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Thursday, 8 November 2018

Day 16 of 100, Thursday, 8th November


Not a good night, but okay. My body hurts just about everywhere. It’s difficult to get active, physically I mean. I’m having coffee and breakfast first.

I’ve cleared two drawers in the chest of drawers – with Mewthos’ & Lady Jane’s help, Ha Ha! Open a drawer and they must investigate! Only I’m so tired, low on energy. I’ve scooped the litter box and re-filled the water bottles I used when we had no water. You can never know when the water will be cut off again, nowadays. And I’m not buying drinking water. I wouldn’t be surprised if the real problem turns out to be another corrupt deal made with Nestle! Like all those ‘load shedding’ episodes – funny how suddenly we seem to be capable of producing enough electricity after all! Let me not go off on that tangent …

I’ve carried a lot of boxes from the garage upstairs, some are still damp. I’ve also re-arranged all the one’s in the garage – away from the damp walls. Carrying the boxes with even just a mild breeze is quite painful, trying to hold on to them gripped in my fingers. The box for my records is also damp – which seriously sucks! It’s a lovely strong box and just the right size. Some of the things I own don’t just fit into any box – some really need extra large, yet double strong boxes. Even then, it’s always a risk. You can never be sure how they are handled.

I got a reply from Move-A-Pet, all three of my cats can travel in one ‘container’, together. I can provide food, and some comfort items, like a blankie and some worn clothes. So now, all I need to do is get their booster shots – and they are set to go. Sigh – I wish I didn’t have to put them through that! I wish I could just stay in Port Elizabeth …

I collected some more seeds, both Nasturtium and Cosmos. Mewthos was in cuddle-mode and would throw himself at my legs with gusto! I had to sit down and give him a prolonged tummy-rub! I also see that the only surviving Gladiola seems to be in bud, preparing to flower! Two years I’ve tried to get one to bloom without luck, they all died. Now, that I’m leaving, one decides to wave me good-bye!

Upstairs, Lady Jane is on an attention-drive! What is it with kitties and tummy-rubs? Today those two are going nuts for them! Haven’t seen much of Ziva today – except when I was going back and forth to the garage. It’s a sunny, warm day, so I’m guessing she’s loving the outdoors!

Romeo is also hanging around – it’s that time again, where I call in my lot for a treat before indoor-kitty-time! It’s going to be one of those nights again. Poor boy doesn’t want to leave.

I’m packing all the odds and ends in all the rooms, leaving the books – which are easy & fast to pack – for last. The place is starting to look … selectively empty. Gaps in every room, where – not so long ago – shelves were filled with this-and-that. The wardrobe is getting empty, only clothes I wear all the time are left. Sigh, the worst part is, that I don’t know whether I’ll have space to unpack in my next home, since I can’t choose it. If I ‘disappear’ from an already changed environment – I don’t know how Ziva will react! She might decide this is no longer her home, like Shadow did, when Rose was away a few nights. And I can’t possibly stay to coax her back – if she runs, she’s lost to me for good. So, I’d rather risk ending up in an inadequate home than risk loosing Ziva!

I solved the Romeo ‘problem’ by putting a sachet of Petleys Chicken in gravy outside – Ziva and Lady Jane turn their noses up at it, only Mewthos will lick up the gravy. He expected to get his share in the usual place, in the kitchen; he actually ran past the bowl on his way in! I had to carry him outside, which is always a bit of an issue, because he strongly dislikes being picked up. I have to soothe him the whole time, hold him close, not at a distance. So it’s a bit dicey, but he has never scratched me, yet!

On the other hand, I only had to call my mippies once – and both Mewthos and Lady Jane came bounding across Rose’s garden at top speed! Such a lovely sight, it fills my heart every time!

I’ve been thinking about changing their ‘treats’, maybe give them some raw meat instead – it’d be better for them, and if they actually eat it all, it would be a lot cheaper. With the Sachet’s they only eat the Royal Canin meat; the other brands, they only lick up the jelly or gravy and leave the ‘meat’ behind. I’ve been reading up on it, but mostly all I can find is about a complete change to a raw-meat diet. On the surface it sounds good – but I would much prefer to find something from a qualified source. I don’t blindly trust online information, especially on a professional subject and least of all on a subject I am completely ignorant of. The only ‘qualified’ source of information I know of are vets – who, however, rely on the sale of pet food as a major source of their income! And veterinarians are no more nutritionists than your General Practitioners – and GPs only treat a single species, whereas vets treat many. I’ve been thinking of trying to get my hands on one of the prescribed books for vet students on feline nutrition. Since Onderstepoort, the veterinarian training hospital, is just outside Pretoria North that would be a good starting point. The problem, I’ve read, about giving them meat for human consumption, just raw, is that it is expected to be thoroughly cooked and therefore not handled as ‘cleanly’ as it needs to be, if it is for ‘raw’ consumption. I wouldn’t want to ‘treat’ them with poison! I’ll give that some more thought once I’m in Pretoria.

Well, they are all happily asleep with tummies full of yummies! I should follow their example.

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