Valla - Britain's next top model

Last night when I stopped blogging and decided that maybe it was time for bed Valla did something I had never, ever seen a non human do. . . She bit her tongue!

Now you may giggle, I actually am right now and it did look funny when she did it as it was like she forgot to put her tongue away BUT having such very big, sharp teeth it actually was quite worrying. There was blood, not much but blood at all makes me worry with my kids, mostly with my fur kids as with Audrey my only non furry kid I can sort out but with my fur kids the exotics vet is over an hour away and is not open in the middle of the night.

ANYWAY the blood that was coming from her tongue looked like far more then there was as she is blonde and it had gotten on her fur and combined with her drool had covered her face. She was a bit freaked out so ran to my room and sat in my closet. (She likes hiding under my dresses when she is in a mood.) When I picked her up out of there she snuggled into me and started licking my hands. It did not take me long to notice she was licking my hands as she could not lick her own tongue so this was the best she could do as the blood from her tongue was going on my hands and she could lick that off. A little while after she stopped licking my hands she decided to try to lick in my mouth as she did not see why I was not licking her poor tongue better! This was a wee bit too much so I passed her onto Sprite who was more then happy to help her best friend.

So Valla is all okay now, she was just a bit worried as was I but she was back to running around with Sprite a few minuets later however she still felt a bit sorry for herself.

Prior to the tongue incident Valla had seen me putting a jumper on Sprite who wanted to go in the garden but was so very cold. Valla did not understand why she was not being treated the same, why she was not being put into a jumper so she decided to run off with one!

It was very, very funny as she looked at all of Sprite's clothing for a while until she decided that the brown jacket would be perfect for herself. (I think it was the golden coloured buttons that closed the deal.)

I called Valla back to me and she came, reluctantly as she was quite sure I would be upset with her. I then went to get the coat from where she had hidden it.

As Valla sat on the bed watching me as I put the coat away I decided to let her try it out. I was being unfair not letting her join in and she seemed to think I had decided Sprite was now my favourite as she looked very unhappy.

Foxes normally do not care if you want to involve them in things but Valla really hates it when Sprite does anything she is not allowed to do or gets things she is not allowed to have so we normally make sure not to do that, the girls always have the same things.

SO I put Valla's new harness on her which seemed to be a hit as it has little diamanté bit's on it and then I put the jacket on her. I would NEVER have thought a fox would be so happy to join in with a dog wearing clothing!

Valla spun around on the bed and ran down the hall after Sprite, I would suppose to show her how she was doing the same thing. Sprite seemed confused as to why Valla was so excited about just wearing a jacket and retreated back to my room. Valla was not far behind.

As I had my camera on my bedside cabinet I decided to take a few photos.













I posted a few of the photos on Facebook and a friend said that Valla would look nice in pink so as Valla was already having such a good time trying out Sprites wardrobe I let her try on a pink jumper too:



As you can see I was not holding her lead, she was too busy bouncing on her favourite trampoline in her stylish new togs to care hehe.



Valla noticing that she had her lead on.







Oh no she's found Sprite's morning treat bag! I just love the 'hunting' foot hehe.



Practising her zombie eyes ready for Halloween.



Her show dog pose. You have no idea how hard it is to get her to stand like that. It involves allot of treats hehe.

And here is my beautiful girl in just her new harness:





Her brush is so fluffy! It is not as long as Rudi's but it is so poofy I just adore it!

I just wanted to say that I would never have put Valla in the cloths if she did not want to. Unlike Sprite she has a winter coat on her naturally and thus has no need for winter wear, I just let her try them on to join in with Sprite and as you can see she enjoyed it.

Valla's new harness is the same as the one Freyja had but in black opposed to pink. It is mean to be for adult cats but it is still way too big for Valla even on the smallest settings. You can see how much of her is just fur.

Poor Akiko, like Sprite has no winter coat but also has no winter coats so she has stolen my stripy hot water bottle:



Earlier today I had quite a shock as I was peeling mangoes to dehydrate for Audrey's lunch and Rudi jumped on the kitchen counter, took a mango skin and ran off! I was totally amazed that he managed the jump with but 3 working legs and more amazed that he managed to land on his 3 good legs!

He does not seem to impressed with him mango skin but he will not give it up for anything, not even a chicken wing as I think he is proud of himself for getting it. . . I must be honest, I am proud of him too.

Trials and tribulations of photographing & bathing foxes

Sapphire has a very busy life style between playing with the dog, playing with Valla, sleeping, eating those second and third breakfasts we talked about before and visiting friends.

On Sunday we took her to visit a friend she had not met before. She was a little worried at first which made her a weee bit smelly as her violet gland was working over time so we had a look around their garden and made sure there was nowhere she could escape and let her go out and play. 

We all actually ended up evacuating the house as Sapphire had made it so smelly! With all the windows and doors open and Sapphire in the garden the only challenge then was to keep her in the garden she she was quite sure the smells of cooling were some new way to call her inside. 

As I had forgotten my camera the iphone had it's work cut out for it, especially with it's 2 second pause before it actually bothers to take the photo you have asked it to take and little fox who will not stand still for two seconds. 

So here is our first photo. Not too sure what she is doing but I am sure when the button was clicked to take the photo it was something adorable.

Sapphire heading for the kitchen. 

Coming at the kitchen from the other direction.

Eating the sea shells from on the path. At least this time we have her face in the photo.

I think this one is actually pretty cute! I love that you can see the shape of her and how her tail is more white then 'blue'.

Oh she found a leaf! We know she loves those!

She looks a little like a show dog here with this pose. You cannot see most of her harness as though it is not tight to her body her fur is so fluffy it covers it.

And she's off again!

Can you spot her?

Eating sea shells again!

And again. . . 

Sapphire loved these yellow flowers she was looking at in this photo. She lost interest when she found one on the lawn, chewed it and found out it was NOT yummy hehe. 

Sapphire- "Oh wow a whole load of leaves! Where do they come from?" 

Sapphire- "I will just take a look."

As you can see out of 13 photos we have but 2 good ones! 

This often also happens when I take photos with my camera as opposed to my phone. I normally try to post only the best or most amusing ones but today I thought I would show you why photographers (of which I am not) often say that they will not photograph children or animals. 

On Tuesday I was playing with Valla in my bedroom but then when we came to leave she would not as our bengal cats were stood at the bedroom door hissing at her. I am not sure why they hate her but they do so I took the chance to film her playing on my bed with her Eeyore.

The video has no sound as I removed it as all you could hear was the cats.

When we finally left the room Valla was quite worried as we made our way to the living room and checked every room along the way for cats: 

She came to collect me and escort me past the rooms once she knew they were safe: 

I think she was trying to make sure I was safe or maybe she needed backup but wanted to appear brave hehe. 

Earlier the same day the Phoenix kits had their very first bubble bath as they decided to hide some of their food in their bed. . . And sleep on it. This had created a sort of vomit coloured, meaty hair gel and would not come off with a damn cloth nor a rub and roll in the sandbox so a bath was our only option.

If you watched the video with the sound on yes, you heard me right I use conditioner on them. Why is as it is a puppy one and it is meant to be good for their skin so I am all up for that. And yes I used lavender scented bubble bath and shampoo on them as it is meant to be calming. 

I actually spoil all of my foxes like this, they all have very nice bubble bath and other things and this is because I think it will make it a nicer experience for them all, I mean we must remember Harry and the cherry bubble bath:

I am quite sure they do not all have expensive taste like Harry and, would like the bath to be over as fast as possible but you can't blame me for trying! 

Sadly after the bath while I was towel drying them I let them lay on my lap when I dried their backs which resulted in my new blue jeans dying their tummies blue! So all of the little phoenix kits have blue tummies hehe! 

Do any of you remember when I first brought Sprite my papillon puppy home and she was adopted by Harry and Elspeth? Well here we are 1 year later and Sprite has now adopted the Phoenix kits! You would think that the phoenix kits would now think they are dogs but as Sprite is quite sure she is a fox and acts like one 95% of the time I think they have turned out more foxy then if they had never encountered Sprite. 

Here is Sprite with 'her' two little girls:

I had put the two of them on my chair to take photos of them but Sprite was upset as she had just gotten them to sleep oops!

Here are some of the photos:

'Princess' aka Persil small and mighty hehe.

Amali being weary of the camera.

'Princess' having a hug. She is so small she makes my small hands look HUGE! 

'Princess' on my lap

'Princess' on my desk chair.

'Princess' on my chair.

'Princess' on my chair

Amali and Princess on my chair.

The girls stare down the camera

Amali (left) 'Princess' (right)

So I think that is enough for now. I shall bore you all again tomorrow maybe if I have any free time and/or space on my camera's memory card. 

TTFN! 

Fox kits. How cute?!

So a few days ago I went on an outing with Valla, Sapphire, Sprite and the Phoenix kits to my friend Alice's house for coffee and catching up.
Sprite and Sapphire had an amazing time playing in Alice's garden:

As you can see that Sapphire has her harness on but no lead. This is as she seems perfectly fine in enclosed gardens without either as she cannot climb nor jump very high. She is also quite slow in a straight line due to her legs being pretty short in proportion to her body.

It amazed me how much she has grown in such a short space of time!
This was her on July 16th:

She now dwarfs Valla! 

The Phoenix kits also enjoyed their trip but I did not take many photos of them as Alice did not want her photo taken and she was hugging them CONSTANTLY! 

Here are some photos of them the night before:

That is Princess behind my Dad's arm. All of the fennec kits adore my Dad but to be fair I have never met an animal that does not like him. 

Churchill yawning! 

Churchill exploring the play pen. 

The playpen they are in is actually for rodents but it is more then big enough for them to play in.

Churchill climbs over giggles as apparently going over is much better then going around. Giggles does not look like he agrees hehe!

Giggles recovering from being trampled by his brother.

There were four in the bag (well carrier) and the little one says 'Where we going?!'.

'Guys! It's not sleepy time!'

It amazes me every day how fast they are growing. It amazed me with Valla too but I have seen these little ones from day 1! 

I am currently trying to get them into the idea that the camera is not evil and the litter tray is the place to go to the bathroom. . . We are having more luck with the litter tray then the camera hehe. 

About two days ago a lovely play pen arrived for the fennecs which makes it so that I can have the fennecs, Valla and Sapphire in the same room without having to worry that one of the older kits will try to play too rough with them. 

Valla loves this new system: 

She loves just laying on the top watching them. She comes to get me when they make noise too which is adorable. 

She has been playing with them through the mesh on the sides too. Valla will run up and down the room and the kits run up and down their octagon. 

Sapphire does not give a damn about the kits, so long as she has someone to play with she is happy. 

Harry and Elspeth really like watching them through the baby gate but I know they really are a bit too big to have around them. 

Have you ever wondered what four sleeping fennecs looks like? 

They look like four little rabbits:

Have you ever wondered what one sleeping fennec looks like?

ADORABLE!:

That is Princess who is the fennec that I am keeping. The thing is I don't know if I should name her Princess. When I hug her and call her Princess I get Valla, Sprite, Sapphire and Elspeth trying to get to me as I call them all my little princesses. . . I had wanted to name her Hatshepsut but that is a bit of a mouth full so then I thought Pharaoh as Hatshepsut was a female Pharaoh but a friend's male fennec is names Pharaoh so it could get confusing when we talk SO I will probably call her something Japanese like Inari and Kitsune I just don't know what! 

Here are some random photos of the foxies for you all to enjoy: