SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

[Gloria]

Thinking of you both Thomo, big hug ((()))

[Thomo]

I think we may have a reprieve for Evie, a close inspection this morning revealed knots of fur like pieces of felt under the surface fur on her flanks. I have managed to carefully cut most of them out, these would put tension on her skin. I have spoken with the vet and she agrees so we are going to monitor and see what happens, she is already moving easier. It is also possible that Ian (Whyperion) may be right, there could be rheumatism involved. The vet says that a combination of the two could be the cause of the problem. So I now have to get rid of the remaining knots and keep a careful eye on her, and she has extremely sharp claws. Thank you all for your words of support, it means a great deal. THANK YOU.

[Chrissyp]

Great news for you and Evie. Duke is home now and in prison He's dislocated his hip and it wont go back in so he has to be in a dog cage for 4 weeks. At the moment he's not too bothered but for a lean mean hunting machine its a whole new lifestyle for him. There is an op he can have but it's between £800-900 so hopefully him being on "box rest" may work.

[Wendyf]

Fingers crossed for Duke Chrissy. Phew Thomo, I hope that is all it is.

[Gloria]

Oooo Chrissy these lean mean hunting machines don't like to be kept in the dog cage. Ours have been there in the past and the fun usually starts after a couple of days. Our newly three legged cat could make a good jail break after three days.

[Thomo]

This has not been an easy week, I have been battling an infection and the assorted side effects of the treatment, non of which were pleasant. After the earlier scare of the week, Evie is making steady progress and is now stalking butterflies in the garden again. Now the two strays. Mabel is once again building her confidence in us after the disaster of last Saturday evening when her new home was inundated during the storm, last night I called her by her original name "Mia" the effect was rapid and astonishing, very alert and obviously frightened, integrating this cat into the family is going to be a long and difficult process, her original owners who now live only a couple of hundred yards away have made no attempt at contact since I made them aware of her presence. I spent some time with Izzy earlier in the week but have not seen him since, this is worrying as at that time a number of teenagers appeared with gun bags, these I do not like as I have seen the damage they can cause to wildlife at first hand, working alongside of the local canal, injured water birds were a common sight, one of these youths was staying locally so I have clocked the address. only a sighting of Izzy will bring relief, I hope he catches wind ot the tuna at tea time!

[Whyperion]

Stick with calling her Mable , I think she will associate the name with you. She can sense you mean to treat her well but would seem to be trautmatised by her past experiences.

[Thomo]

Mabel is beginning to settle down a bit now aided by a dish of tuna at tea time yesterday.. Last night at 9.30 I opened the kitchen door to see if she was about, a small dark shape shot past me into the kitchen and gave a display of speed eating from our cats dishes, it was Izzy and extremely hungry, we think he may have been shut in somewhere, at least we now know he is still about, relief at last.

Mabel after tea.

[Whyperion]

Extremely Hungry ? the cats around me can still demolish a good bowl of whiskas whatevers although they have just had left over turkey an hour previously . The rabbit is always pleased to see cabbage leaves even though fed a couple of hours previously and the grass in the corner ignored. The guinea pig likes spinach - preferably served up on cabbage leaf as a plate.

[Thomo]

Jethro liked a bit of cauliflower leaf, Elmo liked uncooked chips and Molly likes strong cheese. Evie likes the occasional butterfly otherwise she is totally vegitarian. but there is no doubt that Izzy was hungry.

[PanBiker]

Our ginger female Primrose likes toast, she will "tent" for it whenever anyone has a slice. She doesn't just do the butter but likes the bread as well. Previous cats Buster and Emily both liked cheese although not good for them, cats generally being lactose intolerant as they are. George liked the odd vegetable but he would basically eat anything and was a proper tom cat who's party trick was bat catching, (although he never intentionally harmed one). I think he just liked to see them whizzing round the living room after he let them go in the house.

Our current two cats have been hiding all week as they do not mix well with the noise and attention that comes along with a nearly four year old granddaughter who has been staying with us this week. They both appeared like magic as soon as she went to bed each night. Ruby is now one her way back to Stratford and the cats seem to have forgiven us for their forced exile in the attic and the back of a wardrobe.

Glad you have had sight of the missing one Peter. I think it will all sort itself out in the long run once the trust has been established.

[Thomo]

When Molly first arrived she brought live mice in and let them go in the house, then sit back and watch the reactions of our other cats who had never seen a mouse. When my first marriage ended in 1988 we had two Angora cats, these remained on Anglesey with my family and ex. The female, Clippy was a good mouser, whereas the male, Chimmey could only manage the odd worm, his crowning glory was on the day he brought them a live snake and dropped it at the ex wifes feet in their kitchen, need I say more!!!!

[Chrissyp]

That really made me laugh.

[Moh]

My friend who has pet rabbits says you should not give them cabbage it is not good for them.

[Thomo]

For the first time in two weeks Mabel has not left the patch since we got up this morning. At night we leave the yard/garden access open to expand her area, also to aid Izzy who comes in the front way, Mabel is now showing less aggressive and all of our cats have seen her albeit through the windows. This could still be a long process as Mabel is a younger but larger cat and is still unsure. my real concern is for little Izzy, the time between visits suggests that he may be becoming trapped in somewhere, this truly worries me. A search of possible areas would be difficult without the aid of a thermal imaging camera, the only probable one being in the hands of the fire brigade, and that's a big ask. On the grand scale of things he is now due to appear again, if I am lucky and this happens, I could get him under my control and then approach the consequences from a practical angle, ie, leaflet the houses in the surrounding area. I try to "tough it out" but the thought of him hungry and frightened and trapped in haunts me.



How do I get in there?

[Thomo]

By last night I was even more convinced that I may never see Izzy again, seven days since the last visit, and I was trying to put it behind me. But at 6,30 pm it all changed. Our three cats, Ellie, Evie and Molly were all out front in the garden and Mabel was at the back in the yard, all having had Cod in butter for tea. I popped through the separating door to check on Mabel, she was laid in the sun, and there in the middle of the yard was Izzy, I picked him up and held him, overjoyed and almost in tears, and oblivious to the fact that the door was still open. Chaos ensued, Mabel is now in the the garden, Izzy goes there as well. What followed was not so much a confrontation but a "stand off" and I was happy to see it end without battle. Normality has returned, Izzy left again and Mabel is back in her new if temporary home, my faith in Izzy is restored, and he he left with a full tummy.
Mabel after tea.



And Izzy after his tea.

[Gloria]

Judging from Izzy's coat on the photograph he looks a very healthy cat.

[Thomo]

He is Gloria. and more than that. I have come across many young stray cats in my time, yet as I said earlier, I just picked him up and held him, no struggle, just a lot of purring. Nothing did I see that was not purrfection!!

[Thomo]

This is becoming a bit strange, Izzy was at the back door this morning at 8.45, he stayed just long enough for a snack and then vanished again, this is the third Saturday in a row, we do not see him inbetween.

[Thomo]

As I was posting the bit about Izzy I was suddenly aware that Mabel had just wandered past the lounge door heading for the rear of the house. Our three having had breakfast were all asleep, Ellie on the bed, Molly in her bed in the lounge corner and Evie on the settee behind me. As Mabel wandered about, Evie eventually spotted her and with a look of astonishment slid off the settee and went into stalking mode, Mabel took one look and headed back into the yard, first contact has been made.

[Thomo]

A bit of sun at last, poor Mabel has been restricted to her shelter for several days. The sun also brought something else at 9.45 this morning, Izzy, I opened the back door to put the bins out and he just walked in, plainly quite hungry, 12.25 now and he's still here, playing in the garden. Mabel is out there as well and keeps stalking and pouncing on him, it gets a bit noisy at times but he is too quick for her, trouble is, I am waiting to let our cats out, this I dare not risk just yet as I would have to block Mabel and Izzy's escape route!!

[Thomo]

3.10 pm and we have a partial solution. Mabel went off for nap in the yard leaving Izzy still out front, garden/yard door closed, no problems as yet so I have given them all an early tea, next ploy put some nice gentle classical music on. Izzy has now been here five and a half hours.

[Thomo]

On Tuesday I eventually added Mabel to the equation, it is now clear that she isn't used to other cats, Izzy eventually got fed up and left having been with us for a total of 6.5 hours, things then returned to normal, our cats out front and Mabel in the yard. But it is never truly normal here! on Wednesday evening as it was going dark I went to check on Mabel, she was sat outside the utility room making strange noises, so I went to check, a small dark shape came out and vanished through the partly open back gate, this was not Izzy, no white bits, it may have been a small tabby. Last night it was getting cold so I took a cat blanket and added it to Mabel's bed, going out later to check on her I was aware of a cat by the gate, Black and White and large, again not Izzy, this one came straight to me and was very affectionate, a long haired cat with an enormous tail. This one comes from the top end of Foster Rd, so the worry is that it has crossed the main Rd to get here, it does not usually come any further than the Fosters Arms, how I wish people would take better care of their pets!!!!. Mabel didn't use her modified bed last night and there was no sign of her before we went shopping, she was not about when we returned either, but the food had gone, I went into the garden to see if she was in there, no, but Izzy was sprawled out on the garden table, he is still out there, Mabel has been back but gone again so I have returned her bed to its former state, time for plan "B".

[Thomo]

This is all moving faster than I can cope with, Mabel is still coming back, Izzy has been here again and at four o,clock today just at feeding time, tuna day, this lad turned up again, the big black and white long hair that was here on Thursday night:-

[Wendyf]

He is handsome!