Snow Fall

Well, all that snow we had at the end of February into March was rather a novelty and while the kids played happily outside, inside, for there two pampurred girls the icy weather called for warm fleeces to be pulled out and for the heating turned up a notch or two.

Thankfully Noodle still fitted into her fleecy tops but Prune not having one of her own had to borrow one.  Owing to it being slightly large this meant that as she walked forwards her back legs would step onto the hem of the Tshirt causing her to trip and fall.  A nappy pin soon sorted that holding the shirt closer to her tummy. It wasn't long before the Naked Sphynx girls toasty. Once dressed they didn't move far away from their beloved heat mat or snuggle bags.

Prune is being selfish and hogging all of the heat pad.
Only enough room for Noodle to have her bottom warmed!

That's better. Now they are sharing the space!

Spring is in the air

Sunny days mean warm spots appear & as ever Noodle & Prune make the most of them. They look so happy in these brightly lit spots, stretched out & relaxed as the warm rays generate extra heat on their skin.

Prune is growing fast & has a robust appetite, always the first to show up when I am in the kitchen at meal times. Hearing the familiar sounds of her bowls, she appears standing with her tail raised expectantly. Noodle arrives more stealthlike -appearing like a ghost I find her in my peripheral vision sitting at the end of the worktop - unless she is really hungry in which case she is nose into the food tub before I have had the chance to even dish it out!

Prune is a purr box, demanding of my attention, she will alternate play with an insistence that I stop typing immediately & cuddle - just as she is doing now. She has absolutely no respect for a keyboard & will walk all over it typing such gobbledegook. She is larger, more heavily boned than Noodle is & will grow to be bigger than Noodle is by the end of her first year.

Noodle is having a hard time still. She has been unwell on & off for some weeks despite my love & care. My bank balance has taken a real bashing with vets bills for her welfare. She was in a poor condition, of course, having & her pregnancy & raising her kitten but went downhill rapidly in the new year which was perhaps caused by the shock of my bringing in Prune so soon after she had weathered the inning and outing of people over Christmas and them all wanting to see her baby.  Yes, it's true that it only took 4 days for her to go from vicious sounding asp to mothering Prune by allowing her to suckle on her teats & to cuddle up with her & her kitten but it must have been a real period of upheaval for her.

Bring in Pru when I did was intended to help her to accept the loss of her kitten who I had sold & who would soon be gone. It worked in that she accepted Pru as being her kitten too & not yearning for her kitten when she had gone, but at what cost to her health?

She got an infection that took 2 weeks to sort out, with anti-inflammatory medicines, antibiotic injections and tablets. Having got better from that & back to more normal, she then began to be sick after eating. Another new period of vets visits with medicine this time to calm her tummy.

Happily, her weight is almost back to where it was pre-pregnancy so she is regaining her condition and now she is back to eating well.

Raw feeding is also going well & so I have purchased a meat and bone grinder so that I can make up my own foods in batches & freeze them down. This is going to be my next project - once I have sourced good fresh meat & the supplements that will be needed! I will let you know soon how that goes!

Just a patch of sunlight!

The girls have been settling in together - Prune has been here for 26 days now. They look so cute here in matching T-shirts.

Poor Noodle, having sold her kitten, I then brought in another, and so her teats were still in demand. Not that there is any milk, but as a comfort aid. And, though she has been patient, she doesn't like it! Putting a T-shirt on was a way to provide her with some peace and once her teats are left alone, they will not be subjected to sharp teeth during overzealous stealth comfort suckling.

Poor Noodle - she has had a rough time. She got a problem just before giving birth which resulted in some nasty skin issues, then she had to have a cesarean, followed by learning to be a mother and bringing up a kitten. She was worn out and got run down. Then we had Christmas and she was so patient as lots of people wanted to see and hold her baby, then doing her a favour, I brought Prune in to the house a few days before her own kitten was due to leave hoping that, since she had a kitten, she would maybe accept Prune as hers too, and that also having Prune here would ease her grief when hr own kitten left. She was very very angry at first and mistrustful of this new kitten but within 4 days, Prune was suckling her and cuddling up with them both.

On top of this, I also changed her feed regimen from a dry commercial kibble free fed diet to a frozen minced BARF diet.

One day, just around the time her kitten was to go, she came into heat for the 4th time since giving birth. She meowed frantically. And then her meow broke. I thought it was that she had meowed herself hoarse, but it didn't resolve despite the vet listening and checking, and administering a long-acting antibiotic injection and prescribing a course of anti-inflammatory meds. Noodle's throat remained sore and with a lively kitten wanting attention from her she got more and more depressed.

Role on another week, and following a general anaesthetic, x rays, swabs sent to a lab and more antibiotics, this time as twice a day tablets, more anti-inflammatories and I have almost got my old cat back. Her meow is not quite what it was before.. but it is being used, she trills with pleasure as she and Prune run around and play and she asks for food and is even now strong enough to complain about taking tablets.

I am poorer financially by a long long way but my much adored cat is better. She is going to be given a nice long holiday now without being mated (no matter how often she asks) and time and food to regain all her weight, vitality and strength.