Slow day

Mewthos reminds me in many ways of my little sister. He will gobble down his jelly, and then try to steal Ziva’s or Lady Jane’s – just like my sister used to gobble down her chocolates and then steal mine. She also still sucked her thumb for a long time, I think she was about five when she sort of stopped. She’d still sleep with her thumb in her mouth – and in ‘public’ she switched to biting her nails. When I see Mewly doing his baby-twirling I’m reminded of my little sister and her thumb sucking.

I struggled again to fall asleep, so I cuddled Lady Jane for a bit. She always starts purring quite loudly and enthusiastically. Then cuddled Ziva, who purred just as happily. As I was still stroking Ziva’s fur, Mewthos came over and lay down facing Ziva. Then he started giving her head a thorough wash, even holding her down so he could reach her neck. I was watching so closely, my nose got the occasional wash as well. After some time, Ziva returned the favour and they were both washing each other.

I still can’t sleep, so I’ve made myself a cup of Chamomile tea. I’m writing this as I sip my tea – and Lady Jane has come to sit on the chair next to me. At the moment she’s the one most closely attached to me. I’ve been thinking about Earl tonight, wondering how he’s doing. When the site is finished, I want to go and visit him. I still get occasional updates – and would most likely get more, if I asked. His departure was so sudden and unexpected – it still hurts. I somehow feel as if I’ve abandoned him, failed him. It’s a feeling – not the reality.

Feeling isn’t reality. I’ve grown rather tired of people trying to force their feelings as reality – while at the same time denying my feelings. Certain people, who used to be in my life would make statements like “I don’t need this negativity in my life” when I had calmly stated an opinion differing from theirs. They would feel disagreement as negativity – and stated that I’m a negative person. Yet, at the same time, should I dare attempt to discuss something they said, which I felt was hurtful, they would simply respond “I didn’t mean it to be hurtful. So you have no right to be hurt.” I wonder how they would react, if I tried that? Like, say, I would say “I didn’t mean it in a negative way, so you have no right to feel negativity.” Ha ha ha, I know exactly how they would respond! To them, their feelings are reality – a fact of life. The double standard they set thusly, would never, ever occur to them as even a possibility.

Of course it has occurred to me, that the problem might be me – since I am the common denominator. And there is something to that – which I have taken a good, calm look at, and am changing. It’s been a long time since anyone has labelled my character by their feelings.

I went back to bed and woke up around half eight. I had coffee and then distracted all felines with a sachet so I could sneak out to go to work. Ziva got ‘caught’ inside as well – it looks like rain, so I decided she would prefer to stay indoors today. As I was leaving, it did drip a bit – not enough to be called rain, but more could soon follow.

At work, nothing is happening. Nothing. I could just as well have stayed at home. I called the site manager (he’s booked off sick) and asked if I can stay home tomorrow – since there’s nothing happening at work. He said no problem. He’ll check his mails tomorrow around noon and push some buttons. We’ll both be back on Thursday.

Back at home, Ziva and the Mips just went right past me without so much as a ‘hello’ and went downstairs. It hadn’t rained after all, just the odd couple of drops now and then. I went downstairs as well, and joined Rose on her porch while the Mips were exploring. Ziva had apparently gone across the road – visiting, I know not who. Mewthos followed her, he sniffed and followed her trail – all the way to Rose’s fence on the road side! We both called him, I started walking towards him and he came running with his happy puppy waddle! The nearer he got, the faster he ran! It was such a sweet moment!

Romeo also came for his meal – he stayed upstairs for quite a long time before coming back downstairs. He let me stroke him again, jumping into my hand every time it hovered above his head. But I do sort of have to keep following, as he does step a bit further away after each stroke. He then rolled onto his back and I slowly moved my hand towards his head – and he grabbed it and scratched and bit a bit. Not hard, just to let me know “we’re not that intimate”. Since I had moved slowly, I wasn’t really hurt – just a small scratch. Cats rolling to show their tummy is not like dogs – they’re not showing subservience, they are showing trust. Reaching for that exposed belly is abusing that trust in the most anti-social way – to a cat. That’s why I reached for his head, and moved slowly.

Right then, my phone rang. Yep, that is – outside working hours – such a rare occurrence, it merits mentioning. It was the vet. About Mewthos left leg. She says she has consulted with another vet and they came to the conclusion that Mewthos actually damaged his growth plate when he fell. They discussed surgery – but the risk is not justifiable at this stage. He is not deformed, he is not in pain and he is not limping all the time – just occasionally. There is also no medication, or supplements which could reliably help him. So, there is nothing we can do that will guarantee improvement without risk. And since he is in every way a happy, playful and active cat – his quality of life is currently only negligibly affected, there is no good reason to take any risks. He doesn’t limp permanently, he isn’t withdrawn or showing any behaviour that would indicate he is in pain or even uncomfortable. IF his condition worsens, we will need to re-evaluate. For now, if he is having a bad day, I can give him a dose of Metacam (the cat equivalent of Voltaren). I have been giving him a drop of it on days when he limped – the vet said, if I dose him daily I should give him a drop, but if I only dose him occasionally, I can give him is regular dose (which depends on his weight). One option, if he gets worse, would be … as far as I understood it something like fusing the joint … I confess, although the vet tried to explain in layman's terms, my biology is so bad, I did not understand. But I think that would limit how much movement he’ll have in his leg – so, let’s hope it will never be necessary! My poor little darling Mewly!

The neighbour on Rose’s side came over, and he reckons he is almost sure that Romeo belongs next door to him (on the other side)! He’ll find out and let us know. He needs neutering! He was looking rather thin again tonight – he hadn’t been around for his daily meal yesterday.

I’m at my wits end how best to supplement my Mips diet with wet food. They’ll eat some of almost any tin when I first open it – but the next scoop? They turn their nose up at. They always like the sachets – but again, they lick up only the jelly. The meat inside the jelly? They turn their nose up at. Even Romeo won’t eat it anymore. I’ve heard that cats like cooked gem squash pips – Rose confirmed that hers love it. Mine? Turn their nose up at it. Sigh.

When I turned on the bedside lamp, the bulb blew – and I don’t have a spare. I need a specific kind of bulb for this lamp. Since I had replaced it not so long ago, I thought I thought I had more time. Evidently, I was wrong. So I’ve had to put on the ceiling light – only problem with that is: the light switch is behind the door! Seriously! To switch on the light in my bedroom, I have to go inside, close the door to reach the switch!

When I moved in, the Agent told me how the owner had recently renovated the entire flat – that turned out to have been a big, fat lie! The plumbing alone is is such a bad condition – apart from the leaking geyser (four months after I moved in), the leak under the bath (from before I moved in), the isolator switch (three months after the geyser replacement), the ripple relay (a month after later) and the leaking toilet (about nine months after the ripple relay), the kitchen sink is misaligned and not sealed, the bathroom basin’s pipes leak, the cold water tap in the bathroom makes such a noise, it frightens the cats, ditto the hot water tap in the bath, and the cold water in the kitchen is … temperamental. Sometimes you have to open it a couple of turns to get only a small stream which slowly diminishes until it stops, other times opening it even a small bit results in a big stream – with no in between option. So trying to rinse anything is dicey: you either don’t have enough water or it comes with such a force, that you end up splashed soaking wet.

Don’t get me started on the wiring!

Well, the Mips licked enthusiastically at the pilchards I gave them – but left a lot behind. Lets hope they are full enough to sleep!