Sitting on a Cornflake

Well, I finally got the sample from Louis.. but not in the way I was supposed to. I’d blocked off his usual litter tray this morning, but instead of using the empty one, waiting patiently for his sample, the *** pee’d on my bag.. another Christmas present! I grabbed the pipette the vet gave me, and sucked it up - it’s not ideal, but it’s the best they’re gonna get!

The good news was that although dark, there was no blood visible.. and at least we can make sure he doesn’t have these crystal thingies.. I really don’t want him on special (ie expensive!) food. (Would be very tough with two cats, as well.)

He’s still in and out of that tray alot, and washing ‘down there’ quite a lot too, but generally seems ok. I’m just keeping a close eye on him.

Sometimes I thinks pets are worse than children!

PS - Just seem a smear of red wee on the floor.. poor little guy!

So, off we toddled today, to take Louis to the vets. She’s hoping that it’s just an infection, but saying that, he didn’t have a temperature at all. (You should have seen that cats face when she stuck a thermometer up his bottom!). He has antibiotics tablets for 10 days, and she gave him a painkiller injection, because I said he was miowing in the night.

(PS Louis is thankfully quite good at tablets, but we will have to sit with him whilst it dissolves in his mouth. Last time, we thought he was so good, but he just disdainfully spat it out as we put him down!  Hannah, however, is a different story.. this rings very true with her!)

However, there is a still a possibility that there are crystals causing the problem, so they must have a urine sample to check.. even if he seems better. His bladder was empty, which unfortunately meant they couldn’t do anything there and then, but on the positive side, did mean that he’s not blocked at all. That means that we now have to get a sample..

She’s given us a bag of non absorbant litter stuff, plus a pipette - the idea being that Louis has a wee on these things, in his litter tray, and we can simply suck it up. Okay… So, how do I stop Hannah from weeing on it instead? Hmm…

I ended up buying a new litter tray (as it’s probably time we changed it anyway), and I’ve put the new things in there. I’m now watching his every move, to see if he goes. However, I also have to watch for Hannah coming down (she’s curled up on a bed upstairs, like any self respecting cat should be!), to make sure she doesn’t go in there! When I can’t be watching, I’ll have to remove the new tray.

Sigh…

If I’m not successful, I’ll have to leave him at the vets for a day, so they can try. And I would imagine that will be quite expensive! So wish me luck!

Vet’s bill - £50
New litter tray (with filetrs and lid) - £20 (!)
Cat’s face with a thermometer up his bottom - Priceless!

Was not good! It started at 7am this morning, with a phone call from hubby’s mum. Glen was due to go over there anyway, to take his dad for a hospital appointment (he’s recently found out he has bowel cancer), but his mum was worried because he was feeling very dizzy and unwell. So, off Glen went, to see what was going on.

I then picked my glasses case (christmas pressie from the girls) off the floor, to find that there was cat wee on it, complete with blood! Last night Louis had squatted on our bathroom mat (unlike him), and his wee had seemed dark. So there I was, not sure if I should call a vet, or he was safe to leave for the day.. cancelling work over a cat would NOT have gone down well.

So, I left him here, got to work, and had a quick check on the internet.. only to find out that it could be crystals causing it, which could block his little urethra, and cause a medical emergency! I booked him in with the vet for tomorrow, telling myself that Glen could check him out later.

Half way through the day, hubby phoned with the latest update.. his dad is facing 5 weeks of radiotherapy (plus a chemo tablet daily), before surgery, and a permanent stoma bag afterwards. This was apparently something his dad had not even considered.

Then, just as I was about to start seeing my afternoon patients, an elderly gentleman was brought in, who’d fallen outside. He had hit his head and his nose, and we were keen to get him to hospital, because it was bleeding quite badly. His son in law turned up, to take him, but he was insistent on attending the chiropody appointment he was there for first! The trouble is, in our borough you wait forever to get an appointment, and this guy was not giving it up! So, we advised his son in law that he needed to have his head seen to pretty soon, and off they went… leaving me to apologise to my patients who were still waiting for me!

When I finally got home, Beth took me to the lounge, to show me something that she was scared of showing her dad… Amy had drawn all over two sofa cushions, with biro! Amy then proceeded to get rather upset when I told her she was going to bed directly after dinner!

After dinner, I went to run her bath, and quickly call my mum, and we were treated to Amy sobbing that she was still hungry, and NO, she wasn’t tired (listening to our conversation)!

The cat then proceeded to squat on the clean bathroom mat, presenting us with a little pool of red urine!

Argh!

To top it all, Beth went up to bed with a headache, then came back down to ask for calpol. She doesn’t often take anything, so it must have been getting bad. The poor thing is worried about her granddad, dreading her dentist appt to have some teeth out (overcrowding), and now worried about her beloved Louis! She has her birthday party on Sunday, so hopefully that will take her mind off things for a while.

So, I’m taking 5 mins to sit and write this, then I’m off to bed. Tomorrow is another day.. probably complete with a large vet bill! Do I really have to get up??!

Since running my book forum, I have had the pleasure of getting to know various writers and authors.. and through them, discovering new ones. Some of these authors have only published ebooks, or the paper book is only available in the US.

Considering that I spend so much time in front of my monitor, reading too many docs or pdfs on here isn’t something that I’m keen on.. but I don’t want to miss out on these authors.

Yesterday I downloaded Mobipocket Reader (free!), and it has made a big difference! The layout is more like reading a book, but the real joy is that you have so much control.. you can change the font family, font size, and even colour. You can set it to one page, or 2 or 3 columns. Basically, whatever you (and your eyes) feel more comfortable with.

Some books are available in a ‘mobipocket’ format, but it also downloads and converts all other formats.. so I’ve now added a couple of pdfs on there.

Of course, I have this on my laptop, but apparently it can also be used on most mobile devices.. and files can be easily be transferred.

I think a whole new world has opened up to me!

PS What was the final push to try this? Well, I was following some blog links, and I came across this site.. Imogen Howsen. Her site grabbed my attention, as did her books. They were only available online, and I was keen to take a look. So far, I’m very glad I did.. stay tuned to find out more!

I have a cold - thankfully not a ‘heavy’ one, but enough to be annoying. Yesterday I admit to having a rather lazy day.. we watched 2 episodes of Life on Mars, I read, I played on the computer, and I generally snuggled up in my chair!

Today I’m hoping for the same.. except I have to put some washing in, get the girls sorted for nursery/school, myself ready for work, vacuum (Beth somehow managed to get pencil shavings everywhere last night!) do the ironing, etc!

I’m really hoping this is gone by tomorrow.. if I don’t feel well, it’ll be a looong day!

And it’s such a lovely one too.. I still have a smile on my face!

So what is it? Sorry, not telling… ;op

I think it’s clear form here that I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with social networking sites.

I do enjoy playing about with them when I first join, then I start to get annoyed over various things (flashing graphics, anyone?! lol).

I like linking up with people I know, re-discovering old friends, and even sometimes making new ones.. then I get annoyed because strange people want to be my ‘friend’, and I have no idea who they are!

And so on..

But, the main problem with them is that I simply get bored of them. I used to leave comments for friends, but now I find it easier to send emails - I’m writing to them because I have something I want to say to them, not because I want to get involved in a ‘popularity contest’. Etc..

It seems as if others feel the same, according to this article.

So how about you, are you still caught up in the ‘craze’, are you feeling the boredom, or did you stay well clear in the first place?

Yesterday Jen mentioned this blog as one of the ones she visited every day. At first I was pleased that to find out I was mentioned, but then I was embarrassed to think that this poor girl gives up time every day to visit, and yet I don’t post that often!

Today I’m going to blatantly steal her idea, and my post will be about other blogs that I regularly read. I’m then going back to Jen’s post, to check out the ones she mentions. Ok..

Steps of a Dancewriter - The home of my wonderful friend, Katherine. As I’ve posted before, although her books aren’t my usual ‘thing’, I love reading them, because she has such a lovely style. As a bonus, she’s lovely too!

Cinthia’s Spinnings - The place where my ‘girly girl’ friend hangs out! As a writer, her posts are always well written, and interesting to read.

The Redneck Romance Writer - Jen’s blog, as mentioned earlier. Considering the amount of time she spends both reading and writing blogs, I’m amazed she has time left to write all those books of hers!

Life Gets in the Way - Kell is a co-admin on my forum, and seems to read constantly! Her blog posts are always a joy to read too.

Somewhere In The Distance - A new (and very welcome) friend in my life, Nici and I seem to enjoy the same books.. which will be good when it comes to borrowing!

This Closet Isn’t Big Enough - Some interesting thoughts on this one, even if I don’t understand American politics!

Raven’s World - I have to keep an eye on this one, for news of my favourite vampire series!

BCF - The Reviews - A great place for book reviews!!

If I’ve left you out, and you know I visit, tell me off, and I’ll add you! LOL