Sidste nyt

January 22nd 2002	For the first time in some years we had no kittens at Christmas time, and though we have more time for other occupations we miss having babies. We have planned that Sarantoya is going to have kittens before too long, but yet the young lady hasn't been on heat. If she takes after her mother she will not be on heat before next summer, so we have to be patient. In fact she is engaged to a young male named Tristan. We do hope that he and his owners will wait for her.
February 6th 2002 Sari with Sarantoya at the nomination (which Sarantoya lost) in Roskilde. Photo: Annett Lyng	We have been to the first show in 2002. Sari, the breeder of Lilit, was coming to Roskilde with Zarin Querida who is a daughter of Lilit's half-sister Bella, and who is now owned by Marika Klöf. We wanted to meet Sari again, and we took also Sarantoya to the show. Sarantoya got her first CAC, and she even got BIV in front of Querida - and of course also the other Russians present. Querida has grown to be a beautiful Russian Blue. Now she looks a lot like Lilit. When we saw her 1½ year ago she was a very nice youngster, but he didn't look like Lilit at that time. Sarantoya is not fully developed yet. We think Lilit is still more beautiful, but what will Sarantoya be when she has had kittens? Lilit's coat has grown again, and she is extremely fine at the moment. Anyway we are thinking about having her neutered; she is not going to have any more kittens, and the road to the Grand-title is pretty long.
March 3rd 2002 Tristan Photo: Bjarne M. Jepsen	Not much has happened, but most important all our cats are very well. Accidentally we tried a new brand of food for Ofelia, and she found it very, very good. She eats lots of it every day - and she might have put on a little weight. That's fine, as many older cats she is rather skinny. We haven't yet decided to have Lilit neutered. She is very comfortable and relaxed at this time; and maybe we could show her a few more times in the adult classes. Sarantoya does NOT think she is an adult cat and has NOT been on heat. Playing is much more fun! We have shown her the photo of her fiancé, and she couldn't care less. WE think he is a good-looking guy at the photo: nice broad head, extremely fine shape and setting of the ears, very good shape of the eyes. We hope to visit him and his owners before too long and take a closer look.
March 26th 2002	The two "small ones" - Lilit and Sarantoya have been to their annual health check and shots, and everything was fine. We have been to see Tristan, and we do like him very much. We are ready for kittens, but Sarantoya is not. We have had a new film developed, but it was almost only useless photos, because the flash had failed. Bad luck! A few photos of Sarantoya and one of Djingiz are fairly good, that's all.
April 24th 2002 *Dorthe and Lilit are waiting for the judge to choose his BIV-cat*	Ofelia's big appetite is caused by hyperthyroidism. We had her tested about a week ago and the test showed that she is hyperthyroid. She now get some medicine, and we hope it will help. We and Lilit went to a show on Sunday, and Lilit got her third CAGCIB followed by many nice words from the judge. Sarantoya stayed at home. We had hoped that she was pregnant (but she hasn't been on heat yet!), and besides we knew that her sister would be present at the show, and the best we could hope for was second place. At this show Salonqa had to settle with a CAC. Now she only needs only one to be a champion. Also our future son-in-law Tristan was present, and he got his first CAC.
May 3rd 2002	Sarantoya has been on her first heat. She didn't get a visit from her fiancée this time, but when it comes to her next heat we hope for a mating...
May 19th 2002	A week ago Sarantoya was on heat again, and this time Tristan came to visit her. We saw - and heard - one mating only, but there has probably been more. Now we can only hope and wait... Sarantoya and Tristan soon got friends, but especially Lilit missed Sarantoya. Some times we had to take Sarantoya out of the bridal chamber so Lilit could see for herself that she was alright. Anyway, Tristan was calling so pitiful that she soon came back again. The photo to the left of Tristan was taken during his stay with Sarantoya.
May 26th 2002	Once again Tristan is visiting us. He and Sarantoya instantly recognized each other, and within 5 minutes he had mated her. We keep our fingers crossed for a result this time.
July 1st 2002	Tristan came to visit Sarantoya for the third time on the 10th of June. We told our pair of lovebirds that this would be the last time, no matter what happened. And in fact Sarantoya hasn't been on heat since, so maybe she is pregnant now. We celebrated Ofelia's 15 birthday June 30th and Djingiz' 13th birthday on June 17th. Now we have two teenagers in the house.
July 14th 2002	We are not going to have any kittens this summer, our little Sarantoya has been on heat once again. Urrgh!
August 12th 2002	Our four cats have all been with us on a short holiday in southern Jutland. Perhaps Lilit and Sarantoya didn't find it exactly a holiday, because they were shown two days in Flensburg in Germany. They both got two certificates, and now Sarantoya is a Champion. Lilit still needs one certificate to be a Grand International Champion. Sarantoya hasn't been on heat since the beginning of July. Perhaps she thinks that all kittens should be born at Christmas time, though we have told her more than once that kittens can be born at any time of the year.
August 14th 2002	About Ofelia's illness: The medicine she got was effective. Tests showed that her metabolic figures were normal, and she also put on a little weight. But after a while the medicine made her vomit and she felt very bad, even if the dose was very low. We stopped giving her the pills, and immediately she felt better. Of course her figures got worse again. The only possibility left in Denmark is to operate and remove some of the thyroid gland. Today we went to vet, and she could feel that the gland has grown so much that an operation is possible. In the meantime we have had second thoughts. We have decided that the 15 year old Ofelia is not going to have surgery, maybe with a long convalescence and so on. Her last time has to be a good time. Just now she feels fine. She hasn't lost weight, and she doesn't eat extremely much. There might be a little stagnation in the development of the illness. We hope it will go on for some time.
August 20th 2002	In our holidays we visited Sarantoya's litter sister Salsa (Salonqa), her father Elvis and the people they are living with. It was our first visit since Salsa moved to her new home. She didn't feel like talking to us, but we did see how fine she has developed. Even in the summer heat she sleeps in the bed, and we are sure she is spoiled and has the best life she can get. She and Sarantoya looks very much the same, but Salsa has a little better coat texture and a little better profile. On the photo that was the only usable we managed to get, you can see her very good line over the eyes. It might be a little better than Sarantoya's as well.
September 9th 2002 *Miró's photo taken at a show*	Sarantoya has been on heat again. We tried with another male, and she visited Tanisjka's Blue Castello called Miró. We were not sure if Sarantoya had forgotten her beloved Tristan. She had, you can't say that cats are faithful, and Sarantoya was mated very quickly. Miró is an experienced gentleman, almost 3 years old. He is already the father of two litters with each four kittens, and now we hope he has also succeeded with our little lady.
October 9th 2002	About a week ago we went to the vet where we had Sarantoya scanned to find out if she is pregnant. She is! We saw three embryos, and there might be more. In fact she also behaves a little bit pregnant: She eats quite a lot, and she is not as wild as she use to be. She is expected to give birth in about a month. Also Lilit's daughter Zenit from the first litter has been mated, but we still don't know if she is pregnant.
November 3rd 2002	Sarantoya is steadily growing, she has a fine and firm swelling on both sides. She isn't fat at all, and you can best she that she is pregnant when she is moving. She goes and especiallly runs in a funny waddling way. Our guess is that she will have 3 kittens. Zenit too is pregnant. She is going to have her kittens about December 1st.
November 16th 2002 See the pedigree of the kittens	November 10th Sarantoya gave birth to a fine little female kitten, and the next day to a male, but a Caesarian was necessary. Surprisingly there were only two kittens. There was no doubts about the gender, and the kittens have got names: The female is called Ujiji and the male Uzuri. It is Swahili names. Ujiji is the African town where the famous meeting between Livingstone and Stanley took place in 1871. Uzuri means beauty, and we hope the name will come true. We had already named the kittens when we found out, that the date of the meeting in Ujiji was precisely November 10th. Amusing, isn't it?
November 28th 2002	Ofelia and Djingiz have been to their annual health check and shots. We were happy to know that Ofelia's metabolic disorder hasn't got worse. In fact she has put on a little weight,and her pancreas seemed to be a little smaller, thought not completely normal. Also Djingiz has put on some weight, and that is not so good. We must try to grow him a little smaller. Ujiji and Uzuri are growing, and they have a lot of skills already. They are playing and fighting with each other and with their mother, and they are jumping out of the igloo when we come to be with them. Especially Uzuri likes very much to lie on his back getting his belly stroken.
December 3rd 2002	Lilit is convinced that she is the mother of the kittens as well as Sarantoya. It is our luck that Sarantoya wants her mother to be with her and the kittens - otherwise we would have had serious problems. Lilit seems to be a bit annoyed that she can't feed the kittens as well. She often lies down showing her belly to the kittens who show a little interest, but not for very long. Ofelia and Djingiz are often looking at the babies, and Djingiz sometimes tries to play a little with them, but Sarantoya is the one who plays very wild games with the kittens.
November- December 2002 The kitten's diary The kitten's gallery Uzuri 2 weeks old Ujiji Chimay 4 weeks old	Even when the kittens were very small we humans had a lot to do. Sarantoya seemed to have pains from the sore, and it caused some troubles when the kittens sucked. It got better when the stitches were removed. Lilit was very serious about her new dignity as grandmother, and when the kittens whimpered she thought she had to make them quiet. Unfortunately this didn't make the kittens neither filled up nor satisfied! But it was impossible to seperate Sarantoya and Lilit, because then they screamed loudly at the doors in their different rooms, and Sarantoya didn't stay with her kittens. Finally the little Uzuri always found the nipple Ujiji had the best one and tried to take this one. All together it caused some worries, and especially Ujiji had no peace to suck, and she didn't put on enough weight. For the first time we had to give some supplementary food. When the kittens began to eat themselves all our troubles were finished. Lilit still took part in the nursing and she thought the kittens were also hers. Fortunately Sarantoya wanted her to be with her and the kittens. It seemed as Lilit was annoyed that she had no milk, and she often placed herself with the stomach temptingly shown. The kittens were a little interested, but not for so long. Ofelia and Djingiz showed a friendly interest in the small ones. Djingiz soon beganb to play with them, but Sarantoya was the one who played wild games. Already when Uzuri was only 3-4 weeks of age he got particular fond of Djingiz. No doubt that the two boys had something in common. Ujiji's new owners, Camilla and Martin, visited her several times, and it was a great pleasure for all. She was also named Chimay, which will be her name in her new home.