Arwen's first litter

Arwen kittened during the early hours of Sunday 25th April 2004. She had 5 kittens - 3 boys and 2 girls. She woke Craig up around 1am. He sat up with her for about 45 minutes and Arwen purred continuously. He then went back to bed and Arwen came for a while before taking herself off to the airing cupboard to 'start proceedings'. We both rejoined her about 6am to see the last off the quintet being born. We moved her to the kittening house and pen, setup in the spare room. Quite fitting for our new 'guests'!

The kittens eyes opened during Saturday May 1st but everything still seems fuzzy to them.

On Saturday 8th May with the kittens being almost 2 weeks old, we left the kitten pen open after we let Arwen out first thing in the morning. As usual, Craig brought Liz a cup of tea and the paper to enjoy in bed. But Liz was not alone!! In addition to Willie, who often sleeps on the bed, Arwen had decided that now would be a good time to practice her kitten carrying skills and bring them to Liz. But Arwen decided that the warmest place was IN BED next to Liz. So there Craig found Liz with 5 kittens snuggling up to her under the duvet. Arwen, seeming satisfied that Liz could be 'trusted' to look after the kittens, duly took herself off to sun herself outside in the runs with the rest of the 'tribe'. The same happened on Sunday causing Liz to miss the gym!!! Kitten sitting is a poor excuse.

During the week, at first light, Arwen decided it was time for us (well Craig) to get up at let her out of the kittening pen. She then proceeded to inform us (Craig again) that she'd been with the kittens all night, as if he didn't know this. By about 5am she'd nagged him enough and went off to sleep, leaving Craig with 30 minutes before he had to get up for work. On Saturday 15th, we experimented  having the kittens with us all night. Initially signs were good; the kittens went off to sleep and Arwen went downstairs. However, the kittens woke up at midnight and proceeded to 'mountaineer' all over us. Needless to say they found themselves back in the kittening pen very quickly, much to Arwen's voiced disgust. And where, you may ask, was Liz? Fast asleep of course.

Into weeks 4 and 5, we now bring the kittens downstairs every evening and let them loose on the rest of the tribe. See the recent pix of the Kittens with Sam.

Week 6 and we've now moved the kittens downstairs permanently. They still do not yet have the run of the downstairs, but do try it on every time the door is opened

here are some pix