What are you doing right now?

[ian]

There's no way I'd survive giving Little Monster Cat an injection. She goes absolutely mental if we put the drop of Advantage (or whatever it is these days) on her neck. It takes days of subterfuge and a quick strike and she's learned the time of the month, so gets doubly evasive. I think she may actually be able to read our minds. No, you hold her and I'll do. No, no, you're better at it than me. So goes the conversation. It's a bloody nightmare. She had to be sedated just so the vet could look in her mouth. Her body can twist through 720 degrees and I swear she has at least 8 sets of claws. Or so it seems if she doesn't want to be held. She's apparently quite the contortionist. Unfortunately the circus don't want her. She scares the lions.

Bad Cat though, you can do anything to her, she just makes a racket that makes it sound like she's being dismembered by clumsy people with blunt knives. We had to clean her filthy paws the other night. Oh my god, what a racket. It's a good job we live in a detached house or someone would be calling the RSPCA. It's a damp piece of kitchen towel, for heaven's sake.

[Mrs Pingu]

Our cats hate the smell of the flea stuff solvent. Ancient old Pippin, rest her little furry boots in peace, just sat quietly and let us stab her.
She was a *very* old lady though.

[clarion]

Reading this thread...

...and thinking about jogler

[Tim Hall]

Just finished listening to True Lies on R4 while my son eats his beans on toast.
Lovely and relaxing after a frustrating Monday at work.

The Unbelievable Truth, Shirley?

[ElyDave]

Quaking in my boots.

I have just had to make an appointment at the vets for Thursday morning. Our cat Willow (food hoover and all around good egg) has just been diagnosed as diabetic.

On Thursday morning I have to learn how to give her insulin injections.

I am damn sure that one of us (me ) will be bleeding more than the other......

It's not that hard. You will stab yourself at least once though, and that was despite me being used to handling syringes in labs for several years. The needles are tiny thin. Best of luck getting Willow stable.

Those needles are so fine you don't feel them, I did it five times a day for eighteen months before I got my pump.

I can't see how you're going to train the cat to give you its paw though, to do its paw prick blood glucose tests.

[Wombat]

Wondering what this "retirement" lark is all about.  I'm busily editing photos and exporting them for a friend who is a spinet player for this evening, occasionally looking out the front window at the newly relaid driveway (done by proper contractors!) and admiring it, gathering all my stuff for a charitable event over the weekend in Sunny Shildon, thats rolling stock, play rolling stock for the kiddies so they don't play with my priceless stuff, laptop, large monitor, silly loud speaker, camera gear, clothes, documentation and dog alone knows what else...  I have to spend Thursday evening in the Premier Inn in Corby!  then to York, Shildon, York, Shildon, York, Shildon, York, Shildon, York, and back home Tuesday morning, knackered.

Then on to finding an alternative new home because of course "your offer is accepted" is not accompanied by any sense of honour, and they now seem to have accepted a higher offer made days afterwards.

[T42]

Paper-pushing. It comes in in little envelopes with windows and goes out again in little envelopes without windows, accompanied by other pieces of paper that take bites out of our bank account.

That and drinking coffee, of a sort.

[ian]

Our cats hate the smell of the flea stuff solvent. Ancient old Pippin, rest her little furry boots in peace, just sat quietly and let us stab her.
She was a *very* old lady though.

Yes, she can smell it as soon as we open it, so I have to do it outside and then leave it opened for a while until her guard drops. Then we wait till she's snoozing or being stroked and absently, in a single ninja move, squirt it on the back of her neck. You can't do it properly, she knows as soon we part her fur. Even the vet struggles. The last time he did it, it took him, the nurse, and my wife and I to hold her and it still went everywhere and we all got dewormed. If she knows, it's doomed. Ninja is the only way.

But once that droplet touches her skin. BANG! She goes absolutely mental. She's like a tasmanian devil on crystal meth. Fortunately, we've never had to bath her, I can't imagine that would go well.

[Kim]

I can't see how you're going to train the cat to give you its paw though, to do its paw prick blood glucose tests.

AIUI the procedure for monitoring glucose levels in a cat is even worse than that...

[Mrs Pingu]

I can't see how you're going to train the cat to give you its paw though, to do its paw prick blood glucose tests.

AIUI the procedure for monitoring glucose levels in a cat is even worse than that...

We didn't do any. Just regular trips to the vet for the first few weeks to get it checked and then less regular once stabilised, with a set dose being administered at regular intervals.

[Andrij]

Thinking of shaving off the beard.

[Jurek]

Thinking of shaving off the beard.

Last time I did that, to my beard, not your's, I was ver', ver' drunk and in the company of two ver' drunk women.
I think the 'dare' word may've been used.
Initially, I returned from the bathroom having just done half of my face.
Because. Well, because I could.
Did I mention that alcohol may've been taken?
Oh my.
How we laughed.

[Andrij]

Thinking of shaving off the beard.

Last time I did that, to my beard, not your's, I was ver', ver' drunk and in the company of two ver' drunk women.
I think the 'dare' word may've been used.
Initially, I returned from the bathroom having just done half of my face.
Because. Well, because I could.
Did I mention that alcohol may've been taken?
Oh my.
How we laughed.

I don't have nearly a good enough reason as yours!   
Thinking it may just be time for a change.

[fuzzy]

Quaking in my boots.

I have just had to make an appointment at the vets for Thursday morning. Our cat Willow (food hoover and all around good egg) has just been diagnosed as diabetic.

On Thursday morning I have to learn how to give her insulin injections.

I am damn sure that one of us (me ) will be bleeding more than the other......

It's not that hard. You will stab yourself at least once though, and that was despite me being used to handling syringes in labs for several years. The needles are tiny thin. Best of luck getting Willow stable.

Those needles are so fine you don't feel them, I did it five times a day for eighteen months before I got my pump.

I can't see how you're going to train the cat to give you its paw though, to do its paw prick blood glucose tests.

Well, I am surviving, as is Willow. She takes it all in her stride providing another pair of hands in available to hold her still (ish).

Scooby the other cat however, decided to come out in sympathy. She stopped eating and drin king and spent three days at the vets on a drip. We have just got her to start eating (expensive cans of tuna in spring water). She has been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and needs a tablet twice a day. At the moment she is managebale. When she gets her strength back however...........

As for the bill, HOW MUCH!  And still rising.

[SteveC]

She has been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and needs a tablet twice a day. At the moment she is managebale. When she gets her strength back however...........

Our Ginge has been on those for the past two and a half years. We give them to him in a small ball (roughly marble sized) of Shipham's (or Tesco) fish or meat paste. He loves these and we've never had a problem getting the tablets into him. YCMV of course.

As for the bill, HOW MUCH!  And still rising.

I know. Makes you realised what a bargain the NHS is!

[Mrs Pingu]

In their final years we had Pippin with diabetes + hyperthyroidism and Mojo with kidney failure + hyperthyroidism finally segueing into blindness. Talk about frequent flyer points....

[ian]

It's very common for older cats. Our previous cat had years of hyperthyroidism. It's how vets afford their regular skiing holidays.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Our cats hate the smell of the flea stuff solvent. Ancient old Pippin, rest her little furry boots in peace, just sat quietly and let us stab her.
She was a *very* old lady though.

Yes, she can smell it as soon as we open it, so I have to do it outside and then leave it opened for a while until her guard drops. Then we wait till she's snoozing or being stroked and absently, in a single ninja move, squirt it on the back of her neck. You can't do it properly, she knows as soon we part her fur. Even the vet struggles. The last time he did it, it took him, the nurse, and my wife and I to hold her and it still went everywhere and we all got dewormed. If she knows, it's doomed. Ninja is the only way.

But once that droplet touches her skin. BANG! She goes absolutely mental. She's like a tasmanian devil on crystal meth. Fortunately, we've never had to bath her, I can't imagine that would go well.

It occurred to me that one reason they dislike having drops put on their necks (had 3 cats) was because the fluid was cold and their necks are very sensitive.  So I started putting the phials in my pocket long enough for them to reach body temperature before administering.  It worked a treat and they never noticed they'd been done.

[ian]

Pah, Little Monster Cat knows whatever strategy I take. Best to wait till she's sleeping and then ninja strike! She skittered away like a drop of water in a hot pan when I got her neck last night.

Though Bad Cat wins. She passively let us squirt her. Sat there on the kitchen worktop. Gave it a moment. And then shook her head vigorously. Which distributed the droplet on her neck about the kitchen. It's amazing just how far 0.8ml of topical parasite treatment will go. The solvent, as we then discovered, is excellent for removing the surface varnish from expensive solid oak kitchen work surfaces.

I suppose we'll all be free of intestinal parasites for a while.

[CAMRAMan]

Looking through the photos of the Purton ships' graveyard, where I have just been. Very peaceful too. I'm wondering why the last hulk is penned in in such a way.

[m0rt]

On train between Derby and Crewe heading to Chester because Euston was closed. I would have been back in Hawarden an hour ago. As it is, I have another hour to go....

[Ham]

All revved up and one day to go.

20 hours to departure to be precise, I'm still pondering whether the weather will make a Heathrow ride sensible.

[Andrij]

Weather will dictate if it's a feasible ride.  Knowing how far and where you have to go, it will never be sensible!

[Vince]

Looking through the photos of the Purton ships' graveyard, where I have just been. Very peaceful too. I'm wondering why the last hulk is penned in in such a way.

I was there last week. My assumption was to prevent further damage of the almost complete boat.

I'm not comfortable with terms like ships graveyard or wreck, when the boats have been 're-purposed' as an erosion defense. (See also Stone Point/Secret Water in Essex)

[andrewc]

Having ££ tea & cake at Tate Britain while nursing my sore feet.


The Michaelangelo/Sebastiano exhibition at the National Gallery, then strolled here for the
excellent Queer British Art thing.  When I've had a rest it's the Hockney.