More Haste, Less Tuna

Well friends, it's finally happening. The big push for the move has started. There's boxes everywhere! There's also bags. I put my head into one of them today cuz I remembered the catnip toys from last time, but sadly there was only old bits of paper in there. I still played with them though!




Anyway, this is going to have to be a super quick post today, as the human still has lots of packing to do. I'm also busy. Busy searching for the tuna she hasn't given me!





Keep paws crossed for The Katnip Mom, Trish
who is now home from surgery and apparently doing well. Please stop by and let her know we're all thinking of her!





Now, if we're all gone for a few days, it's just because we're moving all of our stuff and are really, really busy. I promise I'll get her to write again as soon as we're settled. Stay safe. Eat tuna!

Wow, wow, wow! Friends, I've got my first ever award! Isnt that super? I'm going to have to ask for help though. My human can't lift and insert the graphic for the award, so I'm hoping someone will volunteer to help! I presume it can be found on the blog of the person who awarded me.





I got the Awesome Blogger award from The Gorgeous Admiral Hestorb
Who you simply have to visit. Her blog is fantastic, and she has her people so well trained!





The rules are that I must link back to the lovely lady who awarded me. Well, I think I've got that one covered! I also have to tell you seven things about myself, so here goes.





1. As much as I love tuna, it's the tuna juice that's my favourite. I'll happily leave the fishy bit as long as I get the yummy, yummy juice!
2. Now that I've gotten over my fright, I demand that the human opens my door for me every morning so that I can look out at the birdies and get some fresh air. I do this by miaowing at her and walking right up to the door. Then I shout until she does what I want her to do.
3. My name isn't actually Tia. It's Catarosa Dolly Mixture. That's my super posh show cat name and it comes from the fact that I'm a dollfaced Persian and I'm a right mix of colours given that I'm a seal tortie colourpoint. Dolly Mixtures are a type of sweet in the UK too, but I know I'm sweet, so that works too!
4. I'm actually finding it hard to think of seven things that you don't already know. Um, let's see. I love having my back and sides and chest brushed, but when it comes to the tail and the yummy tummy, I have been known to bite... And I don't care whether it lands on the brush or the human!
5. I'm perhaps one of the few cats who doesn't turn into a wild thing when faced with the prospect of water. I know that I have to be bathed to look my best at shows, so I put up with it with good grace and a lot of singing!
6. I'm 1/3 a champion cat. I just need two more wins in my open class at a show and then I'll be a real champion! Still, 1/3 isn't bad, is it?
7. When I really like the way the human is stroking, I collapse onto her hand. For example, if she's stroking my chest, I'll gradually lower it down and down until her hand is pinned in between it and the bed or whatever I'm lying on. I'm the same with brushing. It's so bad that she has to hold my head up and put her leg under me just to keep me up high enough to get at my chest. I purr real good the whole time too.





Wow, that was pretty difficult! The next part is pretty hard too. I have to pass this on to 15 different blogs that I really like. Well, here goes. Let's hope they read my musings as avidly as I read theirs!





1. The Cat From Hell
Penelope, I know you've already got this, but I couldn't help giving you it again. you make us laugh so, so much!2. House of Cats3. Katnip Lounge4. Housecat Confidential5. Frito Cat6. The Cat's Whiskers. So much good information on this one, and she's a friend of the human's too!7. The Furry Bambinos8. I Have Cat9. Ok Cats10. Tori and Ushi's Blog. All about the partnership between a guide dog and her handler11. On A More Personal Note12. Tabby's Place13. House of the Discarded14. Daily Dose of Dogs and Cats15. The Cincinnati Kitties





Wow, what a list! i hope you'll go visit them all. If you do, I'd love it if you mentioned that I've given them the aard. I can't comment on most of these blogs because of the word verification thing, but I read all the time!





There's not much to report here. The human's just been packing like crazy and has been very boring. She gave me a bath today. I haven't had one of those in months now, so i wasn't too sure about staying put while she washed me, but I submitted in the end. Oh, the things we do for stinky goodness!

Tortureshell Tuesday: The Bitey and Other Things

Well I'll tell you what the other things are first. That blasted human of mine! She missed my blog post yesterday, and that is inexcusable! She tried to give me a reason, but at this point, friends, I'm so sick and tired of listening to them that I just miaowed at her until she stopped talking and started cuddling.




Now then, I'll tell you about my tortureshell first, and then I'll move on to other exciting things. This tortureshell has to do with biting. "But there's nothing wrong with that!" I hear you cry, and I agree with you! But as I mentioned at the start of tortureshelling, it's not something that we think is wrong, but something that the peoples don't like that's worthy of a tortureshell. Take this morning, for instance.





The human was awake in her bed. It was still o dark thirty, but i decided that it was time to play pounce the feet under the blanket. I started in my usual fashion. I jumped, four paws spread, claws out, onto her feet, grabbed them tight and started to roll around. She obligingly wiggled them, then made them run away and back again so that I could catch them. Nothing wrong with that, I hear you say... Not yet.





Then the human decided to try a new game. This one was called catch the hand under the blanket, and boy did I like it! Hands move so much quicker than feets, and they grab you and fight back instead of just letting themselves be caught. Well, we played that for a long time, but eventually I got tired of it and lay back down for a recovery nap. The human gave me her signal that she was finished playing. This is a gentle touch on my side and her talking to me, and I always know that I'm not to grab her too quick when she does this cuz it startles her. Today, I let her do it, and I even let her stroke me, but then she made a fatal error. She attempted to pick me up for a cuddle. This is, again, normal after a play session, and for the most part I enjoy it. But today, well friends, I don't know what came over me! Quick as a wink I flipped over and, without even bothering to grab her with my feet to let her know it was coming, I bit her real hard and real good. I don't know why, but I'd just had enough for the time being, and she should have recognised it despite me giving her no signs to confirm it!





She got real shocked when I did this. She let out a huge yell and jerked her hand back. The quick motion made me tumble off the edge of the bed where I'd been lying, and that yell of surprise and, yes, I admit it, pain, had me hightailing it right underneath. I hid out there for a very, very long time, and didn't come back up again for cuddles. I could tell she was real mad. She's told me before that putting the bitey on peoples is not good and not acceptable, especially on peoples who have broken eyes. Part of me didn't care. I didn't want to be picked up and she should have known it. But the other part of me felt dead sorry for doing it to a human who is nice enough to give me what I want and when I want it. I didn't follow her to her litterbox room like I usually do when she gets up, but when she went into the living room, I came in and demanded that she open the door for me so that I could look out at the birdies through my screen. Because she did what I told her to, I allowed her to pick me up and give me cuddles without biting her even once. I know this makes her feel better, and really, it was only a small sacrifice. It got me a plate of stinky goodness too, so it was worth it!





Friends, as much as I'm all for tortitude, I wouldn't recommend doing this to your peoples. It's no fun afterwards really. the human jokingly asked me this morning if she was creating a bitey monster by helping me trust her enough that I think I can get away with things like this, and that made me feel even worse. Cats aren't sposed to have a conscience. Do any of you know of vets who can help me out with this problem? It's serious, and urgent! I need a consciencectomy!





Now, I promised you other things, so here goes. Today, mom Trish who is the feeder and people to the Katnip Krew
is having a ladygardenectomy, or as she calls it, her lady plumbing removed. Trish, I am sending you huge great smooshy smooshes and lots of get well purrs. If you need a snuggle bud, just let me know. I promise I won't bite you either! Oh and by the way, the last comment you left us about your competition almost made the human cry! Thank you for caring enough to do what you said you would. Oh, while you're with the people vet, would you ask him if he does cat consciencectomies? And does he do human conscience implants? That human doesn't feel nearly guilty enough that I don't have tuna down all the time! Sure, she might have bought me crab sticks yesterday, and sure, I might have totally turned my nose up at them despite her going specially to get them, but crab isn't tuna!





On another note, do you remember the toy exchange I mentioned in my 100th post? Well, one of the parcels has been posted! Isn't it exciting? I know I said I wanted to exchange only toys, but I couldn't help myself from putting a few extra bits in there too. I even included some of my most favourite treats in the whole wide universe! The other participant hasn't gotten back to me yet though, and the human says that we really need to have this parcel posted before we move. If anyone else is interested in a toy exchange, please do let me know. The idea is that by doing this, we each get to see what toys different countries have for their cats. There's lots and lots and lots of good things in this parcel. I can smell the catnip even through the plastic! So, if you're up for swapping gifts, please do get in touch. Random Felines, if you're reading this and still want to play, the human says that you need to get in touch before Friday, as that's when things will be posted. If more than one of you want to take part, the human will use a random picker to choose who gets the super duper parcel! There was a third person who responded way back when I made the post, but I can't remember who that was. Person, if you're still interested, then there's still space for you!





Right, that's all from me today. I need to get some rest before that human comes home and starts doing noisy packing again! A girl needs her beauty sleep, y'know.

Special Sunday

Do you know that this is the last sunday that me and the human will spend in this house? It's sad in a way, but in another, it's super exciting. We're just about to start on a new beginning, and I'm glad that she's taking me along for the ride with her! She's over-doing things though.





The human dreads moving for all the same reasons as everyone else, i.e, the packing, the organising, all of that, but she also worries because she has a bad back. Packing really aggravates it, but she usually manages. Well, this morning she woke up and was so sore that she could hardly move. She's spent a lot of time lying flat and getting into a hot bath and doing pretty much everything she can think of, but nothing's helping. I'm on nurse duty, cuz I want to make sure she can go to the work hunt tomorrow to earn the moneys I need for my stinky goodness!





Today is for special things though. Our last Sunday in the house is special. The human's back needs special attention, but what else is there to talk about? Well, there's trust and bonding.





The human says there's something wonderful and remarkable about watching the personality of an adult cat blossom in a new home, but I know that she's talking specifically about me when she says that. After all, I am the only wonderful, remarkable adult cat in this house, right? And my personality has indeed been flowering. Since the tummy rubbing and head rubbing incidents, I've just gone from strength to strength. Let me tell you how. Again, they're only small things, but to me and the human, they are special enough to be mentioned in this post.





Firstly, there's lap cuddling. I've always done this, and I've always enjoyed it, but I am a gentle-ladycat about it. Rather than just pushing my way onto her lap, I come and sit beside her and wait either for her to pick me up or to invite me on. Well, I used to. Only a few days ago, that all changed. She was tippy-tapping away on the computer keyboard, sadly not typing for me (you can't have it all, I spose), but doing something for herself. She sits on the big sofa when she does this, with the keyboard on her knee. Normally when I come and sit beside her, she'll wiggle her fingers at me, and if I climb on her, she'll put down what she's doing and give me love. If I don't come to her fingers, she knows I just want to lie nearby. Well, she wiggled at me and I ignored her, and so she went back to her own stuff. I watched her. I wanted attention, but I didn't want to come to her fingers. I moved around a bit to let her know I was there, but she just thought I was getting comfy and paid no attention. This wasn't good enough. I wanted attention and I wasn't getting it, and that's never a good thing! I went up close to the human, then sat down to watch again. Then, very tentatively, I put out a paw and touched her leg. It was just a little touch to let her know I wanted some loving, but again, she thought I was only settling down. She carried on typing.





This really was intolerable. I wanted snuggling! I picked up a second paw and put it on her leg, then made sure that the first joined it. Now my two front feet were standing on her. I have to admit, when she did put the keyboard down and turn to me, I was tempted to pull back, and had to work hard not to. maybe I just should have waited for her to pick me up. Maybe I should have been more patient. Would she tell me off now for disturbing her? I tensed up as her hand came towards me, but all she did was tickle me and make a huge fuss over me and tell me how great I was for coming for cuddles all on my own. "Well,"I thought, "That was easy." I even got treats for it! If I'd known that it was that simple to get extra love and treats, I'd have done this months ago!





I've done it lots ever since, and now I'm confident enough to put all four of my feet on her lap all by myself. I even sat down today between her and the keyboard, and got strokes and scritches while she was typing. Only problem was that I had to boot the silly keyboard out of the way when I decided I wanted to sprawl out and get really comfy, but she didn't seem to mind too much. Good human!





The other thig I've learnd is how much fun it is to lie on the human's chest. Again, this is another thing I've done before, but while I've been up there, my head has been up and I've been kneading the whole time. no, when I say lying up there, I mean really lying, like sprawling right out then curling into a ball under her chin. The human usually has to use her arms to support me, but it's comfy, so I let her do this. I'll snuggle down there for more than five minutes at a time now, and I don't mind if my head has to lie on her a little bit in the process. She's so warm that I get quite sleepy very fast!





She says the next step for me is to start head-butting her for attention, which I'm very tentatively starting to do, and then to really snuggle up very close with her in bed. Again, this is something I'm starting, but I can only manage about a minute of curling against her before I have to move away and get my own space again. She always lets me go, which is why I know it's safe to come back the next time she picks me up and snuggles me. It's ok, as long as I have an escape route.





But we're not done yet. Special things come in big piles, and the very tippy top of our pile is friends. I love friends, and so does the human. many of you read the blog that the human writes and I dictate, and some of you even leave comments, but today, I'd like to recognise someone who makes me MOL, and the human smile with most of the comments that are left. They write an excellent blog, and, unlike my bad human, they actually have their people trained well enough that she posts every day for them! I wonder if they'd mind sharing some tips? I was going to do a Friends on Friday, but as she didn't write for me, I didn't have a chance. It's probably better that they're in the Special Sunday anyway, cuz they have some very special mancats there who agreed to be my valentine! Not that I'm recognising you just for that... I'm not shallow, honest! Well, not much, anyway. So, who are these friends of ours? Well, the only way to find out is to go visit The Catnip Lounge Cats
and find out! Keep up the good work, Katnip Krew!!





Hannah and Lucy want to know if my mancat friend is a handsome beast. Oh, girls, you have no idea! He is to die for! Mind you, so are those lounge cats. The only thing this one has that the other hunks don't is his man bits... Um, have I said I'm not shallow? Honest, I'm not! A ladycat's gotta have a good time sometimes though, and the boys without manbits tend to lose sight of what a woman really needs. That being said, they're much better companions. Manbits make most mancats interested in only one thing, where as others such as the lounge cats at least have the manners to milk and tuna you first! The human said that should be wine and dine, but I don't drink wine, and I only dine on the finest tuna! If only. Well, a girl can dream, can't she?





And that's exactly what I intend to do for the rest of the day, or at least for the bits where I'm not working on my elevator bum. I'll see you tomorrow! Happy Sunday!

Saturday Stuff

This is going to be a bit of a stuff post today, cuz it doesn't really have a single theme. I'm just going to give yu my news from the last two days, seeing as the human hasn't blogged for me! She's left me alone an awful lot too, so she's in the bad books.





>Thursday was the first day she didn't write for me. She'd planned to, but that all got messed up when one of her friends met her. She'd gone down town to pick up the packing materials we needed so that I could send off my parcels to everyone I promised. Do you know how much stuff is in them? Oh, there's so much good stuff! I'm not one normally to climb into boxes or bags, but she could hardly get the stuff packed I was snoopervising so closely. I did try and climb into one of the bags, but don't worry. I jumped out before she sealed it up, so you won't be getting a delivery of Tia!





Speaking of posting, we have a bit of a problem. We need to get in touch with the Random Felines, as they were the others who promised to toy exchange with us. However, the human can't comment on Their blog
cuz they have word verification enabled. They also don't have an email listed, so we can't even contact them that way. Randomers, if you're reading, please can you get in touch with us by email? I need your address so that the human can send everything! To you others, would one of you mind dropping a comment on their blog to say we need them, just in case they aren't reading any more? Sorry to ask for it. I hate word verification, and so does the human!





Anyway, I got totally side tracked! So she went down town when she should have been at the work hunt, but while there, she bumped into a friend who told her that it was her little boy's birthday today. The little boy loves the human, so she knew she had to go see him, and that's what she did. She didn't even come home from the work hunt first! By the time she got back it was late and she was totally worn out from dealing with mad birthday humankittens all day, so she said she couldn't write for me.





Then yesterday she went to see another person after the work hunt. This person also calls themselves a cat breeder. She has two pet siamese and two breeding somalis. Like the human, she's just starting out, so it was nice for them to get together and chat. The human had a good cuddle with the meezers which I wasn't overly happy about, but she gave me extra loving when she came home, oh, and also extra stinky goodness! You can't stay mad at a human like that, even if she does stink of other cats.





She's spent all day today with me, so I spose I shouldn't complain. Oh, oh, oh, she also got the suitcase out again! She's filling it full of all of her clothes so that they'll be ready for when we move. I helped her in my usual way, and boy did I have fun! I even learned that suitcase zips are excellent things to attack. They make such a great jingle when you thwap 'em!





Now there's some really, really big news. you remember me telling you that my human's eyes are broken? Well, they might not have to be that way for much longer. She's had very tentative contact from the hospital where she used to have her eyes checked when she was a humankitten. They were phoning on behalf of researchers who have developed a chip that can be put into a people eye. It's supposed to give some vision to peoples whose eyes are broke because of the same reason that the human's are. They wanted to know if the human was interested in taking part. Of course she said she was, but that she needed more information before she made her final decision. There's always risks with surgery. She can see the difference between light and dark at the moment, and is worried that she might lose that if something goes wrong, but if it goes right, she stands to gain so much. It's a hard decision to make. She spoke to the HG today who also has broken eyes. the HG thinks she should have it done, and wants to take part herself! So who knows, they might end up having the treatment together. Wouldn't it be ironic that, after waiting all this time to get a physio job, she has to turn it down for something like this? What do you all think? Please don't go with your gut and just say yes straight away. Think of what she has to lose as well as what she has to gain. Is it worth the loss of the tiny bit of vision she has? It would be nice to hear opinions. I'll tell you more as soon as they call her back with more information, but I think exciting times are ahead!





Speaking of the HG, there's also super exciting news there too! As you all know, I'm a super star show cat. I love it cuz it gives me a chance to see a lot of nice peoples, and I can also win prizes just for having beautiful floof! Well, the human got talking to the HG recently. There's a show that's going on in April right near where the HG lives, and she asked if we could come stay with her and then go to the show from her house. The HG said yes, but I got to thinking. Although I don't know her, she's promised me all sorts of nice things already like cuddligng and scratching and treats and toys and, well, you get the picture. So wouldn't it be nice of me in return to let her see me at my best? If she came with us, I could be on show for the HG as well as the judges, and what a day that would be! I had the human extend my invitation to her, and guess what? She said yes! So I have the honour, and I do say honour cuz she seems like such a nice HG, of initiating her into the world of cat showing! I've decided that I'll let her get me ready for the big day so that she knows all about every little thing that goes on in making me look my best. Of course, I'll have the human on hand to help and make me look extra pretty, but the HG will get some real hands on experience for making sure I'm looking my best. She's already said that she'll buy me a toy on the day! The human has this tradition where she buys me lots and lots of nice things from all the peoples who sell at the show so that when I'm done looking my best, I can roll around like a nip head and work off the super star stress, and the HG says she'll do it too! Oh, what a day it'll be! HG, can you find me some tuna flavoured nip, please? Even the human hasn't gotten that good yet!





Hmm, now let's think, what else? Well, I'm still learning about trust, but I think I'm going to keep that until tomorrow. The human's going out again. She's trying to catch up with all the peoples she knows one last time before leaving here next week, so it means I won't really be seeing much of her. Oh well, I guess I can cope with that for a wee while.





Oh, I tentatively think that I'm over the sneezies, although the human's still keeping a very close eye on me. I go through periods where my nose is very wet, then others where it's very dry. I haven't needed a mucolytic or to be steamed again though, so I'm holding my own. I really, really hope that's the last of it done now! I could do with not being sick for a bit.





The human's hoping that I start thinking about mancats soon. She says if I do it this week I can go see my nice man friend again before we move away. I've been teasing her by sticking my bum in the air, but really it's cuz I like it when she scratches my tail, not because I'm thinking about mancats. Who knows though. Spring is in the air, and spring is for propper kittens to be made!

Wordy Wednesday

Well, friends, today we have some good news for you! At long last, eh? It seems to have been a while since we had any of that, so here goes!




You remember I told you that Bug and Kara ended up getting separated? Well, it wasn't to be so. Bug was sposed to stay with a family friend who was close to the hospital where he has to go to have his wound checked out, but what with one thing and another, he couldn't stay there in the end. It was then decided that he should go and stay with his daddypeople at least until the end of the week. Well, that's Kara's new home too! So Bug is getting to see her settle in, and has extended cuddle time with her. He's sleeping a lot because of the pain killers they have him on, so Kara's loving it as it means she gets to sprawl out with him. Bug goes back for another check on Friday, so let's hope there's more good news for him too!





In the battle of the sneezes, I might be losing again, but I'm not sure. Ever since I stopped the mucolytics my nose has gotten a bit dry. This isn't a good sign. It's what happened last time before I got real bad and was struggling to breathe propperly. I had my last antibiotics yesterday, so we're just gonna have to wait and see what happens. Keep those paws crossed for me, eh?





In other good news, I actually found my catnip chicken or duck or whatever it is last night! The human found it stuffed in behind a cabinet and she got him out for me. I loved him for a good five minutes, and when I left him to keep company with the human instead, I cuddled him right up against the edge of a tiny track I have that has a ball in it. I like that track even though it's small, so I knew Mr Chicken would too, and when I wanted him again, he'd be easy to find. Have I mentioned I love him? cuz I do!





Hmmmm, now what else to tell? I can't really think of much. Everything's on target for our big move next week, and the last bit of the paperwork for the human's new work hunt was sent in today. That means that we'll have a start date agreed very, very soon. Isn't it exciting? I sure think so. It means that the human will be out of the house for longer each day, but I've got to put my own needs aside. I know this work hunt will make her much, much happier than the one she's doing now, so it's worth it. Anyway, when the kittens are born this year, we'll be getting one of those to come live with us, so I'll have somebody to keep me company in the day time.





Ah, life is good at the moment. Let's hope it stays that way and that the horrible snotty thing doesn't come back again! I'm done with being sick, believe me!

Tortureshell Tuesday: ToyTastic!

It's back, it's back, it's back! Oh boy, it's back! Friends, what with being sick and being on nurse duty and travelling to see our new house, I haven't really thought much about Tortureshell lately. I've just been too busy. I've felt a bit guilty about this. After all, we torties have a reputation of tortitude to uphold, and I wasn't doing my part! I'm ashamed to admit it, but there you have it. I hope my catnip valentines won't see me lose too much face with that admission. Honest, it won't happen again!





After realising how long it had been since I had a tortureshell, I decided that enough was enough. No more mister nice-Tia. The human was well and I was getting better, so the timing was perfect! But what to do? I'd done the poo on the sofa. I'd done the killing of iPod man, I'd even done the no no of walking on the kitchen worktops. So what was left? This took some serious thought.





As I was engaged in thinking, I started to wander around the room, to assess the possibilities if you will. On my way, I walked past a few plastic bags. Casually I had a sniff, then very quickly, a very uncasual one. What could I smell in there? It couldn't be catnip, could it? If so, then why had the human hidden it from me! Then I remembered.





Do you remember way back on our 100th post that the human said she'd like to do a toy exchange? Well, she's got the stuff now. She'd been picking some up over the last few months, but wanted to be very sure that Mr Bug had long left us before we sent anything to anybody. We didn't want him taking a trip in the package too, as he's a very nasty house guest. Well, yesterday she decided to sort everything out, so she got it all out of the cupboard and sorted it into piles. Then she put each pile in a bag and tucked it away in a corner until the last of the things came in the post for sorting.





I'd seen her sorting, friends, and I knew there was catnip, but I'd decided that it wouldn't be polite to play with other friends' toys before they got them, so I'd left them alone. But as I sniffed that bag, curiosity got the better of me. Surely it wouldn't hurt just to have one more peep, would it? I needed to remember everything that was in there, after all. I stuck out a paw and pulled the bag open... And the smell of it hit me. Catnip, catnip, catnip! There were so many things in there, and all of them were my favourites! Surely it wouldn't hurt if I played with just one of them, would it?





For a long time, I waged war with myself, then I decided. Quick as a wink, I darted into the bag and stole a toy. I'm not telling you which one cuz that would spoil the surprise for those getting the parcels. I played with it real good, but I knew there was more left in those bags. I just couldn't resist.





I won't go into details about what happened next. It's too embarrassing. What I will tell you is what the human found when she came home. The first thing she knew about it was when she stepped on something soft. She immediately jerked her foot back, fearing that she might have hurt something, but all she found when she reached down was a... Ahah, good try, but I'm still not telling! With every step, she found something else. I'd been so vigorous in my play that I'd spread toys everywhere, and I do mean everywhere, and was blissed out in the middle of the floor in a sun puddle. Ah, what fun I had! The human was laughing so much that she couldn't even propperly tell me off.





It took her ages to find all the toys, but she managed in the end, and then had to sort them out all over again. But there was one thing she couldn't find, and I don't mind telling you what that is. It's my catnip chicken. you remember I told you about him? Well they're very hard to get, but my human had managed to find just one of them for the parcels we're sending off. as she'd done with the other toys, she'd taken him off the card he comes on. Shipping to the US is very expensive, and based on weight and size, so she did this with all the toys so that it wouldn't cost a stupid amount to get them there). She'd filled Mr Chicken's tummy with the nip already. It comes in a little tub which would have broken open in the post. Now, I love Mr Chicken, I really do. He's my wrasslin buddy. Next to ping pong balls and dangly toys, he's probly my favourite, so when I found him in the bag, I just couldn't leave him alone. I bit him, I chewed him, I bunnykicked him. I'm sad to say that I even drooled on him. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just couldn't help it! It's a love thing, Ok? The human was cross at this. Mr Chicken is really difficult to find, and now I'd ruined him. But he's so tough that I hadn't done any damage even with all my kicking. The human has this stuff called coloidal silver which is medically proven to kill all bacteria. She washed him in this and then washed him in medical grade alcohol gel to make sure. She's going to include him in the parcel anyway even though I've been playing with him, but only because it's my absolute favourite and she can't find another one. The whole point of the exchange was to swap lots of favourite toys that you could get in your country, so that we could see the difference in the two places we live. This one is going to Amy and the gang, so Amy, please accept my apologies. I couldn't help it, I really couldn't. When the human found him, I was cuddling him up against my tummy on the floor, so he's probly gonna smell of me too. If you don't want to use him after I've had him, I'll totally understand, but the human's made sure that he doesn't carry infection, so you should be Ok. She says she feels a bit terrible even putting him in, but we really want you to have a mr chicken so that all the cats can play with him. I told her not to worry cuz other cats don't mind drool and the fact that it's been used before, but she doesn't agree. Please don't feel like you have to use it. We won't be offended!





So that was my Tortureshell, and boy was it great fun! Even though I have toys of my own, a lot of which are the same as the ones in the bag, there's something about playing with forbidden fruit that makes the game all that much better. Wouldn't you agree?





Today the human has put the toys in the spare room and closed the door on them so that I can't get them. I'm not happy about this!

Monday Monday

Ok, so I couldn't think of anything better for a title. I'm uncreative today.




Well, friends, a lot has happened over the weekend, and not just to me this time! I haven't been eating terribly well, and my human thinks it's cuz it's difficult for me to pick up the small chunks of stinky goodness that she's feeding me. Really though, it's cuz she puts the stinky powder drug in my food, and I want nothing to do with that! She's only a little worried that I'm not eating, cuz she thinks I'll be Ok again when my dry stuff goes back down. I'm not as snuffly as I was, but we don't know whether this is cuz I'm still taking the mucolytic or whether it's cuz I'm better. Today is the last day on that, and then I've only one more day of antibiotics to go. Then we'll see! I really hope it busts the infection though, cuz I sure as anything don't want to end up with pneumonia. I don't know what it is, but it sounds soooo nasty!





In other news, Bug has done himself injury. For those of you who don't know, Bug is the people that Kara, our guest Sunday poster, owns. Like me, she uses her people to do her typing for her, (well, why have a people and write yourself!), but this week, he wasn't able to do that. on Saturday, he was opening a tin of people stinky goodness, but it didn't open propperly, so he started to pull on it. Well, it slipped and sliced into the back of his thumb. He thought he was Ok, but went to the hospital to have it checked. He went back again on Saturday so that they could see how it was healing, but after more investigation, they found that the tin had cut right through the extensor tendon on his thumb. He had to have surgery to sew it back together again, and his hand is in a cast. He has broken eyes like my human does, and both of them use both hands to type, so it's really, really hard to do it with one hand. That's part of the reason he didn't write for Kara yesterday. But there's more.





They gave him very strong medication for the pain which we think blissed him out a little, but he was also due to move the last of his stuff yesterday. That went ahead, cuz his daddypeople came and helped him pack up the last of it. Do you remember last week that Kara said she knew she was moving? There's more to that story too. Yesterday was the day she moved. She's going to go and stay with Bug's daddypeople. She lived with him as a kitten, and she stays with him when Bug goes away, so it's a familiar place. Bug's family love her very, very much, and she likes it there too. But what's different this time is that she's not coming back.





Bug is moving countries. He was due to do this soon, but now thanks to his thumb, he'll be staying in family's houses until he has it treated. He decided, after long, long thought, that Kara would do better with his daddypeople. The flight to the new country takes a very long time, and she's an old cat. Even when he talked it over with my human, she agreed that she probably wouldn't cope with it. This was not an easy decision for him. He loves Kara dearly, and it took him many, many weeks to finally admit that it really was the best thing for her. So not only did Bug lose his house and his hand yesterday, but he lost his cat too. He needs a lot of well wishes right now, and he certainly has mine. Poor Bug. Me and the human hope he gets better real, real soon.





Now, it is Valentine's day today, so I'm conscious that I don't want to leave you with only bad news. The good is that I don't have to have no more stinky drugs in my food after today. Woohoo! The other good news is that I don't have so much snot in my nose any more! Now that I'm feeling a bit better, I've started thinking about the significance of today. It's supposed to be a day to share love, right? To be together? To appreciate each other? Doesn't that mean that it's the human's duty to ply me with chicken and tuna and cuddles and all the treats I can eat? I spose it also means I have to give her unlimited snuggles, but I can live with that. Now, I know a lot of you mancats already have valentines dates, but if you also could do with some tuna and snugglings, then you're more than welcome to come over! Don't worry, I'm not possessive. I won't tie you down! Hehehe, I know mancats like to be free and easy.





Right, I'm off to get things ready. I'll try my best to eat the last of this stinky drug foods so that whoever comes over won't be exposed to it. Then it's tuna all the way!

To the Vet Again

Well, I'm afraid that's exactly where I went, and all because the human heard something she shouldn't have done. She's a physio, as I've told you before, and she keeps something called a stethoscope at home. This is used to listen to the breathing and hearts of babies and other peoples that she treats, but she got to thinking. Why couldn't she use it on me? As long as she cleaned it well, there should be no problem. And it had a paediatric diaphragm on one side, so it should fit on my ribs quite nicely. Out it came and she got to listening. What she heard wasn't reassuring.



The left lung was very clear and sounded great, but the right lung was noisy and wheezy. This is particularly not good cuz if you breathe something in, it's much more likely to go into the right lung because of the formation of the bronchi (the tubes that run down from your wind pipe into your lungs). The fact that the left was clear and the right wasn't was worry enough that she put me in the PTU to take me to the vet. She said it was better to prevent infection now so as to avoid aspiration pneumonia than to wait and see if I got worse or better. Pneumonia is so serious that she didn't want to risk it.


Have I mentioned that I hate vet peoples? It seems as though I'm forever there over these last few months, and the human says she's at her wit's end. This was made no better yesterday when the man people who drove the taxi that took us there asked why she didn't just have me put to sleep cuz I was costing so much. The very idea of it! The human told him, very politely too, that when you take on a pet, you take on the responsibility of owning one. Resources providing, if you'd do it for a human child, you should do it for your pet too. Now, the human doesn't actually have the resources, so she wasn't totally truthful to the man people, but I was so shocked that I didn't bother to correct her on it. Friends, have you ever come across this peoples attitude towards us? It's one thing them thinking they own us, but quite another when they consider ending our lives just because we cost too much to keep. Do they think they're God? What gives them the right to believe they have the power to do this? My human says it's a mark of today's throw away society. These days, peoples would rather buy something new to replace a broken thing than to take it to the shop to have it fixed. It's cheaper too. Isn't that sad? Cheaper to buy a new thing than to keep the old one working. Seems that it's the same with cats in the minds of some peoples. True, the human could have had two or three kitten breeding cats for what she's paid in the vet peoples for me, but that's immaterial. When she decided she'd like to be owned by me, she took on all of the responsibility that goes with it. She doesn't want a new me. She'd very much like to keep this model going regardless of the cost, and I'm very grateful for it. It means penny pinching again this month, and she now has no savings in the bank, so she says I'd better not get sick again, but at least I'm still going for now. At least she won't throw me away, end my life for her convenience so that she can get a newer, better functioning model.


So, to get back to my story, the vet lady people had a listen to my chest and a look at me. She took my temperature which was normal, but she too was worried about the possibility of whatever I have developing into an infection. She gave me antibiotic tablets to take, and something called a mucolytic. These are drugs which go in my food and thin out the gunk I have in my lungs and nose. That should, in theory, make it easier to cough up. Problem is though that I've only sneezed once or twice today, so not much is coming up. Still, I don't care as long as I don't get infection and pneumonia, cuz that would be nasty, nasty, nasty.


Thank you for all of your get better messages. They mean such a lot to me. I hope you'll keep your paws crossed that things get better instead of worse, and your purr motors on. I'm struggling. When I purr I blow snot bubbles and then I have to stop and clean my nose and then I forget that I was purring. When I put my head down to eat, my nose gets all blocked, and I don't know about you, but food's the last thing on my mind when I can't breathe. The human has been hand feeding me sometimes, which helps a little, but I just wish I could eat normally. So does the human, cuz if I don't eat what's down, I won't get all of the mucolytic. It's taken me all day to eat a quarter of a pouch of foods and that's not like me. Hopefully the antibiotics are starting their work! I'll keep you posted.

Healing the Hurt

Friends, I have to say that we cats do this remarkably well, if you ask me. No people can escape the subtle, incidious healing power of the purr when it's directed at them. Did you know it's been proven to reduce blood pressure in peoples who have exposure to it? It also stimulates the release of happy hormones. With this in mind, the human has been getting massive doses of purr therapy over the last few days. I've taken the opportunity to snuggle her, cuddle her, knead on her and generally be around her whenever she's available. I can't say that I find the work very unpleasant. Hard, definitely, but rewarding in its own way, as she gives me lots of treats and scratches.




She's not the only one that needs healing though. I've started to sneeze again, real, real bad, well, bad for me. I'm doing it a few times every hour, and my breathing is a tiny bit noisy in my nose. The human got out her chest thing called a stethoscope last night to have a listen to my chest to see what she could hear, but it wasn't noisy down there, so she thinks the problem's in my nose again. She's going to monitor me closely, and if it gets any worse, off down the vet I go, yet again. I'm starting to hate that place, and the human's starting to feel like they might think she's a bit of a fraud cuz she's down there so often. It's no fun on either side.





She steamed me this morning. This means that she put me in the bathroom and turned the shower on really, really hot. I've never been steamed before, and I don't really like it all that much, but the human said that if it was mucous that was making me breathe funny, this would loosen it up for me and make it easier to sneeze out. She was getting ready for the work hunt, so left me in there myself. Well, I was all right for a little while, but then it started to get hotter and hotter, and the air started to get thicker and wetter and I don't mind telling you that I got mighty scared. I started to cry, then I started to yowl, then I screamed. I don't do this often, but when I do, you can bet that it gets the human's attention right away. Thinking I might have gotten in the shower and got burned by the hot water, she came rushing in to see what she could do. But I wasn't hurt, just scared. She picked me up and cuddled me close, and although this meant I was in even steamier air (steam rises, so the higher air was more full of it), I didn't mind. It wasn't scary with my human in there with me. She stayed in there for about ten minutes so that I'd have a chance to breathe in lots of steam, but it didn't help much. When she left to carry on getting ready for the work hunt, I let her go. I wasn't so scared any more. She let me out before she went out herself, and there was a plate of stinky goodness down for me. She says that it's important for me to have enough moisture in my body so that mucous doesn't thicken and go nasty and hard to get out, so she's giving me more stinky goodness than normal. She also put some stuff called coloidal silver in there. That's sposed to help fight infection and nasties, so we'll see. Even if I don't get any worse, if I haven't cleared up by Monday, we'll go to the vet anyway.





The human has no plans for the weekend other than packing. there's a people coming tomorrow to look at the flat to see if they want to live here once we're done with it. I don't know if I'll like them, but the human says we have to be all neat and tidy for when they come round. That means the horrible hoover gets to come out again. I don't like it!





The human sent some flowers home and a card cuz she can't get back to Ireland for the funeral of Gary. She's sad about this, but it can't be helped. With my bills and the house move and all of the rest, she doesn't have spare moneys that she can spend on the flights to go. It doesn't matter though. His funeral is tomorrow, but we'll say our own goodbyes. This suits the human better anyway. She's a private person with her grief, and she hates, hates, hates funerals. She'd far rather remember peoples the way they were, not the way they end up.





We understand there's been some healing needed over at the CB too. We don't like it when peoples and other friends fall out with each other. I really hope it can be sorted out soon, and will be keeping my paws crossed.





That's all from me for today. I feel another sneeze coming on, and I don't want to splatter the keyboard. See ya!

Wordy Wednesday: Why?

Friends, this is going to be a short post, I think. We haven't had much sleep, the human isn't in any fit state really for writing, and I'm on nurse duty which is, at the moment, taking up all of my attention. I told you my days are never dull, and I really did mean it!




We did manage to get on the train yesterday, and we even managed to get all the way home. I'm so comfortable on trains now that I spent most of the journey yesterday on my back and purring fit to burst. The only bad bit about them is that you gotta sit still for such a long time. I don't like that part.





The place we live was very cold when we got home, so the first thing the human did was to put the heat on full blast. I like it when she does this. She didn't stay awake too long, but fed me my stinky goodness, then climbed into bed with the phone that she uses to talk to Bug. Not long after that, she was asleep. This is where the trouble starts.





The human has two phones. One of them she calls a house phone, and the other is a mobile. The mobile goes everywhere with her, even to bed. Bug once asked her about this whenever it rang and woke them out of a sleep, but she explained that she needs to sleep with it close-by in case something is wrong back home where the family are. As I've mentioned before, the HGG is quite sick, and the human knows that if she sleeps through a phone call, it could be really bad if she's to get back in time to see her. The mobile doesn't often ring at night, but lately, when it has, it's been friends calling who just haven't realised the time.





We were startled out of a dead sleep by the ringing of the mobile, and the human is so trained that she picked it up without really fully coming awake. If it was a friend, she would tell them to go away and go back to snoring. But she went from cutely sleepy to fully awake in about half a second, shouting "What? What? Say it again!" She was so upset that she pushed the hang up button instead of the volume up button by mistake, then got more upset cuz the phone call had gotten ended. I watched, not liking what I was seeing. She was sat up, white and shaking.





The mobile rang again, and this time fully awake, she understood the message. Sadly, in the evening on 08th Feb, her humancousin, Gary, was found in a friend's flat about an hour away from where the family live. He had decided that it was time for him to cross the rainbow bridge, and had made it happen. The human couldn't believe it, and was shocked on two fronts. Gary sounds very like granny when you're half asleep, and this is who she thought had crossed initially. The HGG is one of, if not the most dear peoples to her in the world, next to me of course, so you can imagine the blow it would have been if it was her. Gary's passing was so unexpected that she still can't quite believe it.





There's been no sleep since she heard about it last night, and my fur might as well have been bathed in sea water for all the salt she's cried into it, but I let her. Even when I've had enough, I'll come back a few minutes later to see how she's holding up. She has the work hunt this morning, so she needs to put on her pretty face for that, which I'll help her do. She also has the horrible task of telling the HG cuz she's the only one that can get in contact with her while she's travelling round the world. She doesn't want to give her the news, but she's gotta. She's asked the HG to phone her, so hopefully I'll be around when that happens so I can give her snuggle support.





Friends, I'm writing this here just so that you know what's going on if we don't write for a few days. This last passing has taken the heart out of the human, so it might take her a little while to get back on track. But on the other paw, she doesn't know if she'll need the outlet of writing for me to help distract her, so we just don't know. We might write, we might not. You'll just have to wait and see! Remember, snuggle your peoples. Sometimes, they deserve it!

Tricky Tuesday

I never have a dull day, do you know that? Well, I do, but they're few and far between at the moment. As you know, I was due to go home yesterday, but I didn't manage it in the end. Oh, sure, I got to the train station all right, riding in splendor as befits my rank on the lap of my human in the front seat of Mark's car. I'm getting braver now. The more I come to trust the human, the more I can explore without being frightened. Usually when we drive, I just lie down and close my eyes and have a sleep, but yesterday I stood up on my human's knee and had a good look at everything all around me as we drove, and I didn't get scared once!




I was good in the PTU at the station too. I sang, but as I'd had that nasty anaesthetic the day before, I felt it wouldn't be propper to over exert my vocal chords. It's bad for them, you know. Instead of the aria that I'd planned, I performed a simple pop song instead, much to the amusement of the people who works in the shop where the human bought some water. Just as we were about to head for the train though, we heard an announcement that said that it wasn't running. There'd been a fatality on the line, whatever that is. My human didn't want to talk about it, but she did tell me it meant that someone had been killed. Not a nice thought for a Monday afternoon, I can tell you. They'd cancelled a lot of trains and there were major delays. The human knows that four hours is about my limit for travel tolerance, and she can't expect more of me than that. It takes us four hours on a good day to get from here to Yorkshire, but with the delays, it might have been double that. We didn't chance it. Instead, we got back in Mark's car and came all the way back to Dogman's house again. And here we still are. We'll try again today to get on the train, and hopefully this time we'll actually make it back!





The human's medical for her new work hunt went well yesterday. They said she was fit for post whatever that means, so now she's only waiting on the last bit of paper, the risk assessment, to come back. Once that's clear, they'll confirm a start date for her, and we'll be all set.





Amy, just to clarify, we are indeed moving, but the post on Sunday was by Kara, a cat who owns a special people friend of mine and the human's called Bug. She's moving too. My human hasn't started packing our stuff yet. She says she's leaving it as late as possible to cause me less stress, but personally I think she's leaving it cuz she can't face the idea of packing up again, a presumption enforced by the long, loud groans every time she bumps into a box.





Karen, Dogface has settled beautifully into her new home. We see her when we come up here every time Dogman's around at the weekends. The human has tried to interact with her as little as possible so as to make sure she bonds tightly with Dogman without old ties and loyalties getting in the way... As if dogfaces could be loyal! Dogface was a little confused by this initially, but seems to be understanding now, and while she still comes for cuddles, she's more focused on Dogman for her attention. She still whacks me in the face with that stupid, stupid tail though, and it's so big that it invariably knocks me off whatever I'm sitting on. Then Dogman has the nerve to tell me off when I thwap Dogface with my claws when she walks past. And all because Dogface does this little jump as if to say, in her stupid way, "Eh? What was that? Where'd it come from?" I don't even hit her hard enough that she yelps, but Dogman still doesn't like it when I do it. Stupid Dogman.





Now that I'm trusting the human more and more every day, I've been practicing the kissie game. This is something that the human has always played with me ever since I started going and showing off my floof to the judges and peoples who think I'm gorgeous enough to give me prizes. the game involves her giving me kissies in the weirdest of places out of the blue, and me not being surprised or flinching away, and getting loads of cuddles in return. Getting kissies also appears to be something I wasn't used to in the old home, but it's important in shows. Judges will often give you kissies if they like you, and just to see how you react. Even tempered cats will take it. Affectionate ones will give head bumpies.





It's important for me to feel comfortable with kissies so that I won't get scared or worried if a judge gives me one. The human started by rubbing her cheek against my shoulder. I didn't like this for months and months and would pull away from her when she did it, but she kept with it until I learned that cheek rubbing means that I'm gonna get lots of great cuddles shortly afterward. Then she progressed to burying her face in my furr. I didn't like that either, but again, she persisted. Just recently she's started making the kissie noise which I really don't like. it startles me and I always pull away. But over the last few days I've let her get closer and closer with that silly kissie mouth of hers. Today, I actually let her propperly kiss my tummy and even the top of my head, something unheard of even a week ago. As smooshy as this is going to sound, I actually liked it, so much so in fact that I put my head straight up for a good, solid scratching session behind the ears. Do any of you get kissies from silly people kissie mouths? How do you deal with it if you do? Is it really the thing to do to submit to them and actually like them? I know I will do it for the judges, but they're important peoples, and it could mean that I get a prize for doing it. But do I really have to give in to this sort of smushy degradation on a daily basis at home? Please tell me I don't!

Supposedly Sage Sunday: It's Not My Move

I'm back once again with a hopefully brighter topic of interest than last week. It's still something somewhat confusing though, so allow me to ramble and soon enough I'm sure you'll understand.
We cats like to roam a little; we find an area - a house, a back yard, a network of streets if we live outside - and it's our territory. Of course, it goes without saying that territory inside a house with people to pet you, food on demand and protection from cold, rain and mean things far outmatches any other, and because humans seem bent on stopping us from going out on our own when we agree to co-exist in this territory with them, it's very difficult to move up stakes. Humans, though, can move whenever they want. Have any of you cats noticed this? Suddenly they start getting rid of things, start putting other things into boxes and bags, and then before long there are other people there to help them put the boxes and bags and other stuff into big trucks and cars. Usually, this also means being stuffed unwillingly into a carrier for the trip. I've been moved a few times in my adult life - always with the same humans, people I know and love, thankfully - and I can see the signs, but I'm no closer to understanding why it is that cats can't just claim new territory, but humans can. I don't resent humans for it, not exactly, but I definitely do wonder. Is there something bad about where they live that makes the move on...a collected smell, another animal encroaching on their living space, something like that? Or are they just prone to wanderlust like certain other animals are? I can tell you that I myself have never noticed such a smell or animal, and thus my confusion continues.
Come to that, why do humans have so many things? Us cats get along with nothing more than food, water, a place to dispose of our bodily products and excessive chin-tickles and stroking. First off, I've never seen humans chin-tickle each other in the way that we cats can't seem to do without, so they must be missing something. But, as I was saying, humans have all sorts of things, some of which they hardly even seem to use. They have stuff they wear over their skin which smells different than they do when they first put it on, but I suppose that having so little hair they might need it to keep them warm. They have big fluffy things to put where they sleep, but combined with the things they wear, I'd figure they'd roast at night. They have a big box with a glass door that cooks their food, a little box that hums and seems to do the same thing, and then a big box with two doors to keep their food cold! Can't they make up their minds? And then there's all the assorted bits that litter tables and shelves, small things mostly and for which I have no description because they're not interesting to remark upon except to wonder about their existence. Anyway, you'd think that if humans liked moving, they would keep fewer things, like us cats do, so that when the urge took them or necessity set in, they could just take what they needed - some things to keep them warm and a little food, maybe - and just go. Instead, these fickle creatures seem to delight in creating and obtaining things that have to be packed up and then unpacked every time they want a change of scenery! It's ridiculous, I tell you! And what's more, it seems to stress them out, which means we have double duty as stress-relievers...more than normal, I mean. I personally don't mind this, since my method of relieving stress with Gregg is to cuddle with him, purr softly and just let him rub my fur, which is a win-win situation for both of us as I'm sure you can imagine. Some cats, I'd think, would be really bothered by their humans moving around a lot...cats that need a lot of attention and reassurance, mostly of the younger crowd, who aren't yet convinced that someone will always be there in some form or other. Humans claim they love cats, and yet they deliberately do something which will upset some of them. They may be intelligent, but they're equally inscrutable.
The reason I'm talking about moving this week, incidentally, is because I think Gregg is getting ready to move. In fact, after this morning, I'm almost sure of it. For the last little while he's been fiddling with things he normally doesn't touch much, putting them into bags and boxes and then disappearing outside with them. When he comes back in, the bags and boxes are gone, and there's a little more empty space somewhere. This morning though, Gregg's dad came. I've stayed at his house a few times when Gregg has gone away, so I know both he and his wife quite well. They both came today, and brought with them a lot of empty boxes. Some cats seem to love empty boxes, but as far as I'm concerned, they're tiny rooms that make a lot of noise when you bash into the walls, and they don't even have any food in them! Thus, I stayed out of the way under the couch while they proceeded to fill the previously empty boxes with more of Gregg's things. Eventually, Gregg's dad and his wife put all the boxes in their car and left, and it was then that I really noticed the difference. The table by Gregg's bed, which used to be covered in all sorts of items, was now almost bare. The shelves over in the corner, which used to have a lot of squarish things in cardboard cases, were now covered in nothing but dust. All the signs are here, and they definitely confirm why I've felt the need to be extra-snuggly lately. He's moving, all right. And that means I'm moving too. The only questions for me, at this point, are where we're going and when we have to leave. I've been in this little house in the big building for three years now - or so Gregg claims - and aside from a very early escape outside through a screen door left open by mistake, I've really grown attached to it. It's quite small, but it's comfortable, and at least I know where everything is. Now he's decided he has to leave for some reason, and I'll be obliged to come with him. I'll probably not mind too much once I get settled down - there has to be food there, after all, and I'm sure to get lots of cuddling and belly-stroking and such - but it'll be new, and change is not always a good thing. I guess I'm stuck with it either way though, and should just make the most of things.
If any of you other cats have any idea why it is that your people move sometimes, do let me know. And if you're wise enough to truly understand why they have so many different possessions when they need so few, by all means enlighten me - and the rest of us, for that matter - with your wisdom. If you don't mind though, I've got some empty cupboards to poke around in...

Sucky Update

Friends, it's me, and I'm not writin' much cuz I feel way too groggy. I just thought I'd tell you I'm home. I'll let the human tell the rest. I gotta sleep!




Well, there's good news and there's news that could be good or bad depending on how you look at it. The good news is that she's home and alive and as normal as a cat can be after having been given an anaesthetic. The not so certain news is that they didn't find anything up her nose. They did find a few marks and scratches, some of which had a discharge, but they didn't spot a foreign body. It's good because at least there's nothing up there, but not so good because it would have been nice to have a concrete reason for the sneezing.





The vet, who's incredibly nice, by the way, says that it looks as though Tia got too up close and personal with a bramble, but Dogman says he doesn't have any in the garden at this time of year. I'm not so sure though. The vet says it looks like the bramble got sniffed a little too much, and that it pricked her on the inside of the nose. That would account for the marks, and to some extent, for the sneezing.





While she was sedated, they flushed out and cleaned both nostrils very thoroughly, and although she's sneezed a few times since she's been home, it's nothing compared with how it was. Now that could be because the anaesthetic is dulling the urge, but I'm going for the more hopeful option that the flush means there'll be hardly any more sneezes. The vet did say that she could have flushed something small out that she just didn't see, and the suction did pick up quite a lot of loose hairs when we did it earlier, so it could be a combination of the discharge making the hairs clump, then the hairs becoming and irritant rather than being flushed out. The fact is, we just don't know.





I've been sent home with some anti-inflammatories to give her, and she's been injected with antibiotics and anti-inflammatories to keep her going for the next day or so. Hopefully, the combination will mean that we don't see any more sneezing at all. Now I've just got to somehow find the cash for yet more staggeringly huge vet bills. Ah, Tia, what a costly thing loving you is! I'd not change it for the world though.





She's already getting her tortitude back. After she'd fallen off the sofa due to poor coordination, she whined at me until I lifted her back up there. She got really comfy on her back, and it took me five whole minutes to be able to move her from that position so that I could sit down. Claws and teeth did what they could to prevent me, little madam, but it's encouraging to see that an anaesthetic doesn't leave her lethargic for days on end. Knowing my luck, it'll wear off fully just in time for her to start screaming and shouting on the journey home tomorrow. I'm sorry that Tia's vet visit has stolen the Supposedly Sage Sunday spot, but I hope Kara will post anyway.

Sucky Sunday: In More Ways Than One.

Friends, this Sunday does indeed suck. It sucks worse than yesterday, and that's saying something.




My nose has been driving me absolutely nuts. Imagine having someone constantly tickling you with a feather. That's how bad it feels! I've been sneezing and sneezing and the more I sneeze, the more it tickles. Even when I purr, it irritates. It's hard though. When the human picks me up, my instinct is to begin purring immediately, but of course, I've had to stop myself doing that. I give her little tiny ones, but as soon as I do, I sneeze again. Still, I keep trying for her.





This morning, the human woke up not because I was shouting at her, but cuz I climbed up on the pillow by her head for a snuggle. I was just settling quietly down so that when she wakened, I'd be right there for strokings, but just as my face was over hers, the urge hit me. She got sneeze juice in the face a whole four times! I was scared. I thought she'd be cross with me. She doesn't usually like waking up, and although she's not usually scary, this was a big step up in the wake up human war. I wouldn't like it if someone sneezed in my face. She just rolled over and held me in close though and said we'd go see the vet when Dogman was awake to help us get there. And that's what we did.





It was a vet lady people this time, and on the outset, she was lovely. Usually vet peoples don't talk to me, but she did. She gave me loads of cuddles when she was looking at me, and even rubbed my head quite nicely. But then she started to poke about in my nose. She shone a bright light up there, then put a magnifying glass there too. She said she thought she could see something, and out came the tweezers, but I couldn't stand it. Every time she put them up my nose, I flinched, and she was worried she was going to damage me. The human asked if they had something called suction. I didn't know what this was, but the vet lady people did, and seemed surprised when the human said I was well tempered enough to have her try it out while I was still awake. I started to get worried, but really, what else was there to do? The damned thing in my nose was just so tickly. I couldn't handle it any more!





I got even more worried when they wrapped me in a towel and put me on a special blanket. The vet lady people had put valerian on it to keep me calm, and had sprayed her hands with something that smelled like happy cats (feramones, she called them), but although it helped, it in no way prepared me for what was to come.





It all started with the noise. Imagine the sound of a car and a really angry hissing mancat or ladycat. It was a big cat though, and the hiss never stopped long enough for it to draw breath. Although I looked everywhere, all I could see was a tube in the vet's hand. The noise was coming from it. As she brought it closer to my face, I got more and more worried. Was she going to do what I thought she was? Surely it wasn't possible. But it was.





That tube with the angry cat and the car in it went right up my nose, and no matter how I twisted and turned, I couldn't escape the human who was cuddling me very, very tightly. She kept telling me it would be Ok over and over again, but it wasn't. I cried, I shouted, I got myself hunched up really small, but it made no difference. I was dripping spit from my mouth, I was covered in snot and I was not happy. To make matters worse, the lady people couldn't get the sucker in deep enough to catch the nasty up my nose. It's a horrid feeling having a hissing cat car tube sucking the inside of your nose, and when I got out of the towel, I clung to the human as tightly as I could. But there was worse to come.





I heard the word sedation. I know what that means. It means sleepies in the vet place. It also means no human. I don't like that, but as they spoke, I understood that it was the only way to get rid of the thing in my nose. The human left me at the vet lady people's house, and she got real nice to me again. As the human left, she was cuddling me and stroking me, and the human thinks she even heard her kiss me, but I'm not telling. Even though she does horrible things to me, I can't help liking her a little. i'm feeling pretty sleepy now though.





Human: She went into surgery about an hour and a half ago, and I'm just waiting for a phone call now to tell me how she's doing. I'm worried sick. The suction was hard on her, but she was a little trooper and didn't try and bite even once. I just hope they're able to get hold of whatever it is that's troubling her nose without too much trouble. I hate leaving her at the vets. I hate the risks involved in sedation. I hate it when she's sick. We need a break now. We've been at the vet's too often of late, and I want it to stop. Please keep my Tia in your thoughts today. She could do with positive vibes, and lots of them. I'll update as soon as I know more.

Sneezy Saturday

That's what I've been doing all day, friends, or most of it. Sneezing. I just can't seem to stop!




I went in the garden earlier with the human, and then again with Dogman this afternoon. It was after the second trip outdoors that I started to sneeze. The human can't work out whether I've got something stuck up my nose or whether I'm irritated by strange smells. She thinks the former cuz when I sneeze, I do it real big, but in between I do little breath catches and half snort sneeze things. My breath also catches a little when she flips me up. But then the sneezing did coincide with her and Dogman cooking dinner, and there was a little bit of smoke from the oven, and the smell of onion when they were chopping it, so we just don't know. Perhaps it was the smell of all that combined that set me off.





The human gave me some physio on my chest to try and help me move the stuff if something's lodged in there, but of course, if it's in my nose, this isn't going to help. Has anyone else ever had anything stuck up your nose so that you sneeze a lot? If so, how did you get rid of it? The vet peoples aren't working tomorrow, so the human's hoping we don't need to go there, as it would be an emergency and would cost a lot. Any suggestions?

Learning to Trust

Trust. Such a tiny word, but such a huge concept, is it not? It comes in so many guises, on so many different levels. There's the basic sort, the sort that tells me that, just like yesterday and the day before and the day before, I'll still have a warm place to lie, and a dry place out of the wind to curl up in and sleep today. Then there's the practical type. I trust that when I shout, my human will provide me food or love, or basically whatever I desire. This one's a little iffy though. Is it trust or certainty? I ask because a lot of training went into her to make sure she obliges whenever I wish it, but then she could change her mind and not give me what I want, so I suppose there's elements of both.




Then comes the trust in the unknown. I trust my human to keep me safe in new situations, and she trusts me to keep her safe from any mousies or stupid dogfaces or any other strange animal that might crop up in these new situations. Last night, for example, although I was a little ascared of all the big noises and the loud trains and the new peoples, I managed to sleep most of the way down on the train cuz I trusted that my human wouldn't let any of them harm me. I knew she'd be on watch while I dozed. My trust wasn't misplaced.





Those types are fairly straightforward, or as straightforward as anything of this nature can be, but they don't take into account the other trust; the hardest type to give, but the most rewarding when it isn't misplaced. This I call the intimate trust. I don't really know how to define it other than the letting down of the last barriers that you hold between yourself and others. For example, when you want a mancat and he gets close enough to do what he needs to, you gotta trust him not to tear your neck open while he's scruffing you. I haven't got there with mancats yet. My trust is hard to earn.





However, I'm starting to get there when it comes to my relationship between me and the human. I've always liked peoples, but in a sort of guarded way. My human doesn't think anyone's ever been cruel to me, but nor does she think I've been handled and cuddled quite as much as I should have been, nor shown that very quiet, patient, unassuming kindness that is the first stepping stone in the long path towards obtaining intimate trust. I say this because, although I snuggle with peoples, I won't do it straight away with strangers. I'm wary of them. Sure, I'll let them pick me up, but I don't really fully relax, and I certainly don't give them head bumpies or anything like that. I'm getting better at this. The human has taught me over time that most peoples, in fact all of them who come to my house, only want to love me and do nice things like give me scritches or chin tickles. There's still a long way to go, but I now feel happy enough to purr if a people is nice and gentle and considerate when they put me on their lap.





But I digress. I was talking about intimacy with the human; not the crasse type, but intimacy of the soul. With her I will snuggle more readily than with anyone else. I don't mind admitting that I feel affection for her. I headbump her. I rub my face on her. I even groom her poor, hairless skin. I also show her my yummy tummy, but I've been quite guarded about doing it. I really love having it tickled, and will lie there for quite some time while she does it, but my paws are always at the ready to grab her if her hand worries me, and I'll often lift my head. True, I've never needed to grab her with anything close to claws, and my head does nuzzle right against her hand, but this latter usually succeeds in pushing her away from my tummy whilst letting me get a good look at what she's doing to make sure I'm in no danger. It's basically my friendly way of telling her I've had enough, that I'm not comfy with any more attention to the yummy tummy, but that I still love her. I tend not to use the claws on her much cuz I know that her eyes are too broke for her to see them coming, so it startles her when I use them.





She got to thinking about Anna the other day. One of her fondest memories is of Anna as a babycat before her personality changed. She used to lie on the human's knee with her tiny paws stretched right out over her head so that the human had full access to her tummy. I've never done it, although I do want to. Sometimes I twitch the front paws up there for a good stretch. It feels so nice with the combination of the stretch and her hands, but I just don't trust her enough to stay like that, or at least, I didn't.





I spoke about removing barriers, the last, most tender ones. Barriers don't just disappear. They drop slowly. Over the last few days, mine have been dropping. It started with the stretch, then I kept the paws up there for slightly longer. I found myself liking her hands running over my taught tummy. Actually, it feels glorious. She didn't pull or tug at me, she didn't do anything nasty. She just stayed nice and quiet and stroked me. I'd had enough pretty quickly and pulled my feet back down to protect myself, but she just carried on stroking, never breaking rhythm. It was soothing, comforting, safe. Tentatively, the paws went back up again. I kept them on her arm rather than having them all the way up, but she didn't push for me to give her more. She just worked with what she had.





This is the characteristic of my human that makes me trust her more each day. She never pushes. Sure, she tells me off if I use my claws and teeth, sure, she makes me let her brush my yummy tummy whether I want it or not, but never does she take me beyond my limits. She's always ready to give reassurance, to stop the activity that i'm struggling with to give me a cuddle and time to calm down again and realise everything's Ok, and it's this that makes the intimate trust grow and flower in me. When I came to her, I hated having her touch my eyes to clean them. I had really bad eyes. They weren't cleaned often enough and they hurt. With gentleness and patience, she taught me that pain doesn't come from her cleaning, and now I actually let her pick the crusties out with her fingers, and I purr all the while cuz I know that my eyes will feel cleaner once they're gone.





I have a thing about my head. I don't like peoples hands coming too near it unless they're slow, and I don't snuggle it down even against the human. Sure, I like it when she scratches the top, but I don't like to lay it on anything except a bed or my paws. The human has been working to show me that it's not frightening or bad if I lie my head on her, but I just couldn't get over the worry. Until this morning.





Today, just as she was getting dressed, I climbed up on the bed beside her and asked for a cuddle. She obliged of course. I started in my usual crouch, but soon flopped to my side where I curled up. Then I flipped to my back and, a little uncertainly, put my paws up a little bit, inviting her to touch the tummy. Surprisingly, when she did it, I still liked it. Her other hand lay beside me on the bed, and I got to thinking. Last night when I was worried, I trusted her. Could I do it today? Deciding to be brave, I rolled over very slowly. My feet were towards her now, and my paws were still up. She had an exposed view of the yummy tummy, and I was relaxed. As she carried on tickling, I very gingerly snuggled a bit closer. This brought my head in line with her hand. I had a problem. I wanted more tummy time, but if I laid my head on the flat bed, I'd have to move. Slowly, very slowly, I lowered it to rest on her hand, but kept my neck real tense so that I could spring it away again if something bad happened. But it didn't. In fact, nothing happened. her hand stayed where it was, and the tummy stroking continued.





I didn't stay like that for very long, but the human says that those few moments were the most precious of her day. I don't know if I'll repeat the exercise, but, like it or not, I'm learning to trust. I can't say that it's all that bad. All it seems to do is bring nice things. I feel closer to the human every day. It's special. It's a communion on a deeper level than either of us have ever experienced before. Putting your head in someone's hand doesn't sound like a big breakthrough, but for us, it's another few stepping stones on the path to true unity.

Preparations

Friends, today and yesterday have been busy, busy, busy! The human has had a lot to do. She's been washing my food bowls, folding the clothes that peoples use to cover their hairless skins with, putting her smelly purfume and her hairbrush out, and then packing the smaller version of the computer with the talking man in it, into the suitcase. This is called a laptop for any of you who are wondering. Of course, I had to snoopervise everything that was going on. No packed suitcase is complete without a liberal coating of Tia hair over its contents, so dutifully, I climbed in there, dug through the neat piles, rolled around and generally had myself a good time! The human didn't share in my enthusiasm for this passtime, but I've discovered that it's a sure fire way of getting picked up very, very quickly! Let me outline the steps for you in case you're wanting to train your people to scoop you up on command.




Step one: Find an open, partially or fully packed suitcase. This, I warn you, can be tricky. I know the human has them in our house, but they remain hidden for most of the time. Sure, I find empty ones, but the full ones only seem to come out from hiding a few times in any given year. A lot of biding your time and waiting for your chance will be necessary to achieve this step.





Step two: Investigate. This should be done in a polite, gentle manner of course. Make sure your people is watching you as you daintily step and sniff all over the contents of the case. Note: If you dive in, claws flailing, tail lashing, play fighting everything in sight, the people will pick you up all right, but will simply toss you out of the room if you're a repeat offender. No, you need to convince them that you are innocently curious. Pretend you've never seen a full suitcase before if you have to, no matter how many times you've been in one. If they think you're only investigating, they'll excuse you more if, or more appropriately when, you decide to get a little more rambunctuous. Shout and yell at your peoples if they aren't in the room with you when you carry out this step. It's imperritive that they watch this bit. Repeat a few times for good measure.





Step three: It doesn't matter whether the people sees you do this or not. In fact, it's probably better that they don't, cuz then you get to have more fun time, and still be picked up at the end for a snuggle. Sneak up to the suitcase. Crouch. Twitch your tail a few times. Crouch a bit lower. Fix your eyes on something that you want in that case. Make up, perfume and underwear are likely to get you the maximum attention in tthe fastest time. Twitch the tail a few more times, then jump. Claws should be out, burrowing instinct should be on full. Dive into the middle of that case and then pretend you're a wiggly cat wormy who needs to get all the way to the bottom. Once you're down there, explode out of the middle of the clothes, preferably holding the treasure in your mouth. Wriggle around on top for a bit to make the pile comfy, then lie back and enter bunnykicking heaven. It's at this point that your people will snatch you out of the case and remove the treasure from your teeth.





Step 4: Immediately go limp and pliant in their arms. Melt against them. Give their chin head bumpies. if you can bring yourself to do it, give them a "Wasn't that fun?" and "Would you like to play too?" miaow. The more kitten-like, the better. Maintain an expression of total innocence and kittenish curiosity. If that doesn't make your people go all gooey and snuggle you close, you obviously need to own a different one. There's no way they'll get cross at you after that.





You can repeat these steps as many times as you like, but be careful to leave an interval of at least half an hour between attacks. They seem to tire quickly of the game if you do it any more frequently than that.





Despite what my human calls my interference, the suitcase is all packed and ready to go. She zipped it all up tight before she left for the work hunt today so that I couldn't have any more fun with it. I'm not pleased about this. I'm a little concerned too. On my play in there, I didn't see one single ping pong ball or a mousey! The human says that's cuz the last two times we've gone to Dogman's house we've left all the toys we brought up there, and that there'll be plenty of things there for me, but I struggle with this concept. Less than a billion ping pong balls is not plenty!





Anyway, I'm off. I need to nap before my big, long journey! Gotta be well rested to greet the admiring public, after all. See you on the other side!

Wordy Wednesday: Review Time!

Finally, I get my own blog back! To write about me, and nothing but me! What's that, human? We're going to do a review? That you need to write most of because your opinion will matter to any peoples thinking about buying the thing we're going to review? This is outrageous! Honestly, this is my blog, nobody else's!




That', friends, was the conversation I had with that blog-hogging human of mine just before I started to write this. Now, given that she has the thumbs, and thumbs are necessary for opening and feeding stinky goodness, I am forced to admit the necessity for compromise with her sometimes. In light of this, I have decided that it is permissible for her to review products alongside me. She can write her thoughts at the beginning, and then I'll finish up with the important stuff. I can live with that.





I've been mentioning for some time now the smart new PTU the human got bought for her Birthday. I used it to go on that long, loooooong train journey to Oxford a few weeks ago, but sadly, friends, I'll be using it again tomorrow. The human has to go up there for yet more paperwork related to her job, the new one that is, so again, I get to travel. I'm half pleased by this, and half annoyed too. On the one paw, I do quite like to go adventuring, but on the other, it's such a drag to be stuck in a PTU for any length of time. I thought I'd better get my unbiased review of it up here before I'm forced to use it tomorrow, cuz you can be sure that once I've been in there, I'll have nothing good at all to say about it! Right, here goes. Human first, and then me.

Review: Outward Hound Backpack Carrier

The Outward Hound Backpack Carrier for Cats and Small Dogs
is exactly what you'd think it is by the name. In short, it is a carrier that straps to a human's back, enabling you to carry your pet and still have both hands free for the important tasks of, say, dragging your two ton suitcase full of cat stuff and perhaps a single change of clothes for you which had to be crammed in the very top due to space restrictions. Can you tell I'm bitter?





At first glance, I didn't like this carrier at all. It's made from canvas which feels rather like the stuff used to make those ghastly cheap sports bags that you used to take to physical education at school. Well, I did. It comes flat-packed, and is held together by zips alone. The two end pannels have a reinforced frame, and it is this that gives the bag its shape. Once the zips are done up, you're presented with a rectangle. The bottom has a solid board type pad in there so that the bag doesn't sag in the middle with the weight of your pet, and there's a thinner version of this against the wearer's back, again I presume to make sure the bag doesn't bow. The front of the bag (if you look at it with the backpack straps facing away from you) is pretty soft, but is held quite nicely by the tension on the zips and by a very thin metal bar which passes through the material from one side to the other (i.e, from end to end of the bag). The top, however, has no reinforcement at all, and does sag quite badly. This wouldn't be an inconvenience to most animals, but Tia hates material touching her head, so I found myself constantly having to pull it up for her. The top does have a mesh window in it so that they can see out, but if they don't want things touching their head, they're unlikely to turn their face upwards, as the material would then sag onto it.





The straps themselves are fairly adjustable, but not to the point where a very large person could wear the pack easily, unless it rode very high up on the shoulders. They have a thin padding in them which I thought would be hell on my shoulders, but surprisingly, it holds up remarkably well and is very comfy when worn. Leading from the upper part of the strap and attaching to that thin metal bar I spoke about earlier is an adjustable section of webbing strap. This is supposed to put tension on the carrier as you stand so that the bottom stays horizontal whether you're standing or sitting. However, I found that, not only did the clips let the tension slip as you walked, but when the straps were pulled tight, it also narrowed the carrier's width, due to all of the pressure being taken through that bar, which naturally travelled forward, i.e, closer to the wearer's back, to equalise the pressure. tia didn't seem to mind this though.





The size of the carrier itself is quite small. I wouldn't put a pet of more than about 12lb or so in here. Any bigger and I suspect they'd be squashed and uncomfortable. Tia weighs about9 lb, probably just slightly under, and even at her size, I was reluctant to keep her in there longer than necessary. They have enough room to lie, sit, and probably just about stand, and they can actually turn around in it, but due to the narrow width, this latter is a bit of an effort.





The carrier has a rigid pad in the bottom. This is totally removable, and fixes to the bottom of the carrier with velcro. It is also washable which is ideal if your cat has an accident. However, if they do, chances are that it'll run over the sides of the pat and into the underneath of the bag, so be prepared to scrub in there too. Although it's very good at stopping the bag from sagging under weight, it isn't very comfy, and its surface doesn't provide good purchase for paws. I padded mine out with a puppy pad which has the added bonus of being able to soak up nasty accidents too. Tia seemed to think this was comfy enough for her, and the pads provide extra grip for a pet's feet.





The bag has two straps which are held together by a handle in the middle. This can be used to carry the bag exactly like a holdall. When you do this, it's surprisingly light and easy to hold onto, and even when carried like this, it doesn't sway half as much as plastic carriers do, so your pet will still be comfortable. The Outward Hound is well ventilated, having a mesh pannel at either end, and a mesh window in the top. The top window can be unzipped so that you can put your hand in and give reassurance, and also so that the cat or dog can ride in the carrier with its head outside, looking at the world. The opening is quite large, so if you're going to use this, you need to ensure that the cat or dog is securely fastened to the clip inside the carrier to prevent a wriggling escape through the open window. This is located at the end of another long piece of webbing strap, and will snap securely to a harness or collar. It poses a problem when not in use, as it does swing about quite a lot inside the carrier, but I fed mine through one of the supporting zips so that it was on the outside. It kept it out of the way and didn't compromise the bag's functionality.





The only entrance provided is a side one. This is an arched opening in one end of the carrier that unzips completely. Its top half is the mesh portion, and the bottom is canvas. If your cat goes star-shaped, you're never going to get them into this carrier. You could try putting them through the top window. The opening is big enough, but I must state that this isn't what it's designed for. Tia had to be pushed into this carrier, but she has to be with any with a side opening, so that's not out of the ordinary.





To summarise:
Cons: small size, possible escape ability through top hatch, sagging top pannel, inadequate tension straps, not fully adjustable, side opening only, hard, uncomfortable bottom pad, no ability to secure privacy for the animal as mesh windows cannot be covered, no ability to give food or water, accidents will run into the interior of the bag.
Pros: Versatility, strength (even with tia clawing it, the canvas didn't even scratch, let alone rip), top pannel means easy viewing of pet, integrated restraint clip, flat-packs for storage, ventilation, comfortable straps, ability to carry in two different ways, very light.





As I say, I didn't like this bag when I first got it, but the more I use it, the more I come to appreciate its good points. It does have its bad ones, but it does a good enough job to be acceptable. I'd love to compare this with the Sherpa backpacks, but they're unavailable in the UK. If you need a backpack carrier, this one will do the job reasonably well.

Outward Hound PTU Review by Tia

Before I begin, I need to tell you that I hate PTUs. They're horrible, nasty, confining, stupid, nasty things. Have I said nasty yet? So whatever good points I make about this, it doesn't mean that I like it or wish to go in it more than is absolutely necessary.





This was unlike any PTU I'd ever been in before, and I wasn't sure about it for many, many days. The human bribed me in there with treats, and I got very practiced about darting in, nicking the treat and then hightailing it back out of there before the scary monster that it was could gobble me up. Over time though, I got more confident. it hadn't gobbled me all the other times before, so I gradually got slower and slower until I'd happily stand in there until the human was finished handing out the yummies. Initially, she zipped me up and took me for only short walks round the house where I let her live, and that, while not fun, was Ok. It's a different way of being carried. You're much higher up for one thing, and for another, you don't bump and sway half as much as before, cuz you're held quite snugly against the human's back. The one thing I didn't like about this was that I couldn't see my human when she was carrying me. I'm big on this. I never like letting her out of my sight, and I do get quite upset when she disappears on me, but I could still hear her voice.





As the human mentioned, I don't like things touching my head. The bit at the top rested there, no matter what way I twisted and turned, and at first, that's zactly what i did. I used my claws to try and dig my way out, but the PTU was too strong for me. I jumped, but the soft thing only bonked me on the head. Even when we got on the train, I still did my impression of a break-dancer as I tried to find an escape route. Even the mesh, the thinnest and most likely part to provide my escape, wasn't giving in to my attack. Eventually I gave up, ahem, I mean I rested for a while before launchinc my next assault.





This PTU is too small for my liking. Instead of stretching in a full-length sprawl for a quick bit of shut-eye, I had to do it in a tight ball. I couldn't jump as high as I wanted to, and even if I'd wanted them, there wouldn't have been much room for ping pong balls, mr mousey and my tuna. I made the humen pack them in the suitcase instead.





The PTU also smelled funny. The human had to leave it out for days to get the new, factory stink out, and the old familiar house stink in. It's still not completely gone though.





The human put the cat pad (I refuse to call it puppy pad) in the bottom, and with this in there, I found it adequate enough for my bones to rest on. It has lots of windows, so when we were walking down the platform, lots of peoples got to admire me. They see me easier cuz I'm high up and can be viewed from three different angles. They enjoyed talking to me and I enjoyed singing my best opera to them which, thanks to the mesh, they could hear very, very clearly. I could also survey my new domain from any angle I chose to. That's gotta be a bonus! There was plenty to watch as we travelled, and I have to admit, it got quite interesting at times! It's good to have this mesh up, cuz peoples can get close without actually touching me. I like it this way.





So that's all I have to say about it. It's as stinky as any PTU, and will be even more stinky soon cuz I'll be forced to go in it again! I hate tomorrow already! I'll like it when I get to Dogman's but right now, I hate it! Please note that I am taking requests for my programme of songs tomorrow. Get 'em in early, folks.