This is the most recent team to go to their new homes, with Nala only have gone a few days ago.

Nuala & Nimrod (two of the kittens) went first. It was funny to watch the first hour or so of them settling in. Mum had done a sweep of their room and cleared things she thought might get broken. Twenty minutes after their arrival, she did another sweep and removed photo frames and several other things from thee window sill. Just before I left she was clearing yet more stuff out of their way. I could see them either a) ending up in a padded cell or b) arriving back here before midnight complete with ASBOs. Thankfully something appears to have been sorted and the little monkeys are now enjoying exploring their new home.

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Nacho went next. Interesting to see how she managed. She was going alone, but a more feisty determined little madam we have yet to meet. Within the first day she’d scared her (fully grown) step brother, bless him. Hopefully mummy and daddy are talking to her about how to be nice to other people as we write.

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And then Nala, the mummy, went off to her new home too. Of all of them, she was the most nervous. However she’s had the hardest life. Bless her, she’s protected her kits from the difficult bits. She was a stray but found herself a safe temporary space before the little ones were born. While they were still small and oblivious to the dangers of life, she hissed and growled and protected them when she first arrived here in rescue. They’ve never had to worry because mum has kept them safe. She crawled under the sofa when she arrived, almost risked coming out but then saw her reflection in the litter bin and dived for cover again. I had to lie on the floor and reach under the sofa to say goodbye, but was delighted to have a message the following day saying that she’d already learned to play a mean game of “snap”

This is the biggest team we’ve had in rescue here. Never had a litter of five surviving kittens before, and never had a dad / uncle / boyfriend / new man cat arrive along with pregnant mum before. Nevertheless, Mowgli has delighted many people by his (sometimes clumsy) efforts to assist Lyra in bringing up the kittens.

It was a bit scary when Mowgli turned down the offer of a lovely home for himself, because he wanted to stay with Lyra. However, as luck would have it, a couple came to meet the kittens with a view to adopting, and fell in love with Lyra & Mowg instead. They were a bit nervous when they arrived in their new home. Lyra dived under the sofa whilst Mowgli went under the drinks cabinet. It was very touching when they started calling to each other, taking it in turns to check out more of the house whilst checking in with the other all the time. Very soon they were relaxed and confident and loving their new life. Wonderful to hear of them chasing each other across their new garden and finally crashing out on the sofa together.

Their little ones have done well too. First to go were Lily & Lenny, the most confident of the crowd. To this point, quite quiet, they chattered and complained loudly as they travelled to their new home. Once there, they explored more confidently than we could have hoped for, and amazingly employed the same technique of calling to each other whilst they did so.

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We thought the second pair might find it a little harder as they were less confident. But again we were proved wrong. Here’s Largo & Legato taking control of their new home

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And last of all, little Loki. She’d been the smallest of the litter and I’d have been most concerned about her had she not been going to some lovely friends of mine. Normally a very quiet and timid kit, she quickly established herself as a noisy and assertive young lady.

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We seem to have got bogged down in stuff a bit recently and not got around to sharing some of the good news. It’s a few weeks ago now since the whole of the A Team settled themselves into their new homes.

Arwen went first, and despite all her talk about the kittens being a nuisance, she was actually quite anxious about having left them. She soon settled though and started to enjoy her new life.

Aoife and Alfie went next. They’d already spent quite a bit of time with their new family, as the family had been visiting from the time they were only a few weeks old. They came out their carrier and without a moment’s hesitation began exploring and generally taking charge of the house. They’ve persuaded the humans that they’re helping with the household chores …. we know different of course, but wouldn’t want to spoil it for them.

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The off went Albert & Aslan, bravely though a little less confidently. Young Albert had been in his new home less than half an hour when he removed the coals from the real effect gas fire and paddled around the room leaving sooty paw prints. I left as the humans were working out how to prevent him racing up the chimney. They’re happy young men now, though their humans might be surprised to discover that I’ve had a message from them asking for Aoife’s contact details so that they can work out how to get the sofa all to themselves.

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All this warm sunshine has been so lovely its put us in a summer cleaning mood. We’ve caught up with all the washing, taken down curtains in the cat rooms and washed them. and then put everyone’s bed through the wash as well. We don’t expect any gratitude from the felines, no cooing and purring about how spring fresh their beds now smell. However we hadn’t quite anticipated the level displacement and disgruntlement this act would give rise to. No one seemed to know which bed they belonged in, or what to do with themselves. After about half an hour of grouchy milling around in the kitchen they all went off to find places to sleep – none of them in their usual places – which was a little disconcerting:

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The furry people who enjoyed this cleaning spree the most were the kittens. They have stacks of interesting and fun toys – but nothing comparable to a little pile of curtain hooks, or the pleasure of helping me re hang the curtains. Bless em …. nothing quite like trying to hang a curtain that has a gang of kittens, like tassels, hanging from the hem of it.

We’ve commented before about how the leaving do’s of various cats has reflected their personalities. It’s quite a long while ago now, but I remember young Gizmo and a gang of his kitten friends got high on catnip and smashed a pot I’d had for 30 years. A week later Marmalade quietly hid in a cardboard box whilst the party went on around her.

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Loki is a little sweetheart but was the smallest of Lyra and Mowgli’s kittens and has remained quite timid. I’m delighted that she’s going to live with some lovely friends of mine – they’ll take care of her and help her come out of her shell. She’s off there tomorrow so we celebrated this evening with a sardine supper. Watch how its completely taken over by Aslan & Albert celebrating having been offered a home to go to next weekend.

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A&A Bros – an exciting and lively new company (est. 20 March 2014) are currently recruiting permanent full time staff. The role offers a breadth of opportunity to become involved in catering, entertainment, hygiene and purchasing – all of which are vital to the day to day running of the company.

The successful applicant/s will be required to manage health and safety, to contract an external body to monitor and review health at least annually and most importantly to make arrangements for family planning advice prior to the brothers commencing their business trips this autumn. A good sense of humour, and ability to tolerate complete lack of managerial support is essential. A full drivers licence, safe garden and large comfy sofa are also very desirable.

Basic hours: 5am – Midnight however you will also be expected to be available on call approx 7 nights each week.

Salary: 50K purrs per month plus daily cuddles, minimum, rising to 80K in the presence of Dreamies. There is the possibility of bonus rodents once the brothers expand their business beyond the house.

To apply please send Dreamies attached to your CV to eightlives@outlook.com

Further details of this position are available at: https://8livescatrescue.wordpress.com/albert-aslan/

Please note – only applicants who are prepared to make a lifetime commitment need apply.

Nala has been for her spay today, so in the time honoured tradition of 8 Lives, the older kittens have been baby sitting to give mummy a rest after her op. It’s been interesting to watch their different reactions to being asked to do some work. Loki is quite shy, but bravely did her best with all three little ones at various times during the evening.

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Albert and Aslan were particularly interesting. We’ve done quite a bit of grumbling this weekend about people wanting tabby kittens but not black ones. They’re both lovely lads, but several people have offered a home to Aslan but don’t want Albert …. we suspect because he’s black, because to all intents and purposes they appear to be the same personality (purry, full of life and mischief, and very loving) in two different coloured jackets.

Albert & Aslan

However the babysitting has found the difference between them. We half suspected it over the weekend when Albert met Nimrod very briefly and quit the rough play and let her pounce on him. It’s confirmed this evening. Both lads were interested in the little ones, but Aslan was quick to lose patience and have a hissy fit.

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Albert on the other hand seems to have styled himself on his beloved uncle Mowgli, and loves furry children. The picture below evoked so many feelings. So reminiscent of Mowg sitting with his little ginger kittens …. however this is young Albert taking on Mowg’s mantle and sitting chatting to little Nacho.

It’s not been a straightforward reduction in numbers of kittens. That’s what we’d planned – get it down to just the residents plus one or two others, and then hire a carpet cleaner and freshen things up before starting again. Cats however are not noted for fitting in with other people’s plans.

On Tuesday we got an anxious message from a young woman who had taken a cat in when a neighbour died some weeks ago. She’d looked after her well, realised she was pregnant and made a safe space for her to have her babies. They’d managed until the woman herself had her own baby and then it was all too much, and she was desperate to get them into rescue. So off we went to collect them. It was a bit of a shock to see how much like Chi and some of her kittens, they looked. They’re absolutely gorgeous. Mum very protective and growled a lot when she first arrived, but she’s chilling out now … so long as Albert and Aslan stay out of her room. Kittens will be 6 weeks old on Tuesday so it will be a while before they can go to new homes. Mum is already starting to think (loudly) about her next litter … so we’ll be off to Vets4Pets as soon as we can get a family planning appointment.

It’s taken some rapid adjustment to get used to counting down from 12 as I put the other rescue cats to bed. Arwen went – 11, then Lyra & Mowgli – 9, Alfie & Aoife 7, Lily & Lenny – 5. Of those five, 3 are talking excitedly about the new homes they’re going to in the next couple of weeks – they have lovely families and big feline step siblings to go to. It could be hard work to keep Aslan & Albert’s spirits up whilst they wait for new homes and feel not wanted. However, they’re such happy purry little guys, they’re coping remarkably well with it. They’re busy teaching the little Ls new things and doing their best to amuse themselves. Albert has got into the selfie taking craze:

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You have to admit …. he’s not half bad at it. It wasn’t Aslan’s idea of fun though – he was much more interested in photo bombing:

We’re hoping another lovely home comes along soon … before Albert starts to think that its because he’s black that he and his brother haven’t found a place yet.