Kittens' 1st Christmas, much like baby's 1st Christmas, except they climb the tree - all 5 of them... plus Mum... #LostinaBook

 Kittens' 1st Christmas

 

By December 1^st the kittens were nine weeks old, and there weren't many places they couldn't get... They were using the kitchen table legs as mini trees, to gain access to the table top, and they had no respect for whether it was a mealtime or not, in fact that was probably considered a bonus...

I was busy doing on-line Christmas shopping, and as the packages started to arrive, there were containment issues. The Christmas before when Mitzi was tiny, she'd been much too scared to go near the door, running for cover when anyone came, but her kittens were a different story. Where possible I closed them in a different room before I went to the door, but there was always the odd one who went to the door with me. On one occasion a delivery man was catching Captain, who was making a bid for freedom as I signed for a package...

And so, into this backdrop of chaos we brought our Christmas tree... now with hindsight we probably shouldn't have had a Christmas tree that year, but not much gets between me and a Christmas tree, I even factored in the Christmas tree when we were planning our kitchen/dining room extension, planning where kitchen appliances, cupboards, and the annual Christmas tree would go... so missing a year was never an option.

I was beginning to think that five kittens were really no more trouble than one kitten, apart from the obvious extra cat litter to be cleaned out. But, where one kitten and even two kittens can be quite funny in a Christmas tree - with five kittens, the poor tree was well and truly outnumber... it stood innocently enough with no toys on for the first night, and we had planned to just hang a few decorations on that year, but then Kim and I got carried away, and soon the tree was festooned with exciting objects and dangly things. We were having a Christmas party that night, and at the party the kittens provided the main entertainment and ah factor. They were far too busy with all the extra people to try much with the Christmas tree. But the next day was a different matter...

Genie was the ring leader at climbing the tree, then they all followed - even Mitzi got in on the act. I must admit to not quite seeing the funny side of it at the time, as kittens climbed and decorations fell, and any shouting or telling off was met by innocent eyes with no understanding of why I was lifting them down from this new and exciting toy. It was a losing battle, and I decided I couldn't spend the whole of Christmas trying to train kittens not to climb a tree that they probably thought had been supplied for their sole entertainment. The decorations were coming down one way or another, and better for me to do it than the kittens, and so by the end of the day only the lights and the fairy on the top remained.

With all the breakables removed I decided that the only way to avert a nervous breakdown over the Christmas tree, was to just accept that the kittens were going to climb it, and what was the worst that could happen? The tree turned out to be far more stable than expected, and could cope with several kittens climbing on it at once, there was a bit of a sketchy moment when Kryten and Bumble had a scrap half way up the tree, while Genie had decided that she was going to be the fairy on the top of the tree and was heading for the top...

(This excerpt is from Outnumbered by Cats, which covers from when Mitzi came to us, up until her kittens 1st birthday)

         

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Cat book - true story - 1st edition 1st print run, each one numbered and signed

Outnumbered by Cats: Yes that's me, cats are great stress relief - when they're not causing the stress that is..

This book gives the unique opportunity to disappear into a world full of cats and kittens, without actually filling your own house, or depriving yourself of sleep...

 

So throw away the rule book and see how one new mum coped with her kittens in a mixture of instinct and learning on the job, and how she shared this unique experience with the humans around her, in a way that was unexpected and wonderful. Not everyone has been 'asked' by their cat to join a search party in the middle of the night for 2 missing kittens...

Share the heartache of one little kitten who was different from the rest, and destined to challenge and inspire us in ways we couldn't have imagined...

Special:

A chance to buy one of just 100 books printed in the 1st edition, 1st print run, all of which are numbered and signed.

...and did I mention lots of colour kitten photos?

So I have the books, I have the website, I just need to get the word out.

 

Outnumbered by Cats

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Gift pack - new from Lost in a Book

Basil and the Flappy Thing GIFT PACK

£10

(+ postage of £3)

GIFT PACK contains: 1 book and 1 handknitted Basil cat

The door had always worked perfectly well, until the day that Mr Feed-Me cut a hole in it and fitted a flappy thing. Then the door stopped working and everyone started acting a bit crazy… Mr Feed-Me was on the floor using it as a window. 

Mrs Feed-Me kept calling to Basil through it instead of opening the door, and Small Feed-Me tried to post Basil through it like a letter through a letter box.

Then one stormy night Basil found that he had a use for the flappy thing after all, but it wasn't really what Mr Feed-Me had in mind…

32 page full colour paperback

ISBN 978-0-9560232-5-4

Lost in a Book

For personalised signing give name of recipient in 'note to seller' box at checkout.

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New - Basil gift pack

NEW! Basil gift pack 

Gift pack includes 1 book and 1 handknitted toy (Basil) cat: approximatly 7cm tall, 9cm nose to back end.

 Front view book and cat:   Back view book and cat: 

Book synopsis:

The door had always worked perfectly well, until the day that Mr Feed-Me cut a hole in it and fitted a flappy thing. Then the door stopped working and everyone started acting a bit crazy… Mr Feed-Me was on the floor using it as a window. 

Mrs Feed-Me kept calling to Basil through it instead of opening the door, and Small Feed-Me tried to post Basil through it like a letter through a letter box.

Then one stormy night Basil found that he had a use for the flappy thing after all, but it wasn't really what Mr Feed-Me had in mind…

32 page full colour paperback

ISBN 978-0-9560232-5-4

Lost in a Book

The true story - complete with photos

After another couple of sales this week, Kryten will soon be getting his box!!

Just 2 more books in this box and then the box becomes a cat toy, to jump in , hide in, and ultimately shred...

Just one more week at launch price of £7.99 - so grab yourself something special - a book from a small print run of just 100 books - each one hand numbered and signed.

Outnumbered by Cats is a true story - share with me the joys and dramas of living with a house full of kittens...  and put faces to their antics with 82 colour photos.

New book - you saw it here first!

Finally the wraps are off, the editing done and Lost in a Book is proud to present to the world:

Outnumbered by Cats

The true story of how I got outnumbered by cats - bursting with colour photos

The blurb:

I’d like to get a female kitten and let her have one litter,” I said to my stunned family when they raised the kitten topic. Not surprisingly a suitable kitten was quickly found...  and Mitzi arrived in time for Christmas, bringing her own brand of fun and chaos, and demanding friendship from our 5 year old cat Cleo.

By summer Mitzi was quite confused, she came into season and started calling shamelessly. But when a hapless tomcat answered her call, she was far from impressed; causing more than one cat flap drama, and a hole in the door where a flap used to be. 

Eventually nature took it its course and Mitzi had kittens. The first few weeks were blissfully peaceful, watching as Mitzi took care of their every need. We had a week of heartache when one of the kittens was poorly, and then not developing properly, and was destined to challenge and inspire us in ways we could not yet imagine. 

Then they grew big enough to escape their box, and the bedlam began... 

published and available from May 2014

Cat Flap season has started...

It seems that the cat flap season has started... we've already had a rat and a mouse brought in - the rat was discarded on the floor and should probably have made me jump, but I think I''m just getting used to such things now... The mouse was obviously more prized, and I had to have a chase around the house after Captain, who really wanted it for himself.

And there was me thinking that a cat flap would make life easier...

Editing... it should be a quiet activity... but not with a house full of furry hooligans...

I had a quiet morning planned, sat on the sofa editing my manuscript... but the stars of my story - a house full of cats had other ideas. They say never work with children or animals - well what about when your animal has children...?

So, there I was reading through my story about the antics of a litter of kittens, while the cats they grew into start a running battle around the house. I blame the weather, not just because it's a very British thing to do, but because if the weather hadn't been cold, wet and windy, then the cats would have run all their energies off in the garden, and not around the house.

In the end several doors were closed, thus separating cats who just wanted a nap, from the ones who wanted to pick a fight. The situation was defused, and I managed to get some work done, shut in the sitting room with Bumble who just wanted a nap.  zzz