As seen on Of Course, I could Be Wrong:
On the first day of Christmas when I brought home my tree
My 12 cats were laughing at me
On the second day of Christmas I saw beneath my tree
2 mangled garlands
and my 12 cats laughing at me
On the third day of Christmas I saw beneath my tree
3 missing Wise Men
2 mangled garlands
and my 12 cats laughing at me
On the fourth day of Christmas I saw beneath my tree
4 males a-spraying
3 missing Wise Men
2 mangled garlands
and my 12 cats laughing at me
On the fifth day of Christmas I saw beneath my tree
5 shredded gifts
4 males a-spraying
3 missing Wise Men
2 mangled garlands
and my 12 cats laughing at me
On the sixth day of Christmas I saw beneath my tree
6 fallen angels
5 shredded gifts
4 males a-spraying
3 missing Wise Men
2 mangled garlands
and my 12 cats laughing at me
On the seventh day of Christmas I saw beneath my tree
7 half-dead rodents
6 fallen angels
5 shredded gifts
4 males a-spraying
3 missing Wise Men
2 mangled garlands
and my 12 cats laughing at me
On the eighth day of Christmas I saw beneath my tree
8 shattered ornaments
7 half-dead rodents
6 fallen angels
5 shredded gifts
4 males a-spraying
3 missing Wise Men
2 mangled garlands
and my 12 cats laughing at me
On the ninth day of Christmas I saw beneath my tree
9 chewed-through light strings
8 shattered ornaments
7 half-dead rodents
6 fallen angels
5 shredded gifts
4 males a-spraying
3 missing Wise Men
2 mangled garlands
and my 12 cats laughing at me
On the tenth day of Christmas I saw beneath my tree
10 tinsel hairballs
9 chewed-through light strings
8 shattered ornaments
7 half-dead rodents
6 fallen angels
5 shredded gifts
4 males a-spraying
3 missing Wise Men
2 mangled garlands
and my 12 cats laughing at me
On the eleventh day of Christmas I saw beneath my tree
11 broken branches
10 tinsel hairballs
9 chewed-through light strings
8 shattered ornaments
7 half-dead rodents
6 fallen angels
5 shredded gifts
4 males a-spraying
3 missing Wise Men
2 mangled garlands
and my 12 cats laughing at me
On the twelfth day of Christmas I looked at my poor tree
12 cats a-climbing
11 broken branches
10 tinsel hairballs
9 chewed-through light strings
8 shattered ornaments
7 half-dead rodents
6 fallen angels
5 shredded gifts
4 males a-spraying
3 missing Wise Men
2 mangled garlands
and my 12 cats laughing at me!
Tags: christmas
The spotty boys, Iggy and Mustrum, have had a turbulent relationship since they arrived. We got them ten days apart, on 4th and 14th December respectively, in 1998. Which means we are almost at our 10th anniversary, the three of us!
Two male Bengals in a house, even though they are neutered, is always going to be a fiery relationship, and yet they do sometimes get along fine, as shown in the photograph above.
Today, they did not. Pete and I had just settled down to consume our lunch of soup, and cheese and crackers and ham, in the study (I know, I know, but it’s time to catch up on blogs and stuff), when a severe breakout of hostilities began. When they go for it, they really go for it, and this was a full on wailing at each other, snarling and lashing of tails episode. With added claws and teeth.
Now, you don’t want this across a desk with a bowl of hot soup on it, or even any other desk. I tried to separate them, and got gashed for my pains. In the end, we opened the big bit of the study window and shoved Mustrum out (as he was the nearest), then shut the top part to shut Iggy *in*. Neither of them liked this much, and continued with a sort of virtual fight, separated by a double-glazed window. I can tell you that I did wonder if it was going to be strong enough, to be honest.
About half an hour later, Mustrum had given up and buggered off, and Iggy was driving me crazy rowling to get out, so I shoved him out the front door, and we’ve opened the window again.
Boys - please don’t do that again.
Tags: fighting
This morning, we bundled Henry and Ron into the big cat basket, and bore them off to Vim the Vet for their first vaccinations, and to take advantage of the free microchip offer (which saved us about £50 - hurrah!).
They’ve been jabbed for Everything, and have to return in three weeks for the followup needle. They’ve also had worming pills, and have had a thorough examination. Ron weighs 1.6kg, and Henry 1.7kg. Ron has a tiny heart murmur, which he will probably grow out of, and I’m not going to worry about it at all. Oh, and they both have slightly weepy eyes, meaning we need to apply some of the eye drops we got for Lilith. Joy …
Henry was very well behaved, Ron less so (unsurprisingly :) - we did check with Vim whether we should worry about him screaming when he is scruffed; there’s no medical reason for him to do so, apparently, so as we thought, it’s rage. We’ll book him in for anger management sessions, I think.
We’ve taken advantage of the Petplan 6 month free offer too - having kept Zetland Vets going practically single-handed this year, we’ve decided to pay the premiums for these two.
Cost today: £117
Latest photographs of the Tribe are always on Flickr!
Tags: vet
The kittens have been here 12 days. That doesn’t seem right* … it feels as though they either arrived yesterday, or have been here for months.
Anyway, this is the first time that we’ve seen one of them (this is Henry) curled up with one of the senior cats (this is Mustrum). You can barely make out Henry in the right of the picture, and it’s an indication of just how small the kits are, and just how huge Mustrum is!
It’s a good sign to see them together, but of course, cold weather makes cats very pragmatic :)
*I am teh idiot - it’s *not* right. It’s 19 days.
1. we can hz new toy,
2. kittens *hurt*,
3. snoozing,
4. Henry,
5. I want to go out and kill things …,
6. helping Pete program
Lilith has had a weepy eye for a few days. She does get this from time to time, and it usually clears up by itself, but this time it seemed worse, so Pete delivered her to Vim the Vet this afternoon.
She has a blocked tear duct, and he has given us some eye drops to apply twice a day. Has anyone seen my Kevlar gauntlets?
Cost to date: £35.09
Tags: vet
We Frontlined the kittens on Friday afternoon - despite the fellow we brought them from assuring us that they had been defleaed, they were covered in flea dirt. I checked the instructions carefully to make sure that they weren’t too young, and they weren’t.
Somehow - and I have no idea how - Henry got some Frontline in his mouth. He hated it, dribbled a bit and spat it out, and we thought no more about it. Until during the evening, Henry became very unhappy and his mouth was clearly uncomfortable - he was licking and licking at his fur.
I had a flash of what passes for genius, and put some plain yogurt in a dish. He wouldn’t eat it from there, but he had loads from the end of my finger, and it seemed to help. He calmed down a bit after a while, and thankfully the next day was none the worse for his experience.
But it was very worrying …
Tags: frontline
We’ve had William (and Gordon, elsewhere in the house) for many years now, surviving the various attentions of Tribe members in a more-or-less intact manner.
Sadly, the arrival of Henry and Ron (and Ron’s Smell) has led to entropic decay, viz. Henry’s (for it is mostly his) teeth. William’s string has been snapped several times in the last week, and tied back into one each time, until finally the break was too close to the poor Tory’s head to be rejoined.
This seemed like the best solution; it was either the ankle or the neck, and this way he at least gets to be a tarot trump.
Tags: video