We have been on the move again.  Amara was packed up and we were zoozed to North Wales for a week away.  At first we didn't want to go and as soon as I saw the going away bags being packed, I slithered about on my belly trying to escape having my Black velvet collar with diamontes put on, then was squished into a double carrier for traveling.  Gracie is my travel companion, she doesn't really mind having her collar on, but isn't that happy about being out of her comfort zone.  She pretended to hide on top of the boiler, but as soon as Momma spoke to her, she dropped her head and purred.  Momma made a pitch for her front leggies and she slithered onto Momma's shoulder for a snuggle, where a two pronged approach was administered as ManSlave whipped her red velvet and diamonte collar about her neck. We are now together, setting boundaries.  She likes to spread out and use me as a pillow.  I don't mind that much. But sometimes I like to look out of the side and so does she.  We try to take it in turns but she pins me down and I can't move.

Faith took to hiding in the cat tunnel so Momma had to push her out, she is rather rotund at the moment, so she popped out of the tunnel like a ripe cork, squirming and fighting, legs out-splayed, wedging her squishy body into the space.  Momma fought hard to extract her and finally, she slithered out and had her Purple and diamonte collar instated and put in a carrier - kicking and screaming let me tell you.  You never heard so much noise.  And, all the way to wherever we are headed about every 20mins is this 'Momma, are you there?' Little voice.  Faith travels with Lillibet, but Lillibet is wise and finds the smallest place to hide.  Usually, it is under the recliner chair in the lounge, but Momma was quick to make sure no one left the kitchen today.  So Lillibet climbed to the top of the cupboards and slipped into the wooden fruit bowl.  No one ever knows how she does it, she weighs 3.5K but is built like elastic. She curls up tightly , head down.  But not all of her quite fits and her big ears stick up as well as the bowl 'breathing'.  ManSlave has to climb on a chair, take down the bowl and put on her matching Purple collar to Faith's.  She lays in the bowl whilst her collar is put around her neck and then she is carried to the cat carrier and poured in next to her Mum.

Last but not least and so far travelling alone, is Flaire.  No one will accept her travelling with them, so she travels alone.  This is not a problem, she is an enthusiastic traveler and already has her red velvet collar on, in fact, she had her on before breakfast because she found all of them and some have bells, namely mine!  She had managed to carry the collars about, handing them out to everyone.  Pfft, we are not interested kiddo.  ManSlave popped her collar on early and she pranced about for a whole hour showing off and sitting in every carrier as well as gathering up toys she would like to take.  She always settles on Ratty and he is always up for a long drive anywhere.  Flaire is just so happy to be going out and to be fair, once the worry of going to the vets is out of the way and we have traveled for an hour or so, we all settle down and start to enjoy it more.  Especially as as hour in we all get dried ducky treats which helps the journey.  It starts to become a holiday then and everyone is all happy and chirpy.  

By the time we get to go in Amara it's lunch time and our noms are distributed out.  Wonderful.  Now for a nap and best of all, new fluffy rugs to snuggle into.  Ones we don't get at home.  Our space is allocated and our litter trays put into the en-suite wardrobe space. We are all set to have a great holiday.  Now.... get in lots of sleep between now and midnight and then it's time to wake up the Parentals by standing on their heads and fidgeting with the blinds.  Finding lots of noisy things to do, like jumping from the top bunk onto the hollow floor or digging in the litter trays and emptying copious amounts of cat grit everywhere, so when they come to use their loo... they curse and swear at our mess in the dark.  Oh it's so much fun.  

There have been a few changes around here and it affects us in a huge way.  Momma had the wonderful idea of changing our noms AGAIN!  Well, whilst we have been travelling, it is a real pain all of us being on seperate diets for this and that and even though I am 10 now and classed as a senior, Momma has found a perfect food to suit all.  Now, usually, she buys all our food in from Germany because they have great delivery and it's a lot less expensive than the all 'yawping all yelling' UK leading brand, which we have never really had, all those animal derivatives! YUCK!  Momma always been on the hunt for a food we can all eat, for all life stages AND doesn't have rice in it for Flaire and me and chicken in it for Gracie and Flaire, oh OK and me.  For some reason, anything chicken gives our gibblets the collywobbles and makes our skin sore? Turkey.  We can all eat turkey and some rabbit.  Well, of course we can. It's WAY more expensive than chicken and such like.  We don't wish to disappoint now do we? 

Now, I don't know if Momma is thinking way ahead of herself here as there is talk of leaving the EU in the daily mews.  What effect might that have on us?  Well, our noms could go up in value or we might have to start paying for delivery or there may be more taxes to pay?  I mean, really, we don't care much for that sort of thing. But where our noms is concerned, we are most interested.  So, with this in mind, I swear Momma has reached out to every UK company going to support our little island and bring home the fact we could survive if push came to shove.  

At first, Momma reached out to a secondary, well known brand here who are advertising Turkey & Potato and packaging it so that it is the price of gold and selling it in ridiculously small packets.  I mean, that's going to last us a week with all five of us nomming it and the recycling part of me wonders about our carbon pawprint with all that extra packaging.  It would never work.  Momma said we are registered as a breeder with two societies and could she get a discount like the other big brands.  Nope was the answer and no to having bigger bags. It is ridiculous, they are part of Crown foods, rubbish.  The CatWomen eat the wet food too for lunch and have raw for late night supper.  But even with this, the Parentals would be paying out the price of a small hatchback in food each month.... nice thought though!  Mmmm.

So, Finally, after much searching and reading every recipe out there in every country, not just our own, Momma came upon an old brand just stepping up their range from dog foods to cat foods.  Oh yes.  She has spoken to their nutrition folks and the owner of this locally sourced business and come up with a forward plan.  Green Pantry were willing to do a breeder scheme deal especially for us (OK, lots of other cats too). But the very best thing is they are in with Bernard Matthews friends and all their turkeys are ethically sourced.  Phew.  I like my birds free range, but ethical will do.  This makes a big difference to Momma, she only buys human free range meat.  Oh no, not human, free range meat, I mean, cows and lambs and such like... not human... Oh well. You get it!  Any way.  This got Momma to thinking that because the other HUGE company (mention no names, cough, James Wellbeloved) wouldn't even contemplate helping us out, she has decided to not let us have the grain free wet noms either.  And tell me, besides the raw what else can the baby cats eat when they arrive?  Gracie is a real foody and LOVES wet food, the more sugar the better with these CatWomen, which in turn is scaling teeth and adding copious amounts of weight to a certain Princess Faith!  Momma wanted only good meat with NO CHICKEN and with easy too handle packaging for ManSlave.  Oh, a mine field, I can tell ya!  Well, it so happens that there is yet again, an old brand out there, who are making a new range in grain free steamed foods.  They had another range but they all contained chicken and well, we have been there, done that and Momma was left with hundreds of uneaten packets which she takes to the gym to feed the feral neuters. But this can't go on, the feral cats look great on our left overs but it's costing poor ManSlave holidays and cars!

So, to this company and their lovely helpful lady from Natures Menu who has sent us free samples to try out, just enough to wet out appetites, a few sachets of Turkey & Rabbit and a ducky & pheasant one too. But that one made me run for the pink tray and I only had a lick of the spoon.  But yet again, we are home and dry with the turkey variety it seems.  Although, Momma can order both flavours for kittens as on speaking to their vet, it is going to be ok for babies as it has all they need and Momma can zooz it into smaller bits and soak kibble!  Oh and you will never guess where they come from... Turkey town too!  Nearly next door to the other place. The best part is, although this new Delux Turkey noms is pricey, with a breeder scheme again, they are going to send Momma hundreds of packets at a time making them an affordable price for daily use and bringing them in line with something like a supermarket brand.  Heck, we do share one or two only, but when those minicat gannets appear, they eat hundreds of packs and kibble by the sack load.  Again, the turkeys are ethically brought up, it's not ideal but it has to be better than the other processed foods and our carbon paw print is lower again too because it's all bagged and grown here in the UK. Bonus! Kevin, from Gracie's litter, went to live in turkey land and now they have the same food as us.  Right on his doorstep too.  I wanna live in turkey land!

I am pleased Momma has our interests at heart, I am still baddly allergic to most foods even with my meds. But at least when we travel in Amara now, we might all eventually be on the same food one day and can enjoy some wet food too to keep us hydrated whilst we travel.  That is a big plus for us.  Hydration is key to good travel and makes us feel happy too.  We wash for longer and this makes us contented.  On par, I think we eat better than the Parentals do!

​KS =^..^=