Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant!

Our cats have been acting up. They didn't like us going on honeymoon and Puck started spraying to mark his territory again, and got really anxious. Loki (according to the vet) got confused by this signal and last night they had the worst fight I've ever witnessed between cats. They drew blood from each other (and from me when I tried to separate them) and we had to shut Puck up in the study overnight so Loki couldn't get to him.

Today we took them to the vet (cause, y'know, we've got so much spare time at the moment...) and Kathy checked them over. Puck is back on Clovicalm (kitty valium) and we have two Feliway diffusers going, one upstairs and one down. We're to watch Loki and if he continues to attack Puck in a really violent way (they're similarly aged cats of the same sex living in a relatively small space- they fight all the time, never before like this though) Loki will have to be put on Prozac. Also if we are out we have to separate them for the next few weeks, so at least one of them will have to be in the study a LOT over the next few days while we are at Seamus' father's funeral and with family. We'll rotate them of course. But it will still suck.

Kathy says it's possible Puck will always have to be on Clovicalm if this is his reaction to a change in lifestyle, especially such a minor one (it's not like we boarded them at a cattery while we went away, Anna very graciously agreed to move in to our house while we were away- they know and like her, they never even missed a meal). This will be a bugger, because he didn't react that well to it side effects-wise, he got very fat and quite anxious about food, as well as being (even more) lazy. However it will be better to have a fat happy cat who has the munchies than a scared unhappy cat at a healthy weight. We will definitely have to put BOTH of them on Clovicalm for at least a month before we move house (which will happen some time in the next two years) and have Feliway saturating the new house, and probably we'll have to knock them out for the journey...

Diffucult, difficult little boyos.

We just went to visit him, he is doing well. We can bring him home this evening as long as he's kept quiet, in fact the surgeon thinks he'll do better in a familiar environment.

He's a bit patchy, fur-wise. He has bandages on two of his legs which have been shaved, he's also been shaved under his chin and his whole underside, so basically, everywhere he is white has been shaved off. There is a long, impressive scar running from his chest to tummy. They had to completely open him up.

The vet nurse said he's very lucky to be alive, and it's great that we caught it.

What they think happened: He suffered a trauma in the first few weeks of life (before he was brought in at Kent st) or he was simply born with it. His stomach and spleen etc. moved up into his chest cavity, which would have eventually killed him. When he ate the charity wristband it blocked up his stomach and it got full of gas. Because the stomach was in the chest cavity this pushed on his lungs, causing the symptoms we noticed. So him eating the charity wristband was actually a huge blessing in disguise, otherwise we probably wouldn't have known anything was wrong until too late.

When we came to see him he came to the front of his cage and once it was open and we could stroke him he started to purr. He's moving very stiffly and seems sore. He's also completely out of it as they've put him on very strong painkillers (methodine and morphine were mentions).

The vet surgeon is amazing. Loki's regular vet told Seamus what he had to do to be qualified; He had to train as a vet, work as a vet for two years, then do a ten year internship at the Uni of Melb vet clinic as a surgeon, then sit an examination (that most people, even after ten years, still fail the first time) and then he was allowed to practice. Wow. Really nice bloke too.

We brought Loki his favourite toy, some favourite food and the anti-biotics he was already on. We can have him back in three hours.

Yay!

If he is well enough this evening I will post some pics of the brave boy.

Thank you all for your kind words and wishes and vibes and prayers. :-)

I'm at work, in the comfy chair, full of pasta and milo. Apart from taking three calls in two minutes (and don't people get snippy when they've called an emergency service and get put on hold?) I've not done terribly much. Currently I have Mary Poppins on the flatscrren in the office- best of a bad bunch tonight I'm afraid, and they're nearly up to the chimney-sweep bit.

Yesterday I went to the wedding of nearlyalegume and directorratbag. It was fun, and lovely and very them :-) I particularley enjoyed the piniata in the shape of a wedding cake, and So Long and Thanks For All The Fish, and catching up with people I get to see less and less. It was also nice to see St Mary's church again, my father did some of his training there about 15 years ago. The priest remembered me (though didn't recognise me til I introduced myself) and it turns out Dad knows some of nearlyalegume's relatives.

Today I took Loki to the vet as he still seemed unwell. There is something wrong with his lung, vet in unsure what it means, but he had lots of X-rays today and has anti-biotics (that mc_shamo says are huge) and will have to go back on Friday for more X-rays. Possible pneumonia, possible asthma, definite chest infection, possible something else. Poor little kitty :-(


I keep forgetting to ring the doctor and make an appointment for myself. Must do that. Actually, I keep forgetting a lot of stuff right now.

Hee! Chim-chiminy chim-chiminy chim-chim-cheree! Oh Dick Van Dyke, you can't do a cockny accent to save your life. :-)

[Edit]My auntie was right, watching this movie as an adult it's incredibly disturbing how little contact these children get with their parents.

Kitten not happy about being kept inside today.

It's only til 2:45 dearest, then we go to the V-E-T!

Oh, I guess that isn't all that reassuring...