So, here’s the deal. Lorelai’s in heat, and Karin neutered Io before we could have a second go (Which was a condition on the contract, but whatever).
So guess what, now she’s in heat, and I have no male to put her up with. I am beyond pissed off about this, but it is what it is. At least I got the breeding fee back (1500kr/$150).
But the fact is, Rory’s in heat. So Izaak tried to step in. He’s got the concept, but not the theory.
This is what it looks like.
You may remember on Monday, my post was about not being able to tell if Lorelai was pregnant or not.
Well, now we know.
…And…she isn’t. She went into heat this morning.
This little hussy is soliciting all the boy cats in the house.
And the boys are very confused.
Looks like Rory is going to have another trip to sleepaway sex camp in the very new future!
WARNING! This post features photographs of bare cat nipples!
Tomorrow will be a month since we brought Lorelai home from sleepaway sex camp. And…I still can’t tell if it worked.
One of the main signs of pregnancy in cats is the “pinking up” of the cat’s nipples. Unfortunately, according to one of my cat breeding books. But it also says that some cats don’t pink up until later in their pregancies. Grrrreeeeaaaaat…
This is her nipple on 26 July. Doesn’t seem any pinker, but stupid me, I never checked them before now. But one good sign is she hasn’t shown any signs of being in heat…and as you might remember, her heats are quiet, but not at all subtle.
This was on 5 August. I still can’t tell.
And this is on Thursday the 13th. Seems pinker? Maybe?
These last two are from today. They seem pinker, and they were easier to find.
Meg, Molly and Anne think she is pregnant, especially since she hasn’t gone back into heat at all.
She hasn’t gained any weight yet, and she definitely isn’t showing…so I guess we’ll just have to wait a little longer.
This weekend I finished that romantic sketch I did of Lorelai and Io after their (hopefully) romantic weekend.
First I made the heart-shaped art-deco frame using elements I found online. I checked it against the coloured sketch to make sure it was the right proportions, as you can see above. On the frame, I added a glow and a metallic gradient to make the different pieces I used coherent.
I wanted to keep the style very 1920’s and simple. This is the ink.
Then I coloured in the outline.
You may remember from the drawing I did of Rory as a Vegas showgirl that Procreate has some really fun sparkly brushes. I thought this portrait could use a little sparkle.
After the sparkle was added, I took it to Photoshop and added the red background.
I decided not to use my regular fur brushes, because I wasn’t necessarily going for realism on this drawing. I left the colouration flat instead.
I then added a pink glow around the happy couple, and applied the oil paint filter.
I’m not 100% happy with it…but I do like it.
As always, I saved the video Procreate saves. I also discovered that it can make a gif of your drawing. I am not sure what I’m going to do with that, but it’ll be a fun thing to play with in the future.
Since it was fun last week, I thought I’d post some more Hipstamatic photos of Lorelai and Io from this past weekend.
I love the variety of styles in Hipstamatic. Of course, I have been using it for over ten years now, so I’ve amassed a large collection of films and lenses.
You can also edit regular photos after the fact in Hipstamatic now, and turn a photo you might trash into something artistic.
I love this one. It changed all the greens to red, and desaturated everything else. I really like how this one turned out.
You can get some fun effects.
In the Hipstamatic app, you can apply more than one film and lens, and get results you could never get using the Hipsta camera.
I like this one, too. Nice shade of green.
Rory saying goodbye to Io. I hope they made kittens.
This was a blah photo of Rory on Björn’s shoulder. Now it’s cool and interesting.
This is another of my favourites in this batch.
It’s interesting that one combination turns greens red, while another filter turns the reds green.
Rory and Angel when we finally got home. My girls.
Yesterday, we drove back to Överum to collect Lorelai from her sleepover with Io. When we got there, everyone was outside; Rory in her car cage and Io on his leash.
Look at how handome Io is in the sunshine!
We aren’t sure if they actually mated during the past week
As soon as we got there, we put her harness and leash on so she could say farewell to her beau.
They weren’t unfriendly towards each other…
…But Rory wasn’t all googly-eyes over Io, either.
Rory was super happy to see us again. I wonder if she thought we’d left her and gone forever?
Rory was VERY happy to go for a little walk around Karin’s yard.
Rory said her goodbyes to Io and we were back on the road. If Rory hasn’t gotten pregnant from this visit, we’ll make the trip again in a few weeks. I hope she is knocked up, though; we didn’t get home til after 10pm, which is why this is another two-day post!
On the way back, we stopped at Björn’s brother Örjan’s house.
Looks like someone really missed her daddy!
When we got home, we brought Rory into the apartment still in her car carrier. Izaak and Alfred were the first to greet her. I think Zak missed her!
After her evening chicken neck, Rory was acting like she hadn’t been away for a week. We just need to wait and see if anything developed between her and Io.
I guess the LivePhoto function on my iPhone got switched on again, because all the photos I took of Rory’s journey were also saved as LivePhotos. I compiled them into one video, so take a look at what just might be the origin story of Rory’s kittens.
Based on the events of this weekend, I wanted to do a romantic bride and groom drawing of Lorelai and Io.
So I did a quick 1920’s theme (being that we are now in the new Roaring Twenties), and then changed its colour and lightened it.
Then I did a second sketch.
I knew I wanted the heart and Rory’s flower to be red, so I made a “red layer.”
Then I coloured the sketch in.
Finally, a few highlghts, and…voilá: a finished sketch. I may come back and finish this, but at least the idea is out of my head.
And…because I can, here’s a video of the drawing in progress.
Lorelai is still with Io, so I thought I would share a few Hipstamatic shots from our trip.
Here she is, before she knew all the firsts she was about to experience…
…like her first kiss…
…and her first…um, whatever this is.
“Oooooh…isn’t he dreamy?
Okay, Io…now get busy getting busy!
The reason for this special, two-day post is that yesterday we drove the above route in a round-trip around the middle of Sweden. The distance we travelled is roughly the trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles, Boston to Baltimore, or Montréal to Toronto.
The reason for such a trip? We were taking Lorelai…
…to meet this handsome man in Överum.
We rented a car and left around 10am Saturday, settling Rory comfortably in a carrier in the back seat.
She isn’t showing any signs of being in heat yet, but she is doing some…odd…things, like attacking my ankles.
Based on past experienceprevious experience, she should go into obvious heat by this Wednesday, since she had her last pill on the first of the month. Also, being around a male can speed up the process.
We stopped for a snack at a Burger King, because there wasn’t a Max anywhere nearby. Rory was so happy to be out of the car for a while!
Look how she tangled up her leash going around in circles!
And she expected a share of our food, too.
Which…she got, of course.
I’m not sure how much of his burger Björn actually got to eat!
Finally, around 5pm, we got to Karin’s house in Överum (we stopped at IKEA in Jönköping on the way).
We got Rory settled in her love nest, and went for a little fika.
While we drank tea and ate cake, Io watched us from an upstairs window.
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Then the magic moment arrived! We introduced the happy couple.
It went pretty well.
In case you’re wondering, Io weighs 4.5kg (between Alfred and Dashiell), and Rory weighs 2.6kg.
Until…
…Io used her litterbox.
Io was interested in her, but also very cordial. He never hissed or swatted at her.
The same could not be said of Rory.
They spent a lot of time on the bench in the room, her underneath, him above.
At one point, Io pooped…and stepped in it. Karin put him in the shower to rinse his feet off with the hand shower. Please note: This was Io’s first time in a shower. And just look at him. He has the best personality.
Since the father’s personality influences the kittens, this is a great sign!
And Karin was impressed with Rory’s fearlessness and confidence in an entirely new environment. This bodes well for the kittens they might have together.
We also got to see Hera again. She is Freddy’s big sister, and we met her when we visited Freddy’s litter.
When Karin saw Rory, she thought she looked like a Mini-Hera, and one time Hera walked up to us and I did a double-take, thinking Rory had gotten out!
Just putting two fertile cats together doesn’t generally guarantee kittens, but on the drive home, we saw this rainbow (it was actually a double rainbow), so let’s hope that’s a good omen! We go back to pick her up on Friday. Let’s hope some magic happens!
Karin sent this video update to me this afternoon. Well…at least they aren’t fighting, right?
