Galadriel's first litter (above) are almost 4 weeks old! Since the last update, Galadriel has moved them back to this original basket (where they were born). They haven't left the nest (literally! lol) yet but I expect that this will happen soon :) I know that it will happen fast after that - as soon as they start stumbling/walking around, it's just a matter of time till they're ready to go to their new homes! :) I am still not confident about final colors, but hope to know soon.

They are all so adorable! Every time I enter the room, they perk up and look around - very alert! (Although this sleepy picture above doesn't portray that alertness well! Lol

Lúthien is definitely pregnant - she's starting to waddle around! I expect her litter at the end of this month or beginning of August, maybe. I believe that Elbereth is too, although she doesn't "show" the same way Lúthien does. I'll be more sure about her status in another week or so. If she is pregnant, then she'll be about 4-6 days behind Lúthien, if my calculations are correct. Of course, these things cannot be perfectly predicted, only "guestimated" :) Lúthien is fairly predictable on how long her gestation goes, but the problem is that we breeders don't often know exactly which day implantation occurred. (I won't give you a biology lesson on this, but if you're interested, there are info sites that break down the process into detail - which is different than the human timeline of, um, events.)

On a non-cattery note, may I just say that I am very unpleased with the roller-coaster weather we've been having in the PNW? In the past couple of weeks, we've been under "excessive heat" warnings to the dip yesterday and today, where I was wearing a sweatshirt again and cold... We went from around 107 last weekend to 30 degrees lower yesterday. I would much prefer an even 75 degrees, ya know? Ok, my irritation is not only because I don't enjoy the huge change in weather but because I also went through the trouble of switching out all my winter clothes for summer ones. :/ Of course, the cats simply sat back with a smug look as if to say, "Nope - the change in fashion/seasons don't bother me at all!". I was worried about the cats though when it was so hot - we're just not prepared/equipped in this area for that kind of heat. Most people around here don't have air conditioning, and just like the TP crisis last year - the fans/portable AC units in stores were quickly sold out as people tried to prepare last minute. I had all our fans on at all times so the cats wouldn't overheat (putting wet towels on them to aid in the cooling). None of the cats did a lot of running around those days but napped a lot. We're all good now, but it wasn't a fun that week.

I hope everyone had a fun (and safe!) Independence Day yesterday!