What a very stressful week we have had, one minute I am a Radio Star and the next day BAM! Lillibet is taken ill, seriously ill.  She had something called a pyometra, her lady bits all filled up with puss and contaminated her little body with bacteria.  She had terrible temperatures of 40 degrees and was so poorly.  On Sunday, the day of Tethys's tank delivery she seemed well and recovering from her operation well, but that night the terrible temperatures returned and she was off to the vets again.

Our amazing vet Simon at Medivet saved her life twice this week, once with the operation to remove her 'carry cot' and then specific antibiotics to combat the bacteria traveling in her blood stream.  He couldn't look at Momma whilst she sobbed as this was a life and death moment for Lillibet and Momma and Simon knew it. He said to take her home and pray!  

We were all so worried that she really wouldn't make it that Momma asked a few very kind and loving people to say a prayer for her and you all did. The prayers went around the world and people lit candles in every inch of our planet to wish Lillibet a full recovery.  It really was a miracle, there was only a small chance after her body became riddled with bacteria that she would actually make it! With the right antibiotics and prayers all night - she pulled through and showed us signs that she is as strong today as the day she was born - a true fighter. 

Lillibet has been saved from death three times now and even her entry into the world was a traumatic one and Momma had to hand feed her and keep her alive soon after she was born. She knew her own mind and was a strong baby all along.  She has used up three lives now and with Halloween just around the corner and the veil of the two worlds being so close, we feel blessed that she chose to stay with us.  She is not out of woods yet, but each day she gains strength and she is so determined. Her and Momma have been inseparable.  This has made Faith and I very worried and we are sleeping together at night time whilst the Parentals look after Lillibet all night long.

She won't ever have babies of her own, but we don't mind that one bit. Faith and I spend as much time with her during the day, washing her and keeping her spirits up. She is a plucky little thing and even gave me a Thwak this morning... No looking back now then!

KS =^..^=

Sundays are usually taken up by the cooking of the roast, but this week we had a delivery instead. A big box full of wonderful things like bubble wrap and styrofoam! It's a bit squeaky on your teeth and sets me on edge, but Faith enjoys scratching it with her claws and making a terrible mess!

Our new arrival is a new fish tank for our friend Tethys the Black Belt Cichlid. He has been living in a smaller tank due to the fact that all the Parentals had for him and whilst he was happy enough, it was a house decision that Tethys deserves a little more space to do his own thing.  He is quite and aggressive fishy, so he is kept on his own, but he does get lots of fuss, especially from Momma who hand feeds him and does a bit of fish tickling!

The excitement of the unwrapping was second to none and I made sure to Foreman the whole thing seeing as Mr.Zeus isn't here to do a 'risk assessment'. Well, I chose not to do a risk assessment and went straight in at the deep end and so did the CatWomen. We helped unpack the boxes and we even tried out the tank for ourselves. Faith and I swam about pretending to be cat fish and Lillibet was on hand with the fish pellets!  

Finally, the tank was ready for Tethys to move in, luckily he had literally 'moved house' and his water came with him from one tank to another. That made life much easier and lots of fun for us because we were trying to trip the Parentals up at every bucket! 

Tethys is really happy now and he likes nothing more than to serenade Momma from his new tank and he has dug her a hole to join him in his den. ManSlave says that Tethys really loves Momma, a little 'TOO MUCH' and gets quite excited when he hasn't seen her for a few hours. He flick flacks his tail and wags his body from side to side... ManSlave said, the day Momma is found 'in' the tank is the day he will leave home!

WATCH TETHYS ON VIDEO SERENADING MOMMA

KS =^..^=

RED CARPET TREATMENT:-
My day started like any other, wake up, Yawp, stretch, Yawp, eat my noms, use the cat tray and head back to bed!

But what's this? A bath, some glycerin in my ears, extra sparkle placed in my eyes and my studded collar.... Ooooh, this means I am off out somewhere special and that reminds me of a phone call I got not a week before, asking if I would like to appear on the Vic Minett BBC radio show.  of course, I said, I don't wish to upset my adoring public now do I?

So, this was the day then. I was back combed and greased, nails glossed and tail poofed. Gosh, I am handsome! I was whisked into a fur line carrier with a heated base and driven through town to my destination, BBC Coventry & Warwickshire. I was presented at reception to a small crowd of cooing ladies and I became all bashful at first to get their attention. Then I became brave and ventured out on to my own little red carpet (well, OK a red sofa) and strutted my stuff.  I was then taken to meet producer Sally, who asked lots of questions about me and said I could pretty much do whatever I wanted in Vic's studio.  Then my big moment came, I was in there meeting Vic!  I don't know who was more star struck, her or me? 

Well, I took center stage and pranced about on the desks and weaved in amongst the monitors and microphones. I yawped in a couple but only one of them worked, so I made my way back to that one.  Vic said I looked like Hitler with my 'tosh'!  Well, I suppose we do have conquering the World in common.  She asked me a lot of purrsonal questions about my bum fluff and my lady friends as well as my breeding and show quality.  I took it all in my stride and Yawped out a few answers.  At one point, when Momma was speaking (which in my opinion she did an awful lot off!) I managed to do a quick step along the desk and miss judged the end and collapsed in a heap on the floor.  But I bounced back with a happy grin and carried on bounding about the place!

When I was leaving, Vic asked to have her picture taken with me (really it was me wanting one with Vic) I lay in her arms like a baby and schmoozed with her just a little for her to soften to my nakedness and then I was off exploring again... Well, Vic keeps talking of pigeons fighting in the streets on her shows so i was off to see if I could take one home as a souvenir.  Mmmm, I really am a Stud Muffin.  

If you fancy listening to Momma waffle on about me, 25th Anniversary Cat Shows and crazy Cat People... and hear me fall off the desk and try and communicate with the outside world...knock your selves out!

KS =^..^= 

TIMES OF CHANGE:-
Well, considering this 'Neuter-em' chip is meant to make the CatWomen quiet, it has done nothing, so far, for Faith! Lillibet on the other paw, after 5 days has become OUR Lillibet again and is back in the land of the living.  Momma had drugged both of them after night one of the 'neuter-em' chip because of the yawping that went on ALL NIGHT and then they just seemed to get louder and louder and LOUDER each day!

Faith is still loud, she likes the sound of her own voice and stands with her head in the litter tray just bellowing! Now that Lillibet is 'off call', we can now play together and yesterday, for a few minutes, she and I gamboled through the lounge chasing a rolled up crisp packet! I was even a bit silly and climbed the cat post and hung upside down.  I haven't done that in so long I got a bit of a head rush and had to lay down and just watch from the side lines!

Also changing today is the smell of the roast.  Momma has prepared a turkey breast with streaky bacon and the two smells are just heavenly.  I keep visiting the oven front and letting out a YAWP as I know that in a few hours of gentle steam baking at 160 degrees, that turkey will be just right and because it's turkey WE ALL GET SOME! 

Now, the only thing left for a peaceful Sunday is to find the OFF switch for Faith.  She had us up at 2.30 am with her screaming, it's little wonder she can keep going all day and night without stopping.  This 'Neuter-um' chip really is going by the book with her.  I think ear plugs are in order as the octaves have risen and the screaming increased to such levels we had better tape the window and hide the glasses.

KS =^..^=   

A VERY BIG DECISION:-
There had to be a choice made about the screaming CatWomen and the choice had to be what to do next about having babies?

Faith of course really wants babies again, but after the loss of TomFun & Otello in one year, the parentals didn't want to have kittens just yet because it 's too soon.  Lillibet is still a little young and not fully developed and would have at least another 5 or 6 months of growth to be done, but like her Mum is yawping for boy cats.  The other issue of course is where to take Faith to make babies, she really doesn't like going out and gets very thin and has terrible nightmares when she gets home, she isn't the happiest at being away from Momma and Momma really hates her being away.

So, Momma did lots of research and with the help of our new vet Simon, we came to the conclusion that a contraceptive implant called Suprelorin could be the answer to our concerns and give the CatWomen and mainly me, a rest from the yapwing! You see, even I am getting stressed with all the sitting on my head they both do and I am not fully recovered yet with my food troubles, so it makes me a little grumpy!

Momma whisked the CatWomen to the vets, where Simon used a HOOGE NEEGLE to inject the chip.  Momma had primed their skin with numbing cream before hand and given them happy juice in their noms.  But oooh, that NEEGLE! Even Simon the Vet went a bit weak at the knees when he injected Lillibet and him and Momma looked at each other and shivere.  Faith growled at him because he had scruffed her neck and she thought she was in for a treat, not a HOOGE NEEGLE in her neck!  Neither of them were best pleased at having to wear little jumpers for the day either and spent the rest of the afternoon, telling each other off, but they didn't sit on my head once...bonus!

This chip is meant to make them REALLY LOUD for a few weeks then they 'should' quieten down.  The chip is only sort of licensed for dogs... I hope it won't make them BOL  (bark out loud!)

KS =^..^= 

SMALL PACKAGES:-
This time last year our little Lillibet was this tiny creature who was as determined and willful then as she is now.

She is, however, the most sensitive and delicate young lady ever to walk the planet, so why has she turned into a yawping banshee who just never shuts up and then doesn't like to be picked up, or cuddled or touched?  She slinks her body away from the Parentals and complains if they pick her up, she stretches her body and contorts it, pushing her legs in all directions (I taught her this). From a teeny weeny kitten, when Momma was hand feeding her, she would fight and stretch and twist her body about and Momma had a really hard job to do anything with her at all, let alone trying to get the milky in her mouth.  She was  so tiny and causing so much trouble!

But even from this young tiny age, she had a stoic wisdom about her that she carries with her today. She will just give 'that look' as though she is looking right into your soul.  This yawping however, is leaving everyone in the house soul searching as there is no boy cat to please her and she is too young anyway for that sort of stuff and I am certainly NOT doing that to her!

ManSLave and Lillibet are becoming great fiends and after a full year she now allows him to touch her as long as he feeds her dreamies and carries her around on his shoulders.  When she is not Yelling, she sits happily on the Parentals shoulders and wraps her little tail around their throats to hang on.  The only thing is, whilst she IS yelling, she is sitting on MY shoulders with her tail wrapped around MY throat to hang on!!!

KS =^..^=

THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE:-

THE FINAL FRONT EAR (part 2):-
So where was I, oh yes, laying with my pride dented looking up into the black hole of the roof space quadrant thinking how I could 
join up with my CatWomen who were by now possibly in another dimension all together.

It occurs to me that I am not the cat I used to be and I am a bit of a beef cake now and find climbing with my muscles protruding, quite a difficult event, not like the svelt CatWomen who's bodies are soft and agile.  I ponder if it's even worth saving them from the abyss at all?  After all, Lillibet has probably been assimilated by now and Faith has undoubtedly run of with a drone.

THE FINAL FRONT EAR:-