Bank Holiday Special

Diesel the patient (update)

He’s doing a lot better since yesterday when he started to eat. He’s even being picky about food, showing signs of becoming a real prima donna. Found him on the windowsill in our bedroom which shows signs of learning to jump, better than he managed on 4 legs. We also let Larky in to see him and she gave him a nudge and went straight to the food. But, more importantly, he didn’t flinch from her as he did when he was in pain.

The scar is horrific to look at, it’s also twitching a lot as nerves deal with what’s happened to them. But, he’s on the mend, and is even starting to get used to taking pills. Maybe some of the relief of not being in pain is starting to get through to him. Of course, I may have to be a good cat owner and actually put the collar on him soon (you know the ones, conal and plastic), because don’t want him to be bothered by the stitches.

Also, seclusion and being locked in upset him more than anything now it seems. I snuck away to play some LotRO last night and felt really guilty. But went to bed to find him completely sprawled across it! First time he’s jumped onto a soft surface successfully, and he did NOT want to share the bed. Unfeelingly I got in, and slept with him begrudgingly at my feet. Woke up and he was on the floor again. Major guilt!

We switched nursing shifts at 4am when I woke up, and husband went to bed. Diesel had some biscuits off the raised boxes we’ve had to install to help him eat without toppling. Although I can’t explain without pictures, he leaned diagonally over the box, actually utilising the lack of limb to get to the food. This made me happy. He’s adjusting! And so are we.

Aside from raised food, we’ve made no other changes for him. And the raised boxes are going to be lowered day by day, although they’re really no bother – it’ll just help him go fully back to normal. However, the idea of him staying in that room for 10 days is bleh, so we may let him sneak out a little today and see how he goes under heavy supervision and with friends to help out.

Thanks for all the well wishes, we’re doing a lot better now he’s eating, and now the shock of monday is beginning to subside. We still have quiet moments when we sit back and think of what could have been, but once he’s out the room I think things will really start to return to normal around here.

Cat Nerfing

After a resolution to return to blogging, our household has taken a bit of a hit. Diesel (our oldest cat, at 5 years old) has been labouring with a limp for the last few months, he’s been taken to the vets regularly while they tried to find what’s wrong. And yesterday he was going in for a final X-Ray before we all could come to the conclusion that it was something un-X-rayable.

He hates the vet. The vets are a little scared of him, despite his soppiness and nerves at home. But, in pain, he became close to feral. Yesterday he got to see the best vet ever, who looked at him, heard my tales of his behaviour and said ‘shall we just leave him in the carrier since we know we’re admitting him for an X-Ray?’. Less trauma for my baby.

Went home with neighbours who were valiantly supplying the ride to the vets, and then popped home to eat something and wait to ring the vets at 1pm, sure they wouldn’t find anything again and his mystery limp was going to be with us for a while. At 12:40 they rang. It started badly, with them saying they’d found a bone tumour in his paw that was really painful for him (and that had barely been noticeable by X-Ray. We were in luck at their chief orthopaedic expert was coincidentally in that day and had been snapped up to check mystery limp cat!!). Anyway, apparently it’s pretty rare in cats, and most of the studies they work with are dogs. It spreads very quickly in dogs, so much so that they rarely can do much except extend life for a short time.

In Diesel, it meant a chest X-Ray to see if there was any sign of spread. None so far. And then amputation of his front left leg. I don’t quite know how I held it together to speak to the woman on the phone, but I took some details including when to ring back. And called my husband, in tears and made him tearful also. Then my neighbours who have been a rock of cat support to us, since we’re fairly new to the gig (before we fostered a little and found Diesel that way) and they told me to drop everything and come over. Being around other people meant I could re-discover the famed British Upper Lip, and took a hot drink and started to let the shock settle in.

We’d always said that losing the leg was worst case scenario. But even in my pessimistic leaning, I never thought he’d have to lose it to save his life from much worse.

He was supposed to stay at the vet’s overnight. But when I rang in they said he was getting stressed and would we like him to come home. So, with another really kind offer of a lift, we all set out to get him, knowing we’d soon see the cruel evidence of his bad luck. And with a heady mix of guilt, sadness and hoping for him to be ok.

He’d been given 3 different sedatives. He really wasn’t happy at all. And there’s no promise that it worked in the long run. They can’t give that, and we can’t expect them to, but I’d hoped it would be over.

And although we set up the bedroom for him to hide in, he’s not taking it well. He’s never liked being shut in. Not cat carriers, not rooms, not outside the house – he hates closed doors. And as he’s been waking up from the doping, he’s been increasingly upset about it. He’s even done a runner (which at least means he can tackle stairs already at full pelt). He’s also had his first fall. I’m warned we should expect many as he re-learns how to land.

Malarkey (commonly called Larky) is the baby of the house. She adores Diesel, though he’s been very stand-offish of her since the foot pain. She was down in the dumps while he was at the vets and now she’s camped outside the bedroom. When he cries, she comes calling. And he cries by the door every hour. I slept from 8pm-midnight, then husband went in to take care of Diesel and I’m up, making sure Larky feels loved.

I know things will return to normal. I know cats can be very happy on 3 legs. My uncle has a 3-legged cat. I’m worried about this week. Getting him to eat tablets, and take his meds (due to his ‘temperament problem’ they gave him dissolvable stitches at least! The vets really ARE scared of him, but they’ll see a nicer side of him when the pain is gone, I’m sure). I don’t like to keep him trapped in when he might be happier outside. I don’t like to make Larky feel unwanted. And I want it to be the end of my poor baby’s woes. I want to be able to look at him and not worry about what’s to come.

So, no blogging just yet. I’m too scared of dissolving into tears to speak to my regular gaming group, though I know they’d give me company and support.

Maybe tomorrow.

The Cat, Nerfed

Larky, with her new pink nails, courtesy of Soft Claws. It’s a bit of an experiment for us, but so far she’s not been acting any different with them than without! (and yes, it was my cruel decision to go with the pink and not the cool black option).

Apocalypse now: An alternate story

[Blame Syp and Ysharros for this departure from my normal-type posts. Didn't edit it, didn't really spend much time on it, but we DO call Larky 'pest' which is where the initial joke came from. I'm no writer!]

Ok, so this is all a bit embarrassing. I’m pretty new to all of this, got the Apocalypse assignment quite late in the day, due to.. unforeseen circumstances. I did what any good administrator would, read up on the protocols, what was needed logistically. So we needed four harbingers of death, destruction and chaos. The old dusty tomes said ‘horsemen’, but seriously, our budget these days just wouldn’t stretch to four horses and their spectral riders. Besides, it all seemed a bit ‘Lord of the Rings’, horsemen foretelling doom.

I thought I was being post-modern and more than a little ironic, while preserving our budgetary constraints. Did a bit of reading in human mythology and it all seemed a good idea to just switch out with a cheaper animal to anthropomorphise. Humans are such malleable creatures, able to believe almost anything. So, I think they were bullshitting me a bit, when I kept hearing cats were pure evil. But, you know what, they’re also easy to work with, so thought I’d give it a shot.

Talk about disaster.

The four cats of the Apocalypse. Really, it’s going with me to the grave. But, since you asked. Here’s a quick picture of what went wrong.

Let’s start with Pestilence. I picked a small silver tabby kitten born outside a care home. She got taken in by a decent enough couple, hand-reared and hissy. Was quite proud of her ability to pick up fleas! And she was certainly a naughty kitten, but not really evil at her core. And very sleepy. After a few months, when she should have been out there spreading disease to the local population, I caught her napping, and noticed she’d not really left the house in weeks. She was my first project, so I called her in to have a chat. And she just yawned at me! I asked her all about living up to her name. And you will never guess…she’d fallen asleep during her initial briefing and thought her name was Pest!

I tried to do a better job with War, thinking War is one of the big important ones. For this we’d need a proud and large ginger tom. Picked him out, made sure he was a fighter, gave him the pep talk and sent him out to spread battle and dissent amongst the foolish humans. Backfired? Hell yes. He only got as far as the local mouse population, and when I asked he said he thought he’d start small and work up to bigger evil deeds. Ah well, at least he got some shrieks when he brought his carcasses home as gifts.

Famine.  A white tomcat this time as I’d decided to work with males since Pest’s admission of inattentiveness. Picked the scrawniest animal I could find and sent him out into the world. I know, you’ve already guessed this one. No-one told me how single-minded cats could be, nor how much humans would pander to them. Famine is now the size of a small balloon, and has 6 houses in one street that feed him daily. He says he’s decided this is a better way to live…

So, Death would be my redemption. I had it all worked out. I really did. I even saved the superstition-inducing black cat for the role and found a really evil one in an animal shelter just desperate to bring down the human race. Perfect!

But I never got the chance, I’m off the project now and additional funding is being sought. Remember this when the horsemen come. It could, and SHOULD have been the four CATS of the Apocalypse.

My little bully

Because most of the pictures I post here are of Diesel (my limp-y cat), here’s one of the other one, Malarkey (aka Larky) snuggled up on a cushion while I watch TV. Cats are having a trial separation for the morning, so she can’t chase Diesel while he’s hurting.

Cats that need nerfing, no. 2

Holder

I’ve not disappeared. Diesel (aforementioned cat) is on the mend, but has taken up a lot of my time and attention to make sure he’s a. eating his meds, b. improving, c. not being victimised by Princess Malarkey (she added the Princess!). He’s doing much better, but a limp remains. And we’re back to the evil boss vet tomorrow. Fun!

Spinks is also on her way up to me today. Hurrah. I shall kidnap her and steal her blogging vibe. Or not blog much while I entertain her.

Actually, I do have some serious blog posts planned. They may be a little less whimsical than my norm, which is probably why I’ve delayed them to watch TV instead. And, on that note, Supernatural is being superb! Also loving pretty much everything else on my watchlist, but with a special place for Supernatural.

Happy Birthday!

Two of the things I love turn 5 today. First, pictured with his 3rd birthday present, is Diesel:

And secondly, Lost (the show), which premiered on 22nd Sept 2004. I never actually made the connection before, because Diesel didn’t arrive ON his birthday, and because his is a somewhat made-up date for us to celebrate on, since he came to us on 22nd April 2005 aged 7 months, so we did the maths. But we’ve always celebrated on 22nd Sept.

To celebrate the Lost anniversary, you can now go enrol at the Lost University, and take a fun little enrolment test. Not sure it’ll go anywhere, except for those that buy the Blu Ray, but I liked my student ID.

[Edit: Yes, yes - is also Bilbo/Frodo's birthday - but unlike Lost and Diesel, hobbits are fictional as are their dates of birth!]

Cats in Advertising (pt.2)

So this advert features human-cat hybrids, which I’m not sure is entirely necessary for the tagline of the advert, but I did like them stealing fish and distracting other hybrids with a swinging lightbulb. Really though, the cat bit is an obvious gimmick, human ninjas are cool too!

Sleepy Sunday