Back to cats

Now that I have finished all these French posts, I can go back to blogging about my daily life and more importantly, my cats!

I did not mention it earlier but whilst I was in France I got a sad SMS from my mother: "Patches died". This was the day after I messaged her to check on the cats and she had replied "all ok". So this message was a little unexpected.

Patches is one of our "street cats" i.e. he lives somewhere on the street and we feed him at night. He's been around awhile, and I suspect could have fathered one of the pirate kittens, Smee (they both have slightly shorter "munchkin"-like legs), prior to his being neutered. He tried coming to our house but Paddy chased him off and so he is fed on the pavement opposite our house.

One day my father (the chief feeder) said that he hadn't seen Patches around for a week. Now the thing about the street cats is that they come and go frequently - if they disappear, it is very difficult for us to find them. So we could only wait for Patches to reappear which he did, a day or two later, on our doorstep. His appearance was shocking - completely bedraggled, very thin, and could hardly walk. We put him in one of the cages, fed him (he was really hungry) and monitored him. The next day, we took him out of the cage so he could eat and walk around a bit. Then, despite his weak state, he staggered outside and refused to come back. As the days passed this pattern continued. He came regularly for food but left after he had eaten. He seemed to improve. The other cats did not like his appearance on our doorstep and avoided the house when he was around.

Whilst I was in France, these little journeys of his proved his undoing. It rained torrents one day and poor Patches was caught in it. He came back soaked to the skin. My parents dried him off, put him in a towel and tried to warm him up. But by the morning, he had passed away. Poor Patches. He was a spunky and independent cat, and when we got to know him better, an affectionate one. We will miss him.


It has generally not been a good time for our cats. Sootie has been urinating blood. It is a result of feeding him cheap cat food - what can we do when we feed 15 cats in total - but false economy now as the vet bills are racking up. At our first visit, we got some antibiotics for him. 3 weeks after our initial visit, the problem is still there. Brought him for a second vet visit and found he's now dehydrated. He needs to be infused with about 220ml of saline, for 3 days in a row. He refuses the healthy prescription diet supplied by the vet and so we need to decide whether to give him the food which he is used to, even tho' its not so good for him. As the picture shows, he is very well behaved at the vet - terrified, poor boy.

Mickey's got problems eating, and of course his worm problem hasn't gone away either. Another vet visit, but at least the inflamation in his mouth is going away and his appetite is back (in a big way). Mollie, on the other hand has been limping for a few days now. Whiteboy1 (another stray) had an abcess on his cheek, likely caused by a wound infected from a fight. Fortunately it has burst and we cleaned it and threw antiseptic powder on it.

And of course, Dinky has gotten fleas from somewhere! Sigh. It never rains but paws.