I have no Internet. I feel as if someone has deprived me of food! Typing a blog post on a iPhone is way too slow. Not quite as slow as the telephone company is about fixing my access. What makes typing this post even more painful is that Licorice is wailing. She’s been put in the bathroom for the night with sister Saffron, who has cystitis again. Saff is the sick one. Does she complain? No. But licorice thinks howling like a banshee is going to get her out of there.
If anyone has any tips re managing cat cystitis please let me know. I’ve tried feliway, rescue remedy, zylkene, switch to wet food and trying to maintain a routine. Of these the feliway and wet food seem to have some impact but she is still having recurrences when I have to give her anti-inflammatories.
Anyway, my one fingered typing is getting worse and worse. Attached – I hope – is a picture of a mad hatters hat made from fabric pieces.
I had someone ask me today whether this was a example of crazy patchwork. My dressmaking teacher replied: ‘no, it’s patchwork by a crazy woman.’
I awoke this morning to text message from Andrew – ‘I’ve made a video of Gesso!’
The link is below. Unfortunately the words at the front are too quick to read, so here they are:
“One year ago… on a day just like today… I went shopping with my girlfriend… Neither of us were to know that our lives would never be the same… we came home with a deaf white kitten… and although it was cute… we didn’t know that it was absolutely mental… but we love it dearly… especially that crazy fluffy tail… we have nicknamed it… the arctic squirrel. Here is some footage. I hope you like it.”
There is a guest appearance by Pickle, the ginger ninja.
Postscript: The stickler in me wants to clarify we did go shopping for a cat – it wasn’t some spur of the moment adoption. I take my cat responsibilities very seriously!
Purchase cat toy with excitement, take cat toy home, and watch cat look at it with disdain. Not with “Da Bird”. I read many reviews saying Da Bird was the ultimate cat teaser toy. It looks like many others – a rod, string and attachment on the end. The one difference I knew pre-purchase was that you can replacement ‘feathers’ without needing to buy a whole new rod.
Well, Da Bird arrived at mum’s house (the place for all parcels when one lives in a unit). I gave it a test drive on my brother’s cats who have been staying there for the last month, while he travels the states. Willow, the 8 year old burmese (pictured) gave it the thumbs up, as did ‘brother’ Tilba the Devon Rex.
Even at about 8 years of age, Willow took to this toy with the vigour of a kitten. Once he’d caught the ‘prey’, he got a little cranky when Tilba came a little close.
Successfully road tested, I packed it up and headed over to Andrew’s. While this was a present for Saffron and Licorice, I couldn’t wait to see what the ginger ninja would do with it.
Pickle did not disappoint.
He leapt, twisted and grabbed for it. When I did pack it away, he was quite annoyed at me.
Finally I brought it home to Licorice and Saffron. At ages 10 and 7 respectively, I wasn’t sure what to expect. (Although Willow is a similar age and he’d gone nuts over it). Saffron had more activity than I think I’ve seen since I got her. She was doing somersaults trying to catch this thing! Licorice tried. She didn’t quite leap. Ok, she didn’t leave the ground. But she did energetically bat at it when it was close enough… which for a 10 year old, 8 kilo cat isn’t bad!
The wheelchair may freak the cat out, they said. They may run from the wheelchair. It may be big and scary.
To that, codswallop say I!
—
Gesso is doing his usual and running away from me again. I go to pat him, approaching slowly and so he can see me coming. He runs away.
‘Hop in the wheelchair’ says Andrew.
I jump in. Gesso stops and looks.
Andrew prompts: ‘Give him the signal’.
I move the fingers on my hand like a quacking duck. (Andrew has been trying to teach Gesso that this signal means come. Teaching a deaf cat – good luck with that. A regular cat is bad enough at coming when called!)
To my surprise, this bundle of white fluff, runs back towards me. I pat his head. He is no longer terrified.
—
So it would seem that Andrew’s theory is right. Far from being scared of the wheelchair, as some feared he would be, he is afraid of bipeds! How strange I must seem – this tall creature that moves quickly through the house.
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It’s been a tough couple of weeks catwise, what with losing chilli and now, since Tuesday, Saffron having acute cystitis. She’s been to the vet – TWICE – and is going back tomorrow. Third time lucky? She has improved ever so slightly (meaning less blood; still frequent – small – urination).
The upshot of all this is Saffron has been confined to the bathroom for the past few days. I’m sure that this freaks her out a little more, however, she is wee-ing (or at least attempting it) so frequently that I can’t trust her outside the bathroom.
Licorice is highly unimpressed as she too, has been calling the bathroom home for the past 4 days. (The girls don’t like separation and I have few other places to put a litter tray should I lock Licorice out of the bathroom). So I am left with one cat who squats frequently and one who is just plain grouchy. She lets me know of her displeasure at every possibly opportunity.
So it would seem there is one member of my furry flock left; is he grumble-free? Well, bipeds are most certainly ok with Pickle. As far as I know, his bathroom business is all in tact and he has the run of the house. So all in all, I think the ginger ninja is a happy camper. Here’s a photo I captured of him earlier this evening.
Today it was time to say goodbye to Chilli who has been in our family for almost 13 years.
She’s had a number of health problems over the past few months and this morning at about 7am she took a turn for the worse and we knew it was time.
Typical chilli – whenever she had a bad turn it was rarely during business hours. Mum and I sat with her waiting until it was near 10 when the vet opened.
With so much trouble breathing, the kindest thing to do was to put her to sleep. She drifted away very peacefully.
We took her home and put her near the rose mum and dad just planted for their 40th wedding anniversary.
Chilli loved to have conversations with mum, dad and I. She was a great talker, good at rolling and having a little tummy rub and watching the world cautiously from a distance. She will be missed.
It seems hard to predict which toys Gesso will enjoy. His deafness seems to mean that some items are of no interest to him. I’m not sure whether it’s because once they move out of sight a rod and stick toy loses it’s interest as he can’t hear it. Strangely, the red dots from the laser can also disappear but Gesso keeps looking for them.
Andrew shot this piece of footage of his antics.
If the embedded link above is not working please go to the youtube link.
PS: If anyone in Sydney is looking for one of these laser toys – it changes shape at random – I got it from Cat Protection Society in Enmore.
Can you imagine watching the person you love lose their ability to be independent?
I know some of you absolutely know what this is like.
After working in the disability sector for a while I know that much is done to show what people with disabilities can do. Slogans such as ‘don’t ‘dis’ my ability’ being a perfect example. People I know who have a disability often inspire me with their resilence, persistence and ingenuity.
Yet, some days there’s no pretty side. It’s just bloody hard.
Regular readers of my blog will know I’ve been dating Andrew for a couple of years now. Over the last couple of years I’ve watched as Andrew’s muscles have further wasted away. Things he could do two years ago, he absolutely can’t today. I remember about 18 months ago, Andrew and I attempted to ‘slow dance’. Looking back on it, how ridiculous were we? A guy who couldn’t walk unaided, cannot lift his feet properly, trying to slow dance. Andrew got himself to vertical. He held on to a table with one arm and to me with the other. We had the music on – candles too – but we didn’t actually move!
While slow dancing is clearly history, I’m not ready to let go of Andrew leaving the house independently just yet.
It’s hard to describe what Andrew goes through to get in and out of the car, so we took a video. Lately, it’s been getting harder and harder. Some days, Andrew just physically does not have the muscle strength to lift the wheelchair into the car. So he stays home. 40 is too young to be confined to the house!
The hardest thing is there are options out there, he just can’t afford them.
We’ve tried approaching charities for help with vehicle modifications. It’s been tough. I can understand why there are such high frustrations in the community of people living with disability. I got sick of being asked – ‘is it for your son?’
No. It’s my boyfriend.
‘Oh, we only help children.’
Or worse:
‘yes, we can help, but we have a 2 year waiting list.’
So, we are trying to raise the money ourselves. I’ve never attempted to raise money for anything before. While I have always worked for charities which rely on donations to keep going, I’ve never been the one calling charities asking for help.
We first looked at the Abiloader, which was going to cost at least $15,000. Now we have found a plan B, which is $8,500.
Please, watch the video and if you are moved by it, please help by making a donation and/or sharing it among your friends.
Andrew’s email address if thenihilistfish@gmail.com if you want to contact him or just ask him anything. If you subscribe to his blog (or if you’re already on mine!) we will keep you updated.
