New site

Well…I have decided to move this site. I will still post to both with the update to the new for a while until everyone gets the new address and gets used to it. This free site wordpress offers is and has been a wonderful way to get started and to learn about blogging. I feel that due to my desire to add more things for you, the viewer, I need to use another site that allows me more freedom in posting and offering you new things.

Please, log in to both, and if you enjoy the site refer others who would enjoy it too. Also, if you like something but feel that I could add something that would interest you or help you, please let me know.

Here’s the new address: http://siamese4u.blogspot.com/

Thanks! Melissa

Children and cats

My children are definately involved with the cats too. One of the neatest things that has happened with the kids and cats was the relationship Papyrus (Jewel’s grandma) formed with Shayna the moment she came home from the hospital. Papyrus took an immediate position as close to Shayna as she could get and never left her unless she had to eat or use the litterpan.  It was as if she felt Shayna was her “kitten”.  There are so many tales about cats smothering babies, but you know, I think you just have to use common sense and monitor the situation. I don’t believe they intentionally smother babies, in fact, although I monitored the cats around Shayna, they never did anything to concern me. In fact Papyrus allowed Shayna to use her as a head rest as when Shayna was in her bouncy seat, see photo above. Now no other cat in the house would have gotten under Shayna’s head, but Papyrus climbed up and pet herself in that position under the babies head and purred. Papyrus genuinely loved Shayna from the moment they met. Papyrus’ presence and purring was a great help to me because it really calmed Shayna. In fact, to me it was simply a foretelling of what a wonderful mother Papyrus made later. 

I regret not having any photos of Jessica with the cats but she always covers her face when you try to take a picture. She has been  a great help to me in showing the cats and in birthing the kittens.

I believe that my cats have greatly enriched the lives of my children and that my kids have greatly helped in the socialization my kittens display in their new homes.

Does anyone else have a cat or kitten that developed a bond with their child similar to that of Papyrus with Shayna? I’d love to hear about it.

Jenny’s White Oriental Kittens

This photo is from Jenny of RanchCats Siamese and Orientals in Texas. She breeds and shows. Thank you Jenny for the photo, they are all beautiful!

Question for the day on your cats diet-your comments and suggestions will be rewarded!

For those of you visiting today, welcome! I’d like to begin an open ended discussion today on a particular topic. I really would appreciate your input. I have some topics for articles submitted by visitors. I will be working on articles on those topics in various formats. For today I’d like to take a topic and let you leave comments with your ideas. I’m hoping this will generate a larger pool of information for people. I also enjoy asking more than one person for ideas on issues, it gives me a larger perspective. So….here’s todays topic:

YOUR CATS DIET: THE IMPORTANCE OF PROPER NUTRITION  FOR YOUR CAT

 Cats are obligate carnivours. They need diets rich in protein and cannot survive on a vegetarian diet . There are essential amino acids they need, taurine being the most important.  A  high  protein diet is essential. I feed Royal Canine products to my cats. I also add moist foods (usually turkey and chicken variety) to pregnant and nursing moms and to growing kittens that are beginning to eat. Additionally  I offer freshly cooked turkey and chicken to all my cats.  This has worked well for me thus far.  This is due in part to the fact that  the siamese I have shown the last year have amazing bodies genetically and remain rock hard. That is not a credit to me, it’s completely to the credit of their breeder Ruth Taylor of Gimsin Siamese in Maryland. A warning: if you aren’t careful with your cats dietary needs you can cause a wonderful, healthy cat to have problems. So…..please offer your feeding suggestions as well as your rationale and result. I will offer the visitor with the most comments on my site a free link on my blog for 30 days. If you are a visitor without a link or website I will post you as the daily winner by name or however you’d like. This is a daily contest.Good luck and please send your comments!

Kaikatsu Kids

These photos are from Brian of Kaikatsu cattery in California. Brian is breeding for cinnamon points and shows in CFA. Brian, welcome! and thanks for the photos!

Contrast in Newborns Coats

This is Papyrus with her first litter. She had three kittens total. This photo is not long after delivery and yes that’s blood on her nose from eating a placenta. I gave her some time to rest and enjoy the babies without fussing over that spot of blood. When I talked in my last post about being able to tell a red at birth I wanted to find a good photo and I think this one will do. The kitten furthest right was a cream point male. The other two kittens are blue cream points (in fact-one of them is Ankhesenamon, Jewel’s mama).  Each time a litter is born, I sleep with the mom at night to ensure I’m there for the delivery if a problem occurs. When the babies are coming I help the mom when needed but otherwise simply do some work and give the mom my support of being there for her if she needs me. At times, I need to help a lot, other times I do nothing to almost nothing, the mother does everything. I am sure to account for all kittens and placentas after delivery is complete to ensure the health of the mom. As each kitten is born, I kiss their little wet heads and welcome them to the world and I kiss them on the head and tell them I love them when they go to their new homes (all of this doesn’t take into account that my family and myself love these little creatures all day every day). I work very hard at never losing a kitten and have worked on newborns for as long as 45 minutes to an hour. I don’t lose many kittens. Each one is precious to me and their life valuable. Each is meant to bring love and joy to a family and to be loved in return. My littlest girl, Shayna said the funniest thing to her dad tonight but it was so true: Her dad told her to put down the kitten (he was referring to Jewel) that she carries around like a rag doll sometimes and she said, “but Daddy, I love the little varmit!” and she does. She sits and cuddles them and kisses them and they purr for her. She is learning to love and care for another creature and that’s a wonderful lesson for a little girl!

Siamese babies-always born white!

I’ve thought about this post all day. I have had different ideas of how to approach the topic of the babies. With the photos I currently have, I chose this one to start this topic because I really love the little guy right in the middle stretched out over everyone. I’m glad to have caught him lying there as if he is just in complete leisure! These are Sapphire’s babies who are now much older now but for those of you who don’t know this, siamese (and colorpoint shorthair for that matter) are born all white. You get to watch and patiently wait for the colors to come in.  The pointed gene that causes the siamese and colorpoints to be “pointed” or have color in the mask, legs/feet and tail is a heat sensitive gene, those before mentioned areas being the cooler points of the body after birth and throughout the cats life, in fact they will shade into the body with age, especially seals and blues. Chocolates and lilacs tend to have a clearer and snow white coat (if they have good color) but can shade, especially if they are injured or hairs are pulled out.  In their mother’s womb, the kittens are kept the same temperature all over, so, they are born all white. Within a few days you can begin to tell seals and blues by the darkening paw pads and the dark rim on the edge of the ears (as seen in the photo). These kittens all turned out to be blue points like their mom. In a colorpoint litter where I expect (or hope for) red/cream points, I can tell the reds/creams at birth although I don’t know yet whether or not they will be red or cream, only they they are red or cream vs. solid pointed (which is an AOV and a whole different story) or tortie pointed because they are acutally whiter than the other kittens in the litter.  I hope this has been an interesting topic. I plan on actually taping or photographing a birth and the kittens as they grow and develop their point colors. 

The other interesting and very rewarding part of breeding these cats is watching them grow and develop, not just in point color, in their behavior. One thing I noticed about Papyrus and her daughter Ankhesenamon is that when the babies got to be about 4 weeks old or so and were getting more steady on their legs, and especially within the next week or so when the kittens start running all the time, their moms would play with them. I don’t mean just running with them or batting toys with them. I keep a show shelter up for the mom  to keep the kittens in and as a security area for the babies and mom, although it’s open and not zipped up, they can go in and feel like they are “in” something safe.  I realized one day that the mom was intentionally hiding behind the show shelter and jumping out when the kittens approached to startle them and they would just scatter and she would do it again. So….she thought this through. She was hiding and jumping out to play with her babies. Ankesenamon still does that with each litter and she enjoys playing with her kittens. It’s one of the many examples of how intelligent they are. I think siamese and colorpoints are one of the most, if not the most, intelligent cats in the world.  Maybe I can catch some photos or video of it for you!

Cherokee Wisdom

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.  He said, “My son, The battle is between two ‘cats’ inside us all.    One is Evil.  It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment Inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.     The other is Good.  It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”   The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which cat wins?”   The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.” Find the thing that brings you joy and happiness so that you may find peace and happiness in life and spread peace and happiness to others. For me, it’s my cats =^..^= I hope these photos bring a smile to your face and joy to your heart!

Ed’s cats

These photos were submitted by Ed. He has a “few” of my cats. Ed loves seal points. Look at the contrast in their dark mask and beautiful eyes! The top photo is Duke on the left, Isis Mocha in the middle and Anubis (Buster) on the right.

The bottom photo is Princess Margaret. She is older than her other photos and you can see how seal points shade as they get older. It took knowing she would be cared and loved by Ed to let her go to a pet home.

The photos and Christmas cards I get mean a great deal to me. I can see how each kitten born or raised in my home is now a cherished ‘family’ member to someone else. I know my kittens brighten so many people days and lives!

Thanks Ed!

Princess Margaret

Have you ever seen a more royal and elegant cat? Maybe Howard but you will have to simply read the post, look at the photos and decide for yourself. Photo on bottom on blue background taken by Larry Johnson.