Lazy furballs

Sitting with the cats over the last few days to stop Victor licking his wound has made me realise how bloody lazy they are! Here’s a typical day for them:

07:20 Get up

07:30 Run downstairs with John

07:40 Sit on sofa waiting for breakfast

08:30 Breakfast

08:45 Sit on sofa digesting breakfast

09:30 Sleep on sofa digesting breakfast

13:00 Lunch

13:15 Sit on sofa digesting lunch

14:00 Sleep on sofa digesting lunch

16:00* Slink

17:00 John home. Get in way of door. Generally mill around.

18:30 Tea

18:45 Sit on sofa/kitchen table digesting tea

19:30 Sleep on sofa digesting tea

23:00 Bed. Litter tray. General activeness for 15 mins

23:15 Sleep

* = Victor only

Oh to be a cat!

A big week for a little cat

Up against it timewise tonight as we’re going out pretty early to see Pudsey’s Christmas lights being switched on. Apparently it was a member of the Emmerdale cast who did the honours last year, so hopefully it is going to be an all-star event – when I walked past the leisure centre earlier there were at least two speakers rigged up the the PA system. I’ll let you know which Yorkshire ‘great’ is in attendance this time, as I know you won’t rest over the weekend otherwise…

Anyway, enough of my ramblings and back to the main topic – my darling pussolini (please excuse the dodgy connotations – the nickname stuck and that’s that) Mr Victor. After I picked him up from the vets on Wednesday afternoon, he was feeling most sorry for himself and was walking all wonky. Following a two hour cuddle, where he was asleep for most of it on my knee , I roasted him a chicken breast for his tea and he went back to sleep until the morning. He’s pretty much been asleep since then and is sat next to me now, snoring away having just fallen back to sleep again – it’s been a big week for a little cat! I just hope he carries on sleeping as I want to stop him licking his stitches, as he refuses to wear his collar – can you believe they charged me an extra £8 for this on top of a total bill of £360?????? He’s now got half his tummy shaved and has been left with 10cm gash along the join between his thigh and body (not a good place in terms of healing). The stitches dissolve over time, so hopefully he won’t be goig back to the vets (the tumour has been sent off for analysis and will be back on Monday. The result, that is, not the tumour ). John told his 90 year old Gran all about it, and her sage old lady advice was that he must be getting better if he’s eating so much chicken, and if you look at this photo you might agree too

Update on Victor

Thanks for your kind words about Victor everyone. They really do mean a lot to John and I. We had the test results in today, and it is a cancerous tumour. I can’t remember the exact name, but apparently it’s an okay one to have (relatively-speaking) in that it’s localised and can be treated through surgery alone as we caught it so early. The whole lot needs removing and then it’s sent to the labs for further tests and to make sure they caught it all. Hopefully it shouldn’t come back, but if it did it would be in the same spot.

I’m taking him in at 8.20am tomorrow and he should be back with us once his catty anaesthesia has worn off (which is just as risky as the op itself in my mind). Fortunately, the costs are relatively bearable at £250, which is a relief. The whole incident has made me realise that I couldn’t really afford to pay much more than this, so we managed to find cat insurance for them both without an upper-age limit andwith 50% off introductory offer (praise be Tesco – you may be the scurge of the high street, but you’re the savior of my pets). Obviously, I can’t claim for this as there’s a 14 day lead-in on the policy before you can claim for new illnesses, and there’s no way I’m waiting that long to pretend that it’s a new ailment at another vets and start the testing again, as it could get worse in this period (illegality aside, natch ). But if anything else happens in the future, at least both cats are covered.

I’ll keep you posted with progress updates. At least Mr Victor is not aware of what’s going on – the worst thing for him will be the nil-by-mouth from 9pm tonight.

Prisoner, Cell Block V

Mr Victor is broken I was giving him a cuddle yesterday when I felt something strange on his leg. At first I thought (hoped) it was a big knot of hair, as he’s so fluffy. But on closer inspection, I found a lump slightly large than a marble on his inner thigh near his groin. Victor has had lumps and bumps before – he used to have a cyst, where the hair follicles were blocked, that we had to squeeze for him. But this time it was different, I could just tell. As soon as John got home we took him to the vet’s. I had to bump him into his basket by his bum – that look on his face says it all.

The vet agreed that it wasn’t a cyst and suggested that it was either a trauma or a tumor. I can’t see it being a trauma as he’s a housecat, and the skin was probably red because he’s had the scratchy flea comb ran over him so much. So that leaves the tumor option. The vet took a sample and we should here by Monday, or possibly Saturday. I do so hope that it’s benign – my dog had one similar on his outer thigh and it caused him no problems so we left it alone, which is the course of action we’ll take with Victor. But what if it isn’t? I have so many questions whirring round my head at the moment, not least related to the cost issue. My pets aren’t insured – the were too old to take out a policy by them time we could afford it. Last night’s trip, coupled with last week’s dramas has already set us back over £200, and all this work on the house, plus my non-income since September whilst I am writing up my PhD has left my pot somewhat bereft. How much is a reasonable amount to spend on a pet? How should you make these decisions. How can you make these decisions??? All help and advice would be very much appreciated at the moment.