As George Would Say ...

"See I don't have time for the haters ..."

Walking pics - back on track

Handsome Little Chap

 Perry - One Year Old 

Bless him he's still smaller than the other cats and has much less coat, an oriental cat type coat really. Such a handsome, happy little man. 

Happy 1st Birthday

According to my records Perry is 12 months old today, or there abouts anyway! Little "Wild Man Perry" moved in with us on August the 9th and he really took his time to settle, but he's quite the darling now. I'm pretty accurate with his age as I pinpointed within a day or two of his adult canines coming through. I wrote on the 21st of October ..
"I checked his teeth at the beginning of the week and he still had kitten canines, but today I checked again and the adult canines are pushing through. The kitten's adult canine come through at 149 - 153 days which means we can say .. yeah 5 months any day now - I think I'll give him an approximate birthday - maybe May 24th."

I Said "Wait"

 With Miss Kaiah at the front of the rebellion of course! 

Try again! 

You may have noticed I'm currently taking less photos on daily walks. Though my first response was well don't fecking look then I've given it some thought and if it annoys people enough that they have to talk about me then I'll give it a break for a while. Shame I found it very therapeutic and rewarding. 

Luther - Changing Colour?

 I love this photo of Luther sent to me by Gail this morning. Maybe after the sad death of Tadar at only 7 years he's auditioning for the role of Grumpy Cat, or he's already starting to take on the role of his namesake John Luther? (don't know who he is? google him) Seriously his colour is not an issue, I honestly don't care, I'm just curious at the undercoat. When I saw him he did look black, but Gail is today seeing changes after just a few days off, and I had commented about his "ghost tabby" markings in previous photos.You can see from this photo that Luther's undercoat is white on his belly and the second photo is the undercoat under his chin.

As we know with Isla the coat of a smoke can look pretty dramatic, she is just stunning. For a cat to be a smoke rather than black one of the parents has to have a white undercoat so the white initially hides in the kitten. A black smoke tabby cat is claimed to display the ghost tabby’s markings, but then they fade out once reaching a year old. They are often difficult to tell from solid color kittens except that smokes sometimes have white around the eyes and a paler stomach. It may take some months to tell which kittens will be smoke because the full coat color is sometimes not seen until the adult coat comes in at 2 years, but the undercoat begins to show at 3 weeks, and by 6-8 weeks they have a mottled look. Isla sure has changed, she did have tabby markings, particularly on her tail when we got her at about 16 - 20 weeks old, but they have now gone. 

Luther's ghost tabby marking are clear to see in this photo on the 8th of May.  It was my intention to have a black cat as they are always left waiting for homes but if Luther does turn out to be a smoke I can't change my mind now. I've set my heart on him, he will be the next Blanik baby, I would only ever back out if the sex was wrong. As I've said bringing in another female would be unwise! 

Kai News

I have had a call from the owner of Kai, Asha's brother. He has had an adverse reaction to a product called "Nexguard." I was unfamiliar with the product but John said it was an oral flea and tick repellent. Anyway I've I  have just googled it .. "Four flea and tick products may cause seizures, tremors, and lost coordination in some cats and dogs. Food and Drug Administration officials have received thousands of reports of adverse events connected with three products—Bravecto, Nexgard, and Simparica—containing drugs in the isoxazoline class." I'm so pleased John has contacted me as the vets have previously encourage him to treat the dog monthly with Advocate now changing to Nexguard. He was told that if he did not continue this monthly regime his dog was at risk of heart worm or lung worm! Under the vets influence he has also been taking him for yearly boosters and had him booked in on his 11 birthday for his next booster. We had a long chat and Kai will not be receiving any more of these products for preventative measures and lying the pockets of his vet even further. I'm disappointed that vets are still giving boosters to 7, 8, 9, 10 year old's and would probably have given him a Vacc at 11 yrs too had we not had the conversation! Really its quite shocking!
 "First do no harm." So why have they actively encouraged, almost scaremongerd the owner to put chemicals on his dog once a month for almost 11 years?  To so many people a vets word is beyond reproach, pet owners do not question it, they think they are giving their dogs the very best care.
Of course I have to worm my dogs, more often than I like too really, but when you have killer cats you have too. When my dogs have fleas I treat them, but to be honest as I treat the house regularly with Staykill we tend not to have issues. I just can not see the necessity in using these products as preventative, used that way they must be doing more harm than good. All I can suggest is that before using any chemical product on your pets or giving them any vaccinations .. do your research, thankfully the information is now available on line.
Thanks John for getting in touch, it's the same for anyone with a "Blanik Baby" our door is always open, if we can help we will.

Blanik Bus

Well the Yellow Blanik Bus has had a reprieve ... last night we had decided we were buying a Ford Transit. Good looking van with bags of space and I felt it was great to drive too. But sleeping on these things often leave doubts don't they ... and the memories of Blanik Bus No.1 and it's habit of breaking down at all the wrong moments came flooding back. This yellow van has it's quirks but it's so reliable and has got me from here to there and back so many times. To be honest I'm very attached to it and stupidly I will probably cry when it's time to say goodbye.

Yes I want a bigger van, but all I could say to Steve yesterday was, "Why is it so cheap?" Somehow if felt wrong. By this morning he too had doubts and he phoned our local garage for advice. He felt something was amiss too and as he knows my van well he said it was worth more than was offered  for it and was concerned this would not be as reliable as it. I told Steve if he had doubts then he should cancel .. he did and the seller showed his true colours with some sarcastic and childish comments. Ah well!
Of course I'm disappointed, you get your hopes up and make plans for setting it out for the comfort and security of the dogs. I'd even arranged to have side windows put in so the guys could continue to enjoy sitting up and looking out on their journeys to shows. They enjoy the journey almost as much as the shows .. but there you go when there's nagging doubts we have to listen to them.
I've told Steve to stop looking at the pages and sites for the time being, we really can't afford anything better than we've got and until we can there is no point looking .. better the devil we know! Maybe I too should take up religion and maybe then god will provide for me too!!!!

Photos From The Judge

Super Photos - Love them 

The Royal Welsh

 Loki winning his class with breeder and friend Ian at the helm yesterday

But with his sister Bella winning her class I had to take him into the challenge myself

It was a proud moment with Loki going BOB and Bella RBOB in great company. Sadly nothing in the group. 

Loki was his usual aloof self and I must admit the look of sheer arrogance he gives people does amuse me! You have to see it to understand it but there is no doubt he does look down at people he doesn't know! 

Love this photo by John Lemon of me handling young Kasey for the first time. A little star in the making. 

Considering we had to take photos into the sun I'm really impressed with the photos we got yesterday too. OK a lot of mishaps but some pretty decent shots too .. I think Lin and I both did well with it. 

I have to say it was a cracking day, wonderful atmosphere, lovey dogs, lovely friends ... and cake! What dogs shows should be about .... No green eyed monsters just friends enjoying the day. Thank you all 

Luther And Brothers

Sadly most of my photos where a little blurred. I used the old camera and I guess I should have changed the setting - ah well! 

It was lovely to meet the little man and his very handsome brothers. As soon as they go on the website they will be snapped up no doubt. Poor mum is a bit of a sad state and I can't help but worry about her future. Obviously so young .. and so happy at the rescue centre .. that to me says a lot about her home life!!!!

Can't wait to get Luther home now. 4 weeks and counting!