Treading water, and a surprise out of the blue

I walked to Edgware, meeting Myk briefly, and a friend I had not seen since we did our 'alternative' classes together. Mason's cough is bad again, so we have made an appointment for him to see the doctor.

I did some gardening, and re potted the parsley , and saw a rather moth eaten fox twice in the garden next door ,before trying to catch up on phone calls and emails. Romy invited us to go on holiday with her, Toby, Joan and Dick!

I took Mason's temperature which was 106 which gave me a terrible shock, luckily I had another thermometer and was relieved that his temperature was almost normal. I drove him off to the doctor and he was given antibiotics and antibiotic eye drops for his eye infection.

Today Mason's eyes are much better, but his cough is still troublesome. I did some painting; the Deaths Head Moth for Peter, while Mas was trying to take things a bit easy.

Another visit to the vet

Yesterday I put some Frontline spot on onto the cat as it is now time to do him again. It got very cold in the evening, and Salty spent quite a bit on the night indoors.

Today I noticed that the cat seemed to have lost fur on his lower stomach, and that the skin was very red, so we made an appointment to take him in to the vet early in the evening. I had ordered some cat food and some of the usual Frontline spot on earlier in the week, and that arrived today. I walked down to the library as the weather was bright before taking Salty to the vet.

We tried a new, closer, vet today, but Salty was still very stressed even by the shorter car journey. The vet, after examining him, said that he had an allergy to flea bites, and although we had been using 'spot on' it was not working for him, so we have to use a more expensive one as the fleas in our area seem to have become resistant to the usual one. She gave him a quick injection of antibiotics, and we got more pills to give him tomorrow to start a course of antibiotics. After this consultation Salty got back into his carrying box, which surprised us because when we tried to put him in it earlier he had held onto the doorway with his arms and legs; he knew it was the only way to get home again, and he was ready! This short visit cost another £80.00! The good part was that he seemed to begin feeling better almost immediately.

I vacuumed and sprayed the house, and washed all the covers that he normally sleeps on. Florence had called earlier, so I phoned her and talked for a while, and spoke to Diane too.
I watched 'Coast ' on TV

Vet visit and vitamins

We phoned the vet, and managed to get an appointment at 10.45am for Salty. We put him in his carrying cage and drove off to Borehamwood, and the vet. Poor Salty had been meowing frantically all the way, and was not cheered up by the fact that the waiting room was full of dogs.

After a while we saw the vet who cleaned up the abscess, she thought that there was no foreign body stuck in him, but gave some antibiotics to clear it up. Should it reoccur he will have to have it cut out. We drove back home again relieved that he may now be cured, but Salty was panicking again until he exhausted himself. When we got home he rubbed his face on the carpet and slept for hours where he lay.

When Salty woke up it was apparent that he felt much better again, and ate huge amounts of food, but first I gave him his antibiotic pill which he thinks is a big treat. Afterwards he went out and was rushing about the garden playing.

I had been feeling very tired and my hands and feet had begun to burn at nights again, so I increased the vitamin B6 pills to the amount I had taken previously. Almost immediately I began to feel better.

Today I woke up feeling much more energetic and enthusiastic. Mas spent the morning working, and I cut the grass and did more gardening. The bees and wasps are enjoying the ivy which is in flower at the moment.

We went swimming, but at a later time than usual so the roads were jammed up with people collecting children from school. Luckily it was not too crowded in the pool. Mas was watching a lady swimmer who was very fast and said sadly that his legs were not worth a toot, so I suggested some Jane Fonda leg exercises in the pool, which we did together, me monitoring him strictly. Afterwards Mas said that nothing worked now!

Hibiscus are flowering still in the conservatory.

Good news from Tania, and last meal for doomed cat

Yesterday I walked to Stanmore for the exercise, and picked up a small amount of shopping before going home, and painting more of the shed.

Tania sent me some special gloves in the hope that I could wear them when trying to play the guitar, so not cutting my fingertips. She also enclosed a card she had made, using a photo she had taken when we were on holiday in Madeira; this bought back a lot of nice memories.

I phoned Tania later, and found out that she has got the job that she applied for some time ago, and is very pleased, and will start her induction next Monday.


Today Salty began taking his antibiotics. He has had them before and loves them. He begs for them and purrs while eating them. He is feeling better now, and is more lively.

I did more painting in the shed which also involves sorting things out and tidying up, and deciding if anything should be thrown away, or recycled. I watched a funny episode of Last of the Summer Wine in the evening. Salty had his last meal at 8.00pm, and we kept him indoors all night as we had to make an early start to go to the vets in the morning.

Visit to dentist and delicate gardening

After breakfast, and lots of pills we got ready and Mas took me to the dentist who took x-rays of my implanted tooth and said it had an infection and prescribed antibiotics; he thought it likely that I would loose the tooth. He was very kind and said I could phone him anytime I was worried, and I made an appointment to see the hygienist the following day.

We went off to get the antibiotics from the chemist, and Mas collected a little shopping, and we returned home. After lunch I rested for a while, before going into the garden to do some gardening; the easiest kind, removing dead heads of flowers. These roses round the window are highly scented and their perfume fills the bedroom above.

In the evening we watched The Bill, some Frasier, and I, Claudius, and by mistake we found we had stayed up very late, so went off to bed.