RIP Leila

It is with shock and sadness that I announce Leila's sudden and totally unexpected death.

We were out all day because of a sick relative, and I arranged my lovely cat sitter to come in, who last saw Leila alive, well, hungry, and happy to be stroked at about 4pm.
When we got in, at a quarter to midnight, she was lying on the floor, stiff and dead.  What happened? I don't know.  She was partly under a little table, so no question of a fall.  Heart attack?  Brain embolism/tumour?  impossible to say.  She came from the same area of Ipswich as my Biddi who, the vets thought,  had a brain tumour, maybe there was some kind of genetic flaw in the population.
It's the down side of rescue cats.  They can have hidden problems from early privation and from inbreeding.  But it was such a shock.  Scampi and Worrals were sitting vigil with her until we came in.  They were the only two cats Leila really tolerated near her.
I don't have many photos of Leila, to my sadness, she wasn't fond of having her photo taken, and was inclined to butt the camera because it wasn't feeding her ... I  have a couple of nice ones though.

Leila was surnamed 'Twinkletoes' for her ballet slippers .... which she always tucked underneath her when sitting up as if embarrassed by them.  You had to catch her sprawling... this is her towel... she liked that better than any blankie.

She looks very like Rebel, I had to check it wasn't Rebel ... 

And she did enjoy the windowsill a little bit, though she wasn't keen on being downstairs.

One thing she loved was her nip mouse, not that there was a lot of nip left in it, and she had chewed holes in it, but she wailed when I took it away and gave her a new one.  The new one wouldn't do at all.  I had to wash and mend it as best I could, and she would toss it about, chirruping to it, and take it into her towel box to sleep with it between her paws.  What was so special about a tatty old mouse, i don't know, but she loved it.  We have buried it with her. 

I put an agapanthus over our little pantha which may be scraggy at the moment but it will be glorious next summer. 

Saffron and the gang, overdue update

Saffron's lump came back so quickly, and the vet told us that it was not in a good place.  If it had been on her hip, removing the leg to get rid of it all would have been an option, but that as it was, they could not cut it out.  We were advised that these type of sarcomas cause no pain, but if she found it uncomfortable when it got really big we could look at pain killers, and otherwise pamper her for as long as she has. 
She has three lumps now which have grown pretty big, but she doesn't seem to notice. She sleeps on her left side as well as her right so they plainly don't trouble her.  She washes them as well as the rest of her, and she's back to her cuddly self.  Here are some gratuitous pictures of Saffron.

with Linnie

with Cecil

with Rosie.  the lump is plainly visible in this one. 

So what else is happening?  well the run is a hit, but I wish they wouldn't roll on the snack grass and kill it and then dig up and poop in the compost.  We've been outside with people on leads as often as we can, and Leo, who hates things going over his head has declared he is trustworthy without a lead.  He isn't that fast a mover, but he is now exploring all the garden and enjoying himself no end.  He has learned to go to the door and yell, but it doesn't always make the slaves obey.

Rebel likes the old rocking chair

Toddles ate right up to the end of September, he's now safely tucked away for the winter

I love this one of Dora

Worrals believes in comfort

and another one of Leo just because.  He's on the lead here, an earlier pic, but a nice one of him

So who isn't pictured?  Gypsy!  here's one of Gypsy with the butterfly toy we bought them [which Worrals nabbed, ran off with and broke a little bit in about 3 seconds!]  Note the shredded cardboard on the floor, from one of those perennially favoured toys, a box.

Onyx is a little elusive, but he has been coming downstairs, especially after we lit the stove

Scampi and Leila are not keen on photos.  However, Scampi sleeps all night on Simon, and Leila has been being brought down and is starting to accept having new territory.  She's still an ailurophobe though.

Busy time lately...

I think I mentioned the cat wheel, which came, was easy to put together, and until a couple of days ago was used exclusively by Linnie [who was the main target for it anyway] but! is now also being used by Rebel, whose antics leaping for the laser dot and having to hang on to the edge of the wheel for grim life have been quite hilarious, and I hope to get a photo soon.
The only place we could put it was on the landing, by taking down a bookshelf, so here's a pic of Linnie in it, having disrupted the newspaper which is Leo's 'miss zone' for when he thinks he's in the litter box because his front feet are.

There are some hilarious videos on the cat wheel site http://onefastcat.com/ and I thoroughly recommend the wheel, cheaper than its next nearest counterpart.  Only thing is, they soon trash up the running surface, we're going to have to replace the treads soon. This is because Rebel likes to give it a good scratch before setting off for a run....

Cecil prefers his amusement more static. This is HIS box.

And then Mother died.
Saffron was heartbroken, the only cat mother had ever permitted to sleep on her bed, she had lived almost exclusively in mum's room since mum became bedridden 2 years ago.   That it's the room with the aga is neither here nor there.... anyway, Saffron lived in mum's dressing gown for several days before deciding that as Gran wasn't here any more, she would move out totally.  She's coming to terms with it, and fortunately adores Simon. 

Saffron

 

Dora too has been wandering about looking lost for a couple of weeks, though she has settled down.  Worrals would occasionally sleep in mum's room, during the day, and she has refused point blank to go in there since Gran disappeared in the night in an ambulance.  Gypsy went looking for her, and decided she must be hiding, are there any cat biscuits?  But Gypsy, Linnie, Dora, Rosie and Cecil as well as Saffron all slept on her bed for several nights.  Cecil and mother had become rapidly very good friends, and I'm glad she got to see him.  Linnie thought we should have brought her back from the human vets in a cardboard box to bury in the garden.  He doesn't understand human protocols.

So, anyway, we decided to not merely clean out mum's room but to redecorate and turn it into a study-cum-breakfast room, and the difference of light wallpaper, no clutter of movable tables, commodes and so on is amazing.  We even painted the aga - it's an Esse really - with black heatproof paint as it was chipped.  It was mainly the boys who helped.  And Cecil has a gloss white ear where he rubbed against my newly painted skirting board and grubby toes where he stood on the newly gloss white windowsill and then walked on the still mucky floor which I didn't plan to vacuum until I'd finished being messy.
I have to say it was also a challenge painting when suddenly! having a Linnie land on my shoulder from one of his launch-from-the-floor leaps.  I wore him to paint the whole door.  He thinks he's a circus performer.

the divan bed makes a great sofa, there's room for one human and up to six cats.  Or one human and a well spread Cecil by the heater.... his favourite position is on his back soliciting tummy rubs

Yes, that's a cat bed on top of the wood basket.  But Dora and Cecil figured they would be warmer on, and under the footstool I used to use to do mum's dressings.  They voted it to remain.

Gypsy helped Simon unpack the new computer desk.  He shredded the side of the box and sat on the parts Simon needed to show him where they were. 

And then the three way tunnel went back in the room

Wot?

 

Rebel is not sure about the decor.

Leo just doesn't come downstairs; he is only interested in not having his mealtimes disrupted.  He has gone off the expensive little tins of food, and now has to have his pill in heated chicken broth.  Spoilt brat!  lovely boy.
No pics of Rosie or Onyx this time, nor Leila and Scampi.  Onyx is phlegmatic and unphased by the goings on, Leila doesn't care if it doesn't directly relate to her, and Scampi has retired to his towel box until things are quieter. 

What's new, pussycat?

I've neglected my blogs shamefully, I confess it, because I'd rather neglect the blog than neglect the cats, and I have to say the last two years having mum bedridden has not been especially easy.  In fact, I think I can safely say that the cats save my sanity with their funny little ways.

Worrals, the matriarch, still likes to creeple up inside my sweater for a cuddle; she is my special baby, though I try not to show favourites!  she was such a frail little kitten when we first had her, and being that Siamese shape, it's hard not to think of her as fragile even now, though in reality she's as tough as old boots! 

Meantime, Rebel is still a little butterball, who thinks that if she sings loudly enough she will get first breakfast at 3 am;  Rosie still farts when she is happy, which is usually when lying on her back in Simon's arms, having her tummy done!

Gypsy has a new habit, he likes to get his front feet on one's left arm and his back feet on the left, whereupon he pounds with all four feet at once making puddings.  I've never known a cat to do that before.  He is our Turkish delight...

 Onyx is moderately forthcoming now, but camera shy, he will sit on my lap sometimes, but only when he chooses!    Leila is still #occupying the bathroom except when she's chasing one of the others; such a shame that she cannot integrate.  Scampi has, and he sleeps on Simon at night, cuddled up under his chin.
Leo is so clever about getting about, and climbs onto beds, though he's nervous of the sofa, which is usually full of GURLZ and therefore dangerous.  I'm not his favourite person right now though, because he had some dogberries that had to be dealt with.  One of the hazards of being a long-haired cat, but he dislikes being groomed because he can't see what's happening.  So he growls a lot, poor little boy; I keep hoping he'll get used to it. 

Dora is no longer so much of a 'clockwork toy' now she's older and staider; though she did continue to run with her legs when I picked her up to evict her from my craft room the other day!  she still runs round her food bowl yipping like a puppy though.  She likes to climb on my lap when I'm sitting with mother entertaining her with puzzles, but if it's only crosswords we're doing not suduko, Dora gets bored and wanders off.  She loves to watch us do suduko for some reason...

Linnie's fur is growing back where he got so stressed over Leila, Leila really needs a home where she's the only cat so she doesn't try to bully all the others.   Linnie is a real comedian, though I could sometimes wish that 'for his next trick' didn't involve the sudden launch to land on my shoulders when I'm picking something up.  He loves his three-way tunnel!

And last, but definitely not least, Saffron has come on apace, she is so very friendly now, especially with Simon, but begs caresses, sleeps beside mother, and will stay on Simon's lap even with people going past, instead of fleeing to hide in the drawer.  Maybe it can go back to being a teatowel drawer now instead of having a few teatowels left in it after she kicked the rest out, just enough for comfort.  I hope so.  It would be very helpful not to have to keep them in with ordinary towels.

And at the end of the month they will be joined by Cecil, who is now as fluffy a lion as one could hope, though we'll be keeping an eye on those skin problems he has had.

And the GREAT news: we're getting a running wheel!  this is supposed to help cats de-stress, which should help Linnie, and I hope, Leila too.  And it's exercise now they are, regretfully, inside cats, because though we have a large house with corridors all over, it's still not as much exercise as they might hope for. 
This is the wheel we're getting:
http://onefastcat.com/