It’s such a long time ago since I posted an update….

I had planned to do a litter with Ciri last autum. End of October she seemed to get in heat. My first reation however was fear, instead of happiness or exitement, and that feeling stayed. So it was clear that I still wasn’t over the two lost litters from Verona. Specially the second one was very heavy for me.

After about a week I decided it would be better to stop the breeding. No more fear, no more pain, no more sleepless nights about going on or not. So I planned Ciri’s castration, I wanted to leave everything behind me as soon as possible now I made up my mind.

I also phoned with Elizabeth Wilcox, the owner of the stud where Ciri was supposed te go to if in heat. Elizabeth understood and accepted my decision but she asked me not to have Ciri neutered. There’s so few silvers left and Ciri is a wonderful silver girl.

Long story short, we talked about possibilities and early January Ciri moved to Salzburg to have a litter at Elizabeth’s place. It was very difficult to let her go, even temporary, but like Elizabeth I also felt that it was a very good idea to do this litter so the line could be continued and preserved for the silver Somali’s. And I was sure that Ciri would be in good hands with Elizabeth, no doubts about that.

Ciri felt at home soon and within a week she was in heat! So Elizabeth brought her to her wonderful and so friendly male Belmonte. They really fell in love with eachother and had a few wonderful days together.

Within a few weeks it was clear that their love had been succesful. However, after about four five weeks Ciri was in heat again, but she still seemed pregnant, very strange and unusual. She also did not gain wait a lot, but in the last two weeks she grew a lot. Now fingers were crossed for the big day.

On sunday March 23, day 65 of the pregnancy, Elizabeth sended me messages early morning that labor was about to start.

It took a while before the first one to arrive, a black silver girl. But after that the others came quite quickly. A sorrel silver girl, a sorrel silver boy and fourth and last a very big blacksilver boy.
Ciri did so well and the result is fantastic!

The first few days thing were a bit new to Ciri but she learned quicly and soon was a very devoted mother. I’m so proud of her.

Of course I wanted to visti her as soon as possible. The weekend after the birth it was possible and I could finally see Ciri again and get to know the newborn family. She was really happy to see me and to show me the little ones. They looked so beautiful and content, so well cared for by Ciri. And Elizabeth made sure that everything Ciri or the kittens needed was there. And she gave me the opportunity to sleep with the little family, which was fantastic ❤ .

The next morning we made some pictures:

Of course I miss Ciri a lot, and I’m counting the days, weeks and months untill she will return end of June or beginning of July. But I am very happy Elizabeth suggested to do this litter with her and I agreed. Happy for the Silver Somali’s and happy with this wonderful result. And a wonderful experience after the sad events with Verona. And maybe, maybe this will give me courage for a new litter in the future. Time will tell…..