Mirandathon

Miss Tween and I like to have something to binge wtach during the holidays.  We've done a few series of things now, including Game of Thrones, Firefly, The Persuaders and Modern Family.  I introduced her to Once Upon a Time and she binge watched that at home.

Some weeks (months?) ago the BBC did a show which celebrated  the 10th anniversary of Miranda.  
I watched the anniversary show, and it made me want to watch the series again.   I thought it would be a great one to share with Miss Tween, so  I bought the DVDs,  ready for half term.   The show was also available to download, free, so I did that too.      I patiently waited for half term, and Miss Tween, to arrive.

I explained the show to her, and how it was silly funny,  a bit cringey,  but gentle.    We watched the first episode, and she liked it.  We watched a couple more.  Then we'd squeeze in an episode before dinner,   or while we were waiting for DH to come downstairs to watch TV in the evening.

In the space of the week she was here,  we managed to squeeze in all 18 episodes (3 series) and the Christmas finale double episode.

It was such fun! watching it in binge mode.     It was also fun watching it with someone of Miss Tween's age,  it made the  the will they/won't they  aspect of the show particularly strong.  She did laugh loudest at the physical comedy - Miranda's trips and falls,  pushing Stevie off her chair,  getting her skirt caught in the taxi.    Just as it should be for someone of her age.

DH doesn't like it.    He laughs a lot when watching it,  but he's adamant he doesn't like it.   He doesn't like farces, or any cringey comedies, either.( But then neither do I. ).      

In some respects, it was better that we didn't have to factor his availability in to watching it, as we'd never have got through it.

I'm thinking maybe "Life on Mars" for Easter.

10 days later

We took Shelby back to the Vets two days after her op. It was a planned appointment, just to check that everything was OK.

That Friday morning, she looked fine, there was a bit of swelling, but it wasn't bothering her.

We got her home, and she was a  it subdued.  As the day wore on, she was very subdued. We decided to check her in the morning and take her back to the Vets.   On the Saturday, she was still subdued, but the swelling wasn't too bad and there wasn't any heat (I'd Googled to see what we should be looking out for).   We decided we'd wait and see.   We undid the back of her onesie and brushed her,  and let her wander around and groom, taking it in turns to watch her like a hawk to make sure she didn't groom near her wound.   When we did up her Onesie, we did it on a looser setting.

Sunday, she was still very low and sorry for herself.   We gave her some Nicholas (knickerless) time.  Monday came, and her tummy looked fine, and she was a little brighter - but not her normal self.  She let herself be placed on laps for cuddles.   Each time we assessed whether we should be taking her back or not.

It was an unhappy time for Lewis, who had lost his playmate. We played with him,  he attempted to play with Izzy (who did play, but her play was a bit rough).  He looked lost for a lot of the time.

On Thursday, Shelby was trotting around looking  reasonably happy.  I'd moved her Onesie out of the way and given her a really through grooming,  and I had her sitting on my lap with my finger over her scar.  This meant that she could groom to her hearts content,  and not be able to touch the wound.

On Friday,  she was charging around the house like she had been the previous week.

Today she went back for her 10 day appointment,  and the Onesie was due to come off.

All was fine.  She has a little bit of swelling, but the Vet checked it and isn't worried.  The Onesie is off, and we just need to keep an eye on the site.

She is so happy to be home.

Onesie Funsie

When I was thinking about getting Shelby spayed, I did some research to find out if there was any alternative to the cone of shame.  I hate them with a passion.

I understand that we need to stop the cat licking her stitches,  but the cone is almost barbaric - it affects a cat's ability to see, hear, smell.   I'm not surprised many cats rip them off.

I saw a couple of things that would work.  I wanted to make sure I was able to get something in good time,  sobefore I booked the appoitment I asked my Vet abut them.  It turned out that my Vet offers Onesies as an alternative to a cone, if we wanted.

Yes, I did!

When we colected Shelby yesterday, she had a really sweet, red, onesie on.    When we got her out of the bag at home,  she tried to stand up and she couldn't.  She fell over.  She walked backwards.  She didn't like this thing that was on her one little bit.    She rwminded me of Wash when we first put a jacket on him.

I felt sorry for her, but I knew it was better than a cone.

She spent the first few hours on the rug in front of the fire.  Lewis was very gentle,  He lay near her,  he nuzzled her, he touched her with his paw.  He left her be.

I lay down next to her for a while, stroking her head, cheeks and chin.  She purred for me, so I felt happier.

She woke up and had 10 minutes of boisterous play, and then zonked out again.

After the boisterous play,  Lewis tried to play more,  and we had to keep warning him to leave her alone.  She dozed for a while, then woke up and had something to eat (although she wasn't too keen on the recovery food),   was active for a bit, and then we went to bed.

 I didn't hear them in the night, so I assume she spent most of the night sleeping.  Or I slept heavily (I'm under the weather myself).

This morning, she was bright eyed and bushy tailed,  and was running around without any cares in the world. 

The Onesie is quite well designed.  It's been adapted so it fits round her legs so she can still go to the toilet.  She can move her legs freely, and she's been able to get up and down on and off things

She's rejected the recovery food and has been eating a small amount of raw food. 

She's currently dozed off on the sofa.  Her pain relief will have worn off very soon, so it will be time to give her some Metacam shortly.

Vet stress

The kittens were booked in for spaying and neutering yesterday.  We wanted the to be done at the same time so that they were both out of it from the anaesthetic together.  

There is an added complication that out Vet's operating theatre is being revamped at the moment, so all operations are being done from another practice.   We'd already been moved once.

There was a slight hiccup.

Lewis has one undropped testicle and the Vet said, because Lewis is young,  it would be better to wait a month or two to see if the other testicle dropped.     

We decided to go ahead and have Shelby spayed, as this would mean it wouldn't matter so much if we had to wait longer for Lewis.  We also decided that Lewis should stay with her for the day, because he would get very stressed being separated from her. (She might well be stressed to, but her distress is not so evident).

I had a pickup appointment at 3pm and I was to phone after 1 if I hadn't heard anything.  I didn't hear anything, so I phoned at 1.20.  Shelby was still having her op.   I phoned at 2.45.  Shelby was still in recovery,  and my pickup was moved to 5.30.

I was quite stressed about it.   Something didn't sound right.

We arrived at the Vets in good time, and we saw the nurse who told us that clinically everything was fine. Shelby had come round, she'd eaten something,  we could take her home,  we needed to make an appointment for 2 days and 10 days,   and the Vet wanted to speak to us while the Nurse went to get Shelby.

It turns out the reason for the extended time was that after sShelby had been closed up, the Vet saw some oozing that worried her a little, and she had to make the insertion bigeget to go an cdc heck all was OK.  Everything was fine, but the incision was much bigger than usual for this sort of op.

We were given some recovery food for her,  some food for sterilised cats to try, some Metacam.  We were also briefed o what to watch out for, and what to do if we had any concerns.

Lewis was very happy to see us.  Shelby was small and dazed, not quite all there.   We couldn't wait to get them home.

A face at the window

One of the kittens started miaowing in distress, and the other one joined in.  I rushed into the kitchen, expecting to find then trapped in a log bag (or whatever their latest favourite toy was).

DH said that there was another cat outside the side cat flap.  I went outside and recognised the back end of Thunderthighs as s/he strolled off.

Thunderthighs visited our garden a few times last year,  and caused the fence to creak alarmingly when s/he leapt upon it.  I've only ever seen his/her long fluffy grey haired tail and back legs, so I've no idea what sort of cat s/he is.

Thunderthighs is also the cat that Izzy got into a fight with  a few weeks ago.  We think thought it was him/her because of the mass of grey fur (mixed with the mass of Izzy fur) in the driveway.

The kittens have been very interested in looking out of the cat flap, ever since we showed them how to come in that way.   The flaps are programmed to let the kittens in, but not to let them out.  Now when we take the kittens out in the garden, with their jackets on, and on leads,  we let (by which I mean "only let") them come in the cat flap.   This is so that if they do escape and do ever get chased by a cat, they will be able to come in at speed.

Anyway,  they had been looking out of the side cat flap when, presumably, Thunderthighs had walked past and stared in.   The were most distressed.  Their tails were enormous, they were fluffed up, their little hearts were pounding.  Izzy had also fluffed up in protection mode,  and probably would have gone outside to defend them if DH hadn't stepped in and stopped her.

The 3 cats are all getting on really, really well.    Izzy plays with them,  she nuzzles them and lets them nuzzle her.   All of us are together in the living room in the evenings.

We're so lucky.

Febreezey does it

I *hate* Febreeze.

The smell of it makes me feel queasy.  My heart sinks when I smell it coming off newly-purchased fabric.   One wash  doesn't clear it,  it is vile, vile, vile stuff.

Today I had an Ebayparcel.  I've not bought much on Ebay lately (apart from some household stuff like a particular cat litter package which I have only found on Ebay and Amazon).   I couldn't remember what I'd bought.

I started to open it, and I could smell that darned stuff.  I was really puzzled now, as I couldn't imagine what I might have bought that would even be Febreezable.     When I got the box open,  there were two lumps wrapped in brown paper,  and I remembered what they were:  vacuum kitchen cannisters.

They were spotless.

They had to go in the dishwasher though, I've got to get rid of the smell.