Word of the Week - Cat

Pushkins our expat cat, from South Africa. She moved in with us in 2012, 13 years ago, the vet said she was about 3 years old at the time.

We moved to Dubai the end of 2014 and she relocated to the UK with us in 2020. She's 16 now.

She's also not a she, but a he. We found out a year after our move to Dubai, we've had her details changed on her microchip and vet records, but she'll always be a she to us and she still wear her pink studded collar.

This morning we had a trip to the vets and I had to change pronouns. The vet gets quite upset with me as saying 'she' would make a huge difference if he was to get lost, in helping us find him. FFS microchip and records up to date. The vets in Dubai found it funny and called her, she. 

Anyway at 16 she is still very active, clearing the fence, starting and finishing fights with the neighbours cats. She's overweight (again a vet issue) she's always weighed 5 kg. She needs a tooth extracted as it's broken (again a vet issue) the tooth has always been broken and she needs blood tests and scans to check she doesn't have a, b & c (again a vet issue) she's a cat, aged 16.

We spend a lot of time with the cat, she's either on our laps, or under our feet or shouting at us for food. We think she misses Bob the dog still (it's been 18 months since he died) she's much more needy (could be old age) she's forgetful (can't find her food) and we don't think she can hear as well and recently she's got herself locked in a cupboard and in our shed, but I think that's more of a Peter problem for not checking than it was hers.

This week I got the paints out to make a card for my son's dog who is recovering from surgery. I found myself explaining to the vet (and to you now) that the card was for my 3 year old grandsons benefit and I only told the vet so they weren't alarmed if they found anything red on the cats paws.

After the vets we went for a coffee while Peter did a food shop as it was too hot to leave her in the car.

And the rest of the day we spent at home for cuddles, after feeling sorry for herself after her jabs.

She's disappeared out now for the evening, prowling her territory, she'll be back soon scratching at the living room door. Failing that, I'll find her under the neighbours hedge where she'll make me go and drag her out, purring her head off.

She'll be up early waiting for her food, then she'll take herself over the road to the neighbours where she likes to perform her morning duties. She'll return home for her food, that we'll have to take her to her bowl to eat 2-3 times before she realises her food is there and she stops asking us for it, then she'll sit out on the front door step in the sunshine, making us step over her as we come and go and she'll watch the world go by. On a school day she entertains the kids and the parents on the school run and stares out any dogs as they are walked past.

At 2pm she'll start asking for her tea, for cuddles, for attention until one of us gives in around 4pm, usually when I come home from work.

Photo opportunity at the Pumpkin Patch - Day out with my dog

Who needs kids to visit a Pumpkin Patch?

I took the dog.

A couple took their two reluctant older teens who refused to put boots on and insisted their pristine white designer trainers were fine....for a farm.

A young woman, dragged her boyfriend there.

There was one couple with a toddler, who was whipped up into a frenzy by the parents for the perfect insta moment.

Me? Dog off lead, Up Bob, sit, take photos, walk around Pumpkin Patch, came home.

Normally I'd buy a pumpkin and carve it, but as Halloween is during Half term, I don't see much point going to the cost and hassle for no one to see it and I won't be answering my door to trick or treaters due to covid this year anyway.

An Indoor Cat.

Our cat is sad.

Our cat is over weight.

Our cat isn't allowed outside.

It's summer in Dubai and with temps in the mid 40's during the day and not dropping below 30c at night, we've been keeping out cat and dog indoors. We've reintroduced the litter day, which the cat is using, we don't want the cat or dog suffering with heat stroke as the cat did last year, when it was outside for too long.

The dog of course gets to go outside for a pee and poo and a walk when the humidity isn't too high and the pavements are cool enough to walk on, but the dog can be contained in a walled garden, the cat of course can jump the wall and wander off.

Another reason for keeping the cat in is that it is over weight, weighing in at almost 6kg, nearly double it's ideal weight and this is due to the increase in people leaving out food for the stray cats, which of course our cat has enjoyed tucking into and gaining weight.

But the cat is sad, the cat wants to be outside, roaming the streets and eating the food that has been put out. We want to keep our cat healthy and safe, but we can't explain this to the cat, make the cat understand, despite our constant conversations with the cat, when it sits all day looking at the door, looking at us and meowing to get out attention to open the door.

Summer is coming to an end, as in temps will drop below 35c and it will be cool enough for the cat to be outside at night time, but the cat doesn't understand us, the cat  doesn't understand why we have reduced it's food intake.

The cat just thinks we're being mean.

When your dog gets ill - Animal Tales

Bob hasn't been well the past few weeks, it started with bumpy skin on his right back leg, then an infection and raw skin under his left front leg. At the same time we noticed he was looking a bit thin, but he was eating normally so we put it down to me working and out the house all day and not feeding him titbits. He's become an indoor dog now the temps are over 35c in the day, so he's not running around during the day and the evening walks have been shortened due to the humidity and the heat of the ground, so in theory he shouldn't be losing weight, so we decided a trip to the vets was in order.

The vet wasn't too worried about the weight loss and took a skin biopsy to check for ticks, fleas, mites. He gave him a steroid injection, a course of tablets, cream and a cone of shame to stop himself from licking the cream off.

The vet asked about changes in diet, shampoo, washing powder for bedding, trips out etc. Nope not changed any of the above, and the vet didn't think the rash/infection was from the lakes as we go every week and never had any problems before, so our only conclusion was it must be to do with the rat we had in an outbuilding, about a week before Bob started showing symptoms.

Bob wasn't fazed by the cone and although it was amusing to start with as he bumped into walls and doors and had to leave the car backwards, the fun soon wore off when he kept smashing into my shins and using the cone to knock on the door at night as he needed help getting back onto his bed.

On Saturday we took him back to the vets for a check up and added to the list that he hadn't poo'd for 2 days and was having difficulty peeing. He had a new rash on his belly and has lost a further kilo in weight.

The vet has decided on an aggressive treatment of worming over the next two weeks, but if he's lost any more weight at his weigh in this saturday, the vet will run blood tests and do a scan on Bob's prostate. The cat is also on a similar worming treatment plan, in case she's a carrier and they've both been treated to kill/prevent ticks, mites and fleas.

To say I'm a little worried is an understatement. Apart from annual jabs, this is the first time we've taken either the cat or dog to the vets since we've had them. Pushkins 4 years and Bob 3 years.

It has been suggested we should take out vet insurance, especially as we've already spent £180 on treatment to date, but we'd have spent £1440 on instalments over the past 3 years without any gain from it and we have a pot of money saved up for relocation fees so we'll dip into that if we have to have scans, tests and treatment.

In the meantime Bob is now free of the cone and is perfectly happy, wagging his tail, bolting down his food as usual, enjoying the odd bone or two and demanding his nightly walk. We're not going out in the desert now till summer is over, by 7am it's around 32c and just too hot for humans, let alone Bob and his feet on the hot sand.

If you read last week's post you'll see my cat proof nets aren't working as planned.