The days are getting longer and brighter, warmer and sunnier.  The great Orb wakes in the east at six something and shines right into my window where I sleep.  It does mean that I am the very first one to see Horrible Horrace out collecting his rations that he stored over winter.  Wait, I lie, he is eating all the bird seed and has forgotten where he cashed all that slate he stole.  Or has he found all that slate and is now wondering what the heck slate is doing where he thought he had cashed his nuts.  ::Horrace checks nuts - he has two - scratches his head - bounds off:: 

With the sun so bright red, it comes with the shepherds warning of the day to come and by the time that great Orb reaches it's summit at midday, then the trill of CatWomen ensues and the leader of the gang this week is none other than Filly.  She is a mere five months old and presenting her booty to Magnus and Ikon in the fashion of the best Salsa dancers out there.  She starts with her basic 'tredding' step, then works her way right up to a backwards cha cha cha, parking her giggling buttocks to the wire of the CatPod in the hope that one of those boys will take her paw and not let her solo too long.  They both trip over themselves and at one point, Magnus got so frenzied he even tried dried humping his Dad and that didn't go down well, it was received with a great punch on the nose after he wriggled free.

Due to the amount of dancing taking place, the Sky Bridge is out of bounds now, you could say, Momma has put them all on a 'Cuban break'!  The boys haven't been inside the kitchen for a full week due to Ikon using the cupboard doors as his own personal litter tray.  However, due to the warmer weather, they have both had so much time outside to tire them out until Magnus ruined that by jumping on the roof of the House of Fun, trotting along it and then sitting just out of reach.  That's OK, there are more than one ways to 'skin a cat' and a few games of dragging sticks about the place with bits of string on resulted in a curious Magnus jumping down.  "Catch more Magnuses with honey." Momma tells Ikon.  He hates being ignored and it doesn't take him long to stop sulking and join in. 

The Breelings, too, have benefited from more Orb light and are awake earlier and longer, using the daylight hours to race about and learn new things.  They are all getting bigger and finding their paws with a daypen which is triple the size of the one they were born in.  It has lots of toys and scratch posts with places to hide, jump and climb giving them healthy muscles and great strength.  They have enough room currently to be near a litter tray but long enough to scuttle at high speed and chase each other.  SaBreena has been an excellent Mother keeping them spotlessly clean, much to their dismay.  Who wants to be held down and washed when you could be hooning up and down?  They scream, protest and stamp their tiny paws.  They will thank her when they are old enough to really look after themselves.  Nothing worse than grubby white socks on a school day.  I had me a little visit yesterday to see what all the fuss was about and OK, I relent, they are kinda cute and as a Great Aunt, I have to commend SaBreena, they are a credit to her!  

In the late afternoons now, as the Orb light moves from window to window, there are cats seemingly creeping from the woodwork to lay in pools of liquid molten.  We follow the patch on the stairs and argue if we should touch.  A growl here, a moan there. Companionship of a sort just so we can share a 2ft space of warmth.  The light trails around to the west 'wing' and is just filling the front bedroom with enough light to lay four of us in a row along the pillows.  It is a tight squeeze and you have to give up your Orb spot on the landing early to get first dibs at the fading light, but it's worth it.  Queen of the castle and all that!   So as the light fades, we can only hope that she graces with her gift of renewed life tomorrow and head to the back of the house to watch the Full Moon rise in the East.  Up she goes, cold and bright and rejuvenating as I doze the evening away in her whiteness, recharging my internal batteries.  

Our days are unchanging currently and we were looking forward to the weekend and playtime, but the Parentals worked away from home on some property close by.  It can't have been far, they didn't take the car.  Or maybe that's because it came back home on the back of a tow truck and that's typical as ManSlaves car is already at the menders.  I have especially missed Momma and each afternoon bagsied a cuddle before anyone else, deeply purring as she sings to me and rubs my head, planting the odd warm kiss between my ears, I purr louder and press my head into her face with a hard bang, I know she loves it because it makes her cry.  Faith said it wasn't crying it was eye smarting as humans have delicate proboscis.  Who cares, she loves me and that's all that matters!

The Orb is here again, bright and early.  Filly is trilling and setting of the backing singers, Flaire and Pearl off.  They have talked into the early hours about starting up as a trio, Destiny's Child, eat your heart out!  For me, I shall go solo and accompany ManSlave in his single quest of the purrfect Roast.  It will start cooking really soon and have us all salivating by lunch time.  Those acapella singers might even hush their mouths if they are filling them?  Who knows? We can but try!

Your loyal Queen Vee =^..^=
​

On Monday, Momma made changes to the kitten pen, designing and creating a removable door within a door that houses a microchip catflap.  Us big girls helped out loads by poking about in the box of screws and standing on the bits to be sawn off as well and Filly running off with the chuck thingie that changes drill bits, staring at Momma and said "Go on, dare me!" as she kicked it far under the fridge freezer.  "Filly" Momma shouted and off she hurled around the kitchen knocking our box of screws all over the floor - more fun "screw you Momma"!  With that job finally done it was time to sweep up the sawdust and we helped by running through the dust at the last second as it was about to be swept into the dustpan and Filly being way too big now to ride in the pan, broke the dust tray and running off with the rubber strip that makes the sweepings go in so easily.  Momma had to get the vacuum out, which woke Robyn from her pregnant slumber and she moaned unequivocally.

On Tuesday, Pearl had to go to the Vet to have a scan and Cystocentesis, a procedure to remove urine from the bladder with a needle.  She was in really early and by afternoon there was a call to say it was all successful and she was so well behaved that there was no sedation required as she laid down as Momma had been teaching her all the previous week so it wasn't so scary and Vet Maddie said she was an amazing pretty girl who purred all day with everyone one and rode on her shoulders.  Momma felt so very proud of her because a few years back she was scared very baddly at a show and she was never the same with anyone ever again.  The tests results came back on Thursday that there was no infection, just some sludge so she was to continue on the diet I had a few months back and all the pills and pain killers and already she is improving and we are all playing with toys together so we know she feels much brighter again and she is living up to her name of Purrrly.  The vet has given her the all clear for vaccinations in a few weeks time and hopefully another litter in late Spring as they feel it is all hormonal  and better to get her less stressed.  Just in time we hope as Ikon is showing some prowess.

Onto Wednesday and the rest of the week where the Breelings are growing and I was allowed in to see them briefly on the bed.  SaBreena let me sit on a scratch post as observe, she just kept one eye open and trained on me in case I pinched one.  I wouldn't do that, they taste funny at this age and smell like a mini goat herd.  Momma looked after mine for me, I was spoilt!  Robyn is getting on my nerves, I don't know why I feel such animosity towards her currently? maybe I am a little bit green eyed monster as she has taken my space in Momma's bed.  Hmm, I will think on it.  She is my only GrandCat and I loved playing with her when she was little and now she has turned into a fat feline football and ripe for fighting with.  Robyn's nickname of Mariarchi has her remembering her own kittenhood and she is belting between kitten room and bathroom playing the Mariarchi band tune and tipping her sombrero as she scuttles in front of Momma all purposeful and full of self importance.  She just makes me want to trip her up.  Today, she looks like one of those cartoon characters "If animals were round".  Go on, look them up - she is so like that, bumping into stuff and getting stuck and unable to jump.  It is a job not to sit there sniggering at her.  Momma caught me an clipped my lughole.  Not my fault she is comical trying to wash her backside.

Ikon is another comical character, although, he is still on my hate list.  ManSlave threatens me with a visit to 'The House Of Fun' if I don't stop chasing Robyn around and pasting her.  He reminds me how I feel when Ikon pastes me.  It's every cat for themselves here you know. Look after numero uno right? Momma says not, it's share or be eaten!  OMC, I might be the next Sunday Lunch? Cat-O-Van, Fee-Lime Pie or worst still some Calalonian dish.  Yikes, I had better be good from now on as Cat-Line are on furrlough and don't care anymore so I have no outlet for complaint.  I would, however, like to put in my own complaint that if I am to be Sunday lunch that the darn oven light is on the blink again and this is the second bulb to enter it's depths and the third to blow in as many weeks.  Those People at Neff are gonna get a taste of my thunderpaw if they don't sort out this crucial bit of kit so I can see, um wait, myself cooking.... on second thoughts, keep your light, I am out of here before I become dinner!

I would also like to complain too at the amount of food that is being carried upstairs and never to return.  I just do not quite know where it is all going?  Well, except the furry slugs that SaBreena made are now filling their hollow leggies and she is looking thinner and thinner, despite sniffing tin full after tin full of duck parfait and rabbit roulade.  So, now there is goats milky being mixed up and bags of rabbit mixture and vitamins and this and that heading into that room and never to return and what do I get? NUFFIN.  Now, Pearl is getting something at lunchtime to aid her water intake and so is Flaire to bring her to breeding condition. Pfft.  They nip to the bathroom at 'their' feeding time for a spoonful of ducky mixed to a fine liquid like a duck gazpacho.   What do I get....NUFFIN!  I am getting fed up with NUFFIN so I sit close to Filly in the morning and lick a few bit of bunny from her dishy and right behind me now is Faith and behind her Lillibet.  None of us dare move or lose our place and that Filly is tough and growls at us all.  Us three NUFFIN cats are fading away don't you know.  Last Sunday with that amazing bit of lamb - I got NUFFIN then too. 

Back to Ikon, he will go into the vets for his vaccine soon and he will get his eye checked too and we hope a final sign off for the damage he did flying from the cat wheel into the door.  He is on steroid drops every 3rd day now until his check up.  He is also feeling the joys of Spring and is beginning to take notice of more than just Horrible Horraces.  Flaire and Pearl have been parading in the warm weather and so has a rival garden cat or two from the local area.  He is very dapper and quiet compared to his screaming son who sounds like a strangled peacock every morning yelling 'the song of his people' to the neighbourhood and all the felines within a mile radius.  His mind is on chicks and I don't mean the feathered variety!  Ikon is more of a gent, well, OK, a lazy love sausage, and doesn't have to yell and scream to get the ladies. He can still entice me over, with his good looks, then I remember the belting he will give me and he can pee for Poland to draw them in with his stinky scent.  Yuck. It's enough to make a NUFFIN cat gag... Mmm let Flaire and Pearl deal with those pheromones!!

The highlight of the week was a delivery from Crystal Clear Pet Products with two new zippy beds and a ton of toys that the Lovell's carefully chose to match our cat houses and Momma's kitchen.  The box is huge and even though it's recycle week, it's a keeper fur sure.  OK, I am off to check on lunch... wait, what is this rubbish? Pre-cooked pork slices and boiled spuds?  No oven to peer into? Well, that's ruined my entire weekend.   Pfft not only a NUFFIN cat but a NUFFIN NUFFIN.  Sigh. Herrumph.

Your loyalist of Queen Vee's (well THE ONLY QUEEN VEE!) =^..^=   

It has been so very cold here and all the Horraces have been out in force as well as copious amounts of all sorts of birds which have been excellent fun to watch as the odd bit of winter sun warms our bodies on the windowsills where we look from. It is bird watching for fair weather cats. I can honestly say that Magnus and especially Ikon have taken it to a new level and are out every morning for a good half hour in minus five degrees running back and forth trying to keep warm.  Their coats are luxuriously thick now.  Magnus didn't like the ice much at first, but as the week wore on, he warmed to it - although, his yelling has grown in velocity and I am not sure if it's the freezing temperatures on his paws or his nuts he is shouting about?

Ikon had an unfortunate slip and slide in an empty litter tray, well, I say empty...It was in fact full of ice.  He insisted on balancing on it to greet Filly at the wire and every time he bounced heavily onto it's surface and then, splosh, his paws melted through and in he fell, I was in the kitchen window holding my belly and a paw over my mouth to stifle a laugh, it was very funny.  Momma was on hand to dry his paws and give him cuddles and some vitamin paste as a reward.  He is such a good boy now with his feet being dried.   He is also super good at his eye drops, which are still going, but not much longer now, just a few days.  Momma calls him, puts a treat in his bed by the window, he munches that and purrs, then Momma tilts his head back and administers the drops, he them wolfs down the extra treat for that and purrs some more, then he skips over to the darker side of the cat house, usually on three feet, as it is a very exciting thing to happen, and he gets his eye checked with a pen light and another treat, then a game of chase the light.  What a star, even if he is my worst enemy, I have to admit, he is a good boy. 

I have to take my meds daily too but mine taste vile and I see Momma filling the syringe and I walk about flicking my licker around in anticipation. YUCK, here it comes, I hunker down in my radiator bed, pretending not to be seen and I get the dose anyway.  Takes a good few minutes to get that taste from my mouth and then I am ready for a treat and a little raw rabbit for my brekki.  Pearl had a visit to the vet AGAIN for her bladder and she too has a similar medicine routine in the mornings.  Then on Tuesday, she will go in for a whole day to be scanned, stabbed with neeguls and the discrace of a furrmometer all that just to get some urine out.  I feel bad for her, she can only pee a teeny bit at a time and was crying whilst passing a 5p sized one. Luckily the drugs are making her feel very happy again and she was playing with me today in the lounge.  It's nice to have her back inside, we do get on OK at times when she isn't on one!. 

Robyn is as fat as 'oot and can hardly jump onto any surface.  She just rolls from room to room like a weeble and falling asleep in random places.  She is such an active cat usually that the house feels very quiet and annoyingly, she has taken to thwakking me back if I corner her and has a ferocious growl.  She is no fun anymore.  Pfft. She met up with Magnus the other morning in the kitchen by accident and she spat at him "You got me like this, I HATE you."  It was strong words for the kitten headed boy and he went off sobbing his heart out that his best girlfriend now holds him solely responsible for getting her 'up the duff' and will be coming after him for kitsupport payments and for the first time he was having to look into getting a better job than Horrace watching. His Dad was there to comfort him, "Girls aren't everything Son."

SaBreena's Breelings have reached the escapee stage and various trials of escaping kittens has ensued.  I watched through the catflap as one tootled about over the special dividers meant to keep three week old kittens in place and I did have me a giggle watching them escape.  SaBreena was worried sick and woke Momma at 5am to rescue one of them.  There are also new noises coming out of the kitten pod, trilling and squeaking from SaBreena, who has never said two words to anyone since she was born, who knew she had a voice for such delicate conversations? She uses this quiet and subtle chatting to entice babies here and there for the milky bar.  She has become quite the sweet chatter and purrs all the time for Momma as well as pirriping welcomes. She seems genuinely very happy with her lot at the moment.  

If you don't already know it, it is Valentines day today and that means lots of love to send to everyone. ​Being Valentines, it is the oven light I am in love with and after it's dramatic 'bye your leave' over the last few weeks, I am holding out for an illuminating experience.  I shall sit avidly and hope that my sweet lady love, (yes, that's right, I prefer girls) lights up my life and makes me goosy with delight as she shines her soft glow upon my face. Oh, OK, you got me, all I am after is the half leg of Agnus that lays in wait for my eyes to feast upon, forget the light, she is fickle!  Oh and Agnus isn't the name of the lamn btw, it's latin don't you know and I iz well educated in I! 

Love, peace and oven lights to all of your hearts this special day. 
​Your Queen Vee =^..^=

I know, I know, I skipped a blog last week.  There was a good reason, honestly!  Momma had, on the Caturday, taken Lillibet to her new home and settled her in and we all thought it was going to be wonderful. She did everything right, sleeping on Lillian's bed and then on the Sunday sitting on her knee to watch some TV in front of the fire. But sadly, Lillian wanted a bit of a fuzzier kitty than Lillibet, who's coat is very harsh at the moment with her over grooming.  So, on Sunday, Momma collected her and brought her home. She was none the worse for wear and had a lovely stay over with Lillian who was an excellent host.  So, because of that, I wasn't allowed to blog on my own and thus, no blog!  Pfft - can't get the staff.

This week has been busy each day with me pasting Robyn quite a bit. I enjoy seeing her face all screwed up into a hiss when I belt her one.  ManSlave told me off good and proper explaining she was pregnant.  Herrumph, so  what?  These pregnant girls are getting ALL the attention and I am getting none.  I now have to bunk up with Faith at teatime to get cuddles on the recliner with Momma. We don't do sharezeez very well in this house. There is much huffing and puffing.   The Parentals have been out everyday painting out a tenant house. Luckily, it's not far away and they pop back for lunch, then Momma works in the office and I get time then where I bagsy the heated pipes under the floor in there as my spot. Lillibet and Filly reluctantly share a teddy fleece. 

This popping back at lunch provides sustenance for SaBreena and Robyn.  One feeding their mini pride the other growing a mini pride.  Robyn was scanned on Thursday and it looks like a possible set of quads again!  Of course, we are always cautious and don't count our chickens, it just allows us to check if they are all well and wriggly at this point.  She is really full and walks about complaining of trapped wind and with a meow she also lets out the odd burp!  Well, she is only a little cat and we are not quite sure where she is storing them all.  Her belly is so stretched and with a month to go she may even pop like a Mogwai! Robyn is now sleeping in with Momma at night time and SaBreena isn't worried by that at all.  Seriously can not believe how chilled she is, especially having a stress head as a Mother in Pearl!

SaBreena's mini Breelings have gone from butterbeans to rolling about on their backs, waving paws in the air and much less squeaking.  They can now peer over the side of the kitten pod with their peepers all blacky blue and watery and see the world in front of their sniffers for the first time.  Little more time in the dark to keep those eyes from any damage.  SaBreena announced this morning that they are moving about a bit too much and actually spoke to Momma and kept dashing to the kitten pen where there lay a fat white blob pirruping away on the blankie.  Little soul had fallen out of the nest.  SaBreena is a really good Mum, not like my own who basically ate me every time I dared move. It won't be long before they all tumble out like baby birds waiting to fly. Heaven help us!  Momma popped the baby back in the nest and SaBreena squeezed in and fed them.

One other thing happened last week to give us all a bit of a shake up.  Momma poisoned five of the pride! She was very distraught and another reason why the blog went awry.  On Monday (two weeks go), Momma fed Pearl, Flaire, Ikon, Magnus and Filly a whole large slice of raw turkey.  Not sure why I didn't fancy any? By Wednesday it was like a scene from the living dead, cats spewing and pooing everywhere.  They were separated immediately and Momma knew it was the turkey as no one else had come down with it.  Phew, I can't believe I missed out on that one? I usually LOVE raw turkey!  Momma was worried about everyone so she immediately scooped da poops and they were rushed to labs and sure enough they came back with non other than campylobacter.  I mean WTF right?  It was a little disbelief and worry with upset and stress as the VERY last thing we needed getting to the babies or the pregnant Robyn was that.  

After the results, the vet issued antibiotics and a ton of Forteflora and now ten days later, they are now back to normal and doing correct chocolate gold again.  There is much less washing and luckily, Pearl and Flaire were already out in Al-CAT-raz and Ikon and Magnus in the House of Fun so that was easily contained.  Filly is as tough as old boots and only had a mild dose of it and was 'off' for about two days.   She seemed to just shake it away but had the nasty antibiotics any way.  No one liked them. Pearl and Flaire were angels.  Filly was a brat, Magnus got 'used to it' and Ikon was having none of it. Momma soon had everyone sorted in a fancy routine that took up best part of an hour each morning as Ikon still is having steroid eye drops for the damage he did flying off the wheel and headbutting the door.  Pearl has been treated for her bladder issue which has seemingly cleared with the antibiotics for the bug and everyone else was forced to have vitamin paste.  Plus the scrubbing of the trays each day, all surfaces, walls wiped twice a day and bedding changed and steralised.  Well, you want to stop something spreading, you have to do all these things. I just laid and watched her run back and forth.....YAWN. 

Sometimes you just have to sit back, take a deep breath, have a cat snack and take stock of everything that goes on in a cat household.  It is a source of worry and frustration and stress plays a huge part in our lifestyle.  And with stress comes all the added extra little bouts off illness here and there.  Sigh, at least my bladder is behaving and my skin.  I am still on 0.1mg of Atopica a day and with a mixed diet and some theft of bowl licking from the wet food the preggers ones get, I am very fit and healthy and quite svelte and my coat is lush and plush.  There is always something to laugh about too and we are always trying to be funny and quirky to get attention even if the mood is heavy in the house.  Filly has been a great deflector of upset and swings around shoulders and purringly giving magical cuddles.  She is great for a play about too and always up for a good game, except her playmate, Robyn, is too fat with children!  

Well, that is our news for this week.  It is a flurry of this and that.  I hear ManSlave is back from hunting a gallus gallus domesticus and has let the boys in for the first time in two weeks and Magnus Rex is yelling his merry head off for any girl that will listen.  He is SO loud I feel in the summer he might get an ASBO!  The fact they are in the kitchen is a bit irksome as I do like to see the Sunday Roast doing it's thing and today it's chicken (incase you didn't guess?), except the darn oven light is broken and I am back to peering into it's depths to see the process.  It's not very good seeing as the beast is brand new and not a month has passed and the light has failed, not once but twice, with a new bulb each time.  I shall be ringing CatLine as Neff were not interested in such trivia, but seriously, how is a cat to cope with an unlit lunch? I can only imagine whats going on again and I feel bereft of the cooking action. 

Seeing as the kitchen door is tightly shut, I shall finish this blog then help Momma sew the last of the cat blankets for the outdoorsie ones.  They get all the good stuff out there.  Maybe if I am a really good helpy helper, I might get a new bed too? 

Lots of love my furry followers and until next week 
Your Queen Vee =^..^=