only good news

So much to my surprise absolutely everything went smoothly with getting to the vets and getting the injection and the claws clipped and so on. I did get there early, also to my surprise, and was therefore 'compelled' to park in a clearway (like, at 8:47 when the clearway ended at 9) but didn't even get punished for that. Nancy did not peep, let alone howl (as she has been prone to do in the past) at the indignity/horror of being stuck in a cage and more to the point she was, according to the vet (I wasn't allowed into the room) perfectly behaved. And she has had her claws clipped which is the best thing ever. 

Rumour has it she is slightly overweight and should reduce a little, but on the whole, consensus is that she is the perfect cat in basically every way imaginable. 

nancy's big day out

Helmi stands happily all over the laptop keyboard (she will go to bed in about five minutes, I'm guessing) while Nancy sleeps obliviously in the background. She has about two more minutes of ignorant bliss. 

This morning Nancy is going to the vet to have her annual injection and also, glory of glories, to get her claws trimmed. The first is necessary, the second is more than necessary. I would like to get Helmi's claws trimmed as well (she has a bad habit of clawing the furniture/door frames) but I'd need to learn how to use a dart gun first. 

Within the next ten minutes I am going to have to manipulate Nancy into the carrying cage, which is always a slightly delicate (read: vicious) manoeuvre requiring surprise and muscle. She is getting smarter in her middle age too, but luckily so am I. 

Since one day it will be remedied probably, in some fashion, I should just explain the previous post: in the new Blogger interface, the 'NEW POST' button becomes overlaid with the 'Posts' (i.e., previous posts) button, and while I don't know which one 'pressing' it actually selects, I do know it's not possible to want both at once. 

barry and charlie the soap opera

Charlie bit Barry's ear this morning and it was, in Mia's words, 'pissing out blood', so we had to take him to the emergency vet at Essendon Airport. He will need anaesthetic and a couple of stitches, estimated cost $500- $650.

When we got back from the vet's Charlie, who had been banished of course to the backyard, forced her way into the house and ran around panting, she also checked the shed and the back of the backyard.

It's my fault. I keep ascribing logical behaviour to her ('jealousy', 'regret'). I am sure she would tell this story quite differently.

(Later: all is serene, though the wound looks nasty but well-stitched. The problem is of course really that Barry gets all the attention and Charlie isn't as cute as she used to be. It'll be OK in the long run I'm sure).

millie at the vet again

No big deal, she's been limping a bit. No big cause, either, that the vet could find. She wasn't pleased to be on the table though. Anyway she got some anti-inflammatories and she'll go back if there's any more trouble. On her own, as far as I'm concerned.

The only odd thing was the vet - who had never met Millie before and who was a handsome young man in his mid-twenties - immediately said 'hasn't she got lovely big floppy ears!' I thought the first thing they did at vet school was kick the sook out of you with hob nail boots.