and today i have mostly been...

[steve_earwig]

I know, I hear horror stories from my rels, paying over a grand and ending up nonetheless with a dead pet, awful.

[steve_earwig]

Meanwhile in the bat cave... T'other week those idiots in the firehouse threw a lump of carpet out...








Do you like my highchair? I used the electric radiator to test out the generator the other week, the stove in the corner is quite capable of heating the place to uncomfortable levels. Or, if I shut it down, it dribbles tar down the wall

I'm still finding places to put stuff but that's good enough for now. Currently I'm playing with primitive technology:

Amal 276 of 1950's vintage. It was weeing petrol all over the shop, another triumph of modern fuel

Have a part's diagram.

[Doggy]

Awesome man cave young man.
I is envious.

[steve_earwig]

Why thankyou sir! The carpet could have done with a clean, once it dried out it is a tad smelly, and, drunks being drunks, it's got a fair few fag burns and even some chewing gum but... I'm sure I can improve on that once I do some welding over it It's still a bit cluttered in there, I had some cabinets up at my house but I was never overly impressed with them and, seeing as how my wife took everything but the kitchen sink out the house, I thought it would be useful for the new owners to have them as he's a mechanic hoping to work from home (also the compressor but with the warning not to use it without having it tested). I can always buy new ones, right? A trip to the big DIY stores later and oh yes, I can still buy the same overpriced rubbish

Sad cat news warning: I suspect we're going to loose little Benjamin, he came with an eye infection which was treated (within an hour of them turning up) but then it turned into some sort of respiratory infection and yesterday he stopped eating. He's been to the vet's (Sunday evening!), antibiotics, vitamins in a syringe, but it's not looking good. Back this afternoon, if he lives that long I guess.

We're not having much luck with cats this year are we? If this is that blasted panleukopenia again I've got no idea where he picked it up, they've not been outside since they got here.

Meanwhile, William is fine and wants to know why Benjamin stopped playing.

[Welly]

I haz Bat Cave envy!

I'm lucky to have a modern double garage with a plastered ceiling and painted floor and certain bits of it are 'mine' but it's still not 'my space' with all house crap stowed in there etc it always seems to be the place to put stuff you've no idea what else to do with, the last tip run I did included some of said stuff

My problem is that I get all the tools out to do a job (like an oil change) and on completion I don't tidy it all away properly....next time I need something it takes an age to gather it all together again

Sorry to here of more Cat woes, one of ours had a worm hanging out of its arse on Saturday and I realised I'd failed to keep on top of treating him, I felt like sh*t

[steve_earwig]

I have the same problem with tools, especially if I'm busy, so I have to keep telling myelf the job's not properly done if the tools don't go back where they came from. Not that it happens all the time but I try. At them moment the Matchless is surrounded by spanners (Whitowrth, imperial and metric - whatever fits best) but I can get away with that 'cos I ain't finished

Thanks, he's still hanging in there and as he's not drinking I've been squirting chicken gravy into his gob along with the vitamins. He hates it but I have to try.

Worming an de-fleaing is expensive and always a struggle so our animals tend to get neglected too. The cats got wormed not too long ago but the dogs are long overdue. And I really need to pick up some Fypriyst while we're at the vets. I have a spreadsheet of weights so I'll print that out before we go.

[steve_earwig]

Stronghold for all yesterday, rather pricey (60 quid odd) but Mirela gave us a syringe with needles (which I have to return so they go in the right bin) with the instruction to buy 2 ampoules for big dogs and use the syringe to take 0.5ml from them for each cat (x8). Plus 2 big and 1 medium for the dogs of course.

The little guy's still circling the drain, I really didn't think he'd make it through the night but he's still here. I chicken souped him earlier, he screamed quite loudly - he's obviously in a hell of a lot of pain but still has some fight left in him. It's definitely panleukopenia, we asked Mirela for him to be PTS yesterday but she said we shouldn't give up hope. We're off to see her again in 10 minutes, let's see what she says now.

[Welly]

Urgh, that's not nice to see is it

[Doggy]

Feel for you bud. Hope he makes it.

[steve_earwig]

He was just too young, I'm afraid he died about 11. Mirela gave him more fluids and a painkiller, I said I couldn't see any point in letting him suffer so she said to leave him with her as she could keep a close eye on him and give him a painkiller OD if it became necessary. In the end he just stopped breathing.

He'll have to be cremated because of the virus, I got Mirela to leave his collar on so anyone who sees him knows that somebody cared.

And I just came home with his box to find Charlie vomiting. Charlie is almost 5 and fully vaccinated, so he should be resistant. Of course, I rushed him straight to the vet's, apart from the vomiting he's got no other signs - normal temperature, soft intestines, no diarrhoea that I can see, maybe it's something he's eaten? Maybe it's a reaction to the Stronghold, he was trying to lick it off yesterday. He got an anti-emetic and I've got some chicken on the go.

But, you know what I'm thinking.

[Doggy]

Sorry to hear about little Benjamin, must be awful for you.
Fingers crossed for Charlie.

[steve_earwig]

Thanks, Charlie's actually eaten something this evening - I defrosted some of my precious real bacon supply so I could take some up to him. He didn't eat it all and I had to poke it in his gob but it went down, followed by a little chicken and chicken gravy. It's not as much as I'd hope but it's better than nothing. I just went up to check, all ok, he drank a bit more chicken gravy and he seems pleased to see me now, rather than hiding under the bed.

Our washing machine's been going all day, all the bedding, towels, the clothes we've been wearing, seat covers, everything we can think of's gone through it 'cos we're trying to get rid of the virus. As well as all that all the litter trays have been bleached, as have all the food bowls, water bowls, transport boxes, floors, tables...

Paranoid? Probably.

Oh, and I have a splendid headache, I can't think why.

[Doggy]

By now I'd be worrying if I was paranoid enough.
No harm being thorough, trouble is it's so easy to overlook something - any of your neighbours have animals yours could mix with, or any wild animals about, for example?

[steve_earwig]

Thorough? I feel like I need to burn everything.

There are domestic cats all over the place, I doubt if any of them are vaccinated. Wild animals too, related species like martens that can also contract and spread the disease.

Charlie still isn't eating as much as I'd have hoped. He's been to the vet's this morning and Mateja there says he's fine, just keep feeding him the chicken, but I'm not letting him out of the cat room until I'm sure he's ok. I feel like a bit of a nazi, maybe he just won't eat 'cos he's in prison but at least in there I can control his intake and monitor his output.

[Doggy]

Sounds promising, hope he's over it soon.