Cats

Just that - cats! I love cats and really enjoy having them around, good company, sometimes amusing and entertaining as well as just a tad unpredictable.

When we moved here six years ago we also brought our cats Smudge and Socks with us.  Smudge was a white nad silver tabby of about five years and Socks a brown tabby with four white paws, about four years older than Smudge. I always felt very protective to Socks because she is such a small cat and very, very pretty.   Each with their very own  different personalities and habits as well as almost psychic eeriness!

Smudge suffered quite badly in recent years with hairballs, several vet's consultations found the right treatment for her at home when another incident occurred. We came home late one qfternoon last October and Smudge was looking sorry for herself on our downstairs bed - we had been treating her for another hairball for a few days so was a little under the weather.  She went out a little while after our return, nothing unusual there. Come bedtime she had not returned, now thet was unusual - we called her but no-show.  Waited up a while with no joy so we went to bed fully expecting her to cry to be let in.  The next morning still no Smudge so we had a cursory look around outside to see if she was there - no Smudge.  That evening and the following day despite our efforts to find her - no Smudge.

Jane asked me to print some photos and create a 'Lost' poster to be posted locally.  Several days later - no Smudge.  We believe that she had wandered off deliberately as some cats do when they are vey unwell and wish to pass away in seclusion, this had happened with our Timothy a year or so after we moved from London.  Time passed - no Smudge and we resigned ourselves to the fact that she had indeed gone.  We were both quite upset at losing her because she was one of our family but at least we still had Socks.

Some several weeks ago Socks  was looking a little thin and was not eating very well so a trip to the vet was in the offing.  Now Socks is psychic, knowing when we are out to catch her whether for anti-flea treatment or a vet visit and will deliberately avoid coming to close, normally she is a lap cat.  After ten days or so Jane managed to catch her, off she went to see Monsieur Marquis, a very gentle, kind, expert vet and one whom the ladies generally seem to find somewhat dishy!

M. Marquis gave her the usual feline MoT, she grumbled ferociously when he took her temperature, then, despite weighing no more than a bag of sugar, she flatly refused to let him look in her mouth. His next ploy was to use a small gag type device to look in her mouth - she was having no truck with that idea, promptly bit him and retreated to her traveling basket.  His diagnosis was probably a tooth abscess as her third eyelid was closing slightly caused by pressure behind that eye, the other possibility was a tumour behind her eye.  Two injections and a course of antibiotics were prescribed and she returned home to keep her by now standard two metre safety zone from those horrible humans.

A further trip one week later as she was still no better - the vet did his usual checks including trying to look in her mouth again. Result? Socks 1 - Vet 0!  He also warned that she may not survive much longer and to bring her back when we felt it was necessary so neither of us were filled with joy at this news.

Fast forward to last Friday. Socks went out about 0900 having spent the previous day on the bed and having eaten nothing.  Quite often in the summer she will go out to find a cool shady spot where she will noy be disturbed and spen all day out there.  Bedtime - no Socks despite calling and looking for her in her favourite spots outside.   I told Jane that I would wait up for her with the door open, about 0200 Jane came down from bed and asked if I was coming to bed - reluctantly I agreed.

Saturday morning - no Socks.  Saturday bedtime - no Socks.  Sunday morning - no Socks, we both agreed that she had most probably done a Smudge. We both were more than a little upset that she had gone.

Thos morning - Monday - we had just got up and were having pre-breakfast coffee, suddenly Socks trotted in on her way to the kitchen with not a hint that she had been AWOL for seventy two hours, demanded to be fed, had a long drink and retreated to her upstairs boudoir, our bedroom.  A few minutes after Jane called me to show a tiny double tooth that she had found next to Socks' food dish.  We reckon that she had a tooth abscess that burst reliving the pressure on the tooth and it just came out while she was eating. Her eye is now open properly and everything seems to be normal again, thankfully.