Raising my head back up over the parapet

Hello my Fans,

I have been keeping very quiet this past month. So much has been happening that discretion was the better part of valour.

You see, I was just starting to warm up to tell you all about the installation of my own personal cat flap (about time, I hear you say) and how stupid that the dogs had been, how annoying the black kitten was behaving, when suddenly things started to go down hill with them all.

Let me start.

Wolf, never very spry at the best of times, Bless him, started to pant. Now even I know that this is not a good sign, unless Versace has just unveiled the Fall line of Cat fashion.

Mum took him to the vets and he stayed the night. This is always fraught with danger, any trips to that place. so many times, you just never come back. It is something which I avoid at all costs.

Luckily Wolf came back, but he did say to me that he was not feeling any better. Simba carried on in his own little world of Me-Me-Me and Merlin was content to just hunt and annoy everyone with his youthful exuberance.

I tried to maintain an air of calm, but to be honest, I was worried about Wolf. He may be a dog, but he and I have been around together for a long time and I do appreciate our little chats that we have on the world, state of the food front and what silly thing has Simba done today.

Wolf started to get worse with a persistent coughing. Mum and the Bloke really started to get concerned and they even let all of us (apart from the sheep, of course) sleep with them in my, I mean, their bedroom.

what followed next was a number of trips to different vets and Wolf loosing more and more of his hair as it was shaved in patches. I tried to make it a bit easier by calling him a Poodle, but the old guy was getting tired.

Wolf told me that on the last visit that they were talking about tumors or a lung tear. That is so not good. They had given him some medication to take, one tablet was yuck, but a larger one was a yummy meat flavour.

It was amazing what the tablets did to Wolf, his coughing became less (made the sleeping in the bedroom all together, a bit nicer) and his joints stopped hurting, he could move around much freer. He had a new lease on life and he looked and felt years younger.

Things were looking up, I was just starting to think that this crises might be passing and it was time to reassert my role as household Prima Donna back on all its inhabitants.

Then things really went out of control.

I was sleeping in my new day room (oh, the soft bed, sheepskin rug and fine views of the harbour, Mum really outdid herself in ensuring my comfort was paramount) it was just after the Bloke had left to go back to work after coming home while Mum was out for a job interview (HA! work, my little pretty! Make money to buy me food!).

Merlin had been annoying me on my bed when he disappeared into the rest of the house. At last, I thought, a chance to get some more sleep. Mum turned up and walked into the kitchen. She found on the floor, the plastic bag that had been placed on the coal range, containing Wolf's medication. The bag had been destroyed and five tablets missing.

Well, there was only one animal that would be that stupid and the two sheep were in the field eating grass, so that only left the Demon Kitten.

Oh, my darlings, it is always so sad to see a teenager go off the rails. I could see it happening, but no one else seemed interested. first they start off on the cat nip, the think they can handle it, it makes them feel all nice, they are in control. But sooner or later they get into the hard stuff.

Well, the kitten certainly go into the hard stuff. he overdosed quite spectacularly. Mum was straight onto the phone to the Bloke. He called the Vets and they told him to bring the the little addict in for rehab.

Of course, I am sure he was just doing the same sort of attention seeking that the likes of movie stars etc do when they are not receiving the attention that they want or feel they deserve. Perhaps he is wanting to move into a career in this area and was want to kick start it with the publicity. "Merlin checks into Rehab - follow the story of the kitten gone bad, the parties, drugs and booze of this teenage star". It may sell the tabloid press, but it is not the exposure that a cat should court. So demeaning.

So he checks into rehab. A couple of days there he comes back, a bit rough around the edges, but Hey, thats what having your stomach pumped, activated charcoal and drips do to you.

Unfortunately, two days later, he starts vomiting. non stop. so he is back into the vets for an extended stay. I dont mind in telling you that I did take full advantage of the situation. I slept where I wanted to, when I wanted to and was able to eat in peace, without having to walk around always on edge, waiting for the next ambush.

Having said that, i will admit, that I did miss the little guy, not much, just a little bit. Every now and then it is nice to have another feline, showing the ropes to, pointing out their mistakes and shortcomings.

Mum and the Bloke were getting stressed by all the negative activities of all the rest of us. Wolf, in the meantime was starting to look so much better on the medication. But they were still going to go to Christchurch for a possible operation for Wolf, it all depended on what the Quacks up there thought.

So they loaded the dogs up and left me for a little period of respite from them all. It was nice, I managed to get a few more sleeps in than I would normal have achieved if they had all been here.

The next day they came back. Wolf was bursting to tell me what had happened up there. He was fair jiggling from paw to paw in anticipation. He told me that I would never guess what he had done to him. He had had a CAT Scan!! Him, a dog, having a CAT Scan!!

Well, laugh?! I almost forgot to sneer at Simba as he sulked past!! Imagine that A DOG having a CAT scan! Wolfie told me all about it, how it was a human hospital (hope they cleaned the bed first, before he lay on it, who knows where the Humans have been) and it was all so exciting.

Unfortunately, he then told me the bad news. It was tumours and they could not operate.

The news devastated me. We have been together for so long now. Yes, he does get on my nerves, but that is just because he is a dog, he cant help that.

He is philosophical about it, and he is really having a great time with the freeing up of his joints from the medication that he says that he is feeling better than he has in years. So he is taking full advantage of this.

Simba has been acting a bit weirder since getting back from Christchurch, not sure what, if anything is going on inbetween those hairy ears.

Merlin came back from the vets as well and he is on the way to a recovery, but they are still waiting to get some blood results to see how much long term damage has been done. He said that the vets have now put a warning on the label for this medication and dispenses it in child proof containers, as they had not considered this possibly happening. Its the new meaty flavour to make it more palatable, I suppose.

And me? Well I just kept on doing my usual things. trying not to get in the way. But as things settle back down again around here, watch out!! I have three weeks of being ignored to catch up on. The spotlight WILL be shifting back to me!

Later, my Darlings,

Dessie
xxxxxx