitchen.

Its now 17.20 and time for me to get myself ready for going to show early tomorrow morning. I leave Valour running around the kitchen for another hour and then Tim will put him in his clean heated bedroom, whilst we have dinner.
Looking forward to show over the weekend. There will be some wonderful cats out this weekend, can't wait to see them all.
Jacky
www.pureblissbengals.co.uk
www.pureblisssavannahs.co.uk

Blissi

Many will know that we have reopened our boarding cattery (Holiday Home for Cats).
I tend to stay out of most of the work involved with it and leave it upto Tim and Vicky. However, this weekend i had to spend time in the boarding cattery as Blissi came to board with us at Purebliss. I was so thrilled to see her again after so long. She is still so very beautiful, her stunning marbling and her wonderful nature. We had lots of cuddles over the weekend, and I'm thrilled that she will be spending more holidays with us at Purebliss. Bushfire Blissi was our first show Bengal, although we had bred Bengals since 2000 we started showing Bengals much later.
Jacky
www.pureblissbengals.co.uk
www.pureblisssavannahs.co.uk

T-boy update - march

We are putting T-boy back onto antibiotics as his wound on his neck is opening up again. Its seems to be a clean wound and the hair has fallen away from the damaged skin area, so we have a clear view of his scar area on his neck. its only on one side of this that its opening up again, but if this doesn't work we will have to have the vet clean up the skin on the wound which will make the opening larger and stitch it up.
Other than this T-boy is looking much better. He seems to be feeling much better also as he is up to mischief now as with most Bengals.
Jacky
www.pureblissbengals.co.uk
www.pureblisssavannahs.co.uk

miss p update

Purebliss has received another update from Nicola regarding Miss P................

She is really gaining confidence now...and has her mad run-around in the morning (normally resulting in her hanging off my curtains!).
Chico is also starting to come around...he appears more curious now rather than his previous grumbly moods!

Its so good to know that Miss P is settling well.
Jacky
www.pureblissbengals.co.uk
www.pureblisssavannahs.co.uk