As I Xi It v2.3

Following my post about lack of posts, I thought I’d give an update on Cici. He went to the vets on Tuesday (whined all the way there) and was pretty much given the all clear. That cost me £30.64. He’s just finished his course of antibiotics and the abscess is gone, all that’s left is for the missing hair to grow back. He walked into the cat carrier himself once he had been examined.

Cici chills in the garden

Yawwwnnnn...

Hmn… I forsee hairy hoodies.

What every wardrobe needs

Cici takes a look at the vet bill.

It was how much!?

Thank god I ain't paying that

So, I took Cici to the vets this afternoon. He didn’t protest much when I popped him into his cat carrier but started whining once I’d locked him in. There was more whining as I drove him to the surgery but he seemed pretty calm and just sat there. He was very well behaved while we were sitting in the waiting room, there was another cat waiting too and s/he let off a little high-pitched meow every so often while Cici just sat there.

He needed quite a bit of encouragement to get him out of his carrier, in fact, he had to be tipped out onto the table. He was very still and compliant to everything the vet had to do and didn’t moan much except from when he had the scab picked off his abscess. Yup, it turned out that he had an abscess, probably from the claw of another cat while fighting. He had two jabs which he didn’t seem to mind and had his temperature taken (you know, that way). I also enquired about his weight and he’s only slightly overweight at 5.8 kg when really he should be at 5.25 kg.

Cici has another appointment on Tuesday to see how things are, hopefully by then it would’ve drained out. So between now and then, I’ve got to keep his abscess open so it’ll drain, give him his antibiotics (in pill form, lord help me) and painkillers (liquid, much easier). Given that it usually takes me about an hour to give him just one Drontal tablet, giving him two pills a day is going to be both a mammoth and traumatic task for he and I.

Waiting at the vets

Cici rolled in yesterday evening with a cut on his lip and was kinda grumpy all night. Started whining when he scratched it. When he popped in for lunch this afternoon, it wasn’t looking good and kinda ikky and oozey. Off to the vets he goes. I bet he’s thrilled.

Yeah, I'm well 'ard

Wounded

Cici’s friend has invited herself into the house for lunch again. She’s too well maintained to be a stray and must belong to someone. I wonder if Cici’s been eating her food and this is her way of retaliating.

A couple of weeks ago, she popped up to my room and then darted out when she saw I’d spotted her.

It must be quite nice being a cat, sunbathing and not getting sunburnt, unless you’re one of those odd looking hairless varieties.

Zzz...

Excuse me, but can't you see I'm trying to sleep here?

There was a feline intruder in the garden this evening. Haven’t seen this one before, but judging by his general unkemptness, I’d say that it is without a fixed abode. Cici wasn’t exactly thrilled to have him in the garden.

He's not from round here

Guardcat

Hiding behind the garden furniture

Anti-gravity cat

Stray cat

Cici took down a juvi magpie yesterday, seemingly oblivious to the parent magpies yelling at him, it suffered some scratches, a damaged wing, possibly a broken leg or torn tendon and lost a few feathers. Instead of leaving Cici to dispatch it, I decided to shoo him away and the bird’s now recouperating in shed.

I estimate it’s 4-8 weeks old, had some difficulty feeding it yesterday but today it seems to be eating alright, in fact, it chowed down nearly the entire bowl of water soaked catfood over the last couple of days.

I’m doubtful it’ll make a full recovery and be able to fly, it’s fairly immobile, might have to take it to a wildlife rehab centre, but it seems happy enough in its box.

Hello, I'm new here.

It wasn't me.

My big 200+ litres tank was devoid of fish and choc full of algae. It’d been neglected for so long that the water level dropped by some 10cm. I spent last week tearing it down, taking everything out including the gravel, cleaned out the filter and basically gave everything a much needed scrub.

A trip down to the fish shop and a few rocks later, it’s been transformed into this -

Awaiting some Lake Malawi cichlids

Granite boulders, cobbles and driftwood

Left side view

Cici's watering hole