Ed just came back from the vet. He walked through the door with a mean look on his face. His tail is twitching and he’s looking for someone to beat up. It’s a sunny day so we’ll soon see him in the garden stalking birds. Fortunately, he’s not as fast as he used to be and catches very few. He and Rose are still good mousers, though, and keep the space around the house pretty clean. Some years are bad mouse years and this is where all the fussing and feeding of cats is worth it. The only mice that get in the house are ones the cats bring in live, drop them on the floor and, after playing with them a while, perhaps look away for a minute and forget all about them. Then we have a scared live mouse hiding under the chesterfield.
Actually one of these ‘immigrants’ discovered the bird food and managed to survive for quite a while. The bird food is in one of those plastic storage things with the sealing top and the mouse fell right in. When feeding the birds, we just dip a cup into the seeds and spread it on the feeder. The mouse, although his horizons were somewhat limited, was in heaven and was only discovered when it was time to get new seed. We released him to the great outdoors and I can only imagine how this chubby little rodent survived when he was forced to find his own food.
Kathi is taking Ed to the Vet this morning. He’s always had a small growth in his ear and occasionally this is ‘earatating’. Apparently this is a common cat complaint and there isn’t much that can be done about it except cleaning regularly. You can’t trust the cat to clean his own ear; when he discovers that his tongue is not long enough he tends to use his paw and the claws soon make a mess. Infection sets in and you have a very sad cat on your hands. Ed has been very good with this ritual and will sit quietly while Kathi probes his ear with swabs. He knows now that his ear will feel better after she’s finished and despite the sad sack look on his face he hops down with renewed vigour. He won’t take this from just anybody; he did bite one young vet and when he clamps down on your arm you know he means business. As he gets older he seems to realize that, although he hates the visit to the doctor, it will soon be over and all he has to so is be patient and he can go home a new cat.
Both cats are showing their age and as winter approaches they tend to spend more time indoors sleeping. For the last couple of years Rose has had trouble keeping her food down. When she was young she would eat anything and everything on her or Ed’s plate. When people picked her up they would remark on how er…chubby she was and Kathi would insist that it was her thick fur that created the illusion. Now, she still eats as much but can’t keep it all down so she is slim and trim and happy
