What’s all this confusion about the names? This kitten was called something completely different! The explanation is very simple: we love our names, but we’re also open to initiative from their future homes. Of course, this only works if they decide to reserve a kitten at the right time - before the litter is officially registered. And that’s exactly what happened here. Since Ozzy’s future owners had already said he would be called Oscar in his new home, and Oreo’s future owners liked the name Ozzy, it made sense to reshuffle things a bit. So the former Ozzy (The Bare - kitten without a collar marker) became Oscar, the former Oreo (“yellow”, named after the colour of his marker) became Ozzy, and the name Oreo went back into the pool. Perhaps we’ll use it one day for a black-and-white kitten as it suits that colouring particularly well. In any case, the current Ozzy is the firstborn of our Muriel and, unlike in several previous litters where the boys stood out with their temperament, he is rather sweet and well-balanced. Of course, as with any several-week-old kitten, he is still quite lively - all kittens at this age are - and although Ozzy is relatively calm compared to his siblings, he is by no means an exception.

Oriana, or “blue.” And for the first two weeks of her life - “the blue boy.” Determining the sex of the kittens has never been my strong suit. At the beginning of my breeding journey, I relied on the help of friends. Later, this role was taken over by our veterinarian, who would pay us a brief post-birth visit and let us know who was who. Since this time such a visit wasn’t possible, I had to face the challenge myself. A few days after the birth, I carefully examined the kittens at my own pace. Then I checked again, and once more, just to be absolutely sure - because such a perfectly symmetrical outcome seemed almost unbelievable: there were exactly three boys and three girls. And, to top it off, they were born in perfect alternation: a girl, a boy, a girl, a boy, another girl, and finally another boy. In the end, it turned out that I’d identified their sex almost correctly. Correct, because our O-Choc litter did indeed consist of three girls and three boys. And they really were born alternately. Almost, however… All of “my” girls turned out to be boys, and vice versa. It took me quite a few days to get used to the fact that “the blue boy” was actually “the blue girl,” and that the most obvious “for now” candidate to stay in the breeding programme is, in fact, a boy.

Oscar, formerly Ozzy (not to be confused with the current Ozzy), also known as “Bare” (the kitten with NO marker). Another chocolate kitten with a white spot on the chest born in our cattery after Maksio, or Mighty Muharib - and one of two such kittens in the O‑Choc litter (the other spot belongs to his brother, Octavio). Such a spot is quite a mystery. In many breeds, colour 09 - meaning less than 25% white on the cat’s body (bicolours “start” from 25%) - is a common and officially recognised colour variety, and kittens with tiny amounts of white - whether in the form of a locket, like in our cats, or, for example, a bit of white between the toes - are born quite frequently. In our breed, however, this is not the case. The white spot on Maks–Muharib is not only the first such case I’ve personally encountered, but also the first I’ve ever heard of. A repeat occurrence in the next litter suggests a genetic basis: our Muriel, despite being perfectly solid in colour, is most likely genetically a cat with white, a trait she inherited from her equally solid-coloured father (hence Maks’s spot). At birth, Oscar was somewhere in the middle weight-wise, but during the first day, as one of the few, he slipped back a little - and it has remained that way. At present, he is the smallest in the litter, but he is developing very harmoniously and in no way falls behind his larger siblings.

Oliwka, or “grey” (and even earlier “the grey boy” – see above). The last kitten born “as planned.” In the ultrasound image we looked at 21 days after mating, we could see four or five kittens, so to avoid disappointment I assumed the more pessimistic scenario. And there they were - all four: the first and the fourth (Oreo and Oliwka) larger at 99 and 98 g, and the two in the middle (Oriana and Ozzy) a bit smaller at 89 g each. However, the events of the following hours (and then a few more hours after that) showed that the news about the end of the labour had been, to put it mildly, premature…

Octavio, or “green” (and for the first two weeks, “the green girl”), and our surprise number one. When the four kittens had arrived, and Muriel clearly lost interest in the birthing box and went off for a walk around the flat, I assumed the excitement was over. The box in which our cat had given birth was pushed aside, replaced with a neat little den; instead of an absorbent pad, the kittens got a soft blanket. The emotions subsided and the post-birth routine began. The mother came back from her walk and settled down with the babies, then after a while left the nest again to lie down with us. It was at least half an hour before I decided it was high time she paid some attention to her offspring. I picked her up with the intention of putting her back in the nest, and there… on the bedding, which looked as if a whirlwind had passed through it, instead of four kittens there were five squirming around. At the moment of birth, Octavio was the smallest of all six… It almost seems unbelievable - I had to double-check it really was him, because for quite some time now, he has been number two in weight right after Oreo.

Ondine, or “burgundy”, and surprise number two. And quite a surprise it was! All things considered, it’s probably a good thing our vet couldn’t visit us the day after the birth - because discovering yet another kitten 24 hours after what seemed to be a finished labour would almost certainly have led to an attempt at induction, and if that failed, a C‑section. Instead, early in the morning, about a day and a half after the birth, I simply found Ondine - still completely wet - lying next to her siblings. Of course, we were very worried about her. Not so much whether she was healthy (she absolutely is), but especially whether she would manage in the competition with the “older” kittens for their mum’s milk. All the more so because Mumu has fully embraced the role of a rather “entrepreneurial” mother. Unlike all our other cats, she doesn’t lie glued to the kittens and rush back to the nest at every tiny squeak. Instead, she very consistently divides her time between her maternal duties and tending to her own affairs. And she does this both day and night - every night I let her out of the bedroom, then set an alarm for “two hours later”, and when it goes off, I go and bring her back so she can, for a change, spend a few hours with the kittens. This system, although unusual, works very well - the kittens are well cared for, well-fed, and developing perfectly.