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CLEARLY MARKED AS AVAILABLE ON THE KITTEN PAGE .
We don't sell our family members!
(My daughter Rebecca's funny card about Vanilla. Her own work and personal ratings !)
Photo by http://www.photocat.co.uk
September 2002: Life goes on. Caspian is gone, and Vanilla is now the King.
Just like Blondie chose Caspian as her successor, so Caspian chose Vanilla.
And Vanilla in his turn has chosen Candy as his second in command and Queen.
Vanilla has taken over all of Caspian's good habits, but none of his bad ones.
(Not that he had many bad ones -really the only one was that he hated grooming so much
that he would not speak to me for weeks after a grooming session!
Vanilla however does not bear grudges, ever.)
This is Vanilla as a little kitten.
Little did we know then that he one day would be the King.
Vanilla was born on the 28th of August 1999.
Vanilla, to the right in the bed, with his brothers and sister.
Vanilla's father is Dusty.
His mother was Tosca.
He doesn't look like either of his parents.
But he has inherited the good, laid back nature that
both Dusty and Tosca had.
Tosca's great grand father was the brother of
Caspian's grand father.
So that makes Vanilla slightly related to Caspian.
Here is a picture of Vanilla and Caspian in the days when
Caspian was King and Vanilla was his second in command.
In between them is my ex husband's Devon Rex -she probably
felt cold with so little fur of her own!
An early picture of Vanilla,
before he was Royal and slept on thrones.
Vanilla about a year old.
Cream Persians are known to be laid back!
Before Vanilla was neutered, he became a father -
four times over.
Here he is with his daughter IceCream who is a Cream Persian like her dad.
Vanilla was neutered as I knew that Caspian wanted him
close by, and not outside in a stud house.
Vanilla is in fact a grand father and even a great grandfather.
Initially most of his relatives were Exotic Shorthairs.
This is Comet feeling comfortable by the fire.
Comet was Vanilla's great grandson but sadly died young.
Sleeping again.
Vanilla in October 2002.
The day after Caspian died,Vanilla spent the entire
day in Caspian's favourite spot in the window.
He has never spent a lot of time there since, or before.
He missed his best friend.
That same evening, it was Vanilla who sat for hours on my lap
instead of Caspian.
Just like Caspian ensured that Blondie never really was gone,
Vanilla has now made sure that Caspian is still here in spirit.
I still have my most special cat even though the colour,
shape and name may have changed -twice.
If this isn't a sign of some sort I don't know what is.
Vanilla is sitting on Caspian's grave.
For a while, we believed that Vanilla was going to choose
Ringo as his second in command.
They seemed to be such close friends, even though
Ringo is a Maine Coon and quite the wrong breed.
Then Vanilla got hurt. One of his eyes ruptured just after Christmas
2003. There was no warning before hand, nothing.
Suddenly there was just a hole in the eye.
Vanilla had surgery on his eye.
For a long time we didn't know for sure if it had been saved or not,
but our vets were doing their very best.
For weeks, Vanilla's right eye had the third eyelid stitched
across so that it was shut, enabling it to heal.
The hole in the eye had been covered with a patch of tissue.
Vanilla on the 8th of February 2004.
Stitches removed, eye open -look !!
Isn't it amazing ! Doesn't he look good !
Vanilla reckons that his excellent vets Mr Hammill and
Mr Straw should each receive a knighthood.
When Vanilla came home wearing an Elizabethan collar, Ringo didn't like him.
He hissed, he growled and he arched his back.
Since that day, Ringo has not been Vanilla's friend anymore.
Quite simply he was sacked from his job as the King's second in command.
Ringo making fun of Vanilla! Photo by http://www.photocat.co.uk
It seemed to take a long time, but Vanilla has finally chosen who is to be
his second in command, and who may one day take over his role.
The cat in question is CANDY -Vanilla's half sister.
Candy and Vanilla spend all their time together.
Candy and IceCream are good friends -and they are half sisters,
as they have the same mother -Muffin.
My daughter Rebecca's funny card about IceCream -her own work and personal ratings!
A spot of birdwatching. Vanilla to the left, Ice Cream in the middle
and Custard, who also is a relative, to the right.
"And the rat I caught was THIS big!!" Photo by http://www.photocat.co.uk
Vanilla May 2004. Photo by http://www.photocat.co.uk
Believe it or not, in September 2004 it all happened AGAIN.
Vanilla's *other* eye was about to rupture and once again our wonderful vets
repaired it successfully.
And then the FIRST eye ruptured a second time, some months later! Yet AGAIN successfully repaired. I can never thank our vets enough.
For a long time we didn't think we'd ever get another heir to Vanilla.
IceCream is Vanilla's only daughter here, and her only kitten is Dawn. (Pictured above.)
Neither wanted to get pregnant again.
But at long last, after 2 years of trying, Dawn got pregnant!
Sadly, on the 15th of July 2006 we found Dawn with 3 dead kittens.
As it turned out, she still had one kitten inside her, and he had to be born by caesarian.
My daughter Rebecca's funny card about Dawn -her own work and personal ratings! (Dawn really isn't as bad as Rebecca thinks!!)
The vet did not give PRINCE much of a chance of survival. He was small, weak and did not suckle well.
But here he is! Prince aged 7 weeks.
And aged 8 ½ weeks.
Prince Christmas 2006. He is truly a V.I.C. (Very Important Cat!)
Family -and an imposter on top!
From left to right: IceCream, Vanilla, Prince, with Mouse on top of them.
Where did the time go?! All of a sudden tiny little Prince is even bigger than his great grandad Vanilla!
This photo taken October 2007.
Prince is lovely cat and so extremely laid back and friendly.
He was going to be the cat that saved the Vanilla line, destined to be a stud.
Alas destiny had other ideas. Prince turned out to only have one testicle so had to be neutered.
But we were lucky. The mating that gave Prince was repeated, and this time Dawn had two perfectly healthy kittens without any problems at all.
Here is PRINCESS -pretending to be a dog!
Princess' litter brother Twilight -who DOES have two testicles! He is a huge cat with lovely coat.
Vanilla and Princess
Vanilla and Twilight (as a young kitten)
A get together of sorts in the kitchen, October 2007. Vanilla for some reason in the dish rack, Prince on top of the microwave. And....
......... Princess playing Princess of the Castle, on top of a cupboard just below the ceiling!
(No doubt pondering the fact that we still haven't painted the walls in the kitchen, six months after moving in.)
Vanilla 2nd October 2007, 8 years old.
Vanilla loves dogs, and here he is looking after the latest newcomer to the family -little Abby the Papillon who at 5 months is quite a lot smaller than him.
Vanilla will be 9 years old in August 2008. These days sadly he suffers badly from Feline Stomatitis (a severely inflamed mouth) and he is being treated regularly for this. Sadly our wonderful vet Mr Hammill died suddenly in March 2008, and he shall be missed by everyone here. Our other vet Mr Straw who is just as excellent took over Vanilla's care.
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Sadly, the photo above was to be the last of Vanilla looking well. The Stomatitis got worse, no treatment worked, and Vanilla developed diabetes.
We tried so hard to make him better, and Mark Straw the vet did his very best for Vanilla. But it wasn't to be. We said goodbye to Vanilla on the 6th of June 2008. He is now together with Caspian again, his mother Tosca, and many others. And we miss him so much.
There is now a new King of all cats here, as chosen by Vanilla before he died.
And so the story continues with Prince.