and today i have mostly been...

[Welly]

Our rescued cat 'Bandy' (called such as he was quite thin upon arrival and kinda has bandy legs) has picked up two large puss-filled boils? on his cheek/head since we've had him which healed up perfectly on their own to the point where we nearly took him to the quacks but things immediately improved, and fast. I don't know if cats are good at fixing themselves but it seems that way.

Now I've reminded myself of Mrs_Welly squeezing his head boil and the yellow puss and blood oozing into a tissue, and her 'sniffing' it. My missus is one that gets stuck-in when me and most others stand around feeling queasy

*throws rest of Egg Custard in the bin

[steve_earwig]

They don't seem to heal any quicker than I do really. Perhaps once all the crap's out the boils can then heal, cats are very clean animals (when they aren't they're in real trouble) so maybe that's all it needs. Teatime's due another visit this week so I'll ask Mirela if I remember.

[PhillipM]

I showed SWMBO that little grey one similar to ours, she wants it, can you post?

Here's our little silver/grey when she was a bit smaller:


She's the spitting image to yours now though a few years later, could have been twins bar a bit more defined stripes (probs due to being older)

[steve_earwig]

Awww, so cute! She even looks like she's sucking her thumb

The stripes do get more defined but not much, I'd have though K-milla will just have the tabby face and legs and her body will just be grey. Ah well, we have so many brown tabbies (Ming, Billy, George, M-J partially, even Fish when the sun's on him) it's nice to have some variety.

I made a discovery with Teatime yesterday, I'm still feeding him outside (he won't come near the house) and the food attracts wasps. So I took a fly swat out with me and he was absolutely terrified of it! What has someone done to him?

[steve_earwig]

...back to the vet's again Charlie, the little b&w male, has a few patches of fur missing, I'd put this down to rough and tumble with his sister or maybe a flea allergy so I de-flead them yesterday. Last night I was fiddling with the laptop on the dining room table and Charlie came over and started walking about on the keyboard. As I had my glasses on I got a better look at him and saw that he's a mass of bald patches and scaly skin. Oh dear, what now? So back to the vet's this morning he went. Mirela got some sort of fluoroscope out (green light, lens) and had a squint. Under this light his tail turned green, as did bits of the rest of him. He has some sort of fungal infection (ringworm?) And then she noticed a red patch on my wrist, which I'd put down to a mosquito bite because I have loads but no, I have it too. Thanks little fella! Mirela has an anti-fungal spray, which is no good for the kittens as they need bathing in something but it's ok for small patches... So, I was treated in the vet's. Again. Now I have to go to the chemist for some anti-fungal shampoo, for the three of us. Woo.

[highlander]

Awww, so cute! She even looks like she's sucking her thumb

We had a kitten that actually did that - he grew out of it as he matured.

My Mum's current cat, however - he likes sucking the strings on her dressing gown, whilst "kneading" her shoulder and being cradled like a baby... He doesn't do it as much these days, though (he is several years old).

Good luck on getting rid of your parasites.

[Welly]

Eww, sounds a bit of a nuisance Steve but I guess that's something picked up from outside/passing animal.

What do you use for flea treatments? we've been using tablets as the cats live outside they go all over the local area. One of them catches Rabbits and always gets fleas from them it seems (don't know if they're the same type of flea?).

[steve_earwig]

I dunno, I think it'll be the one that's not a human flea. Although fleas can go across species I don't think they do too well. Frontline, ampoule on the back of the neck, stat. It's meant to do fleas for 3 months and ticks for one. It's ok on kittens after 8 weeks. I did these yesterday, unfortunately I just washed it off again but I guess this is more important, given the state of the little guy. I also found a second tick on the female (can't get used to their names).

The stuff is called Oronazol and the application wasn't the war I was expecting.

You will need 3 towels. It's best to shtut the door to the bathroom to prevent your "victim" from escaping.

1. Run shower until warm-ish.
2. grab victim by scruff (I hate doing this to cats but they react by going limp, making them easier to handle) and hold under shower, avoiding their face.
3. squirt some of the aforementioned liquid of doom on their back, put some on your hands and work it in. You can follow them around the room, ostensibly fussing and tickling but working it into everything, ears, feet, legs, tail, naughty bits, everything apart from their face.
4. it will need to be on them for 3-5 minutes, so let them look around, try to hide, crap on one of the towels (thanks Charlie - that's why you need 3)
5. when time is up run the shower so it's warm-ish again, scruff them again and hold them under shower. Get all sides, rinse through as much as possible using one hand.
6. Place victim on one towel and rub dry with the other.

I did Charlie first as I thought Camilla would probably go mental, so I wanted to get some practice in but it was much easier than I expected. They actually started purring while I was drying them so it can't have been that distressing. The female, sorry, Camilla, is now sitting on my legs, washing herself and purring.

[steve_earwig]

...

[Doggy]

Never tried the two-wheel thing, but that looks fun.

[Welly]

Very nice pic

Can I have an 'at the Beach' pic next please? I've heard the Sea in Croatia is the best colour.

[DaiRees]

I always remember a colleague I used to work with at Bosch later became a test engineer for BMW. He sent me a photo one day of him riding a prototype BMW sports bike in the Bavarian Alps, captioned "Sometimes my job is so challenging". BARsteward!

[Welly]

Yeah what a horrid* job.

I saw a job advertised once where you drove the new model cars out on the street as it were; I thought it would be a nice job driving around and chilling out....until I saw the qual's that were needed Scientist alert!

[steve_earwig]

Of course, imagine how many people want that job, they must be able to take their pick.

Very nice pic

It's only just up the road from me so it just looks kind of normal really.

Can I have an 'at the Beach' pic next please? I've heard the Sea in Croatia is the best colour.

You just wanna look at all the topless totty Anyway, I ain't going to the seaside, it's boring and there're too many bluddy foreigners

Actually, there are too many foreigners in town here, just driving through on their way to the sea side (yawn) taking the scenic route/avoiding the toll roads and clogging up the high road. Plus stopping in the middle of the road to fiddle with their sat navs because of the bridge they're building near here and the diversions in place around it mean that their sat navs are telling them porkies.

[Welly]

You don't take the Dogs to the beach early? or is it too far? or would it be a giant game of 'find scooter'

If that's only round the corner from you we should run a competition on here like "the best view within 10 mins of where you live" although I think you've won.