What is your pet doing right now?*

[Pingu]

Being owned by a food obsessed tortie, I feel your pain.

[rogerzilla]

Tigs has been up to no good again and something has ripped the fur from the end of his tail, revealing the pink skin beneath.  I suspect a fox, given that he hangs out with them and competes with them for food left out by the neighbours.  His tail is otherwise undamaged but tail fur takes an age to regrow.

[Flite]

Poor Tigs - GWS.
Not a good blood circulation in a tail I suppose, a bit like human shins.

Meanwhile Zeppy went out early, came back smelly and insisted on sitting on my lap, then ate half her breakfast (including expensive medicine) and was promptly sick.
Annual check up on Thursday - even the receptionist asked nervously "I think we usually sedate her, don't we?"

[rogerzilla]

A previous cat had his tail almost chewed through in a fight.  The vet stitched it back together successfully but had to shave it.  They left a "lion tuft" on the end and I could still feel the thicker tip 18 months later, although the tail looked normal after about 9 months.

[Jaded]

So I just fed the cats.

This needs precision as Fat Cat is on a diet and has a measured amount of food. New Cat just eats loads, so is put in the utility room until she has finished and so Fat Cat cannot get her food.

However the phone rang and I didn't shut the utility room door.
So a little time later New Cat appears where I am making the call, with a "Fat Cat pushed me off my food and now she is eating it" look.
Then a little later Fat Cat came into the room, looking very replete.
Then, some minutes later, that noise all cat owners know...  bler bler bleerch blech
Nice pile of half digested biscuits to clean up after the phone call.
On completing the phone call I go to clean up but all the halfdigestedmess has gone.
So New Cat got her biscuits after all.

[Mrs Pingu]

Mmm nice pre warmed and pre chewed biscuits. Mojo used to love that.

[ian]

Vet shaved a big patch of fur from Bad Cat’s neck for a blood test some months ago. It’s still not grown back.

LMC came into the bedroom at 7am and threw up a gallon of water by the bed. I swear I spend half my life cleaning up cat sick. I get some good value out of my Vax spot wash thing.

[Basil]

Vax spotwash. Essential pet owners kit.
 

[ian]

Quite honestly, every new kitten should come with one, because you're going to need it.

[Flite]

Zeppy is snoozing on the radiator, happily unaware she is going to see that nice vet in the morning.
Actually she is probably willing the snow to continue so we can't get over the fells.
She has a reputation:
"I think we usually have to sedate her?” asked the receptionist nervously when I phoned to book her in.

[Jaded]

Vax spotwash. Essential pet owners kit.
 

I gave up renting machines from Morrisons and bought a Vax 'Annihilator Platinum Deth' carpet cleaner. Kills a bit more than 90% bacteria. So not as good as pouring some kind of Toilet Blue on the carpets.

A few days ago I cleaned up some (camouflage swirly) stained carpets. Fat cat was promptly sick on the more inaccessible parts.

[Mrs Pingu]

I take it that's not the actual name of the Vax

[ian]

The downside of the Vax is that you see just how dirty your carpet is and then end up doing the entire room (which, as it's a spot wash, requires several refills). This starts the countdown on the next cat vomit event for the room.

The upside, I suppose, is that I have very clean carpets now.

[Mrs Pingu]

Is the spot cleaner really that much better than a bowl of soapy water and a cloth? (Genuine question)

[ian]

Probably, it washes out and slurps up all the grot. I do a provisional cleanup and then attack with the spot washer at a more suitable time.


It gets a lot of dirt out of the carpet. I can only blame 85% on the cats.

[Mrs Pingu]

What detergent do you use in it? The expensive Vax stuff or something home brew?

[ian]

I use the Vax stuff – mine came with 3 litres free which despite the cats' best efforts I've yet to exhaust. I think I bought another couple of litres having neglected to notice the free offer when ordering direct from them. Anyway, you only use a splash in the tank. I am sure you can use any kind of non-foaming detergent, it just squirts it on the carpet and vacuums it up.


It's a bit of minor palaver to set up and clean after use (well, five minutes or so) but not something I'd do at 3am*, I still keep some Doctor Beckman's patent carpet cleaner on hand, and unleash the machine at a more civilised hour.


*mostly my wife and I compete to not hear the cat throwing up and pretend to carry on sleeping. I am better at this. For this sin, she does the nocturnal triage, and I do the proper clean. Cats, as a rule, do not throw up at sensible times.

[Mrs Pingu]

Money saving expert has a code for these for £80 for the rest of this week for anyone interested (I note they were 10 quid more on Amazon last week but have now gone up to over £100, presumably to make money off anyone not getting that deal in time who looks on there...)

[Mrs Pingu]

Well, I bought one of the aforementioned Vax spot washers with the MSE code and used it on a few problem areas. It did quite a good job on the living room carpet in an area where someone keeps dropping boozeaholic drinks and it was filthy, so at least I won't have to look at a stupid champagne coloured carpet with a huge amount of grot on it all over the Xmas holidays.
Still can't wait to get a less stupid carpet.

That Vax carpet cleaner solution is a complete diddle though, think I'm going to buy some of the Dirtbusters stuff which is much more concentrated.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Lying, soaking wet, on the peat stack.

[Flite]

Looking smug
We went to the village Xmas do this evening, so I pre-cooked our food for a quick meal when we got home.
Most went in the fridge, but I left the baked potatoes on the work surface.....
Zeppy the cat did not eat the cat food we so generously provided.

[Mrs Pingu]

Vax spot washer got christened with cat vom today. You don't actually need much water in the thing to clean a surprisingly large area of carpet. Funnily enough my package from Dirtbusters arrived today, I reckon that should keep me going forever.

[ian]

Vax spot washer got christened with cat vom today. You don't actually need much water in the thing to clean a surprisingly large area of carpet. Funnily enough my package from Dirtbusters arrived today, I reckon that should keep me going forever.

I think for the first two weeks I was almost anticipating cat vomit so I could use the machine. Now, I'm back to scowling. I do, at least, have very clean carpets. That said, they seem to have thrown up less since the machine arrived, so maybe even in its cupboard-state it emits some kind of feline anti-emetic ray.

[Mrs Pingu]

Ninkasi has been having a massive twitch and growling in her sleep. Now she's purring.

[Basil]

Doing her best to avoid the attentions of the granddaughter.