LILY

1. Lily.

What does the top photograph have to do with the next three of my 9 year old Lily?

If you're more observant than I am, you've already guessed. The giveaway being the name insulin printed on the side of the syringe. 

When see a person or an animal every day, you often don't notice gradual changes in their appearance until the magic moment when it hits you. With Susan and I it was about the same time. Lily was losing weight. And she's been drinking more water than usual. Susan thought it might be her kidneys and pretty much convinced herself that we were going to lose Lily so it was almost a relief when she was diagnosed as being diabetic -diabetes mellitus, to give it its proper name. 

However, we now have to be careful about her eating habits, keeping her to the same type of food which has to be given at certain times. This isn't easy as our nine cats, while being fed at around the same time, tend not to eat all that's down immediately and prefer to nibble during the day, plus getting odd treats. We also have to keep her isolated in one room overnight so we can test her urine every morning. Which also means a smelly room as she does  more than urinate during the night. 

We've had Lily to the vets every morning this week while Wendy the vet makes sure we both know how to test the urine and safely deliver the injection. We were both nervous about the latter but it turned out easier than we both expected and Lily never reacted to the needle going in. First time solo at home tomorrow morning which will be the real test.

She's a sweet little cat who loves being stroked and likes people. She's not so keen on other cats because some of ours can bully her, though that seems to have eased, but not stopped entirely, in recent months. 

Aside: I like to tease my friends and told Denise, Sylvia (Wednesday coffee morning at Starbucks) and Barry (monthly Tuesday night at Jameson's which was this week) separately that I had to start injecting insulin. Both Barry and Sylvia fell for it, expressing immediate concern. Denise said, in a considered manner, "You, or a cat?" She got me!

2. Two more cats on a bed.

Being cuddled is Bob. Cuddling is Daisy. They're both around two, Daisy being the elder by three months.

3. Scrubbing floors.

Tomorrow we're supposed to being going to our new cat re-homing centre to scrub floors as a result of dirt being tracked in by muddy boots. This suggests that it's not inconceivable it might be finished soon. But after so many disappointments, I'll believe it when I see it.

4. All part of the job.

Got a call from a lady who lives in Washington, Tyne & Wear not DC, who'd been followed home by an injured cat -damaged leg(s), brown discharge from the mouth. She couldn't take it in because of an allergy to cats and didn't know what to do. I suggested she feed it and give it some water to drink to give it an incentive to hang around. I called the RSPCA who will pay for the initial treatment of stray and injured animals, and rang Wendy's to tell the practice I'd be there with the cat the following morning.

So the following morning I drove through to Washington (taking ages because of work and school traffic) only to find no sign of the cat. I had a good look round but in vain. I told the lady that if the cat turned up again and she could get in her shed at the front door I'd come and pick it up.

These things happen and I don't regard it as a waste of time because I'd sooner that happens than a cat suffers when I could do something about it.