THE BIG BALD BLACK CAT

Not been too well over the last four weeks. Started off with bursitis -agonising pain in the elbow which didn't get properly diagnosed for five days, but when I did get them the antibiotics cleared it up pretty quickly. Then I got a cold which went onto my chest which has left me coughing up -no, I won't go there- for the last two weeks and leaving me feeling generally pretty ropy. Not enough to keep me from cat activities but definitely away from the gym. So this is another bits and pieces type of post.

First-

1. The Big Black Cat.

There's a lot of background to this story but because I don't want to identify the person involved I'm going to have to keep it vague. Suffice to say that there's a person who took elderly cats off our hands and when she went abroad last year, Andrea of Animal Krackers took a week each to look after the four cats in her house. Then recently we heard that she'd been taken into hospital so I went to take care of the cats, going in the morning and teatime to feed them and do what was necessary to the cat litter. This time, however, there were only two and I noticed immediately that one of them, despite being on medication, had a condition which had seriously deteriorated.

I took these photos at Wendy's (our regular vet) with my phone hence the poor quality where he was diagnosed with a flea allergy and he was covered in them. You can't tell but he has one green eye and one brown and he's also very friendly. 

The afternoon after I took him to the vet I called round and found another gentleman arriving to feed the cats. We were both surprised but, as he just lived locally, we agreed he'd keep doing in and I'd provide food and litter as neccessary. Which was fine. A few days later he called me to tell me the owner was back but that she was moving. Next day I called round to check on the cats to find someone else there -but no owner- boxing up stuff for her. There was no sign of the other cat either. Next morning I came back again to find no-one there, everything boxed up, and just big baldy in residence. I don't even know if he'd been fed.

Enough was enough. I rang Carole who agreed to take him so I took him and he's now being looked after.

2. Animal Krackers Cat Re-homing Centre.

I haven't written much about this for a while because I've got sick of promises unfulfilled and constant put-offs. But now, only three months late, we should be starting to take in cats by the end of next week. But only believe that when I publish photos here of cats in residence and don't hold your breath.

Meanwhile, here are some crappy pictures I took last week. They were taken when I brought a van full of cat furniture to be stored on site.

3. Two Kittens.

Got a call this morning. A dad had just got two 8-week old kittens for his children who screamed the place down in fear when they saw them. He was really upset about having to re-home them but it just hadn't worked out. I called Carole who I knew would take them in  and went round to pick them up. By the time I'd got to Carole's she already had a home for them. She'd just received a call from a lady who sounded -and proved to be- very nice. I spoke to Carole a minute ago to confirm they had been re-homed and they had.

If only it was always that easy.

Here they are.

4. Three kittens.

I don't know much about these except that Carole took them in last week and immediately got them to Wendy's for treatment. They're a little wild but are being tamed down by Carole's grand daughter.

4 BABY KITTENS

I'd done a fairly short morning runaround but, having had a poor night's sleep, went for a lie down. Except Susan had gone out and the phone kept ringing. I do, I confess, ignore the phone when I'm trying to have a nap but with the fourth ring I gave up and answered it.

Ten minutes later I was on my way to pick up four 10-day old kittens. A lady had taken them in when their mother, who belonged to a neighbour, fell ill and rejected them. She did her best but lacked any experience and so called me. I rang Carole to confirm she'd take them and then set off. Apart from being hungry and flea-ridden, they seemed in decent condition. They were certainly noisy and cried all the way there -actually a good sign; I'd have been worried if they were quiet.

Here they are after having been syringe fed a special formula milk by Carole. 

In the next photographs you see them after they've been sprayed with flea killer -you can see the fleas if you look closely. They look a mess, poor things, but they'll be better for it. They are now with Liz who helps Carole with kittens as Carole herself couldn't keep them because of an infection in her house.

After that it was time for my favourite job of the week -hauling a van-load of sacks of soiled cat bedding and used litter to the council tip and tossing them in the skip- in the rain.

Don't worry, in a couple of weeks they'll start to look irresistibly cute.

There were more fleas in the afternoon when I took an elderly lady and her dog with a skin infection to the PDSA. The infection turned out to be a flea allergy with the fleas brought in by her three cats. The dog got some pills and when I got them them home dosed the lot with Frontline.