Neutering Days

God I hate these days. I dropped little Perry off this morning. I was lucky to see Malan the vet, who is lovely and asked about Ross and Oliver. Perry was checked over and weighed .. bless him he's only 2.5kg .. compare that with his sparing partner Jamie at 6.7kg .. Ooops a bit of an unfair fight!
I'm so tense; I know it's a routine op and I know it has to be done, the risks of not doing it are too great but I hate these days. I hate leaving them there and I worry throughout the day. I know that there is only a small chance of it going wrong, but that small chance always escalates in your mind when it's one of your own. It's not just that I don't want him to be responsible for adding to the over population of cats, FIV (feline aids) is so prevalent in rural feral cats that I could never consider keep an entire cat unless they were confined within the home or a pen, and that is not what I want for my cats. This place is a cat heaven ... I want them to live life to the full and enjoy everything rural Snowdonia has on offer for them.
Now it's the waiting game ... Hopefully I'll be updating when he's home and shouting for food!

Do They Look Alike?

Junior and Choo

Jamie

I can't see that they do myself. Facially they are all very different, but Choo and Jamie have similar blotched tabby markings. Junior's colour and markings are very different with fine lines and spots through a lighter back ground. Both Choo and Junior are tall and much more athletic looking than Jamie but with such different body markings they really do not resemble each other. Jamie is .. how can I say it? Stockier is possibly a nice word? 

Jamie and Junior sat outside. You can compare Jamie's large blotch tabby markings and Juniors thin stripes and spots from these two photos. Junior is a mackerel tabby with a few spots thrown in for good measure I guess. A mackerel tabby cat has narrow stripes that run in parallel lines down their sides. The Classic Tabby, (Jamie and Choo) also known as "Blotched" or "Marbled" tabby tends to have a pattern of dark browns, ochres and black but also occurs in grey.

Isla is also a tabby.  A smoke tabby - but some would call her a black smoke, others would say black smoke tabby .. that safeguards you on all grounds I guess! You can see the tabby marking on her in some lights, especially on her posh tail! 

And Perry - Honestly, I've no idea? Grey tabby and white, Blue Tabby and white? Someone must know! 

Interesting article about Smokes here ..

Black Smoke Tabby

The Boys

Oilver and Choo  -  Jamie 

 Junior, Choo, Perry

Choo and Junior

Naughty But Funny

It's funny you post something on Facebook because you love it, hate it or find it amusing. But because you do it doesn't mean other will find it so does it. Kaiah was so funny again on today's walks. This hiding game of hers can be so irritating at times, but to be honest mostly it's just funny. I posted these two photos as a separate post on Facebook, they really amused me and I thought others would find them funny too, maybe not then? Maybe you have to know her to "get it?" Maybe Facebook folk just appreciate beautiful photos of photogenic dogs posing in lovely countryside eh?

 The boys have seen her, but can you?

Zooming in - Little cow! 

*****

This today reminded me of the last time I was at Cwm Dulyn. Kaiah went flying over the style that's over the wall like a squirrel .. as she would. Ross ran to the top of the style but stopped, seeing as he's clumsy I thought I'd give him time to go down, but he stood there. Loki lost his patience and ran up the style, but fell backwards as Ross was blocking the top, Loki tried again but when he got to the top he stopped too. Neither would move and I was stuck the other side. I decided to push up and see what the delay was, I could just get far enough to see Kaiah laying on the other side daring them to come down. Anyone who knows her will know exactly the expression I'm talking about. That naughty devilish twinkle in her dark eye can stop two 40 kg males in their tracks. I had to push Loki over .. what else could I do? We'd have been stuck there all week otherwise, and no way could I push Ross off because he'd have probably landed on his head or broken something! 

Morning Out Walking

Jamie Day

I never forget the date - well Facebook doesn't let me forget now anyway. If you can have a dog in a life time then why not a cat .. this would be my cat in a life time. Such a character!

Three Had Two Walks

... but Sshhh .. don't tell the others!

 Nico and Jezi

 Asha, Ziva, Loki, Sammi

Second walk for Kaiah, Loki, Ross

Vets And Gyrn Goch

 This morning I had to take Ross and Oliver to the vets. Ross still has a sore rash around his bottom, and nothing we were doing seemed to clear it. Just as we thought it was clearing it would return. I was certain that there was nothing untoward going on with his bottom but with this rash not clearing I was getting concerned. Anyway as we thought, there is nothing to worry about and his anal glands are fine, it's just a sweat rash. As it's not clearing and sore he's been given antibiotics to shift it and we've been told to continue washing and careful drying him with Hibi Scrub. Funny isn't it, I don't have a problem washing my dogs bottom ... just don't ask me to do yours!!!!!!!

Oliver seems to have damaged his tail. On Saturday morning his tail was hanging limply and he was walking strangely, a bit like John Wayne! He did seem to have a bit of discomfort around the base of his tail but he was eating normally so I felt it was not a Saturday morning emergency vet visit. Though I felt today that Oliver was better I didn't want to leave it unchecked, he's an old man now and extra care is needed. The vet concluded that there was pain and a click at the base of the tail and that the tip of his tail was numb. There was no obvious spinal arthritis and the reflex in the rest of his tail where OK. She has given Oliver some anti-inflammatorys but at a low dose as he's elderly and kidney problems are so common in old cats and these medications are known to cause reactions in kidneys in some animals. I discussed Oliver's weight with her, she agreed he was a little thin but reassured me that for an old cat he was looking OK and told me there was really no cause for concern. Anyway hopefully there is an improvement in the week or I'll have to take him for Xray's.
On the way home we stopped at Gyrn Goch. Ir was so lovely there. Made me think of rain forest. Kaiah went looking for Dingo Dollars so she could find Kev's Kiosk, Ross on the other hand was happy with his stick! I know he shouldn't be doing it, but what can I do? I've no idea, except move before he knocks me over with it!

The Winter Break Begins

Yesterday was our last show of the year. No breed classes so a NSC class for Loki only. Maybe I'm wrong to be disappointed, but only with the result and not the performance of my dog who as ever in my opinion owned the ring. Third out of any entry of eight, ah well ... best we don't always win or we may become complacent! Now a couple of month break from the show ring for us all, we'll all miss it I think, the dogs love to go as much as I do!

Loki Update

I'm almost scared to jinx things by putting it in print .. it's now 2 weeks since Loki had diarrhea. Touch wood things are on the up for him now. I appreciate he won't put weight on whilst he's coating but he certainly has not lost any more. For the time being I'll continue giving him live yogurt and tree barks powder in every meal .. maybe if things are still going well in another 2 weeks I'll reduce it to once a day.
Providing all is well and good it'll be our last show of the year tomorrow ....