Mommacat Monday

Wow, friends, it's my second mommacat Monday already! Isn't time flying! The human says she wishes it would, so she obviously doesn't feel the same way. Since last we spoke, we've had an eventful few days!






It all started yesterday with a trip to the litterbox. Nothing abnormal about that, I hear you say, but the litterbox is the one not agreeing this time! Friends, to put it very politely, I was in a bad way, and came out of there leaving a stinking liquid mess behind me and with my poor lady bum covered in the stuff! The human found me, or rather, the mess found her when I jumped up on her. I thought if I pretended like nothing had happened, the mess would just go away. I know from experience that I can't clean that off, but was too embarrassed to ask the human for help. Do you know how that makes a girl feel? Very very small, that's how.





As soon as the human found me, she whipped me off to the bathroom to clean me up, but once there, she realised that the baby wipes (they should be marketted as cat bum wipes, cuz they're real good at this!) were in the other room. In the time it took her to get them and come back, something else had happened. A small amount of sticky liquid had dribbled out of me and made my fur very wet. the human went into uber panic. She thought it might have been blood, and if it was, it would mean that I was reabsorbing my babies for some reason. She still doesn't know whether it was or not, but she kept a very close eye, or should I say hand, on me all night long, and I didn't do the same trick twice. It may have just been a bit of left over litterbox stink that I couldn't hold onto when she started to clean, but neither of us are all that sure.





That first clean up was to be one of many, well, four to be precise, but each one was very liquid and incredibly stinky. It smelled just like it did last year when I got real, real sick, so the human spent a sleepless night worrying about me, and cleaning my litterbox before my feet had even touched the floor on the way out! She says you don't leave that stuff hanging around.





Well, all that sickness last year must have taught her something, cuz her clean up of me and the box was so good that this morning was my last bad episode and I haven't shown signs of having another. Two hours after my last one, I threw up a big hairball, so she's wondering if that had something to do with it, although I've never had the runs before when trying to get rid of one of these. The simple fact is that we don't know what caused it. She dosed me with a pro-biotic that breeders like her give to kittens who have the squits (she says that's what you call it when you have runny bum syndrome). She says it's really good not only for clearing squitty bums, but stopping them as well. It's called Fortiflora for anyone else who may need it and it's made by Purina.





I've been tired all day and very quiet. It takes it out of a girl to produce that much poop! The human thought my tummy had changed shape this morning and was convinced that I must have lost a baby or two, but when I did finally start to eat again, I plumped right out. She says she's gonna try and find her stethoscope as she should be able to hear baby heartbeats about now, but she doesn't know where the stethoscope is, so her and Mark are gonna have to hunt for it.





She's been busy ordering stuff for my babies all day. She says she'll make a list of all the things in her kittening kit on a post so that you all can see what kinds of things you need to have at hand. That will fill a post while she's away in cold, cold Alaska. She says she may even do the genetics post then too so that you can all have fun with trying to puzzle out what colour babies I might have! Oh, how about this for an idea? The human and i are thinking of running a competition but we're not sure what everyone else thinks. We'd like you all to guess how many babies I will have. I know the vet peoples said three, but as I told you, that doesn't really mean much at this stage. It would also be fun for peoples to guess how many baby boys and how many girls there would be. To make it really, really interesting, we could get you to guess colours too which would mean you'd have to read and learn about genetics! But this might be too involved for most peoples. What do you all think? Would you enter if you had to guess litter size and sexes? Would you still enter if you had to guess colours as well?





We gotta think about prizes too, and something kitten related to tie in with the competition. Any ideas?





Well, that's it for today as the human says she has to go out for a little while. See? no sooner am I better than she's abandoning me! Heartless human!

Tortureshell Tuesday: Poo to That!

Well, friends, times are hard around here. I decided to try and be nice and not have tortureshells until Santa Paws has been and gone, but no matter how hard I try, I just can't win!





Last week, the human sent me to the vet peoples cuz I was pooing way too much, so when I came home, I decided I wasn't going to do that again. Now that she's trying to collect samples for the vet peoples, she says I'm not pooing enough! I've only done one since I came home, and that one was very much a pudding poo. She says she knows I've been once cuz, to my shame, I got a little bit on my fur that I didn't manage to clean, just a little bit mind you, but she spotted it. It's hard to clean it when it's pudding poo and sticks to you, specially when you have long fur like me. When she looked for it in the box though, there was nothing there, sept a tiny bit that she thinks could have been left over from last nights when she cleared it. I really don't get it. I wish she'd make up her mind. To poo or not to poo? That is the question, and I sure as heck wishyou'd give me an answer you're prepared to stick to, human!





Our competition really isn't going well. In fact, we've had no entries sept the peoples who entered last week and won! That's really not good, considering, so we're hoping like crazy that someone enters before it closes tonight!





We gotta apologise for not answering many comments lately. The human is desperately busy trying to get all her paperwork in order for her physiotherapy interview thingy. There's so much you have to show just so they know you're good. her current file stands at a whopping 82 bits of paper, and she's not done yet. She won't even let me play with them, let alone all her certificates which she has in a separate folder. Then there's all the packing to do, and oh is that fun or what!





I told you how much I liked Dogman's suitcase when I found it when he was here, but that is nothing, nothing, nothing compared to the human's ones. She has two out at the moment, one full of mine and Dogface's stuff, and another full of hers and Christmas presents to go to the Ireland place with her. But the best bit is that when she got them out this morning, I saw my ping pong balls hiding in one. So I jumped in and whapped them good! I made them fly all over that case, and I could hurl myself after them and not get hurt too, cuz the super case protected me. Then I got to go explore in the human's one. I snuggled down in all of her clothes, only to hear her say, "Ah, cat, why'd you go and do that after I'd de-haired 'em all!" Ungrateful human. I could see there was no hair, and was trying to do her a favour! I just scrunched down smaller, pushed the carefully folded clothes around with my feet, and made room for myself. Admittedly, this didn't leave much space for her clothes, and she did start muttering something about "What's the point in even trying to fold them when you're in there?" but who cares? She can repack another day.





I also came and sat on her when she was folding her tops. She said this made things very difficult cuz if she let them rest on me for folding, not only would they get hairy, but I'd get up and run away. I don't like things on top of me, you see. She ended up using the already folded clothes as a table to do the fresh ones on. At least she has her priorities right. Don't disturb me when I'm comfortable! The suitcases are still out, and I know my fun isn't over yet!





But I'm getting side tracked. We were talking about comments. The human was very surprised that so many of you are able to see your owners when they are with the vet peoples. over in the UK, that's not common at all unless your owner is seriously ill and expected not to last too much longer. I certainly wasn't like that, or at least, not for long, so she wasn't allowed to come see me. Kassey, I never bring the bloods when I bite the human. I find it counter-productive, as it means a swift and unceremonious dumping from her lap, a lot of whining about how sore she is, and a delay in the arrival of my food. No, to bring the bloods isn't desirable at all. In any case, too much stick is not good in the human training. It scars them too badly too quickly. Catnip Crew, I hope none of those kissies were for Dogface! you'll never get the taste outta your mouth... Trust me on this. Once, but never, never again shall I try!





Speaking of Dogface, she had a bad tummy again today too and went for a check up. They stole her bloods and her peepee (about time they stole from her too!) and are sending it off for testing. They've put her on Dogface stinky goodness too to apparently give her tummy a rest and a chance to heal. It's disgusting! She gets about a squillion times more than I do, and not only does she still try and grab mine, but the human won't let me eat hers even though she has 63 times more than me! And what did she do to deserve it! Did she crawl up on the human's lap and purr for her? No. Did she miaow at her lots and lots today? No. Did she head bump her? Ok, she does this. Um, did she groom her with a loving tongue? Um, ah, moving on. But you get the point, don't you? Life's not fair sometimes.





Two more things, then I promise i'm done. Firstly, we won something at the latest auction! The human is very pleased. She says it's a crystal plate thingy that she's gonna display on her shelves... When she gets shelves. Second thing is that we're sorry to Karen for not emailing you sooner with the details for your Soft Claws after you won last week. The human's just been so caught up in all her own stuff as I said. Selfish person! She did manage to make the cake for her work peoples tomorrow, and although she said she promised and she couldn't let them down, I think the email was more important. I did tell her so, so have no fear, I'm fighting your corner! She's actually very amused by the cake. She got little chocolate figures to put on the top, thinking that there would be a people here to help her decorate it, but the people had to leave early, so she wasn't around. The human couldn't work out what way up a lot of them went, so we think we might have upside down santas on the cake! It's impossible to get chocolate topping all the way smoothe too when you have to touch it to know where to drop the shapes on, so she's worried about fingerprints. She's sure it won't look very nice either, but even that amuses her. She works for an organisation which works with a lot of peoples with broken eyes, so she says the cake, in all its messy glory, will be perfect! If it looks outlandish enough, we'll try and get someone to take a picture of it to show you. Sorry we can't take a picture of the taste though. We'll also try and get pictures of everyone in their silly Christmas things tomorrow. The secret santa at work was to find a silly thing for everyone to wear when they go out to eat tomorrow. She thinks it'll be fun!





Ok, so I lied, there's more than two things. The last one is about Santa Paws. Praline's people gave my human some good ideas about sending things out, cuz we're worried that if they'd been in this house, they may carry the bug that we have to other cats. We really don't want that. Praline's people suggested ordering from a shop, but the human has been speaking to her family peoples in Ireland. She arrives there on Monday, and if she goes out the very next day and buys all the stuff and sends it straight away, then it will still be with our partner by Christmas. It also won't be covered in Mr Bug. So that's what we're gonna do. The ordering from shops was a good idea, but the human wants to put the personal touch to it, as it's our first time doing this. We're a little worried cuz our package hasn't arrived yet, and cuz we're leaving the house on Thursday. If it hasn't got here by then, we'll just have to hope the post office holds it for us till we get back. Also, it's going to be interesting trying to work out who it's from. the human doesn't have the working eyes to read any messages, and if they're hand written rather than typed, mr computer voice won't be able to read them either. Still, it'll definitely be a surprise!





Ok, that's really it now. The human's arm is sore typing anyway. more about that tomorrow though, if she gets a chance to write. Until then, stay outta this horrible outside cold!

Human Merrits?

Friends, I don't mean to startle you, and what I am about to say may at first seme ludicrous, misled, even a little insane, but I have discovered today that the human species have merrits. More than that, they have initiative. I didn't want to say that right off, cuz I feared some of you would be so shocked you'd drop where you stood. Better to ease into it slowly. They do though, or at least, mine does... Or should i say did. Why, I hear you ask? Cuz she sprung me from prison, that's why. And she says she didn't even need a rope concealed in a pie to do it! I don't know what ropes or pies have to do with anything, but humans are weird. I accept this.





As you know, I had a sick tummy again last Friday which meant I had to go to the vet peoples. What you don't know is that this was code for I have to go to prison. I really hate the vet prison. A PTU is bad enough, but at least you know you can get out of that in a short while, and at least you're in it alone. At the vets, the PTU doesn't move and is bigger and called a cage, but there are just so many other cats and nasty smells and the litter in my box is different and it isn't even my box and, well, the list goes on. As if that's not bad enough, peoples will periodically come, take you out of the PTU that isn't a PTU, then poke and prod at you until you're blue in the face with swearing at them. not that I'd swear, of course. It's not my fault they interpretted my gentle "get off, you fat, blithering idiot" as swearing. If they can't speak felinese, it's not my fault, is it? They should have studied languages harder at school. My human speaks it, so there's no excuse.





The vet peoples always insist on thieving too. This time they stole my bloods a few times, and they started poo pinching too. I held out for as long as I could, friends, but when you're there for days, when you gotta go, you just gotta go. The idea of them stealing that disgusts me so much that I try and hold back where I can, so I only went once since Friday, and that was hard, I tell you, as I've been eating like a horse and there just isn't room for any more in there!





I heard my human talking to the vet peoples a few times on the phone, but finally, today, she got the message; I want to go home. I know she'd been trying to bust me out of there for ages, cuz I could hear the vet peoples saying I wasn't ready, but today they said they wanted to keep me in just for another poo sample. The uman said she wasn't happy with that, and would happily collect a sample at home so that I could get out of there. I don't know what else she said, but my heart leapt, then dropped as they hung up the phone and didn't come get me straight away. I was so, so disappointed.





Here's where the strange part comes in though. After a while, they did come and get me for no discernable reason. They put me in the PTU and brought me to a little room where the human was waiting. I don't know how she did it, but she did. Perhaps they're just so afraid of her that they daren't refuse to hand me over when she's there in person, or perhaps it had to do with the fact that the human had a prearranged pick up time. I'm with the former.





Now, sit down, friends, cuz there's another shock in store. When I saw the human, I went crazy. I mashed my face on the front of the PTU, I called to her. In fact, I was so vigorous that she was worried I was going to hurt myself. This is all part of the conditioning though. I had to reward her for good behaviour in busting me out so that, next time, she'll remember the good things she got and will come bust me out again. So I put up bravely with all the rubbing and the chin tickling and the scratching and I may even have purred for her and I may even have really smushed her hand with my face, but if I did, it's all part of the conditioning. Oh it's a hard life being a trainer.





None of the results have come back from my stolen bloods, and the human is going to steal some of my poo whether I like it or not, so we'll have to keep you informed once we know more. We would, though, like to extend heart felt thanks to everyone that came to wish me well while I was in prison. It means a lot to know that there are so many out there purring for you every day. We're so sorry to Amy and her House of Cats that we didn't do a propper post to say thank you for featuring us in Friends on Friday. Amy, we both really appreciate it!





To make sure the human is put back in her place, I bit her when I got home. I rolled on my back, pretended to show her my yummy tummy, then grabbed her with all four feet and bit. I had to do it before she got to thinking that all that purring and smushing was to be the norm. Carrot and stick, trainer friends, carrot and stick. I'm lying on the self heating heating pad which is her lap right now. Kind of her to make it available for me. Not so kind that there's no food down. She says that I'm having nothing but stinky goodness for the next few days. That means though that it can't be down all the time, cuz it goes bad quick. It's to give my tummy a rest and let it recover from all the bad stuff it's been doing. Well, ya don't hear me complainin', do ya!

Another Day in Prison

Sadly, that's still where Tia is. We haven't managed to spring her. It was looking hopeful yesterday, but this morning, her temperature had gone right back up again. She's refusing to poo for them still, even though she's apparently eating like a horse. The vet said that even though her temperature had come back down, he was still concerned. She feels like she has normal poop to come out first, but behind that she still feels all girgly and runny, so they're worried about a relapse of diarrhoea. I'm very upset that she's in for another day. I know it's silly, but I had myself set on her coming home today. I was looking forward to it, to having at least an evening with her where there's no work to get in the way, where I can watch her closely. Even if she's Ok tomorrow, I can't pick her up till gone 5 when I'm out of work, and then I need to be preparing for this physio interview all this week, plus packing for Ireland etc, so there won't be much quality time to spend with her before I go away for christmas. Add to that that I want to spoil molly and there's just too much pressure for the next few days. Today was due to be a bit quieter. Although I'm cleaning and baking a cake for my work colleagues, the urgency is less because I have more time to do it all in on a weekend. It just doesn't feel right with her not here, and sleep, unbroken sleep, feels so unnatural that I've started to wake myself up and go looking for her before I realise she's not here. Poor girl. It can't be much fun to be cooped up for all that length of time in a horrid little cage with no space to run and no toys to play with. She must be so bored and miserable.





Our vets don't let you visit the animals either, so I can't even see her in between. So if she's home tomorrow, and that's looking like a big if, I'll have three manic evenings with her before we have to head out to Oxford. Then I'll have a weekend, but she'll spend most of that hiding because she's in a new place. Just as she'll be venturing out, I'll have to go for my flight to Ireland. I won't see her for ten days then. The timing of this sucks!

An Update on Tia

The human here again with some good news and some bad news.


Tia is doing as well as can be expected. Since she's gone in, she hasn't thrown up, but she also hasn't pooped, something which we were hoping for so that we could send off more samples. She was dehydrated and ill enough that they put her on IV fluids straight away yesterday, but her vein blew this morning, so they had to take her off them. They decided to see how she'd go without them in light of this set back, and she's been managing Ok with eating little and often, and drinking. She lost 250G of weight since her last episode with Mr Bug, which isn't so good, but she's alert and watching the people at the vets, so she isn't as lethargic as she was. They were giving her opiates because she was very uncomfortable, but when the drip came out, they stopped too, and she appears to be managing.


Preliminary blood work shows nothing abnormal. A couple of the levels hint at dehydration, but we knew this already. A more detailed blood screen is due back on Monday, so hopefully, that coupled with my own tests will give us more of an idea.


The vet said they wanted to keep her in at least until monday so that they could collect the poo sample, but I wasn't particularly happy with this, as I find Tia copes better at home. She poos more regularly, eats better and is much less stressed. So far, poo samples have been sent a total of five times (from the dog, me and her) and not one of them has showed anything positive, so I don't think it's justified keeping her in an extra few days for the sole purpose of getting another poo sample, as I doubt it will show anything. I told him this and he agrees, so if she manages to get her temperature down to a more acceptable normal rather than in the upper range of that, and carries on maintaining her fluid intake on her own without throwing up or having the runs, she will be allowed to come home tomorrow. Boy am I glad of that! If she doesn't get any better though, they'll keep her in regardless, which I agree with.


I spoke to Dogman today to work out whether, in light of this, he will still have her for me at Christmas, and while I was talking, I had a thought. If this bug is indeed a zoonotic one, this next few weeks poses the optimum opportunity. I will be in Ireland and Molly will be in her new home. Two of us will already be out of physical contact with each other, so if I can do the same for Tia, hopefully this bug will have a chance to run its course, and when we all see each other again, we will not be infectious. Dogman's mum has had Molly to stay with her numerous times, and Dogface says she would be more comfortable with a dog than a cat. Add to that that Dogman was here the first time Tia got sick, and knows what to look for in time to get her to a vet, and you come to the conclusion that it would be better for Tia to be with him. His house is also an awful lot more quiet too.


As he's happy to have her, I'm going to ask his mum if she'd mind having Molly for the two weeks I was planning to leave the pair of them with Dogman. If she says yes, this is two solid weeks of isolation from each other. it gives us the best chance of overcoming this thing totally. I'm going to have help too, as Dogman's friend is coming to collect us all in his car, and he's said he'll help me bleach everything with a strong solution to hopefully kill the bug, whatever it is. I'm going to arrange to have my carpets cleaned on the same day, and will see if I can get hold of a steamer to do the soft furnishings like the sofas, bed etc. Then it will have two weeks of no living hosts, and while I know this might not be long enough, it's still better than nothing.


So that's where we are today. Things are as good as they can be, I suppose.

What a Day

The human here, and I don't have the heart to write a very long, entertaining post, so I'll cut right to the chase. Tia is once more at the vets. She had diarrhoea twice this morning, and threw up three times inside a quarter of an hour. She didn't even finish her wet food, something unheard of. I rushed her down straight away, and she's in for treatment again. I have no idea how long they're keeping her this time, but I'm heartsick of this. It needs to stop.


I've spent all day phoning national zoonosis organisations (the disease is zoonotic, as it spreads between species). I've also been to my own doctor to demand further testing as I had a relapse earlier this week. I had to fight tooth and nail to have any testing done at all. By the end of it, it had pretty much degenerated into a screaming match, but thanks to my medical background, I got my own way and the tests have been done. There's definitely an infection there. Urine shows increased leukocytes, but I need to wait for the others to come back.


I am so, so worried about this. I just wish we could identify what it is. I'm running out of options now, and I don't know where to turn to next. Sorry this Friday isn't more cheerful.

Thoughtful and Tired

I'm the thoughtful one. The human is the tired one. She says she needs a holiday after all this sickness. She just can't seem to get her strength back, and is sleeping a lot. It's Ok though. I don't mind. I help her sleep.

We didn't blog yesterday, but that was for a good reason. We are so sick of telling you about sad things, and there was more sadness yesterday, well, on Friday actually. The human said she wasn't going to blog again until she had something reasonably good to tell you. Late late on Friday night, well, just after she came back from hydro, actually, Dogface's runny poo bum returned. Later that night, she started to be sick, and threw up six times in twenty minutes. The human just burst into tears. It was all over the carpet, everywhere. Dogface doesn't stand still when she pukes, you see, and it was so late and the human was so tired of all this that she just hung her head and asked herself if she could cope with any more. Then she got down on her hands and knees to find the puke.

This is no fun when your eyes are broke. I know because I've watched her clean a lot over the last few weeks. She has to get dirty before she can get clean. What I mean is that her hands have to touch the puke so that she knows where to wipe. She has a weak stomach too, so she ended up adding to the mess herself. I felt quite sorry for her, but my paws aren't built for holding peoples wipey things, so I just watched and stayed well out of the way.

The human tried to call the on-call person at Guide Dogs for help, but conveniently, bearing in mind it was a Friday night, his phone went straight to answerphone. So the human took matters into her own hands and called the pet ambulance. We couldn't go in a taxi because Dogface kept throwing up, and there was nobody else to help. She was stupid once by accepting a car ride to the vet with a stranger, but at that time of night, she knew she couldn't risk it.

The human put me in the bedroom then, cuz she didn't want me walking through the puke and getting re-infected. I heard the ambulance manpeople arrive, and when he saw the human and the state she was in, he agreed to help her clean the kitchen floor which was also flooded in puke, when she asked him for help. Thank you, nice ambulance manpeople!

They took Dogface to the vet, and she was almost puking all the way there. When they took her temperature, some runny poo even came out on the thermometer, so the human was surprised Dogface hadn't gone on the floor in the vet's office. Needless to say, they kept her in.

We've only just got her home, and the human is frustrated. As soon as she got there, the symptoms disappeared. It's very weird. If we got sick as soon as we came home, then took a day or two to get better at the vets, the human would think that it was something in the house making us sick, but we don't do that. We are fine for all different amounts of time when she brings us home, then we get sick, then clear up straight away when she brings us to the vet. I do it because I don't want them to poke and prod me, and am smart enough to realise that if I don't show them runny poo, they won't do much. But to imply that Dogface is just as smart is ludicrous! Everyone knows Dogfaces are stupid. So there's gotta be another reason.

The human is starting to think that the vet peoples don't believe her any more when she brings us in, but she says she's going to keep going anyway if and when it's serious. For now, Dogface is sleeping very, very deeply on her bed, an I am indignant. I have a small spot on my tummy that is oozing pus from time to time, so the human has decided to bathe it in salt water. Do you have any idea how disgusting that stuff is to lick off? Well, she obviously doesn't! She even syringes it on so it gets right the way down into my furs and against my skin. That means an awful lot of extra work to rid myself of it! Human, you are a pain in the neck!

She also through my catnip carrot in the bin. I can't believe she did this! She says it's soft, furry and gets damp when I chew on it, so she's worried it could be harbouring the bug. It gets thrown around the floor, so if that's where it's living, it's a good place for it if it jumps onto the carrot. My cube and tunnel went too. I don't really care about the tunnel, and she says she has more cubes in the special room where Mummycat used to live, but I can't have one until I'm all better and Dogface has stopped trying to ruin the carpets, and the human's stomach! I still have my ping pong balls though, so it's not all bad.

The human goes back to the work hunt tomorrow. I think I'm really going to miss her. She's been my constant companion for the last few weeks, after all. I guess I need to battle on with it though. After all, my food is important, and so are her moneys!

Finally Friday

The human loves Fridays because they mean that the next two days are days she doesn't have to go to the work hunt. So you can imagine my confusion today when she said "Oh, it's Friday. That means I get to go back to work on Monday!" What? I was confused. How could she change her mind like that? She says it's because she's had too much time at home, but all I can do is shake my head. Peoples are so inconsistent!

I'm secretly glad that she's considering going back to the work hunt though. Even though I know she was staying at home to look after me and get well herself, it's a bit of a worry that she hasn't gone in in ages. The longer she stays at home, the less moneys she will have to swap for my foods at the place where they take the moneys.

I didn't make the human post for me yesterday cuz there isn't really much to say. We're all just sleeping a lot. Dogface has managed to stay awake a little today, but me and the human make our eyes shut every time we snuggle.

The human is also a little worried today. She thinks my runny poo has come back. She's not sure because it's so liquid that it just soaks straight through the litter so she doesn't know if it's pee or poo. I'm too polite to answer the question when she asks me which it is. I'm Ok though. I'm not obviously dehydrated or anything, so I've told her just to wait and see how things progress. She's watching me very, very closely though.

Yesterday was the last time I got stinky wet food. The human says she was only giving me it cuz it's easier to digest and that I don't need it any more. I disagree though. It's so much nicer than the dried stuff. I am going to work on her and see if I can get any more out of her, but after the last fiasco with the home made chicken and turkey, she says she's not in a rush to cook up anything fancy. Who knows. I might get fish tonight!

We're in for a quiet weekend, I hope. There is a lot of strange howling outside the house which the human says is wind. It's a bit spooky late at night, and I'm kinda glad I don't have to go out in it. The human says it's very strong, and that if I went out it might even blow me over. The wind must be a very, very big thing! I don't think I'll go meet him until I get my strength back up.

Stupid Dogface has her fifth session of hydro tonight. The human doesn't want to go out of the house, but she knows she has to. She's been groaning about it ever since she remembered the hydro was tonight. That's what she gets for owning a stupid Dogface! She saw Dogface's bones vet when the human picked us up from hospital. He said that he didn't see a need to retire her, but Guide Dogs disagree. The human has a suspicion that they're retiring her more because she walks funny than because she's uncomfortable. It's bad PR for them to have a dog out that is less than perfect, and they know it. She talked to the HG about this, and the HG told her stories about her own experience with Guide Dogs that confirmed her suspicions. If the human didn't think Molly was going to a super home, she'd fight the retirement, but she knows Molly will be happier as a pet anyway, so she's going to let them think they've won this time.

Sensibly, she says she doesn't know if she'll ask for another Dogface once this one goes. She wants to see if she can manage without one. They're a big commitment, and if she can cope without making that, she's decided she will.

In any case, enough about Dogfaces. This blog is about me! I think I'm going to send some pictures in for the CB calendar. I'd kinda like to be a calendar cat. It would go with my top model show career after all, wouldn't it? Hopefully I'll get to go on April's page, cuz that's when my birthday is. Watch this space!

A Really Scary Halloween

Once again I must apologise for the human's inability to post for me on a regular basis, but this time, she had a good reason. Well not initially I suppose, but the story will unfold.

Dogman came as I told you he would. Thursday was a normal day, but on Friday, the human stayed home from the work hunt. She said she needed to go buy a wardrobe, as the cheap, flimsy one she had collapsed on Dogman's head when he was sleeping on Thursday evening. Well, that's karma. If he'd been Catman instead of Dogman, the wardrobe wouldn't have attacked him!

I felt a bit funny on Friday morning, but I didn't say anything. Believe it or not, I don't want a big fuss made of me when I was sick. There was something wrong with my tummy. When I went in my box to do the do, it was like doing a pee-pee instead, and my yummy tummy was all crampy and sore. I didn't make a big deal though. This happens now and again, and it always goes away.

The human and Dogman went away and were gone for a long time, looking at furniture, they said. While they were gone, I got into real big trouble. My tummy wasn't getting better. In fact, the yucky stuff just kept coming. I made it to the bathroom, but I just couldn't pull myself into the tray on time. I'm ashamed to admit that I had to poo on the floor, and because it was so liquid, it got all over my feet. I cleaned them on the carpet and the blankets on the sofas as best I could, but there was still an awful lot of it left on my fur.

When the human came back, she saw this right away, but, like me, she thought It was a transitory thing and would clear up. She gave me plenty of good food and lots of water and closed me in the bathroom. I didn't like this much. I cried lal night long. I shouted at her. I scratched the door, but she just wouldn't listen. She said she needed to monitor me, and she coldn't do that if I was pooping all over the house cuz she wouldn't find it.

I needed a bath the next day because I just couldn't clean all of the yuck off myself. It was too disgusting! I was still shouting and cuddling the human and being my usual self, so she thought things had gotten back to normal. On Saturday, her and Dogman built a wardrobe and I snoopervised from the back of the sofa. I kept climbing on the human whenever she came close enough for me to do it, and I wasn't feeling too bad.

Dogman left later that evening, and the human went to see some friends. It was during the time that she was out that I really started to feel terrible. When she came back, I didn't even miaow at her to ask her where she'd been, but as she'd left in a hurry, she thought I was just ignoring her. I purred hard when she picked me up, but when it came bed time, I hid under the bed for the first and last part of the night instead of sleeping with her.

The morning found me under the bed again, and now the human was getting worried. She decided to watch me closely that day. I had a bad tummy in the morning, but then nothing else. Now I didn't want food though, and although I was drinking, I still felt really thirsty. Late in the afternoon, I crawled off her lap, plopped onto the floor and vomited the most horrid tasting stuff that's ever been in my mouth. I couldn't face any more after that and went and hid behind the sofa. The human found me crouching there, doing nothing at all. It was at that point that she took me to the vet peoples.

It wasn't our nice man vet, but to be honest with you, I didn't care. I didn't really care about anything any more. I just wanted to not be sick. They examined me, and I'm ashamed to admit that when they felt my tummy, more nasty liquid almost came out of me. It was just so hard to hold in when they were pushing. They said words like dehydration, life-threateningly high temperature, inability to eat, but I didn't even try and understand them. The human got very upset. They said that I would have to stay in cat hospital for the night. They needed to give me what they call IV fluids to save my life.

I wish I could tell you that I didn't want to be parted from the human. It would be the right thing to feel, but I just didn't have the energy to be sad. She made up for it for both of us though. I've never seen her eyes so runny. They took me from her and put me in a funny smelling thing that looks like one of the pens I sit in when I am showing my yummy tummy to judges and winning prizes. I just curled up. They put a sharp, uncomfortable thing in my leg, and that soon got very cold. The nurse said that was because the IV fluids needed to be cool to bring my temperature down. She cuddled me and told me I'd be better soon. There was medicine in there to stop me throwing up and having a yucky feeling in my tummy. I just wanted to go home.

I am still at the cat hospital, and they are still making my leg cold. I have had a little food, and am feeling slightly better. I just want to go home though.

Human note: We really did almost lose Tia last night, and we're still not out of the woods. She has eaten and her temperature is coming down, but the vets are worried about what will happen when they take her off fluids and let her body fend for itself. We don't know the cause, you see. They are running bloods to see if it's viral, but we just don't know. Actually, we do. I've had a call back from the vet. There is no viral infection, nothing to indicate what is going on. They are going to do a full absominal scan on her to see if they can find any internal cause. Apparently she hasn't eaten, and nor will she. I am really worried now. I just want her back. I've authorised the scan, but this is really adding to the bill. We're looking at about £500 already, and I have absolutely no idea where I'm going to find that cash, but find it I will. Please, please keep fingers crossed for her. I need some positive news. I need this not to be something life threatening. With losing Molly in a few weeks, I just can't go through losing my cat as well. I don't know if I have the strength for it.