Bio-Air. Wonderful stuff, Bio-Air. It’s a very powerful and effective essential oil based air freshener. It contains eucalyptus, peppermint, camphor, and menthol. Used very sparingly after cleaning out the chin room it fills the room with a minty aroma for hours. It’s also good for putting under the cage of any chins with respiratory infections or colds (just a tiny drop on the newspaper but only if the chins cannot reach it) to aid with breathing and clear the nasal passages etc.

Sounds like a sales pitch doesn’t it? I don’t mean it to but this stuff is great – Debbie recommended it some time last year and now I use it at least once a week to make the chin room smell clean and fresh. It’s powerful and it lasts for ages – and the chins seem to like it.

So …….. on to the story. I keep the trigger spray down by the sink in the kitchen (it’s also good for eliminating cooking smells like bacon) but somehow the bottle was balanced on a bottle of fabric softener. When I came home on Monday I could smell the tell-tale peppermint aroma but could not initially work out where it was coming from. Talie and I were blaming each other for using it but neither of us did. Odd. Definitely odd – because we could both smell it. Panic! Had I left it in the chins’ room and it had been knocked over? Use too much of the stuff and it makes your eyes water for a while – I know this because I used it in the car once a little over-enthusiastically – and needed to drive around for 3 days with the windows down!

The smell seemed to be coming from the kitchen (we deduced this by sniffing loudly – very scientific) and I suddenly saw the bottom of the bottle – it was upside down. Now this stuff is not cheap and I was about to start bemoaning my financial loss (it’s expensive to buy but lasts for ages – unless you spill it!) when I realised that the contents of the bottle were now soaked into an old piece of towel which I used for the chins. Oh well, it must be useful as an air freshener in it’s own right now – a bit like the fabric wicks you find in those liquid air fresheners. I deposited the cloth in the chin room by the air purifier and immediately the room was filled with the scent of menthol, camphor, peppermint, and eucalyptus. It took me ages to wash the minty smell from my hands too.

Its now 2 days later and the chins still have a “hint of minty freshness”. It’s wonderful. I wonder how long it will last?

The kits are beginning to popcorn hop like little furry fleas. I love it when they do that. They are all gaining weight, even the smallest female, and Leila’s big kits are begining to mimic their mother by tasting pellets and hay. One of them was looking particulalry smug earlier with a tiny piece of shredded wheat in his/her mouth.

Apart from waking up and seeing the little kits in with Bella bickering, all is quiet. When I left for work this morning there were kits on each side of both mothers, contentedly suckling.

Fingers crossed it remains that way and they all start gaining weight.

Ah yes, Leila has certainly produced 3 mini Grenville and Griseldas. Precocious, mischievous, bickering, monsters!

Poor little runt female has been having a hard time trying to feed. The two larger kits scuffle with her, especially the other female and so she has not been getting much in the way of feeds. Leila is still trying to separate them when they fight but she is having difficulty. I have been keeping a close eye on when all and, whilst no damage is being done, the little one is getting tired. She has not re-gained her birth weight yet. I separated the bigger female out for a while earlier today and the male and the runt got on either side of Leila and settled down immediately. It was only when I tried to re-introduce the bigger female that things deteriorated again.

Bella’s little kit is continuing to gain weight. Bella continues to be very protective and I have always doubted she would take on another kit (I have tried it before and failed) – but she has surprised me today. I took the runt away from Leila because she is going to get hurt or fail to feed and starve – the other two get along fine, one on either side of Leila and no bickering (famous last words, eh?).

Cautiously I handed the runt to Bella and she sniffed her all over, gave her bottom a quick wash, and then tucked her underneath her belly. The kit was a little bewildered at first and was wandering about but Bella simply followed, groomed her gently and then tucked her up again. Both “Shorty” and the runt have met, sniffed noses, and ignored each other. On the baby monitor I can currently see Bella in the “feeding kit” position, with both kits plugged in to each sde of her – so far so good!

All is quiet in the chin room.

Oh and, as predicted yesterday, Leila’s groomed all the marking off the kits’ ears!!