spy in the camp

We’re having a lot of fun at 8 Lives at the moment.    Our IT wizard  Alan has installed a web cam in the kitten’s bedroom.

The photo I’m uploading from it right now as I write this post looks pretty boring.  It’s going dark in the room and I think Tab & Mowse are off screen sitting on the windowsill,  the older lads are closer to the door playing football (I can hear them) and the younger ones are asleep in the nest.    It’s a bit experimental … and I don’t if the photo you’ll see when I publish this will be the same as I see now, or whether it will update.

Despite the dull grey scene I can see right now, this is really exciting.  I sooooo wish we’d had it before the ladies gave birth …. it would have been brilliant to have been able to check on them without bursting in on them every half hour.   The view I can get within the house is a constant stream of what’s happening up there.  It’s helped Simon to start to integrate with them which I think he needs in order to learn social skills.  If I just leave him in there though, I’m anxious about whether he’s ok.  If I stay in the room he often just sits on my lap … watching …. whilst I try to persuade him to go and play.  If I leave him and go back into the room he’ll come running to me because he’s attached to me.  Like thousands of ‘parents’ with a child at nursery I want to know how he is when I’m not there, whether he settles when I’ve gone or just stands waiting at the door for me to return.

simon in the nest

This shows us that Simon goes in the nest with the others and has been ok in there.   Tabs & Mowse have been lovely with him, and he seems to like to play with Timothy.   The tricky bit has been Simon, being possessive with the food bowl.  I and the other kittens looked on in horror as he spread his arms across the dish, eating and growling at the mummies as they tried to eat!

The stream also shows the family relaxed and playing

We’re working on getting a link to the website.    The web link will upload a photo every minute.  Apparently if you allow streaming  it opens up to hackers …. I think.  I’m slowly learning more about IT than I ever thought I would … but enjoying it.  During the day time the photos will be in colour … I’ve just taken stills in there this evening to   demonstrate.   The next thing I’ll need to learn is to either switch the camera off when I go in there, or not shuffle in in my crazy old cat lady dressing gown and slippers in a morning and have my image beamed around the world 😉