The fur babies

Hello dear friends!

Those that have been reading my blog from the early days will remember my tales about one of our cats that had to undergo an operation and took out all the stitches. Over and over....
The same one had to have major surgery early last November and it took almost til Christmas when we finally could let her run around without the dreaded collar. Yeah she managed to scratch the stitches out even with the stocking and the collar on. But, we were very pleased that after it all had healed, she was back to her old self, acting very playful, much like a younger cat, after all she was well over 9 yo already. This April though she suddenly added on weight (over 600 grams in less than one week) while she ate less and less, and looked really really tired. We took her to the vet where they did tests to see if it was her liver or maybe the kidneys, but all tests came back negative. The vet suggested we get her heart checked, but that meant driving to a vet in another town coz ours didn't have the equipment. So what do you do? You go. There, while we were in the vet's waiting room, she sighed, looked at me, and passed peacefully while we were stroking her. I miss her terribly. She always kept me company during my afternoon naps too. Sigh. She would have been 10 in June. In many ways she really was my cat. The way she kept me company when I was not feeling well, sleeping with me on the couch when I was tired, the way she let me carry her while doing other stuff. DH would never get away with that. Oh and you know a cat picks you, right? Not the other way around. When we went to get her we were just going to "look" at a few kittens and decide later. Yeah right. We came in, and she jumped and clawed her way up on my sweater and never let go. So, that was it. We walked out with her still clutched to my sweater. She picked me, I had no choice or say in the matter. LOL
After she was gone, our other cat missed her too, and kept looking for her. When we mentioned her name her eyes got this sad look. It suprised us, coz they had never been best friends. In fact, they fought quite a lot. She must miss her terribly coz she even lets neighbouring cats just come in the house and eat out of her own bowl! And that while she's always been very territorial! After a week or 2 we decided to add a new kitten to the household when we got back from our holidays in June. But first, the other cat needed to have the same extensive surgery the other one had. We were terrified, and I still am. But so far so good. So we got a new kitten. But OMG!! What were we thinking getting a new kitten in the house! We had forgotten all about how tiring this can be and how they need so much attention! Luckily I'm at home most of the time, but it's eating all my energy for now. She makes a mess, climbs up our house plants, teases our older cat and in general behaves like what you'd expect from a little kitten. Somehow, however, she must have picked up on my need for a companion. She keeps me company during my afternoon naps, sits on my lap when I'm on the computer, she purrs when I'm feeling down and cheers me up. Ah, life is good again. :-))

Hugs,
Wezz

And the cat came back...

Okay, so the cat had to wear a collar she didn't like. We just didn't realize how bad she didn't like that.... We had brought her home on Monday evening from the vet, and she was wearing her new collar. On Wednesday I needed to go out for an hour or two and had checked the cat before leaving. You already KNOW where this is going, right????? Riiiighhhht..... when I came home she was proudly awaiting me with a look on her face "look what I got off!! Isn't that great?!" oooohhhhhh noooo, she had managed to get rid of the collar and got the stitches out again too!!! aaaarrrghhh!!
Back to the vet with her!!! She figured she needed to take drastic measures with a cat like that, and gave her a white netted stocking with holes to put her legs and tail through. Now that's a fashionable cat!!! White net stocking on black fur, and white legs!! I know it wasn't funny for the cat, but boy, that sure was a sight to see!!! Right before taking her to the cat hotel on Thursday we had her checked up on again by the vet on Wednesday evening, and thank goodness, she could take off that stocking. Happy cat, if it weren't for the collar that she still had to wear....
On Thursday evening we dropped off both our cats at the cat hotel they have been going to for the past 9 years and finished our packing for our big trip to the US.
The vet will check up on the cat at the cat hotel (it's actually the vet they always work with so that's no problem) and will hopefully remove the stitches on Monday (that's today!! I hope it went alright!).

We had made arrangements for an airport service to pick us up at home at 7:30am. So I put away my last minute things and poured myself a nice cup of coffee. The doorbell rang. Airport service?? It was only 6:50am?? Yep, airport service, we needed to leave as soon as possible coz there was a big fire at Brussels airport and who knows how busy it was gonna be. The road to the airport had been blocked for a few hours coz the building on fire was too close to the road and it was a maintenance place for airplanes. There were 4 planes in the building and because of the kerosine there was danger of explosion. By the time we got there the road was open again, the fires were out but the building had collapsed. Phew!!! Lucky our flight wasn't scheduled any sooner!!
Since 9/11 airport security has gotten a lot tighter, and especially for flights to the US. I don't mind, better be safe than sorry. They just do what needs to be done.
So when we went to check in we already got a bunch of security questions to answer.
One of them being what the address is of your first night's stay. Man, I can't believe how many times I had to give that address!! On the plane we got several forms to fill out, and don't make any mistakes coz you gotta start over!! Of course, I scratched out something, and that was no good, so "here's a new form to fill out, please". Thank you. I'll do that. LOL
At least the plane wasn't full, so I had some extra space to lay down for a nap. I could pick a better spot to watch the movie if I wanted that. Except where the US marshal was with his prisoner. Chains on his feet, and handcuffed. Creepy guy, btw.
When we arrived at JFK ariport in NYC we had to give the address again, have our picture taken and fingerprints too. Electronically, not the old fashioned way with ink. No, this was a tiny scanner, just big enough for your fingertips. Impressive.
We were all waiting in line to get this done, and out comes the US marshal, his prisoner and the marshal's deputy (?). They bypass the whole line, get yelled at by the guy at the counter to stay behind the yellow line and wait their turn. HUH?? That's a prisoner!! Surely you don't want a guy like that hanging around at a big airport any longer than strictly necessary??? And wouldn't they have known that he was coming? The crew was informed, so why wasn't there someone waiting to escort him off the airport?? I thought security was so important? That struck me as odd, to say the least.
By the time we got through customs and claimed our bags I wanted something to drink, a soda, or some water. But no such luck, not in that part of that large airport. Not even a vending machine. So we took the airtrain (never thought something like that would exist!! An airtrain!! How funny!) that took us to the other side of the airport where the rental car companies were located. We were all excited coz we had booked an "all american car", a Chevrolet Blazer (or equal), to travel in true US style. And we got the "or equal", and they gave us a Suzuki. Duh!!! Our dream of driving in US style shattered!! It's still a nice car though and it won't spoil our holiday one bit. It may even have added to the fun, coz now when we see a Blazer, we point at it and go "that's our car!!" and laugh.... LOLOL
The staff at the rental company was so kind to let me buy some water from their vending machine in the back for the employees, coz there was no other way to get something to drink. And off we were!!! Our 3 week trip in a car had started!!
Wooohooo!!
It's getting late now, and I'll have to catch up with the past few days and our experiences some other time. Hope you all enjoy reading it though!

Hugs,
Wezz

Cat's meow

Well, I took our cat back to the vet yesterday morning, and she needed restitching (of course) and therefore, another anaestesia session. Not as deep this time though, so she recovered a lot quicker than last time. Hubby went to get her in the evening, and she's now wearing a collar. She doesn't like it. Who would, huh?? She can't eat or drink properly with that thing (we have to feed her), let alone give herself a nice cleanup. She's a very proud cat and even manicures her nails on a regular basis. Now with that collar she's bumping into everything, and trying to get it stuck somewhere in hopes of pulling it off of her head. Or even trying to scratch it off. No such luck, lady!! You're gonna wear that until your stitches can come out!! Officially, this time!! That does mean of course, that we have to wipe her butt every time she goes potty. I can think of more pleasant tasks than that!! But heck, she's our little fur baby and we'll do what it takes to help her out. Even that. LOL

Hugs,
Wezz

ah where to start??

It's been quite a while since I wrote something here but with good reason. Or maybe not. I'm still recovering from being sick for quite some time. Why have only one infection when you can have 4 at the same time to battle, huh??? First thought it was only 3, but noooo, it was 4 and also at "that time of the month", all at the same time. I wasn't the nicest company to be around then. LOL
Never take the easy road seems like a good slogan for my life these days. I'm trying out new meds as well to take with me on our big trip to the USA, and they're not doing what they're supposed to do. I seem to be even more awake after taking sleeping meds than during my regular waking hours, duh... Is this normal or is it just me being weird again??

Well, in the mean time we have started our final preparations for our trip, which means the funky bag has been put on the back burner for the time being. Hopefully I can finish it before we leave, but I'm not holding my breath for that. We leave in less than two weeks, and we still got a million things to do and take care of before that. Checking the clothes we want to take, bought a couple of trousers for each of us, but they needed some shortening. That's done now. Still need to fix some other little things like putting new buttons on a shirt, etc. Nothing like going on a long trip to get your butt into gear and fix everything that has been left aside for too long!! LOL
And since I've lost over 12kg, some things are now too wide and need fixing too. :-))
Not that I like the extra work it's given me, but I do like the feeling of having clothes that are too big for a change. So far I needed a new wardrobe coz I grew out of the old one, now I'll need a new one coz I can't fix everything so that it fits me again. (grinning from ear to ear!)
One of those million to do things was going to the hairdresser's too. And if you know that on a scale from 1 to 10 the dentist scores a high 9 (and I have to go for check up on Tuesday!! ack!), the hairdresser still comes in at a 7 or 8. I really don't like having my hair done. It takes too long for my taste, and while it looks good when he's done, once it's up to me... ugh!! I can never seem to make it look good again.

At least the cupboards have now been placed in our front room (still in remodeling stage, but shaping up now). Yay!! We have storage space there now, and a space to put the washing machine and the washing products a household needs. I'll probably claim part of it for crafty stuff... LOL

Two weeks ago, we found two lumps on one of our cats on her tummy, so she had an operation for that last Thursday. It took a lot longer than the vet anticipated coz they were bigger than she thought and more turned to the inside. So during the op she had to up the anestethics (sp?) coz the cat was starting to wake.
When I picked her up Friday afternoon she was still drowsy and couldn't stand on her feet. The poor thing kept falling over trying to put one paw in front of the other. It broke my heart to see her like that. She wanted to eat too, but couldn't even move her mouth, so I took away the food for a while so she wouldn't keep trying.
Saturday morning she needed to eat at least a little bit with the antibiotics but she threw it up again (she did eat that evening so she got the meds she needed). Later that day I found a little bit of blood on the floor so I thought I should check her wounds. And yep, she had managed to take part of the stitches out all by herself, leaving a partly open wound again. Aaarrrgghhh!!
Okay, she has no idea what she's putting us through, but those stitches weren't supposed to come out yet!! Ten days at least is what the vet said! Yeah, I know, that would be right before we leave on our trip, and right before we take the cats to the cat hotel. But we thought the operation was done better sooner than later. You never know with things like this, do you?
I'll probably take her to the vet again tomorrow, and right now this is not her best friend, but she should have left those stitches in!! We tried putting some kind of protection over the wounds but they're all over her tummy and she finds a way to get rid of it within less than 30 seconds anyway. Cats will be cats I guess... LOL
Hopefully this will all work out okay for her.
Send your good thoughts, she might need them. Thanks!

Hugs,
Wezz