Yeah, Maggie, I was pretty disappointed in losing the first two. The first one I lost was dead almost from the get-go, and I suspect that it was stepped on shortly after birth. The second one I found dead yesterday when I got home from work, and that got me to wondering if Stratus was even taking care of them. Then along came the insomnia theatre in the wee hours of the morning. I went in to check on Mom to see what was going on, and she was in there feeding them and was never phased by me being there, which is somewhat unusual for Stratus.
As you can tell, Stratus didn't pull alot of hair. I tried to use a little of Maryse's hair from the box she used (yes, I kept it around for just such a situation) and Stratus apparently didn't like the idea because it was gone the next time I came in after that. It may have been a seasonal thing, though, so I'm guessing she'll do better this fall.
That sheen is almost always unmistakable, isn't it? It is usually most notable when the litter is 1-2 weeks old and their surface/base coats begin to come on. When the camera flash hits them at that point, you'll normally get a good glare coming off them. Their bodies seem to have good depth, but they are very young and much of that doesn't reveal itself until they become juniors. It's going to be interesting to see how these two turn out.<br /><br />__________ Thu Jul 21, 2011 5:44 am __________<br /><br />Well, it's back to the drawing boards. The remaining two babies died last night.
