Goodbye dear friend xxxxx

Today I had to make the hardest decision ever but looking at Al lying on my lap looking a shadow of his former self and yellow and struggling for breath I knew it was for the best. He had liver failure and multiple tumours and had deteroriated really fast over Christmas. We just thought he was off his food because he was stressed, we have been having a lot of work done to the house, but it turned out to be far more serious. Initially he went to the vet on the 23rd because he wasn't eating and seemed really withdrawn, in that examination the vet couldn't find anything but said he presented a fever and had a sore throat so gave him some antibiotics and an anti inflammatory. He seemed to pick up that evening and finally ate something. We were told on that vet visit to phone back after Xmas to tell them how he was. We were sure we were going to tell her that he'd got better and the phone call was going to be arbitary.. We were so wrong. After a couple more days of not eating he was feeling very bony and would not jump on our laps or really do anything. I booked him in for another examination and took him in, a paranoid part of my mind told me I would not be coming back with him but I told myself not to be so silly.. The vet said his condition had deteroriated and his liver felt enlarged and he would have to have loads of tests. So I left him there and went home and read up on liver disease, upset at the thought he was so sick but expecting to be able to nurse him back to health. When I got the phone call telling me it was bad news I thought initially "Oh dear I'll have to give him meds and force feed him etc" but the rest of the sentence was "There's nothing that can be done for him". It was so unexpected. When I took him in I joked about being so worried I'd be coming out with an empty box and she smiled and I said I was just being silly. Little did I know that would really be happening.
Last night we carried him upstairs and he slept on my pillow by my head the way he used to. We thought he'd get well and jump up there again of his own accord. The cat I had on my lap in the nurses room looked so different to the cat who had been sleeping on my pillow and sitting in the window watching the world go by. I knew I had to sign the form so he could finally rest in peace with no pain or suffering. In a way, the decision was easy, he looked so dreadful.

That darned Nimbus

What were they thinking inflicting him on me? I'm a middle aged gentleman and he's just a kid. He keeps ambushing me and bringing frogs into the house. I just want some peace and quiet.. grr!

Making Friends

Mummy's Blondie sister and her children came for dinner yesterday, with Granny and Beardy Jon. They had fish pie! Mmmm! When mum was making it she gave us some salmon and some prawns! That made me feel better about all the noise. Later on, I even let Blondie and Beardy stroke my fur, and I cat loafed all chilled out. They sat on the cold kitchen floor just so they could make friends with me, good job mummy had cleaned the floor that day!

My tail is NOT a toy!

That Nimbus is a pain in the... tail! Every time I snuggle up to mum in bed he has to play with it. She says if I stop lashing it about he wont seize it but its a cats pejorative to swish his tail about even when relaxed! I should be able to do what I like unmolested. I can be walking down the landing when he jumps on me like a demented wrestler, or hyperactive rugby player. Even though he's been neutered he still thinks its fun to grab me around the neck and climb me or pull me down. Its too much, it really is!

A little pest...

Mum and dad brought home a little pest last night. Ohh he's an annoying thing, keeps following me around and even has the nerve to hiss at me! I had to hiss back and give him a couple of bops round the head to keep him in line. Last night he kept everyone up with his mewing and running around and knocking things over. Good job he cant get on the bed, keeps falling down climbing the corner of the duvet.. MOL.. that territory is still MINE! (And Mum's)

Oh what a lonely boy..

Willow went away on Monday and I dont know where she went, but mum and dad are crying all the time. It feels so strange and I wish she was here to play with. The humans are great but they cant play all the time, and cant chase me as fast as Willow could. Or lick me or wrestle with me.
I'm so lonely..

New Rainbow Rosette

My mum cant understand why some people are so against this. She goes to Brighton a lot and has gay and lesbian friends. They are all human like her. If someone said they didn't like blacks or asians or people who had beards or blondes or people who bit their fingernails that would say something bad about the human race..

She had a gay dog once! With short legs. Who fancied a dog with long legs who was twice as tall.. it was very funny.

So anyone who wants to give me and my cat-buddies a nice gay rainbow ribbon, go ahead!

What's goin' on??

The other day some men came around and them and daddy took down the fence! Why did they do that? Now the Ginger Beast really DOES think our garden belongs to him!

Ginger Beast is really naughty. Mum leaves the back door open on hot days to air the house and he just strolls in, even goes upstairs. Mum says he even played with our toys when we weren't looking!

I love the radio!

I got a dedication read out by Zoe Ball on BBC Radio 2 for a Love Song. I was the only cat to be mentioned! My mummy e-mailed it in, she is going to find it on IPlayer and save the clip. I'm a lucky boy!

My icky stuff..

I have been getting bad attacks of diarrhoea and went to the vet again last week. It was so bad I couldn't get to the litter tray in time and started using the pot plants in the lounge.. which mum had to dig around in and flush through with water and anti-bacterial cleaner to get rid of the smell. She was angry because she's been having a really stressful time anyway and this was just one more horrible thing. She was not horrible to me but I did get shut in the lean-to for about an hour and a half with the litter tray just in case.. she was going to leave me out there all night but realised I would get cold and let me in. I did try and poop in the plant the next day too but was caught in the act and shouted at and I ran out of the room. So now I have had some shots, had my food changed, got new litter that doesn't smell, and the plants have a layer of blue slate chippings on the soil to hopefully put us off digging around in there. I hope mummy and I haven't killed the plants through adding all our chemicals, cos they are fun to nibble and hide behind.. (dont worry, they aren't toxic plants!)