Vet has a reprieve

I had been worried about creaky old evil cat who had been skulking around looking extremely fed up. I had been planning to call the vet.

However last night she made such a vigorous, determined and relentless assault to try and steal the leftovers from little bear's plate that I have decided she can wait for the routine check up next month. I am not sure if she was after the remnants of lamb or the shreds of yorkshire pudding - she has form for both, or possibly just the gravy. Whichever she was after, she was focused.

She got the shreds of left over lamb from little bear's plate (there wasn't much). I was not giving her yorkshire pudding. Sometimes cats need to have the word 'carnivore' explained to them.

Lamb was hot yesterday, cold tonight (she made another determined assault but little bear had left nothing for her) and tomorrow it is stirred up with a jar of plum and ginger sauce. I will be surprised if she goes for that - surprised but not shocked. Oscar from next door licks vinegar from the bin bags.

Born to worry

I sometimes think that I am born to worry, and there has to be a better way. However I consider that there is something to worry about at the moment.

Evil cat is being very clingy. She has always been good with clingy as a form of severely annoying, but she is really, really, really being clingy. She is looking slimmer than ever and she has been loudly sick. There have also been a few hints of dire rear (I can never spell the correct word, so borrow happily from Mr Pratchett).

I am going to try and get a vet's appointment for her, for the end of the week. I don't think it is urgent, but I want to have some reassurance. Perhaps we can try different pain meds.

(and yes, at the moment, even though I am quite worried, evil cat is being super, uber, extra annoying and I can barely move a step!)

Evil cat is cross

I came indoors from taking some rubbish to the bin. Unfortunately I trapped evil cat's foot between a washing basket and the door - she hissed!

I was really worried as she is moving stiffly anyway, but she has managed to spring up to beg for little bear's sausages this evening so it isn't that bad.

(btw my mouth is improving, but I am still going to the doctors tomorrow)

Bees keeping indoors

I think I know why the bees were all over a rug - the rug was damp with dew etc and I think they wanted a drink. Everything is so dry at the moment. They are not there now. I may make a habit of leaving out a wet sponge or similar if we have drought here.

I quite like the bees in the chimney now, they give a topic of conversation at least.

On the subject of the animal kingdom, evil cat has had a runny tummy. If it continues it means the vet. Hopefully we should be able to try something else. She is looking so skinny these days (though eating for three!).

Evil cat's health continues

Wean - evil cat is nearly 18. She was an urgent rescue to literally save her from being ripped apart and we got her at far too young to leave her mother, so I am impressed that she has marched on so long. Psycho cat hid pneumonia until it was too late, and malevolent cat hid a tumour (though I had been banging on about something being wrong to the vet for two months - it was always too late to operate). That is why I am watching evil cat like a hawk. She is still having fun thought - little bear has brought a plant home from school which is obviously cat food and darling father presented me with a gerbera which, after googling, I can sigh with relief because it isn't poisonous to cats. It has been tasted, approved, and is currently hidden in the bath. He brought home a cactus yesterday. Evil cat is thoughtful about that. I have no faith in her intellectual capacity so it is locked away in darling father's room.

I am watching evil cat like a hawk. We had a bit of a song from her at 5am, and I worry that it is because of pain. In a few weeks time we will be getting another routine visit from the vet, so I hope that will reassure me.

I am so glad your cat is racing round. It is amazing how a cat can bounce back. They really do live for the moment. Give them a tickle from me.

Evil cat is grumpy

I think she's grumpy. She will be even grumpier if she doesn't stop trying to sit on the mouse - I'll dump her heartlessly on the floor.

Actually she is getting away with a bit more than normal. This morning she had a small lick of the kitten food, and then was loudly and theatrically sick. The amount of kitten food she has been eating has decreased over the last day or two. Perhaps the novelty has worn off.

She is looking malevolently self satisfied whenever I stop typing and stroke her, but I am keeping an eye on her.

Yesterday when we were clearing the bookshelves we found some old photos, including one of evil cat in her much younger days, trying to destroy a flower arrangement. Her rear was then like the back end of a bus. Now she is definitely too thin. It was quite heartbreaking.

Evil cat's tail seems fine, she was leaping up and down onto the sink unit earlier and could manage quite a bit of battle tail when I refused to give her the barbecue chicken. I think she has recovered quicker than my nerves.

Food consumption continues. She has been sick three mornings on the run (or rather, I have found evidence three mornings running) but otherwise seems to be managing fine. Kitten milk was a fail, but I shall just keep going.

Poor evil cat

Poor old evil cat - she was hovering near her dinner dish, so I went to the cupboard. The old girl was more spry than normal and the first I knew that she had made it over to the cupboard was when I stepped on her tail.

She was not impressed, not at all, and no doubt will plot revenge if she could remember it, but she wasn't interested in consoling cuddles - she wanted food! Everything seems undamaged.

Most of her life I have lived in fear of treading on her and doing real damage. She has always had a thing of hovering under your feet on the stairs. When you are trying to get on the next step down and a tabby tail is hovering all over it, flicking back and forth with evil cat's ears on high alert, it is extremely nervewracking. Or sitting down without thinking and a baffled and angry tabby emerging next to you from underneath a throw or cushion, it makes you very twitchy. How she has survived I do not know.

I will keep an eye on her and see how she does, but she was managing to give very annoyed tail signals earlier, so I am hoping all is fine.

Evil cat still has it

Oscar, the vast black tom cat from next door, has been staking out his territory against the ginger gentleman. He has been taking him on, protecting the females (okay, Roxy, who is hard as nails, takes no prisoners and suffers no fools - Oscar is still protecting her). Yesterday Nice Mr Next Door picked large quantities of ginger fur from his claws.

I had nipped out to put something in the bin and was gossiping with Nice Mr Next Door so evil cat popped out to have a sniff around. Oscar came around the corner, still wary after his battles. He took one look at evil cat, turned around and walked away.

Poor old evil cat, her eyes are getting so bad I don't think she even saw him, but I am glad that she can still make an impression.

Evil cat is dining well

Wean - thanks, she is necking the kitten food with gusto at the moment and most of it is staying down for more than half an hour. She had two pouches yesterday.

I am not sure about what will happen. I found a patch of real vomit rather than the usual 'ate too fast, brought it up, looked confused, begged for more' stuff that is evil cat's trade mark for the second morning running. The tablets for the pain are not good for the kidneys, and I have been told to watch out for dire rear and vomiting. If that starts, then we have to stop the pain killers. There are other painkillers, but the vet has agreed that it will be impossible to give her tablets. We can't do blood work, it is just not possible, so we can't see with accuracy what stage her kidneys are at.

The vet thinks that if the painkillers are stopped then evil cat will be in too much pain to continue with any sort of quality of life, not even the 'sit in the sun shedding on clean washing, gloating' sort. I cannot face the thought of her in agony - and it is her lower spine that is severely affected.

I am watching her litter tray like a hawk.

Also, despite being tanked up on kitten food, she still begged for chips that she didn't actually want yesterday. I suppose she is just keeping her paw in.

Kitten Food

One pouch of kitten food put down, eaten and thrown back up in around five minutes. As this is exactly how she was when she was a youngster (up until about eight!) I am not worried, I have just put another pouch down.

Thinking about it, she is getting slower in her old age, it used to be a lot faster between in and out, and she once threw up over malevolent cat.

I am watching this carefully. The kitten food is recommended by Wean and by the vet, but she may just enjoy a new taste and then go off it. I have to be a bit careful as I need to give her medicine on food, so it may be putting a few mouthfuls down with food and then putting the rest down when the first lot is likely to stay down.

Little bear has enough energy to want to play (I haven't after giving him cereal at 4am, amongst other night time traumas) but isn't well enough to concentrate on anything. At least his spots are not so bad now, he seems to be rushing through the chicken pox. I don't remember it working so quickly with me, it seemed to go on forever.

Little bear is not happy

Little bear's eyes are filling up with gunk. We are currently planning on taking him to the walk in doctors tomorrow, depending. I don't expect to get much sleep tonight. OH is sitting with little bear who is beside himself with painful, gunky eyes and itchy chicken pox. I am taking five minutes as I won't get it later.

I am watching carefully, and will call the out of hours doctor if I need to. At the moment, if little bear could just get sleep, it would be a really boon for him, and he is dosed up with calpol, dabbed with calamine and green nosed and unhappy. He had half an hour's sleep earlier, fingers crossed he can get a little more. At the moment he doesn't want to be left alone.

I will try and scout the local shops for kitten food, though they don't carry much beyond Katkins. As for the rest, I will just keep cuddling and hope for the best.

Glass half empty - little bear is normal for a five year old with very gunky eyes and chicken pox. Evil cat is normal for a very elderly cat with failing kidneys. Darling father is normal for someone recovering from a nasty virus. Glass half full - OH is doing okay, but worried that we may have to take taxis to the doctors as the car is not working properly and not responding well. And at least little bear had his party.

Thank you

Thank you for all your comments, suggestions and good wishes.

We went ahead with the party, and all but two had had chicken pox anyway, I was just poised at the entrance to the party and pouncing on people. Little bear had a lovely time. He was slightly subdued, but managed to have a good time - and got a huge haul of presents! He is incredibly lucky!

I am typing this as OH starts little bear's first stage bedtime routine. Little bear is soooooo tired, and his eyes are hurting him. I think there is some conjunctivitis there, I will try and get him into the dr on Monday. His spots really started appearing today, from a few to lots and lots and lots, and poor little bear is now exhausted, aching and fed up (but fortunately not too itchy).

Wean - evil cat is managing. I forgot to get the kitten food, but I am getting a grocery delivery very soon anyway for the 'comfort' food for little bear so I shall look out for Applause. She is not really eating much, but the cat that wouldn't touch prawns has just eaten a good slice of yorkshire pudding.

Evil cat threatened!

I had the Asda delivery (hint to Asda delivery drivers - no means no, and no, I don't like strangers in my home, and it's quicker to unload in the garden, so no, you are not coming in! I thought I was going to have to rugby tackle him!) and evil cat sneaked out to take the sun and enjoy a cuddle from Nice Mr Next Door. The ginger gentleman was also out and about.

Evil cat was just taking it easy, when the ginger gentleman started to stalk her. He was coming from a few yards away and he was all feline crouched intent. He was completely focussed on her and in 'about to attack' pose. Evil cat was oblivious. I am not sure how good her eyes are these days, and she is not looking well at all. Once upon a time I would have let the ginger gentleman have the unpleasant surprise that any cat got with an encounter with the younger evil cat, but the poor old girl really is not in a fit state.

Fortunately Nice Mr Next Door chased off the ginger gentleman. It took some doing, the ginger gentleman was very much focussed on his target. He had to do some serious shouting. I chased evil cat inside. She still has the fighting spirit, but she hasn't the old strength. I think she could have been quite badly injured if the ginger gentleman had managed to complete his attack.

So, now I know to keep a very careful eye out for the ginger gentleman. And evil cat has been looking particularly frail today.

Glass half full - the Asda delivery contained all the doughnuts I plan on using instead of birthday cake, so that's good. Darling father is looking better. The Book People delivery is due today. All things to be grateful for.

Welcome to the day

Five am this morning - five am! - little bear demanded my presence - 'Mummy! Mummy!' His blankets had fallen off (again) and it had woken him. I did my best to convince him it was night time, but he insisted he was AWAKE! I am getting a bit worried about this as he is getting more and more tired. Last night he burst into tears at the thought of wearing polo shirts, and he is normally a lot more robust than this.

So he came downstairs and insisted on some cereal. He had four spoons of it and then cuddled down on the sofa with a blanket on him, he was out within minutes.

I could probably manage that as I am feeling quite tired, but then evil cat started. The world was not as it should be, so she sang. She sang and sang and sang. Little bear slept through it, and through the huge melodramatic vomiting noises (not found any evidence of actual yeurk, so it may have just been a performance piece) which meant I went to see what she wanted. I knew I had put down food and freshened her water when I had got little bear's cereal. What she wanted was for me to watch her eat. I was unimpressed.

She carried on for a little while, but little bear surfaced around seven, in a much better state than normal, and she is now sleeping it off on a pile of clean washing. Little bear is raring to go to school, and I am beat.

Evil cat is typical

Wean - the vet also suggested kitten food, and I shall be purchasing some tomorrow! I am really glad about the confirmation from you, I was a bit unsure.

I have to try something. I possess the only cat in existence who won't eat prawns. She also ignored crab sticks. However I am reassured - she is currently scrounging bacon chop from darling father. I think that is just to mooch and be insistent. She hasn't had much today. She had some tuna (in lots of water). She has had a few licks of cat food. She completely ignored over priced prawns. Mind you, little bear is fussier, so I shouldn't complain.

Freecycle has to be worth a go - I shall look into it.

Evil cat sends a friendly tail wave to Cat from Hell and a gentle touch of noses.

Evil cat is not well

Lesley - evil cat has a better social life, a better diet and a better attitude to life than I will ever have, lol!

Actually yesterday I didn't give her the painkillers. Partly because evil cat had started singing a full opera around 6am and I didn't want to wake little bear sorting it out and partly to give her kidneys a rest. Yesterday afternoon evil cat jumped down from the desk, cried and was sick. I rang the vet.

We had a telephone conversation. Evil cat has been off her food a little, has been a little bit grumpier, a little bit less social. Cats notoriously hide when they are poorly, so I never know whether evil cat is actually poorly or it is over-anxious-owner syndrome (again).

So we are risking evil cat's kidneys and upping the dose of painkiller, and I have just purchased a very small amount of prawns at a very large price to try and tempt her this afternoon. Only a few weeks ago she was eating three or four pouches of food at a time. Today she hasn't even eaten half of her first pouch. She also is a bit unimpressed by the value crab sticks that I put down for her.

I have also noticed that she is struggling a little on the stairs. She likes to sleep in the very warm top room, and she is very happy to nap in the dining room near her food, water and (at a suitable distance) her litter tray. There are three sets of stairs between them.

A few months ago I was looking over my blog and I realised that I had been worrying about evil cat's health since 2008. I am hoping this is just another blip, and that I can continue to worry and fuss and coax the old battle axe. Hopefully she will start really picking up with the warmer weather.

Evil Cat has a gentleman caller

I was cooking dinner (beeferoni, very pleasant, extra plain pasta for little bear) when I heard a cat crying outside. I had heard it a few times recently but I always put it down to Oscar. As there is usually someone around to let Oscar in next door I have always ignored it. However it was cold outside, wet, and I thought that the lovely family next door might have gone in for the night. So I opened the door to knock for him to go in, and was surprised by a large ginger tom!

Evil cat was wary. She carefully crept towards the door and stared coldly at the newcomer. I didn't dare shut the door as I didn't want to interrupt ongoing cat psychology. However I was worried as evil cat has only ever worked out how to attack, and has never worked out the idea of retreat, and this looked like a young cat. However they gently touched noses and then parted. Neither seemed overly traumatised, but the ginger gentleman didn't immediately cross the threshold.

I did, however, shut the ginger tom out. It may have been a cold night, but it was only 6.30pm, there wasn't snow on the ground, and most of all, this was a large, well fed, ginger gentleman cat wearing a reflective collar with a bell on. I am confident he will be around again, and I may donate some treats outside - if the weather permits.

Evil cat's test results

I picked up the test results of evil cat's urine sample - extracted under extreme duress and welding gloves.

It is very dilute. It is cloudy. It has a low ph. There are traces of blood. And yesterday OH noticed that she was now very, very, very thin. She also took one look at the snow, gave me the, 'you've got to be kidding' look and then came straight back inside. Her fur is getting that bit thinner.

Yesterday she nailed little bear. Well, when I say that she nailed him, little bear fell against the sofa where evil cat was sleeping and she gave him a generalised swipe. She then went back to sleep while little bear wailed and cried and generally gave the impression that he had lost a limb. I think it is because he was feeling poorly, but he was insistent he was bleeding lots and lots - just invisibly. There wasn't an obvious mark at the time, but now I can see a very, very fine line on his forehead near his hair and nowhere near his eyes. This may be as a result of the fussing rather than grumpy evil cat.

Poor old evil cat. We all know that tests are not the way forward, she would be desperately distressed by them and I am not sure how much could be done for such a spiky old lady. As she is curled up comfortably on a soft blanket in front of the fire, I don't think she is complaining too much. I shall keep her as comfortable as possible for as long as possible.

Definitely no catnip drops

After the catnip drops comes, well, second hand cat food. As in, evil cat has a poorly tummy and can't help herself. Actually, she has been soooo bad she has been sick on lino.

btw the quickest way to find cat sick in a kitchen is to go in with bare feet. When I am half asleep, the cat is going crackers for breakfast and little bear is demanding extra honey on cereal, I have no chance!

I am blaming the cat nip drops. She has been begging to go out so she can eat grass, but when I have opened the door she has just given me a 'you have got to be kidding - who turned off the fire' look and stalked back inside.

She is now sulking. As this means she isn't giving me problems, I can live with that.