An operation, a sunflower and an adoptaversary

Where to start? Where to start? There’s been so much going on here that I just don’t know what to tell you first.

Well, perhaps start with me, it is my blog after all. I’ve been having problems with a swelling in my eye socket, nothing unusual and back when we lived in our old place it used to happen from time to time. If ever it happened mummy would give me some yummy medicine and after a bit the swelling would go down and nothing would happen for ages. Recently however it started back up again and no matter how much medicine mummy gave me the swelling would reappear after only a few days. So mummy colluded with the v-e-t and it was decided that I needed an operation to se what was going on, they suspected that there might be a remnant of a tear duct still there that was causing problems (I had the same in my other eye years ago) and perhaps over producing some fluid. So with an anxious flutter in her tummy, mummy dropped me at the v-e-t one morning and with a parting ‘take care of her for me’ I was whisked away. The v-e-t’s all loved me and said what a brave, clever girl I was and they did look after me very well, they even helped me have a really long nap and when I woke up I felt very happy, dry chirpy but one side of my face felt odd. It felt chilly and slightly unbalanced but never mind I was just happy, happy, happy. I didn’t even mind when they put me in my carried and it was just after that when I heard the familiar sound of mummy’s footsteps and her voice and I let out a big meow to say hi mummy. Mummy said “oh, look at you Jen, you’ve got a cute little baldy patch”.

We went home and all the way mummy was telling me what a good, brave girl I was and then, once we got home mummy did the most despicable thing, she put me in the dreaded cone of shame. Last time I had a cone of shame I seriously flipped out, I ran and crashed about, jumping and leaping and then I got the cone off and it chased me all round the house! It was so scary and so I didn’t have to wear it after that. This time though mummy said to me that the vet had told her she must try to get me to wear it so mummy and I had a little chat. She said “it’s for your own good Jenny, we don’t want you to scratch your stitches and get a nasty infection, it’s nothing to be scared of and you must give it a try.” She told me this wasn’t one of those nasty plastic ones, but it’s one that Millie wore for her operation and it’s fabric so it doesn’t distort the sounds around me so much. Cones on blind kitties are much more disruptive to the senses we rely on so much, they distort sound and stop us feeling with our whiskers and eyebrows! Oh yes eyebrows, that was that weird lopsided feeling I got, they shaved off my eyebrow as well as my fur! How embarrassing!

So I gave the floppy cone a try, it felt ridiculous but meowmy and daddy were determined so I played along and as it turns out I rocked the floppy blue cone. These days mummy and daddy aren’t often surprised by what I can do but they had a full 10 day masterclass of what you can do with a cone on, as you know I’m not one to let my disability stop me from doing what I want and I was sure not doing to let that cone stop me from enjoying myself. So apart from doinking into a few things I just carried on with life as normal, first me and my cone went for a run on my wheel, mummy said I looked like a lolloping nodding dog that she remembers from an advert on the telly. Then I fancied a climb so up the cat tree I went, cone and all (mummy helped a little bit) and then to top it all off, once I got used to the cones wobbliness I kept mummy company as her bath buddy, me and my cone strutting our stuff along the catwalk (the side of the bath). Now that did impress mummy and she gave me a little round of applaws when I dismounted safely onto the bath mat. Looking back perhaps she was just happy that I didn’t wobble into the bath with her!

I had a couple of days rest after my operation but then I was shouting at the back door for walkies so I got some supervised cone free time outdoors with mummy each evening. There was a positive side to things though as the cone also acted as a food shield so I could eat in peace.

Oh so going back to my op, they found that the swelling was a cyst which they removed, they found that my optic nerve was all yucky so they sorted that out and most unexpected of all they found a big hole in the back of my eye socket, big enough that the v-e-t could have fitted her finger through (she didn’t try that though). So she sowed the hole up, removed the cyst and that was that. We’re not sure if the hole is something new or if I’ve always had that there. The v-e-t asked mummy to keep a watch on me in case I demonstrated any unusual behaviour (my brain is right behind the hole) and all mummy said rather unsympathetically was “but Jenny’s always a bit weird”. Thanks mummy! So we shall just wait and see what happens but for now I’m feeling much better and whilst my fur and eyebrows are still growing back.

So take it from me you might not think you can do something but just give it a try, you might just surprise yourself.

Then there’s Mona Lisa who has blossomed into a sunflower

Since she arrived she’s had a very sore bottom, it’s linked into the abuse she suffered before she was rescued. Mummy and daddy have been giving her medicine for it but it just didn’t seem to make it much better, they have tried all sorts after many conversations with the v-e-t about what they could do to help her. Then one day daddy had a flash of inspiration, he said the penny dropped and it was me and my cone that inspired him. Little ML’s bottom is sore so she licks it to make it better, then it heals a bit and the scab is itchy so she licks it and it never really gets the chance to heal and daddy said it’s a vicious circle. We need to break this cycle he said and that’s when daddy said well Jenny’s had the cone on, what if we got ML one of those doughnut collars to stop her licking and then we could get some cream to put on her bum to help it heal. Bingo! A call to the v-e-t to talk it through and get some cream, and an online order later and within 24 hours there was a sunflower in the house. Much like me Mona Lisa isn’t letting the sunflower stop her, she’s running and playing and pouncing as normal, still being a terror but paws crossed her bottom is, according to daddy, starting to look better.

So, spring has really sprung in our house with a little yellow flower power peril running us all ragged.

Oh and the third thing is that on Thursday it was my 7th Adoptaversary. Who knew all those years ago that this is where I’d be now. The founder member of the purrfectly imperfect crew, back then I thought I might be the only member of that crew but here we are years later with 4 fully fledged members and one angel member (Lil P). Isn’t it amazing how life turns out, from street cat to adventure cat and Queen of the clowder.

I’ll leave you with a funny video that a furriend made for me, mummy funds it hysterical but our furriend though the words summed me up purrfectly. So I hope this makes you giggle and smile and cheers your day up just a little bit.