Millie's Bad Day

Hihihihihihi! It's been forever and forever since I got to writed to you somebodies who I don't think are somebodies, and my mummycat says that we shoulda writed sooner but she also says that the human's blue funk is making it difficult. What is a blue funk? The human hasn't had a smiley face for days and days though sept when I cuddle her and purpurpurpur hard! Then she has a smiley face. I think the blue funk must be something bad if it makes my human unhappy.






Anyway, enough about her cuz I gotta tell you all about my adventures for the last ages while I didn't writed! I can't member much about them cuz I forget easily cuz there's so many new things to do and what's the point membering the old things when there's new ones? But I member yesterday cuz that was a big adventure and I was a wee bit ascared and I always member things that scare me.





So I went and woked the human cuz the bed thing had eated her again and she was making the sleep noises and I was worried. I climbed up the scratchy post, stood on the top, gotted brave, then did a the best jump ever to get across the huuuuuuge gap that my human says is only about 3 inches between the scratchy post and the bed, and then I runned really fast all over the human's feets, but that didn't work cuz my stinky brothers and me do that when we're fighting and she's learned to keep making the sleep noises regardless. So then I runned at full speed right up to where her head hadn't been eated and was on the pillow. And I stood right beside her ear and I took a deep breath and I said "weeeeeeow! Weeeeeeow! Weeoooooooow!" in her ear. And it worked! I can't say meeeeeeow yet cuz I can't make the mmmmm sound, but that doesn't matter, cuz weeeeow woked the human up. And then I said "eeeow purpurpur" and climbed onto her face and then walked everywhere and rubbed my head on her until I falled over! But it was Ok cuz the bed is soft so I didn't hurt myself and I just started all over again!





Well, that was a good idea, cuz it made the bed sick her up which meant that she would put down the stinkky goodness that I love! And after we'd all eaten, she got out the horrible box that moves that my mummycat calls a PTU, and she put me and my stinky brothers in it and she took us in a big, growly monster called car to the somebody that mummycat says is called the nice vet ladypeople, sept I don't think she's all that nice.





When we got to her house, we had to wait before she'd see us and in the place where we waited, there was a huge, hairy monster somebody thing that said "woof!" at us. My stinky brother Porker was really ascared. So was I, but at least I didn't make a stink and have a accident in the horrible PTU on the way to the vet ladypeople! But Porker does this even when he's just a little ascared. But when the thing said woof, he gotted real brave, and he went to the front of the PTU and he said "rrrrrrrrr!" and the human and the somebody with the monster made laugh noises a lot! I didn't know what was funny though. I thinked that my brother was super brave even if he is stinky!





Both the boys are real babycats though, cuz while we were waiting, they started to cry and Porker was really whining, and they both put their paws through the front of the horrible PTU, and the only way they would be quiet was when the human held one paw of theirs in her big paw! This made her make laugh noises again, and I joined in this time. What babies! I, meanwhile, sat in the PTU and just looked around at everything and was as good as fish. I didn't even cry!





Then it was our turn to go in and see the nice vet ladypeople who isn't nice, and it was my stinky brother Porker's turn first to come out of the horrible PTU and get looked at. I don't know what she did to him, but he screamed worse than he does when the human's cleaning his eyes or mummycat has gived him the smackypaw for being real bad, or even worse than when I bite his bumbum and run away! Oops, I didn't mean to say that! Don't tell on me, will you?





And then it was my stinky brother Hamster's turn, but he's braver than Porker and he didn't make a squeak. And then it was my turn and suddenly the PTU didn't seem like such a horrid place after all and I thought about staying there, but I'm a good girl and so I came out nicely when the somebodies asked me to. I was really ascared, but I knew I had to be brave to show the boys how it's done, so I only clinged to the vet ladypeople and hided my face for a minute and then I let go and went on the table.





She did lotsa things. Looked at my teeths, put a big thing on my chest to listen to my heart, looked at my eyes, felt my tummy, and then she picked me up and cuddled me real tight against her. I was enjoying it for a minute until I felt a sharp prick in my leg. I was real good though and I didn't cry and I didn't flinch. My mummycat told me later that that was the vaccination. I don't like it. But there was worse to come.





She carried on holding me real tight and then she said to the human, "Ok, I'm doing the nasty one now," and my human's eyes got all teary and then there was this real big sore at the back of my neck and I knowed why Porker had screamed like a babycat girl cuz it really really hurted! But I was brave and I didn't move or scream cuz I membered that my mummycat had told me that you should always stay still when people somebodies are doing things to you cuz that's what a good cat should do. You get a bad rep, rep, um, something for yourself if you get out your claws and your teeths whenever they do nasty things, she says, and that's not something befitting of a well bred ladycat! The vet ladypeople letted go of me then to get some other stuffs, and I runned really fast and jumped on the human and I hided and she cuddled me tight and told me that I'd only ever need to go through that once cuz it was something called a micro chip and I'd not need another one. But she lied!





And then the vet ladypeople clipped my nails which I was really good for cuz I know it doesn't hurt, but the stinky brothers cried like she was cutting their toes off! And then she put a thing in my mouth that she said is a swab which tests DNA whatever that is, to make sure I have no kidney disease and to check if I carry the gene for chocolate coat colour. I don't understand any of this. And then she maked me swallow a horrible thing she said was a worming tablet. And then it was all done and I went back into the lovely PTU and we went home.





But when I said "weeeeow, weeow!" to the human and she picked me up for a cuddle later, she feeled a funny thing at the back of my neck and it was stuck in my fur and she pulled it out. Then I heard her say to her friend, "Damn, that's the chip!" And she made talk noise on the phone and they said things that I don't understand like "it's incredibly rare for a chip to come back out once it's been inserted. We've never seen it happen before, but bring her and we'll have a look anyway." And the next thing I know my human is carrying me somewhere and it smells different and there's air blowing on me and there's no walls and no ceiling and she tells me that this is outside and I'm never to come here on my own. And then we gotted into another big growly monster called car, but I wasn't in my PTU this time so I had a great time climbing on the human and looking out at things going by. And I was really good cuz I only tried to climb off her about 10 times in 5 minutes.





When Car stopped, I was ascared cuz I could see that we were back at the vet ladypeople's house again and I didn't want to see her, but I had no choice. And there were more hairy monsters but they didn't say woof this time. And all their somebodies said what a lovely girl I was and how well behaved, cuz I just sat on the human's knee or on her shoulder while we waited. But then the peoples had a look at the thing that was in my fur and they said it was the chip and they said I'd have to have another one putt back in. I membered the needle from earlier and I gotted real ascared, even more when a somebody called nurse came and stealed me away from my human!





They took me into another room for about a million years, and they putt another needle in the back of my neck and I was sore all over again. But then they bringed me out and I saw my human and I wiggled and wiggled and wiggled until I jumped on her and I put all my claws out and hung on tight and I'm not ashamed to say that I hided my face and didn't take it out again till we were out of the nasty vet ladypeople's house and away from the horrible somebody called nurse.





Yesterday we all slept all day. I was quite worn out by my horrid day, and I didn't feel too good either. Neither did my stinky brothers, but mummycat says not to worry and that it's only the vaccination making us like that.





One of my brothers will leave for his forever home on Sunday. I'm real sad cuz I don't want him to go, and whenever the human is arranging things, her eyes get so runny that I could have a drink from them! And she says she wonders why she did this but then says that if she can give other peoples somebodies the joy that we've brought to her then it'll be worth it in the end. She wants the boys to go together though as it would be better for them, but we'll see what happens.





I can't think of nothing more to say sept enter the competition cuz then you'll get to see me and I'll even say "Weeeeow!" to you too!

Seven Weeks Old!

Friends, my babies are seven weeks old! Least, they were this morning. And they're crazy!

Many of you have suggested I find a high place to get away from them, but unless they're in their pen, no high place is safe! They chase me all over. They slepe on my spot on the sofa. They hog my human's lap. In short, they are everywhere at once, and I don't know what to do about it!

Going crazy with the red cube!

And get this, they're even stealing my number one favouritest toys in the world! First they stole all my ping pong balls, then they even stole my pipe cleaners that The House of Cats
sent for me, not them! But now, they've stole Da Bird! They played with him for ages today while I tried too. Course, I'm stronger and faster than they are, so I caught him whenever I wanted to, but the problem is that what with all their toys and their pen, the running space is quite small, and I need to be careful where I jump so as not to hurt them. They can zip around everywhere cuz they're so fast and tiny, and there's three of them, so they had an unfair advantage! In the end, I just lay down and let them play on their own. It doesn't matter that the human gives me individual playtime when they've been put to bed for the night in the pen. It's not the same. And the Da Bird is mine, not theirs!

Playing on the scratchy post

I had to wear the stinky jacket again today, but not before we went on a trip. It was back to the vet lady people again, not for my nimples, but for a worming this time. All my babies had to have it done too, but the vet lady people and my human were good. They let me sit on the table and watch everything that was done to my babies. I didn't like it when they cried, but other than that, they didn't hurt them at all, so I didn't need to put the bitey on them. They're lucky!

Having a little wash

Speaking of biting, Hamster's been really bad for that lately, but he's my favourite, so I dont' discipline him. Instead, I just give him a good old wash all over. I love him lots! My human says I should give him smackypaw when he's bad like I do the other two, but I can't find it in me to do it.

Snuggling on the Human

I did something the human wasn't pleased about too. I started using the teeny weeny babycat trays for litter that my human has around the living room. I'm an edge pee-er. I like to get my pee as close to the wall of the box as possible. Only problem is that these boxes are so small that not all of me can fit in them! So when I go close to the rim, I overshoot a bit. The pad that she has down around the trays was getting soaked with my peepee before she realised. She's been mean. She took that tray away and put my old covered one there instead which she says I gotta use. Course, I ignored her and chose one of the other, larger trays instead which she'd put down just for me but which I'd been ignoring till now. That'll teach her!

My babies go back to the vet lady people tomorrow to have the second day of their worming, but I don't need to go cuz I'm big enough to have a tablet, and I only need one of them. Lucky me! I could do without seeing vet lady peoples for a while. I'll have to go back in two weeks for my booster injection though, so the rest will be short lived!


There will be pictures later on today courtesy of the Katnip Lounge Crew
so please check back so that you can see just how cute they've gotten!


And one las thing. The HG has a new stupid dogface who is writing her own blog to tell all about how cruel the HG is when she's training her to be a guide dog! It's sort of fascinating to read, but I didn't say that. She has hardly anyone who comments, and we know how bad that feels, so if you like what you see, please tell her so! The blog is Guide Dog Wannabe
and it's great! Ahem, did I just admit that?


(Note from The Lounge Mommy:  More photos over at Moonspun Cats!)

Poopy human and sharp-toothed thieves

Friends, yet again, those kittens of mine have stolen something from me, but this time, I spose I should be fair and mention that they did it indirectly. They stole my blog time!






As you know, I don't bother to tippy-tap all of my things I want to say into the man in the box Computer. That's one of the principle reasons I keep the human, the other being that she can open tins of food. Up until now, she's been, well, sort of all right if you discount the times where she's been really lax and hasn't updated for me at all, but that all changed last night. As usual, she left writing till the very last thing. Yeah yeah, she says she had other things to do and was running all over the place yesterday, but we all know that a people's concept of importance is so flawed that being busy isn't an excuse. My dictation comes before meetings. It comes before stupid peoples food shopping. It definitely comes before the de-furring of the house with the sucky monster.





Anyway, she started writing our Moonspun Blog
which charts the growth and achievements of my kittens from her point of view. Again I say yeah, yeah. We all know that peoples are selfish when it comes to our needs, and that we cats are supremely unselfish. I graciously allowed her to continue in peace until she was finished, but you know what she did? She turned off Computer, put him to bed and said it was time for sleeps! Well, I was furious. I had so much to tell you all, but I couldn't. I tried tippy-tapping once or twice, but the problem is that you can't get a good foothold on the blasted keyboard. There's always little square bits melting away when you step on them, and to be honest with you, I don't like it. So I'm stuck depending on her to do it for me.





The human says that a lot of stuff that I wanted to tell you is already on the Moonspun Blog
so I suggest you pop on over there for a really quick read, as I'm certainly not gonna give her the satisfaction of listening to me repeat something she's already written!





There is something she didn't mention though. Yesterday, our really nice vet lady people, who wasn't so nice to me last time come to think of it, came to the hous. The human had asked her to come have a look at me cuz she's felt a lump in my side ever since the kittens were newborn mousies. She initially thought it was the uterus, but as it hasn't gone down yet, she thought it best that someone took a look. however, whenever she arrived, the lump went and hid itself! It does this from time to time, and the human was furious that it had happened just then. However, the vet lady people had a feel of my yummy tummy anyway and said that she thought it was my kidney. This is apparently normal in skinny cats, and I do feel like a bit of a skinny minny at the moment cuz those kittens are sucking me dry, literally! But when they weighed me, I'd put on 200 grams compared to before the pregnancy. It's very, very strange. We're going to keep a close eye on that lump, the human and I, but let's hope it's nothing terrible.





My milk flow hasn't been as good lately, and the kittens are suffering from it. They only feed for short periods before losing interest altogether. Their weights are yo-yoing, and nobody's gaining like they should. Even when the human gave me urtica stinky tablets which usually keep my milk going for days, it dried up quickly again. She wishes they weren't losing weight, but she says it's only to be expected. It's around the time when the little monsters should be weaning. Their teeth are too sharp to keep feeding anyway, so I'm not fighting her. Well, I am, but not very hard. I will push them away from the dish whenever they come too near, and if the human's feeding them from her fingers as she did yesterday to try and encourage them to eat, then I'll push the kitten out of the way and eat it myself. Oh, food always tastes so much better from my human's fingers. I don't know why I'm doing this. It's some sort of instinct, but I really don't understand it. All I know is that it has to be done. The human says that in the next few days, she might separate me from them for a few hours so that they can get a little hungry, then eat undisturbed. Porker is the only one who has actually eaten from the dish, so he'll have a head start in the weight department... As usual.





As much as I love them, and I think I do love them now, they are disgusting little monsters. they're all pooping in the bedding now, or at least, one of them is, but as none of us knows who, and the kittens aren't telling, I blame them all. That is something I can't put up with. I'm a very clean cat, and this drives me mad! How do I stop them doing this? I'm not eating this stuff. It's solid. It's one thing cleaning their bums when they're tiny and can't do it for themselves, but I'm certainly not doing that now!





Anyway, that's all for a bit. Feel free to send hate mail to my human for being horrid enough not to write for me and only consider her own selfish needs instead of my unselfish requirements. Her address is selfishpig@dontcareaboutcats.com. Also feel free to lambast her in the comments. The more discipline she gets, the better!

Terrific Tuesday!

It is, friends, and for quite a few reasons. Firstly and most importantly, it's a great day because that lazy bum of a human of mine has finally decided to commit my dictations to paper once more! ok, computer, not paper. It's been too long, and she hasn't even been visiting my friends for me! She says she's still sorting things out from the house move, that she's had a lot to deal with, yada, yada, yada. Does she think I care for her pathetic, pitiful excuses? Cuz I don't. The fact is, she's been neglecting me, and there's no excuse for that!




There's more good news. Last week I had to go to the new lady vet people cuz my chest was sounding all bad and wheezy again. She gave me some more yucky tablets to take, and I finished those this morning. The human took me back today for a check up, and other than having some staining on my teeth, the vet lady people said I was in great health! The human still says she can hear a wheeze in my purr, but the vet lady people couldn't hear a thing when she listened with the listening thing to my chest, so I say the human's being a worry wart again.





The other thing is mancats. My own lovely little mancat is now very far away from me thanks to my human deciding to move house, so I've had to find another one, but you know what? I've done it! There's another boy, and this one's so posh that he's actually international. Isn't that neat? He was imported into this country to live with his peoples because he was so outstanding. the human says he owns his own house too. She says he's had other girls before, but he's a man of the world. Where as my first mancat would take no for an answer, this mancat knows what he wants. She says that he'll show me that having fun with a mancat isn't so bad really. I'll confess that I saw the last one off cuz I was a bit nervous, but if the new one will show me the ropes, I might just let him milk and tuna me!





And the good news doesn't stop there! After being stuck in the house for a week, the human had someone come today to help her learn the way to places with her white stick. She was a nice ladypeople. When the human was getting her shoes on, she said that the lady people could have a cuddle if she liked. As I've told you before, I'm a bit nervous of strangers, but the human says that she wants to show me that I can trust them just like I trust her. She wants to show me that everybody I say hello to will be nice to me, so she passed me over to the lady people. Even though I wanted to, I didn't struggle. While the human went off to get ready, the lady people gave me scritches and rubs and told me all about the two mancats she owns. She said that it was Ok, that she wouldn't be horrible to me and that I could relax. I might have purred a teeny bit, but I'm not saying. I did stare after my human as she left the room to find her keys, but I didn't jump down from the lady people's lap cuz her scritches were quite nice. I wonder, can other peoples be trusted? I mean, really trusted?





The human says that the HG is coming to see us on Saturday and is staying until Tuesday! I got real excited about this until I heard the next things. The HG is bringing her manpeople with her, and he's not so keen on cats. She's also bringing a stupid Dogface. Her stupid dogface is called Nikki, and does the same job as the human's stupid dogface did for her. She stops the HG from walking into things, and helps her find the way to go. I've decided that if she's like our stupid dogface and leaves me alone, I'll not mind her, but if she chases me or sniffs me, I'm gonna disappear. I can't be bothered with Dogfaces any more! Still, I can't wait to see the HG! Do you think she'll bring me toys? Or treats? Or tuna? Or nice stinky goodness? huh? The human says she's going to help with a practice show bath over the weekend. I'm not looking forward to that bit, but if the HG is there and she brings treats, then I'll put up with it for that... Maybe.





Ok, last bit of good news for today, but hasn't there been a lot! This is the biggest news for the human. Her friend's ladycat has just given birth to two happy, healthy, bouncing boy Burmese kittens! The people who belongs to the ladycat has been talking to the human and telling her all about the pregnancy so that she'll know better what to expect when I have my babies later this year, so the human almost feels as though she's had a part in the kittens who've just been born. It made her day! I can't say that I cared as much as she did. After all, I didn't know the ladycat. But I hope that mummycat and babies continue to do well and thrive. If you like, I'll have the human keep you updated on all the goings on with them!





Well, I think I'm all newsed out. Until next time, eat nip!

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!

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!

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?

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!

Reprieve?

Perhaps so, and perhaps not. For one thing, I didn't have to stay with the horrible vet for a whole day. I went and they had a look at me and kept me for a few hours, but then they said I could come home. They let stupid dogface come home too, cuz apparently her poopoo is normal now. Why do they focus so much on poopoo! Don't they realise how disgusting they are?

The human went to her vet again yesterday, and got very, very angry. Even though she was dizzy enough that she was struggling to stand, so dehydrated that her tongue was sticking to her mouth and hadn't managed to eat in over 24 hours, her vet wouldn't do anything for her. They were very, very rude to her too. She says she won't go into all the details here because it makes her too angry, but to sum it all up in a few sentences, her vet said, "You're young. You're fit. You can fight it. Just go home." She advised the human to go to a chemist and buy electrolites, ludicrous when she's so dizzy she can't stay on her feet, and when she doesn't have stupid dogface to help her find the chemist. The vet doctor didn't care. She made them take a poo sample for testing (more poo!), and they grudgingly sent it off. We'll know in five days from now what her results are.

So she came home, made up a bed on the sofa, dragged herself to get me and stupid dogface, then came home and slept almost straight away. I cuddled up on her. Even though I felt a bit ill myself, I climbed up on her and curled up right on her chest. She was too cold and I was too warm,so I figured a heat exchange was the way to go! Next thing we knew, it was time for the real bed.

The human managed to get some water down her last night, and after two days of not eating, a little bit of a sandwich this morning. I was glad of that. I don't like her not eating. It's worrying.

I have decided that I don't much care for being sick. So, let me give a message to Mr Bug.

Dear Mr Bug,
Whilst we didn't invite you, it was very nice of you to drop by. I hope you have had a good time at our house and the vet peoples house too. As rude as it is to say though, I'm afraid that we must part ways. Myself, the human and even stupid Dogface have other engagements which means that we can no longer play host to you. I would invite you back, but as you've already seen all we have to offer over an extended dperiod, your stay may well be more enjoyable elsewhere. I hear the other side of the universe is nice this time of year. Safe trip.
Yours,
Tia

I hope Mr Bug is polite enough to listen. Between you and me, I really am quite sick of his company now... No pun intended!

So far, I'm hot, but I haven't done any of the bad poopoos and I am keeping myself hydrated, or so the human thinks. Dogface is normal and the human will get there. She needs help, but as none is likely to come, she's just going to have to carry on trying. Eating and cleaning the bug out of the house are going to be the things she finds hardest. She just doesn't have the energy to cook. I'll help her by lying on her and snuggling and purring. If this makes her not want to get up even more, that's not my fault!

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.

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.

Quick Update

Human: I'm tired again, so this isn't going to be a long one. Off and on all day, Tia's been going to her box and calling and calling until I come in there with her. She's either crouched or stretched right on her side and fidgets a lot as though she can't get comfortable. I really, really wasn't happy, so I took her back to the vets and asked them to do an ultrasound on her. unfortunately, it wasn't my usual vet, and this surgery offers a less than great service, but my normal one wouldn't do the test till Monday, and I didn't want to wait that long.

I won't tell you about our interminable wait there. Maybe Tia will when she's feeling up to blogging again. In the end though, we were seen and she was scanned. The vet said she was 99% sure that there were no kittens in there. So it's a phantom after all. I feel as drained as though it were real, and my pregnancy instead of hers!

I'm not long back from there, but the first thing I did was take up her nesting box. That won't go back down unless she gets really, really desperate again. Her milk is still in, but it hasn't increased any since yesterday. She's still crouching, but it's for short periods at a time. I guess I just need to keep watching. They gave her an exam and said they could find nothing else wrong, so apparently she's having phantom labour as well as pregnancy. I can't wait to see the ghost kitten. Please let it come soon!

Tia Update

Hi there, folks. It's the human here. I'm posting today, as Tia is still a bit, ah, preoccupied.

I was half expecting to find a kitten or two when I got home after a very long shift at work yesterday. I'd had Hoover lady check in on Tia in the middle of the day just in case she had started labour and was having difficulties, but she was fine. When I got home, it was to find that Hoover lady was still there. She's great. She stayed with her on the off-chance that Tia would start and there'd be nobody there for her. I tried to have a listen with my stethoscope yesterday (I'm a physio, and have a paediatric very sensitive one) but it wasn't sensitive enough to hear through the fur of her tummy, so I was none the wiser. I decided to watch for another night to see what happened.

She didn't nest nearly as insistently last night, but then I don't know whether this is indicative or not because I'd put a box down for her in the living room. She'd been in there all day and knew that it was safe, warm and private, so maybe her urgency slacked off a little because she knew it was there. Whatever the reason, she slept for a little, and so did I. I was up with her frequently though. She was very restless and terribly vocal about it.

This morning she didn't seem to want me to go to work, but again, that's not abnormal. I got her settled in her box and she seemed fine, so off I went. Still no kittens when I came home, but Tia now started calling me to the box. She wasn't happy unless she was there and I was in there with her. I had to take Molly to the vet for her first session of hydrotherapy, so I decided, against my better judgement really, to take Tia along and have one of them look at her. I'd spoken to them on the phone beforehand and they thought she might very well have a real pregnancy. That worried me enough that I wanted her checked.

I took her in a closed carrier to give her a bit more privacy, and she really seemed to like it. It's quite big, so she could get comfy and fidget when she needed to, and she talked all the way there to me.

I saw the vet that had spoken to me on the phone, and she concluded that she thought she could feel something in her tummy. She also said though that she could be convincing herself because of what I'd told her about Tia already, and took her off to let a colleague have a look. He said that he might be able to feel something but didn't think it was likely. So I'm still in the I don't know camp. Her milk is coming down though. All of her nipples are hard and there's one at the back that's filling nicely with milk.

When I brought her home, she headed straight for the box and was very, very insistent that I come with her. When I got there, it was to find her half lying, half crouched and panting quite a bit. "This is it," I thought, and stayed with her. Half an hour later though, she came back out, jumped on my lap on the sofa and went to sleep. She's currently on the back of the sofa behind my head and is still sleeping.

So I still don't know what to think. Because her milk is coming in, we should see something happen pretty soon. It usually happens within two days, four at the most, so the waiting game will be over reasonably quickly, I'm guessing. It's interminable though, and I don't like it. I'm going to take her into bed with me again tonight, and hope that I sleep lightly so that she will have no trouble waking me if she needs me. I'm a light sleeper anyway, but since Tia's been with me, I've learned to snore on through her constant chattering, so I'm worried that if she cries, I'll not notice it.

As soon as there's any change, I'll post it here. I'd really appreciate advice from any of you who have either had a pregnant mum give birth with you or who know about phantom pregnancy though. I feel a bit out on my own here, and don't know if it's normal for labour to stop and start, for example. I thought once it started, it just kept on going, but judging by her current position, she didn't start earlier on after all. Help! If you know of anyone else who knows, I'd love the input. For now, I'm going to grab sleep when I can. Fingers crossed for a safe delivery, whether it be ghost or kitten!

Review: Rosewood Options Deluxe Open Top Carrier

I've persuaded the human to write about this after listening to her very frustrated gruntings and grumblings over the last few days. On the way to the show on Saturday, I finally convinced her that the carrier she had for me, whilst being one of the best ones she's seen, is just too small for me. What's that you say? I used to fit fine when I was brought home from the other place I lived at? I've put on weight and that's why it's too small now? Ridiculous! We all know that the reason I'm bigger is because of my extra floofiness for the show. The softness of my yummy tummy is not fat, it's furr. Still, the fact remains that I need a new carrier. The human says she's pleased. I was too boney and unsquishy when I came from the last place, so she doesn't mind that my, erm, floof has gotten a bit bigger. I'm not too squishy, and nor am I going that way, so she's happy. I keep telling her that squishy is good and she should give me more of the stinky wet food to get me that way, but this time, she said that the more moneys she has to spend on new carriers, the less is left to buy me all that stinky goodness. I had to concede the point, to my unhappiness. Seems peoples can use logic too.

But, yet again, I digress. She started looking on the internet for a new carrier. She usually reads lots of reviews before she swaps moneys for anything, but when it came to cat carriers, she just kept coming up blank. Sure, there were lots of short ones done by customers, but nothing in-depth like she wanted. "Well, human, why don't you alter that and write your own?" I said in a fit of peak last night. I'd just had enough of her griping at this point. She was so distracted that she replied, "Shush, Tia. It's not food time yet, and all that meowing is making it hard to hear the computer." Honestly! She wasn't even listening to me propperly! I told her later on though, and it seemed to get through.

I'm going to let the human write the bulk of these reviews, because peoples care about things we don't, like how heavy it is, how durable, and that sort of stuff. At the end, I'll give you my take on it. So, take it away, Human.

Review: Rosewood Options Deluxe

I didn't choose this carrier for myself. I was given it by an ex-friend breeder that I got my first ever Russian White kitten from. It was love at first sight though, and I don't just mean the fluffy white ball of yumminess that was inside it! If you go to this link
I think you can see pictures of it. The one I got was the Deluxe open top, size 1.

For many cats, travelling is a stressful time, and there's nothing quite like being able to fasten those huge, stroke-me eyes on their owner at a time like this. The Rosewood is excellent at facilitating. Its top and front are completely wire, the front having a square, grid-like pattern and the top being arranged with the wire in rows. The holes in the front are big enough that you can get your fingers inside for a quick, reassuring chin tickle, but unfortunately, they're also large enough for paws to come snaking out of. If you have a cat who will slash and grab when frightened, this carrier is definitely not for you, unless you leave it facing away from you, that is.

The carrier opens at the front and at the top. This latter is a distinct advantage if you have a cat who likes to go star-shaped as soon as you try and bundle them in through the door of a conventional carrier. It's also an added bonus at vet surgeries. for the very nervous cat, injections can be given whilst still in the safety of the box. For the feisty one, coming out through the top means less exposure to claws and teeth for the poor unfortunate charged with the dubiously delightful task of removing the caged fury from its sanctuary. It also facilitates a quick stroke, although you have to be careful that the cat doesn't flip the other way and wriggle free. Both doors feel incredibly stirdy. The wire isn't flimsy at all, and stands up well to the test of time. I've had mine for a year now. It's travelled lots, been through a house move, had heavy things dropped on it, been on trains, buses and goodness knows what else, and neither door has a scratch on it yet. The handle is afixed to the top door, but even though I use this to carry it, I've never been worried about it slipping or breaking.

The handle itself clips to the door rather than being fixed there, but seems in little danger of snapping off. However, due to its design, if you use it, the carrier will swing a little as you walk. I usually tuck the box against my hip as I'm walking, so this isn't a problem for me, but if you like to use the handle and you have an active or easily spooked cat, you need to bear this in mind. There are two d-rings on the top to attach a shoulder strap to, but as I haven't used one, I don't know how well this works.

Both doors have strong catches. The top has two which slide across to clip a section of the wire against the thick plastic frame. The front door is a single-handed, spring-loaded catch. You place a finger and thumb against two pieces of plastic and squeeze them together. This retracts a metal pole which goes from top to bottom and inserts into two purpose-built niches in the frame. When I first saw this, I was very dubious about whether it would hold if a cat really wanted to get out, but after trying it with three different wriggling furballs, I can attest to its strength. The front door can be altered so that it opens on the left or the right, so it doesn't matter if you have a dominant hand.

The carrier itself is made of very thick plastic. The top half is vented at sides and back to facilitate good airflow, but with its open top and front, I thinkk this was a bit of over-kill. It lets the cat peep out of the sides though, so it does have its good points. Although the plastic is thick, it is quite slick on the inside, so if you're going in a car or moving vehicle, you will need to put a blanket inside to prevent your pet from slipping from one side to the other. There are seatbelt slots in the top which will stop the carrier slipping around on the seat of the car, and I've read somewhere that it's airline approved, although as requirements vary so much, it's well worth checking before you travel.

There are four snap clips plus two twist clips holding the top half of the carrier to the bottom. Pull this apart and it is very, very easily cleaned. Due to the plastic being slick inside, if you have a cat with the unfortunate habit of going to the toilet or puking during journeys, wiping is absolutely not going to become a chore for you. Again, I know this from painful personal experience. The carrier is very slightly fiddly to put together, but as this feature wasn't designed to be used when the cat is still in it, it doesn't pose any real problems. You can change the hinge side of the door when the carrier is broken in half.

The only size which comes in this open top variety is the size 1. Bigger carriers are avaliable, but they're all closed at the top. I was disappointed in this, for if it had been larger, I would have simply bought another when my cat outgrew the first. If you have a fairly small cat, or want a really good carrier for a kitten, this is good enough that you won't be disappointed if you buy it. However, if you're wanting something which will last as your fluff-ball grows larger, this is probably not the one for you. The carrier comes in a choice of colours, none of which are displeasing to the eye, or so I'm told.

In summary, this is an all-round good carrier. Pros: Good, thick doors, excellent closing mechanisms, stands up to the test of time, thick, easy-wipe plastic, easy visibility for occupant, seat-belt slots, opening top. Cons: bad handle design, size issue, paws can fit through front door, slippery inner floor, no collection gutter for urine or spilled water, danger of losing two twist clips at the front as they totally detach. In spite of these, i would still recommend the carrier. Rosewood, please make the larger two with an opening top!

End of Review!

Now that the human bit is done, here's my thoughts on it. It is too, too, too small! It's also too well made. When I try and get out, the door doesn't even open! On the way to the show I pulled at it with my paws, even mashed my face against the bars of that horrible jail cell. Ok, the face mashing was mainly to get a head rub, but if the door had given I'd have climbed out for one, so it still counts as an escape effort, right? If I bump my head off the top to try and make it open, all I get is hard wire. It's not going anywhere! The wires are too close together for me to get a paw out to undo the clips. I hate you, Rosewood!

I do like the way I can see out all round though. I can keep an eye on that pesky human of mine, make sure she's safe. It's hard owning a people sometimes. It's definitely not a responsibility you take on lightly, let me tell you that. Even though the carrier is small, there's still room for some food and a ping pong ball in there with me, so it's not an absolutely awful jail.

That's enough from us for now. We are going to see the skin lady vet today. I wonder if she'll be nice? We'll post about that today or tomorrow, I'm not sure which. Depends on whether I'm too tired after eating all the fish I'm going to get her to give me tonight. I want to know something though. Some of you others manage to get asked to review all kinds of things, from cat trees to carriers, to foods. How did you do it? I want to find a roomier jail! The human says she has some more coming in the post, whatever that is. I don't know if I'm looking forward to it or not. She tells me there'll be cardboard boxes though, so it's not all bad.

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.

Easy like Sunday

Even though I had an unexpected event today, it's still been a pretty relaxed Sunday for me at least. The human's been running around cleaning. I, on the other hand, just sit and watch. I occasionally help her by going to the kitchen and miaowing very, very loudly, just to remind her where the fish is kept. Let it not be said that I don't do my chores!

This morning, the human made up for my lack in sleep yesterday. She slept in really, really, really late! When I say slept, I mean lay in bed. She woke up way past the usual sun up, go out time, then she put on a book to listen to and kind of just dozed for ages, until the sun was right up in the sky! We haven't done that ever, as far as I can remember. When it was time to pull my body out of bed, I was rested and refreshed, so much so in fact that I thought I'd go play with my catnip carrot. She finally got me one! Some peoples brought lots of cat toys to the show yesterday and put them all on a people table. They were swapping toys for the thing the human calls money. She knows toys are worth more, so she gave them some of the stupid money and they gave her my carrot, and lots of other things. how stupid are they for getting the bum end of the deal!

After the human had made more talk noise with Bug (incidentally, Babycat, you can tell him he's moderately safer today), the human picked me up for what I thought was a cuddle. But it wasn't to be. I got stuffed once more into that stupid, stupid carrier. I've told the human she needs a bigger one now, and she actually agrees. She says she needs one with a front and top opening, and she'd prefer both to be caged so that I can see and hear her easily. It needs to be very stirdy for us to take to shows. If any of you other cats use them and have something you could recommend, I'll tell her to get that one. I'd rather take your word for it than ask her to go looking herself.

After a short car trip, during which I talked to her the whole time, we arrived at the vet's place. I've told you that I don't really mind our vet, especially this time because the human said she had made sure we were going to see the nice man vet who I like. We did see him, and he looked at me very carefully all over. The only thing I don't like about the man vet is that he doesn't take time to give me scratches and he smells funny, like dogs and rabbits and all kinds of things. His hands are nice and gentle though, and he doesn't move me really quickly or be even the littlest bit rough with me like some of the others are. The human says it's because they're busy and kind of lose sight of the fact that you should treat every animal like you'd want your own to be treated. She says they get caught up in the fact that it's their job. I don't think this is any excuse though, and neither does she. This is why we try and always see the man vet, because he takes time with us every time.

Today he was very interested in my scabs. To be honest with you, I'm starting to regret ever scratching my neck like this. It's gotten me a lot of poking and prodding and some unwanted attention, but when the urge to scratch hits me, it's kind of hard to remember that. He said a lot of words to the human, but I'll let her tell you that bit.

Human: In essence, the vet agreed with me. I took Tia there to be checked for a final time, just to back up my claims (when I make them, which I intend to). He said that her scabs might have been acne, but judging by the presentation, it shouldn't have been branded as such. Acne is pustular, not scabby, and Tia only has scabs. He says they could have been pustules at one time or another, but they definitely weren't now. It could be many things, but didn't look like any of them. He confirmed that it was most likely she was simply collar scratching as I'd said, but has recommended that I take her to a skin specialist on Tuesday. That way, when they write the letter to give Tia the all clear, and he's almost certain she'll be found to be such, no vet at a show can challenge it, as it's come from a skin specialist. It means more money, but I think I'm going to use my insurance for this. He's sent us home with antibiotics because they worked last time, and another bottle of shampoo at my request. Cindy's problem looked kind of like Tia's, so if the shampoo worked for Cindy, then it might work for her. Better to cover all bases, I figure.

So, as you can see, cat friends, this means another trip to the vet, plus a lot of bathing with that stupid, stupid stinky stuff! I'm less than pleased at the thought of the baths, but I'm wondering if the skin lady vet will be nice like the man vet. I guess I'll just have to wait and see, eh?

When we got home from there, it was time to play with the Catnip Carrot again. Oh, I just love the feathers on the top! I bunny kick it like crazy too. I just can't help myself. It's so, sooooo goooood! Today when I'd finished playing, I just had to come and flop on the human's lap. I was so blissed that I went to sleep all folded over myself. My head was down and my back leg was almost up by my ear! My human says I looked like a ball.

That's pretty much all that's happened today. There's not much excitement to report, so it's been a perfect Sunday. I apologise for the terrible typing last night. You can see just how tired the human was when you read it. She didn't even realise it had happened! To all of you who left comments, thanks so much for supporting me. It's nice to know you think I'm beautiful, and the human says it's also nice to know she wasn't over-reacting to the bad vet people yesterday. Clowder, the human is annoyed too. They were hoping, judging by the facial expressions that Hoover Lady (her PA) described to her that she'd just go away and stop insisting that she was given more than a cursory explanation. I'm glad my human's made of tough stuff and took no notice! I've taught her well. Zoe, thanks for the link, but we're still stuck. The human's eyes are broke, you see, so the usual way doesn't work for her. The computer man who speaks to her (human note: a piece of software which reads text on the screen) won't read that part of the blog website, so she can't upload pictures. Whicky, it's nice to see you around again! My human did rant something about disability discrimination yesterday when she came back to the pen, and she's already emailed the chairman with other issues. This is going to be another added to the list, she tells me. We know what you mean about shows. There are a lot of cats there who are unhappy. Yesterday the human saw a kitten who was just running in circles in her pen, and it made her upset. The cat a few pens down from us was so desperate to get away that he not only crawled under his blanket but got under the litter tray too! Me though? Well, I just went to sleep in the middle of my snuggle blanket with my feet in the air. I was showing off my yummy tummy to all the peoples, and they liked it! My human says that if I showed any kind of stress behaviour past what's normal for a cat initially getting used to a new place for the first little while, she'd not take me to shows any more. She doesn't think it's kind to do that to us. By the way, there's always a place for rough, tough mancats! Wait, maybe that's just in my daydreams. Ah, who cares! Thank you for your offer of hosting pictures, Whicky, and for your advice, Clowder. The very kind Praline and her people have been signed up as guest bloggers, and have offered to put the pictures in the posts that I make. If you see that something's been posted by her, you'll know why. It's really me in disguise, with a helping hand from her! I'll do the same for you, Whicky, and then I can email my pictures to both of you. That way, I'll have two helping, and we can get them posted as quickly as possible! Thank you so much for all your offers of aid. It frustrates the human no end when she comes up against a barrier like this, and me because my paws just aren't made for typing, otherwise I'd do it for her.

Anyway, enough from me. She's just put some chicken down in the kitchen, so to be polite, I'll go eat it!