Kyriacos

Blanik Kyriacos with Georgios Kyriacos behind him

I think I'll try and get a better but similar photo.

Posing

Have You Noticed?

 Zeus and Orin have saddles which are receding from the bottom up? It's not a trait I've seen in Blanik boys before and I think it's more obvious as they are both at different stages of coating. Oh don't get me wrong it's not a fault, it's not even in anyway distracting, well it actually took someone else to point it out to me in Orin, and even then I didn't notice that Zeus was going the same. My only interest in it is that I didn't know where it's come from, like I said I've not seen it in any Blanik bred male and Fransisco has a solid full saddle .. Hmmm interesting, lets get digging! 

Zeus and Orin at the top, when I look back at photos of Orin in the ring, yes definitely it's more obvious when he's out of coat, but you do see it at various degrees at all times! The bottom photo is of Merlin, their brother, (Ken) he has a full dark saddle like his mother Sammi and grandad Nico. The other dog is Tony degli Achei, Fransisco's maternal grandfather, with his paternal grandfather also a little faded I think we can safely say it comes from Fransisco's side of the family. 

Bitches often fade, non more so here than Asha, but what didn't help her was her poor colour. Poor colour and faded and judges really often dismissed her on colour alone. I must admit colour is important to me, I like a rich tan, but at the end of the day it is of secondary importance and she was often denied her win on colour alone. Just to show how dramatically they can change, here are some photos of Asha, from puppy, to yearling, to adult and veteran. 

Thoughts

 Everything was so normal this morning, Jamie and Junior were out in the yard with Zeus waiting to come in for breakfast. The young cats, Luther, Perry and Archie had created a war zone with vet beds and cushions in the living room, Choo came in through the cat flap and Isla was carried to breakfast. All the dogs bar Zeus ate breakfast, but he was happy to help me finish that disgusting porridge that I've been advised to eat. The routine just fell into place with no difficulties, me feeding and Steve on, shall we call it yard duties - don't feel sorry for him, I've asked numerous times if he wants to swap, he doesn't! 

Junior has a chicken obsession, well shall we call it a poultry obsession and last night I'd taken 4 drumsticks out of the freezer for him. I put them in the over first thing and then I burst into tears, will he be here for the Xmas battle? His determination to get to chicken and turkey has seen us fall out so many times over the years, but it also makes me smile. Only last week "someone" hadn't closed the kitchen door and Junior had eaten all the left over chicken gravy. Though someone ranted about it, it was their own fault. You don't leave the kitchen door open when there's meat/poultry or gravy about and Junior is in the house. 

I can't get over how happy Junior was at the vets yesterday, though he did put his head in my hands for reassurance a couple of times. He was so confident and took it all in his stride, though Beth squeezed and prodded, he purred and rubbed against her, being equally obliging when Sharon asked if she should feel it. Though I thought I could feel two lumps, there is only one, it simply moves within his abdomen. Poor boy, so young for a cat really ... well there will be chicken on tap now I think! 

Junior

More sad news here today, poor Junior has an untreatable mass in his abdomen. I guess I spotted his abnormal shape because he's always been such a skinny chap. Bless him, he was so happy at the vets and loved the attention from Beth and Sharon. He showed no sign of pain/discomfort and we've bought him home to continue with his life for as long as he's happy and pain free. 

Though they were surprised I'd even seen it the mass is quite large, about the size of a large apple and there is no way of knowing what it's attached too. Beth doubted a scan would show her that, but even if it did, what is the point of a scan when nothing can be done? I can just see I'll be cooking chicken every day for him now! 

Pepsi

 Pepsi is now in season, she is related to Cookie who's due to have her litter next week, their fathers are litter brothers. Strangely she is also closely related to Carlsbro Yuri who is on the waiting list for Orin pending health test. Pepsi was also bred at the Carlsbro kennel. In years gone by Dexi was mated to a Carlsbro bitch and the breeder kept back a male, Carlsbro Boss - he was our Jay's father and therefore Louis' grandfather. Though these bitches do not go back to that breeding it's still good to know that they are top quality bloodlines. 

Pepsi's mother is an import, she is also Yuri's grandmother who then was mated to Uran Di Val Rafina, who coincidentally I had originally decided to mate to Sammi. My memory doesn't serve me well and I don't recall why I changed my mind for Ole Vom Pendler - was it something to do with elbows? Hmm not sure! 

As he's mentioned in the post, just an excuse to post a photo of Jay, or as we called him at the time Captain Chaos. 

Freedom

After being captive to the weather yesterday we were all pleased to get out today, but I was as disappointed as they were that after all that rain that our pool hadn't filled.

Though there was plenty of water elsewhere

The sky was amazing again with blue sky, white and black clouds over Moel Tryfan.

Remember This At Crufts

While scrawling through Facebook I came across a video, I'd never seen this before and I've no idea why the person didn't let me know about it. It starts the second after Orin was bitten at Crufts and it remains focused on him. You can see in the video that his tail was injured, as he drops half of it, he's then very unsettled and concerned about everything behind him, including Sarah trying to re stand him. Bless her she gives him a kiss. This shows how serious this incident could have been, it could have damaged Orin's future show career, I can only be thankful of his strength of character. Orin is now bombproof in the ring and only had a moment once after this incident. The video has bought the incidence back into the forefront of my mind and has upset me again. This should never happen in the show ring, let alone at the show that is the shop window into the world of dog shows. 

Anyway the video is not mine but I wanted to share it here, all I could do was record it off the laptop with my phone so excuse the quality! 

Interesting weight chart

You may have to download it if you want to study it. I'd say Ross is a 4, the other I'm proud to say would all be 5 apart from Sammi who shall we say is 5 and a half, and Ziva who's unfortunately easily a 6.... but says she doesn't care! 

Junior And Things

 The Blanik Bus isn't well, the gears have been getting stiff for a while but recently it has taken some effort to get them to go up. Fearing I needed a new gear box I was dreading the worst but it looks like it may be just a couple of cables that need replacing, be they an expensive couple of cables it's still not a gear box! 

I think I've mentioned before that Junior is a bit of an odd chap. He makes no effort to groom himself, though Jamie does some of that for him, he picks at his food and is obsessed with water. His water obsession goes back to when he was a kitten, given a chance he would even play in the washing up water. When I say he picks at his food, I mean cat food, he would grab and eat anything off my plate. He can also get quite aggressive over anything he's caught and he's taken it on himself to try and help the village with the rabbit infestation! I try and groom him as often as I can, but after about 30 seconds he gets cross, and there's not a lot worse than an angry cat is there! Anyway, yesterday as I tried to remove some of the tuffts I thought he felt funny on one side so I put my hand down the other side to compare and felt a lump. He didn't react at all when I touched either area. I put him down on the floor and thought, he looks an odd shape, being a skinny cat he looked a little bloated. I worried about FIP, but the abnormal shape seems to be on his rib cage, not in his abdomen. I called Steve and he agreed that something is not right. Nothing is different in Junior's demeanour, but something is not right ... It wouldn't be a huge shock if there is something major wrong with him as in all my years of owning cats I've never had one that from kitten hood that I've continued to think, he's not right! I know where he came from, I booked the litter into rescue in June 2014, I know how neglected they were, so no it wouldn't be a shock! 

I was back at the Doctors for more blood tests yesterday and the nurse offered me a flu jab. Because of Steve's age and health I did take it, so far no side effects. It's funny how you can get chatting so freely to a complete stranger, we realised we both had husbands who were 15 years old than us. Steve is approaching a big birthday this weekend, but we are both as childish as ever and laugh our way through most situations! She asked if I saw the age gab more now than I did back then? Hmm, because of his nature probably not, but I do fear that one day I could be the one left alone. Still I wouldn't change a thing, and I won't live my life thinking of what's to come when I have now, he's the best! 

I had to explain to a lady on the phone how to pronounce Fron, we have no V in the Welsh language so one F is a V, in English you would pronounce it Vron. FF in Welsh is equivalent to a single F in English, so our vet is based at Ffor. (For in the English language) No wonder I sometimes get confused! The spelling of Caernarfon also confuses some, "Carnarvon and Caernarvon are Anglicised spellings that were superseded in 1926 and 1974 respectively." 

It looks like we are going to have to put a gate behind the door into the middle room. If it was at the bottom of the step it would stop Zeus getting to the door. Zeus is throwing himself at the door in the middle room when Orin is around it in the living room. Orin of course reacts accordingly. As I've said I think it would be a bloodbath if those two ever get together, so as inconvenient as it would be for us we have to try and make things safer. More of a concern is that, though they are currently "Waiting" they do eye each other up as we go through the door. I never want a repeat performance of the Dexi - Simba fight - same sex siblings really do hate each other! 

This morning's weather is horrendous, all we can do is hide in the house and wait till it passes. Siska is being a pain, trying to get Orin or Kaiah to play with her. I do feel sorry for her, but it's simply not safe to go out beyond the gates. This really has been a prolonged period of windy days and I think this afternoons windy risk of up to 77mph is as bad as it's been really. Stay safe everyone!