Further Update

I'm hoping like crazy this is the last one of these I have to write before Tia comes home. I miss her like mad today, this being made all the more poignant by my finding out about the soon to be loss of Molly yesterday. I haven't been able to settle totally since they told me. I feel like a bit of a lost soul, and am just drifting around the house desperate for something to do or somewhere to go. Tia helps when I feel like this. She's always up to something, and failing that, never minds a cuddling session, something I could do with right about now. If my stud people weren't unavailable today, I think I'd have already gone and got her.

In typical tortie fashion, Tia did exactly what she did last time. She wouldn't let the boy get anywhere near her. Every time he approaches, she apparently tucks her tail right between her legs and squats, so the poor lad doesn't have a hope of doing what he needs to. I'm hoping against hope that she lets him closer today, but to be honest, the realistic part of me scoughs at this.

In brighter news though, the stud owner, a very experienced breeder of many years, says that this is very normal behaviour for maiden queens. I was starting to think I'd never manage to get her mated. One of hers had to go to stud three times before she would even consider mating. As Tia's not a strong caller though, it does add other complications. Ah well, I guess we just wait and see what happens. And if she is never able to relax enough to allow herself to eventually have kittens, it won't change a thing. I'll love her just as I always have, tortitude and all.

Thank you so much to the three of you who visited yesterday and left supportive thoughts. It does help, I promise you. You're right though, it is a bit of a rough Christmas present, one I could quite thankfully do without, Mr Santa Clause. I have started the application process for a new dog, but there is a long waiting list. I'm probably looking at years before I have the chance at another one. To be brutally honest, it feels almost mean to think of another one replacing Molly right now. It's strange how many people ask if I'll be getting another dog as their first question. It hurts to know she's leaving and another might be coming. In a way, it's like the death of a pet, retiring your dog. As all of you who have lost one know, the last thing you want to do while grieving is think of its replacement in your family.

For now, I make the most of my time with her. She's happy, and snoring her head off at the moment. Tomorrow I'll have my Tia home, and my little family will be complete once more, if only for a short time. I'll cherish it while I can.

Molly Moves

I'm afraid it's only the human again. I have no news on Tia yet. I'm due to call the lady who has her tonight and ask what's been happening.

I wish I could say I have no news on Molly either. I know this blog is for cats, but I also know that many of you are interested in her progress.

The people from Guide Dogs came out this morning. I was only expecting them to give her her injection and to have the usual general chat about how we were getting on, but they asked to see her working. I took her out while they walked behind and watched. As always, we worked well together. But when we got back, they were to drop a bombshell.

They explained to me that she was struggling when she was walking. Her hips are so bad that she's apparently crossing her back legs when she steps, and when it comes to hills, the walking gets even worse. She's obviously uncomfortable when she is maneuvering me around obstacles, and they felt that it would be in her best interests to retire her.

I was stunned. To be honest, I felt more than a little guilty too. Since she started hydro and her nutritional supplements, she's been improving, so what must she have been like before? Poor thing.

Although I don't want her to go, I can't in good conscience keep working a dog who is obviously in pain. The decision has been made. By Christmas, Molly will be retired and living in a new home. My friend has agreed to have her despite the medical costs, but this is going to be a struggle. I have told him I'll input into her bills, but we're looking at about £500 per year, minimum, to keep her comfortable. I'm hoping that help comes from somewhere so that we can do this between us, but I think it's time to penny pinch. If I have to pay it all myself, I will to make sure she has a guarantee of a good home.

I'm heart-broken at this, both because she's going and because I know she must be very sore. Through it all, she's been extremely cheerful, still eager to see people and always wagging. I'm going to miss her like crazy when she's gone. Seven weeks isn't really long enough to say propper goodbyes, especially when they are overshadowed with the knowledge that time together is coming to an end.

Ah, I'm upsetting myself all over again, and crying at work is not the way to instill confidents in your patients! I will keep you posted of both her and Tia's progress.

Dogfaces and Food

There isn't really much to report today. The human didn't go to the work hunt, and I always like the days where she stays home. We got to sleep in bed late in the monring, which meant extra snuggle time for me. Something bad happened though. It's about the human's iPod and me attacking the wires, but that, I think, will have to remain a secret until Tortureshell Tuesday.

When we did get up, we didn't really do much. The human cleaned and I slept. She made something that she calls home-made cat food tonight. She boiled up a lot of chicken and turkey in a pan, then put it in a really, really noisy machine that growled louder than even a big mancat! It was so fierce that it managed to reduce the meat to pulp, and that was done without it even showing its teeth! I never thought I'd say this, but I think I've met my match. I'm staying away from the growler.

The human left one half of the food as just meat, but blended some egg and cheese in with the other stuff. She put a little of each down in my bowl so that she could work out which one I liked best. Now I've told you about new food before, haven't I? I went through the same drill as usual. It wasn't tuna. It wasn't my usual chicken. "Human," I thought as I turned my nose up and walked away with my tail at the precise angle which says I am justifiably offended at this lack of consideration for my wants, "that is not what I asked you for. I said tuna very plainly. If you're not going to listen, then I'm not going to be nice and eat the food." "But Tia," she almost whined, "I went to a lot of effort to make that. It took a long time!" I had to stop myself from telling her that I didn't care. I do care, and I'm touched that she went to all that trouble, but right then I was too cheesed off that I wasn't getting what I'd asked for. I've left it alone, and I won't go back to it at all, or at least not while she's watching.

I forgot to tell you yesterday in the excitement of finding my babies that stupid dogface went to see two vets in one day. That's what you get for being a stupid dogface, I guess. She went to see the skin man vet that Guide Dogs uses. She really, really likes him, and so does the human. I considered going with them just to see what all the fuss was about, but then thought better of it. It was a long drive, and there was another stupid dogface puppy in the car too. The human says she's called Gloria, is going in to be trained as a guide dog, and is very cute! Just goes to show that dogs aren't the only stupid things. She jumped all over the human and even tried to climb in her lap when they got to the guide dog place. That lap is for me and me alone to sit on! How dare a dogface, even a puppy dogface, think she can go there just because I'm not around!

The skin man vet said that Molly's ears and skin are so good on her injections that she doesn't need to see him again until next year. The human was pleased about that. She says she's been in vets too often lately. In the evening she went again though, so that they could put stupid dogface in a tank full of water where the floor moves under your feet and disappears. Molly says that if you didn't start to walk, you might disappear with it! The human calls this hydrotherapy and says that the hydro lady vet took a picture of Molly in the tank. She asked her for a copy for the blog, so we'll put it here when it arrives. See how nice I am? I even share my blog with a stupid dogface!

That's all for today. I have some cat food to eat. Um, I mean, I have a human to snuggle! Yes, that's it, snuggles.

Molly Matters

I'm trying to convince myself she does. Well, that's not exactly true. She's all right, as stupid hound dogs go, but she's been taking up so much of my human's time over the last few days that she didn't even manage to post yesterday. I'm a nice cat. I'll talk about Molly before I get onto my stuff, so here goes.

I mentioned just after my human got back that we had Molly news. That news is that Guide Dogs think she has something called Arthritis in her left hind and right front legs. The human says that this is the same as what Fatcat had and it means joints are sore when they move. Molly is only 6, so she shouldn't have it already. I'm never going to get old, so I don't have to worry about it, I don't think.

When the human heard this, she took her to our own vet to have it confirmed. She'd noticed Molly walking slightly funny, but she's done this for so long and been checked so frequently that the human wasn't worried at all. She kind of swings her back left leg instead of bending the knee, you see. The vet (it was our nice vet man again) had a look at her and said that he thought it would be worthwhile having x-rays done to confirm it. That sounds pretty scary to me, but Molly's had it done before. They just make her very sleepy and then put her under some sort of peoples machine that takes a picture of her bones. It's just as well she's asleep. If she was awake and saw bones, she's so stupid that she'd try to eat them, even though they belong to her! I'm sure this is why they make sure she's snoring so hard that she never knows about the pictures.

The human got up really early again yesterday so that she could take her there before she went to the strange work thing. I think when she goes to work she's hunting. She says if she didn't, she wouldn't be able to give me food every day. Hunting is how you get food, so it's logical to assume, right? She never comes back with food from the work hunt, but she says they give her the stupid money things that she takes to the place where peoples hide their kills and swaps it for my food. I still can't believe any sensible peoples would take moneys for food, but she says it's true.

She left Molly with the vet. It wasn't our nice vet man. It was a lady vet but that was Ok, because she wasn't examining her. She took her to a cage thing in the vet building where she stayed until they made her sleepy. My human didn't go to the work hunt though. She came back home and stayed there for a while. (human note: I was lucky yesterday. My PA called to say she couldn't make it in. Without a dog and a PA, I'd lost all my available guides. I haven't learned the routes with a white cane yet, so couldn't go alone. Yippee! Day off for me! Do you hear me complaining?) I was a bit concerned that she hadn't gone until I noticed there was still food in my bowl. It seems as though she had enough moneys to swap, even though she was home for a day.

Hoover lady came over again a little while later, and she and the human went out. They came back with lots of different material. The human says she's fed up with me scratching at the collar, so Hoover lady has agreed to make me lots of different ones out of different materials to see if they can find one I won't scratch. I'm going to scratch anyway, but I think it's more fun to let them find out the hard way, don't you? If I do it really, really quietly, she might not even know! Do any of you have tips for stopping bells from jingling? That would make my life a whole lot easier.

As soon as Hoover lady left, another lady came. Judging by the dog stink of her, she was from the peoples who gave Molly to the human. She calls them Guide Dogs. Even though she was stinky, I kind of liked her. She's good at chin scratching, and she's excellent at admiring my yummy tummy. I even let her cuddle me, but that was after she'd assured me she had cats of her own. A dog people with cats? Ok, so she's not all bad, and it's so nice to hear I'm beautiful.

Speaking of beautiful, thank you so, so much for all of your comments on my pictures, and thank you so much to Whicky for posting them! A huge thank you also to Praline for the header on the blog. Isn't it pretty? I have them to thank for my pretty face staring at you all from your peoples' computer thingies! The human and I are sorry that we haven't responded personally to all of the comments you left. She says she's going to try and do some of them at the end of this post.

But look, I'm getting distracted now! Sorry. It always happens when I'm thinking about more than one thing at once. The human and stinky dog lady made talk noise for a little while, and then she left. After a little while, the human went back for Molly, but when she came home, she was very sleepy and upset. She kept crying all the time, until the human got so worried that she phoned the duty vet. Molly loves food even more than me. I thought I'd be sneaky and grab some of hers last night because it was yummy chicken and rice, which she doesn't usually get. She'll chase me away from the bowl when the human tells her she can eat, but last night, she just stood and cried. Now please don't think I'm going soft, but I actually felt kind of sorry for her, and if you ever remind me I said that, I'm gonna deny it all the way! you could see she wasn't herself, and she never stands with her head drooping like that. I gave up the bowl myself. I knew I could hassle some more food out of the human later, but molly has more trouble with that. Well, she ate, but it took her about four times as long as usual, and that worried us more than anything else. You know what she's like for food. Remember the cat food incidents?

When she showed signs of wanting to go to the toilet, but not wanting to squat, the human called the vet. They said she was probably just very sore from being pulled around for the bone pictures, but that if she got worse, they were there all night and we could bring her in. The human decided to wait and see what happened, but she slept with the door open so that she could listen to Molly.

This morning, she was a little better, but she still won't go to the toilet unless she's really, really needing to, and her walk is very, very slow. The human says her work is all over the place. They missed the door to the office today, whatever that is, and Molly is not even going half her usual speed. She's phoned the vet person at Guide Dogs to see what they say. She'd have taken her already, but the whining has stopped completely, so she's not sure if it's all pain related and whether she should wait or not. She's taking me to the vet tomorrow anyway, you see, so she's wondering whether to combine the two.

That's really all that's happened. My human has some things to tell you before we get to the comments though.

So it turns out that Molly has mild to moderate arthritis in hips, shoulders and elbows. She has an ongoing soft tissue injury to the right shoulder plus, judging by the gait, the start of cruciate ligament problems in the left knee. The x-rays didn't show this, but they don't when it first starts up. They've put her on injections for the arthritis, plus glucosamine supplements. They also want to start her on a course of hydrotherapy, but Guide Dogs want to negotiate a deal with the surgery before we start her. I hate waiting for treatment just because of money, but hydro's super expensive, so Guide Dogs have got to pay for this themselves. I now fully appreciate why she snapped at me, and because of this, I've been able to rationalise it and keep working with her. I've made adjustments in the house to take food well out of her reach. Poor Tia has to climb through an obstacle course to get to it now! I'm going to keep her on, but really scale back the work I do with her so that she can be as comfortable as possible. I doubt she'll work much longer in any case before she's ready for retirement, and I don't want her shipped from home to home before that happens. If the truth be told, I'm kind of relieved in a way that I can keep her without being scared of her. I love her too much to give her bakc, and I really wasn't looking forward to doing that. Update: Guide Dogs have just called me back. We'll be returning to the vet today. I feel like I've spent the most recent part of my life there! Molly last Thursday for skin injections, Tia on Sonday, Molly yesterday twice, and then again today. Tia has to go back tomorrow, and if everything's sorted on time, Molly will be there on Thursday for the start of her hydro. Even if she isn't, we'll be bakc on Monday for the second of her four injections for arthritis. It feels like it's never going to end!

Now that the human bit is done, it's time to answer some of the comments. Miss Kitty, my human doesn't use a flash box thing or Photoshop for photos. Her eyes are broken, you see, so she can't use either. It was the photographer man who took those at the show, and there was no alterings. The blue background is what I was standing in front of. My floof needs no prettification on photoshop either! Clowder, I'm going to get the human to have a look at Flickr to see if it's any better for us to use. Thanks for suggesting it. Hestorb, that's some good effort with all your noise on going to the vet! Did it make them stop taking you? I just tell my human off when she takes me there, but as I do this pretty much every day, it doesn't bother her all that much. She's hard, is my human. The starving kitten miaow that I do doesn't even get me extra food!

To all of you, the human feels the need for me to re-itterate that if we're not leaving comments on your blogs it's because we are struggling with it. My paws aren't good for using computers and her eyes are broke. She can't do the visual verification thing to leave a comment, and some of them just don't work with the software that she has to use. It's a little robot man thing that talks to her and reads what you all say, but sometimes it doesn't read everything. She's so glad that you're all still coming to the blog even though we can't always show you that we're reading what you say!

The human says she has to go now and take Molly to the vet. We'll update you as soon as we know more. Keep checking back to the blog regularly. Even though we won't post a new link on CB, we are going to email pictures to Whicky. If he sees it today, you'll get one of Molly to look at! So although they don't go up at the same time as my regular posts, they'll be there from time to time.

Rest and Reprieve

I'm sorry that I didn't blog yesterday. I didn't really have much to tell you on the Molly front, and as that's what's dominated mine and the human's thoughts, we didn't feel like writing much else. We have news though.

The peoples from Guide Dogs called the human today. She still hasn't made up her mind because they can't guarantee that Molly will be retired. She might go on something called the Buddy scheme, which pairs dogs which aren't good enough to be guide dogs up with younger children to give them confidence in new environments. The team might also keep her themselves and use her to go and see people to help assess if they'll be good with a guide dog or not. The human's still not happy, but Molly was due to go in for some retraining anyway in a couple of weeks while she's away on holiday. What she's planned to do is let her go, find out what they have to say after the assessment, then make a decision when she comes back from holiday. She knows that it would probably be best to let Molly go, but she just can't face the thought of her being shipped out to a few more homes before she's finally allowed to retire. She needs to be strong and do what's right for us all. I tell her this, and I have faith she'll make the right decision in the end.

To answer a couple of comments placed, the human doesn't really have the room to leave a cage up that is big enough that I'm comfortable eating in. You're right though, Molly couldn't pull that apart. I guess this is something we can explore in a bigger house, but even if cat food wasn't a problem, the dog shouldn't be jumping and climbing to get food. When you are out all day with a working dog, you can imagine the problems this could pose at lunchtime in work, for example, or at other peoples' houses. I keep telling her that working cats are a much better idea, but she mutters something about strong-will and stubbornness. I ask you, what rubbish!

Other than that, life has been fairly normal. The human's friend arrived on Wednesday night, so I've been watching him closely just in case he's here to make off with some of the ping pong balls! I know he's a shifty character because he wouldn't even let me share his coffee! It smells so good, doesn't it? The human doesn't drink it, so I can only sniff it when other peoples are here. This one said I'd not like it if I tasted it, but I'll never know. He didn't give me a chance!

The human's sleeping in the living room again, which is great. I don't even have to walk far to find a bed. Last night they had gammon for dinner. The human says to tell you that if you don't know, it's like a big thick steak of bacon, kind of. Anyway, she didn't eat all of hers, so I got some! I'm not sure if I like it though. I did the same thing with the gammon that I did with the rabbit, but she's left me some down today while she's out at work. I haven't touched it yet, but I'm really thinking about it.

I was really sad to hear about so many of the other cats on the Blogosphere leaving us forever a few days ago. While I didn't know any of them, I and my human know how hard it is to lose someone you love, and we send huge snuggles to the families of those who have gone. We grieve with you.

My human has entered me in a contest to win a Kritter Kondo, and I must say, it looks fab! This would give me the chance to go outside a lot more, something I struggle with now because the only way the human can take me is on a leash. I am not a dog, nor will I ever be, so although she's trying to teach me to walk, when she puts that and the harness on me, I belly out to make her know my point. She'll either have to drag me or give up, as no way am I putting up with the indignity of wearing what a dog would! She usually gives up. With the Kondo though, she can let me out in that and not worry that her eyes can't see me as I move around. I'll let you know if I win.

I have also been reading about a cat rescue place called Tabby's Place, and boy are they nice peoples! They take cats from shelters where they would otherwise have been killed, and they let them live in the place they've built just for cats. There's no cages, and they all get to live with the company of others. What's better, even if no peoples come to adopt them, they can live there for the rest of their lives without fear of being killed cuz they've been there too long. Currently, I have my eye on one of the cats who lives in the human offices. She's not very well, and could really do with massive support. If you want to send her love, head on over to their blog.

Tabby's Place

My human is due home from work in a few hours, and I'm getting ready to welcome her back. Mummycat's still making noise, but I'm used to that now. I'm more happy because I know she's eating more, but I wish she'd be quiet and learn that no matter how much she screams about it, the human is mine first! When next I post, I'll share with you exciting news about a kitten!