Introducing

Squeaky the cat- R.I.P 12.02.11
Poppy the Papillon
Millie the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel- R.I.P. 12.04.11
Stripey the tom cat

Squeaky

Squeaky joined us at the beginning of 2001. In the winter of 2000/ 2001, a few cats started visiting our garden. There was an extremely shy black tom cat, a very old black and white cat, similar to Squeaky. And then there was Squeaky. The old cat was quite friendly and would let me touch her, the black tom cat never came close to me, Squeaky was shy at first but then she came to me for food and cuddles. The cats never stayed for long but came at least once a day for food. I know the old cat was also fed by somebody else in the village and in the end it was only Squeaky who visited us regularly. Then one day, possibly early spring 2001, she decided to come into the house. I was sat in the lounge by the back window and opened the window. She used to eat on the outside window sill or below it and this one day she came into the lounge. She jumped onto the floor, looked around, had a look upstairs and she must have decided that this was good enough because she stayed... :-)

We had birds in the lounge as well. 2 cockatiels and 2 budgies. They had their cage on a sideboard and a branch from a tree screwed to the ceiling to sit on as well. They were never caged. And safe on their branch. But we didn't want to leave Squeaky in the lounge at night so before we went to bed we used to put her out. This became more and more of a struggle, darling Squeaky did not wish to go out at night. She'd try and get upstairs and hide under our bed. She complained loudly when she was put out. Then in about May 2001, the weather turned really nasty. Very cold, windy and wet. I felt sorry for Squeaky, there's a barn sort of next door for her to go into but I didn't want to put her out. So this was the first night she was allowed to stay in and she was never put out at night again (unless she went out and didn't come back). We left the light on in the lounge for the birds and they were never harmed by Squeaky.

I'm not really a cat person and wouldn't have gone out to get a cat. I don't like the fact that they can jump on kitchen work tops and get everything "dirty" and then they get run over by cars. But I adore Squeaky and have changed my mind about cats. I always liked them but wouldn't have had one before Squeaky. Squeaky is very cuddly and when I have a lie down, she comes and lies on top of me or by my side. When I had food poisoning for 3 weeks in December '01, she was lying down with me all the time. She's not very active or playful but loved cuddles. :-)

22.01.11

Squeaky is loosing more and more weight now, she has mammary tumours, she first had some nodules removed in'09 and more removed in '10 because they were painful. Squeaky started to vomit this month and throws up almost every day, sometimes twice a day, first it’s usually food, usually followed by bile/ mucus. But apart from that she seems happy still, she doesn't look depressed or weak although she's quite thin, and she comes for lots of cuddles. And she still eats and does have a bowel movement every other day so some food does go through. I took her back to Michaela and she says she can feel that one liver lobe is hard and lumpy, Squeaky had a small nodule (palpated and seen on scan) on her spleen a few years ago and Michaela was worried about it being lymphoma, well, now she thinks it is lymphoma and that this has spread to her liver. I wanted to have Squeaky’s thyroid tested so Michaela ran a blood panel first and her liver enzymes were normal so Michaela thought a thyroid problem was unlikely, on the other hand the TP was high so that’s why Michaela thought of lymphoma. She wanted to do a fine needle aspirate and look to see if she could find any lymph cells (I think) in it but 5 minutes after booking the procedure, I cancelled it. I’m not a big fan of fine needle aspirates and it would stress Squeaky and I feel like what’s the point. It’s not like we can cure it if it is lymphoma. I would like to go to a homoeopathic vet with Squeaky but we don’t have one anywhere near. I’d do anything for her and spend any money but not if she’s full of cancer. She had mammary tumours removed back in June, and now has more and much bigger than before (walnut size). Part of me wishes we had taken out the mammary glands 2 years ago when it all started. But I was scared of such a huge operation.

16.02.11

I had Squeaky put to sleep last Saturday the 12th. I knew it was a matter of days or maybe weeks but for a long time she was just stable. She’s been vomiting a lot for the last 2 months so for the last month I gave her tinned food/ pouches. She ate those and wasn't sick but she didn't eat much. With the dry food she'd eat loads but not the wet foods. But she still passed stools and looked alert, even went out into the garden on a sunny day. But last week she started throwing up her wet food and Saturday she was really sick and made a horrible noise throwing up. Different than before. Afterwards she didn't want to eat, I opened up a few different foods, even a can of the liquid vet diet, she looked like she wanted to eat but at the same time she seemed like she couldn't eat. She had also looked a bit depressed for a few days, not purring when I cuddled her, so Saturday I made the decision to let her go after she threw up so badly and didn't eat anymore. I had to call out the emergency vet as the practice was closed after midday and then when she was on the table, she started purring. So that made it even harder. When the vet injected her into the front leg vein, she went out like a light. I couldn't believe how quick it was, she was sitting up one second and the next she just sort of fell onto her side. I will never get used to this, it is so bizarre how an animal is with us one moment- and gone the next. We’ve had her for 10 years, I’ve never had an animal for so long before, I know people have dogs and cats for like 15-17 years but I’ve never had an animal for 10 years before...

Squeaky was a very lovely cat, I know I don't write much about the dogs and cats but she was very loving, she loved being groomed, and got on really well with the other animals. She always came to me if I had a lie down on the sofa, and would sit on me or by my side.

Poppy

Spring 2002 we happened to watch CRUFTS. I never watch it, I don't think much of dog shows. But I turned the TV on and the show was on TV and they happened to have the toy group on. I fell in love with the little dogs, especially the Papillon. They were so beautiful and elegant. We also liked toy poodles, Italian greyhounds and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. Then I couldn't get the dogs out of my head and wanted one sooo much. I also thought if we had a dog then I'd be forced to go out for walks which would do me good. Having chronic fatigue and depression, I am so tired all the time and lie down a lot in the afternoon so I thought if I *had* to go out then maybe I'd become stronger... Fresh air and the sun would do me good but I wouldn't have gone outside if I didn't *have to* (i.e. if I didn't have a dog who needed to go walkies).

For a few months I researched all toy breeds on the Internet and it seemed like the Papillon had the least health problems so in April/ May 2002 we started looking for a Papillon. We got the advertising paper and there was a litter of puppies advertised and I phoned one day after the paper came out and all puppies had already gone... We discovered that Papillons are rare and litters are gone as soon as they're ready. Then no litters at all for weeks. Until I looked at the advertising paper on the Internet, we were prepared to travel for one so I looked at nationwide adverts. And we found a litter near Marlborough, near Swindon, which is about 190 miles away. On Sunday 19th of May 2002 we went to look at the puppies. The drive was nice and the countryside near Marlborough was stunning! The puppies were on a smallholding, they had many dogs and also horses. The puppies were so cute, unfortunately already 18 weeks old but we chose one and brought her home. Poppy was pretty quiet at first, didn't want to know us, didn't want to cuddle. But luckily it changed and soon she loved both of us. She's very suspicious of strangers and when people came to visit us, Poppy would come running to me and sit on my lap. It took months (half a year?) before she would go up to our neighbours, even though she saw them almost every day.

The only bad thing about Poppy was her house training. We would take her out every hour but she never went to pee outside. But as soon as she got back in, she would do her business behind our back. Or she did a pee outside and then another inside. We did all the right things, praised her, gave her treats when she went outside but she still continued to go inside as well. She would go on the sofa and pee and poo up there. She would drive us insane sometimes. She never messed in front of our eyes, always when we weren't looking so we could never tell her off. Then around October/ November '02 she finally realised that she was supposed to go outside and became house trained very quickly. :-)

Poppy is a little crazy thing, she is *always* active, she can't sit still. She doesn't cuddle much, she always wants to play and will bring her toys so we can throw them for her. We wanted a little dog because we thought they'd be quiet, yeah, right... ;-)

Millie

As time went by, we thought it would be nice for Poppy to have a friend. So we were looking at the toy breeds again. Then we happened to see a note at our vets in November '02 that somebody had Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppies for sale. So we rang up and had a look at the puppies and the mother was so cuddly and the puppies as well so we chose one. We still had to wait a week as the puppies weren't old enough but then on the 15th of November we fetched Millie. She was so cuddly right from the start and all she wanted was to be close to either Pete or me. When I was on the computer, she'd put her head on my foot or against my leg. She tried to get as much contact as possible. She was such a cute puppy, when we first got her she could barely walk and it was amazing to see her grow up.

She loved her raw food from the beginning, she ate the first night she was here and from then on her appetite grew and grew until she became our walking waste disposal unit! I soon had to give her big pieces of chicken wing etc. because she'd try and swallow small pieces and I was scared she'd choke. Poppy has such good eating manners, she eats slowly and chews her little pieces well while Millie just wolfs everything down. But it is such a pleasure to feed Millie and watch her eat, she doesn't refuse any food and eats everything so well. :-) It was funny when she was teething. She usually ate her wing so quickly but suddenly she was still sat there after half an hour. She was sucking the wing as all her milk teeth had gone and she hardly had any new teeth... So then I gave her small pieces to swallow while her new teeth were growing. But that didn't stop her from eating a bird! Squeaky sometimes catches birds and sometimes they end up dead. Millie must have found a bird that Squeaky killed and while I was preparing lunch I looked out into the garden and thought "What is Millie eating???". A bird. She sat there munching and munching and every now and again a wing or leg stuck out of her mouth and eventually the bird was gone... It looked like a starling.

Millie's housetraining went quite well and she didn't have many accidents and not for very long. I'm happy to say that both Millie and Poppy are clean now. They do have a big cat flap in the kitchen door so they can go out into the garden anytime. They spend a lot of time outside and play a lot. When we first got Millie, Poppy was a bit jealous. But after about a week she welcomed her new little friend and realised how nice it is to have a play mate. Now the 2 are inseparable and play sooo much, chase each other and are just generally mad.

Millie was spayed this month. She felt very sick from the anaesthetic but a day after the spay, she was back to normal. She jumps up for her food and all sorts of reasons and it was so hard to stop her jumping all the time. I’m surprised her stitches stayed in! She was a bit more quiet than usual but not for long... Poppy (who will be spayed in June), is sooo playful and energetic and kept asking Millie to play all the time and didn’t understand why Millie was more quiet. So all the pestering from Poppy made Millie play instead of rest... But she recovered well and healed well so luckily playing didn't harm her.

Millie really is a very sweet thing, she looks at us in such a cute way, when we talk to her she tilts her head and tries to understand every word we say.

12.02.11

Millie has had heart problems (mitral valve disease) for about 2 1/2 years and is getting worse, I’ve booked her in for a heart scan next Monday 14th. I didn't watch the first one 1 1/2 years ago but want to see this one with commentary from my vet. Millie's breathing is getting worse, I don't think she has fluid in her lungs though. While we had frost, she was okay, as if she wasn't ill at all, she was running around and was just very happy. But we went for a walk yesterday and she could only walk slowly and was getting out of breath. Millie's neck has become smaller, I had to put her collar onto the last hole. I wonder why that is. Even her face looks smaller but her tummy is big but she has a layer of fat on her ribs. Poppy was 9 last month, I can't believe how time flies. Millie would be 9 in September. I keep wondering if she'll still be alive then.

01.05.11

I came home on the 10th of April (I'd gone to Germany 24th of February and fell ill for 3 weeks while I was there...) and Millie had gone downhill rapidly since I left. Pete said I will be shocked when I see her. Well, I arrived home and I thought Millie was going to die. She was so happy and excited to see me that she could barely breathe. Her abdomen was huge and full of water (at least 2 litres), she'd lost a lot of muscle mass on her back and back legs, she could barely walk and then she just sat in front of me and I don't know how to describe it but her breathing sounded mechanical, you could hear her heartbeat in her breathing, it was just awful. :-( Monday I was straight at the vets and my vet doubled her diuretics and prescribed another medication as a last try. It was a medication that could be dangerous if overdosed so Michaela dosed Millie very carefully and on the low side. But this one dose made Millie worse. After that she didn't eat, hardly drank (I think she felt nauseous), hardly peed, and she just walked from one corner to the next to lie down and breathe heavy. At night I almost called the vet out but thought I wait to see if Millie improved, at least to the point where she was at before this new medication. But she was just the same Tuesday so I was at the vets before 9.00 and asked for Michaela to put Millie to sleep when she arrives. I stayed in the car with Millie and held her and when Michaela came and shaved her front leg, Millie looked up at me like she'd always done when she was scared, like to ask if it was okay what was being done to her. I'll never forget that look. :-( It was so hard, but for me it was unbearable to see her the way she was. I don't think I'll ever have a Cavalier again, I did research the breed before we got Millie but was in denial, I thought we would have one of the Cavaliers that didn't have this mitral valve disease. And then she turned out to be one of the worst probably, a heart murmur by the age of 2, needing treatment for the disease by the age of 6, and needing to be put to sleep by the age of 8 1/2.

Stripey

It started in about May 2006. Squeaky keeps coming into season, probably an incomplete spay that left some small hormone producing tissue behind. Squeaky was opened up again but the vets couldn't find anything so she has been coming into season regularly since she came to live with us. When she came into season, she would attrack tom cats and 2 in particular would hang around the house. It didn't matter whether we kept Squaky in or whether she was out, those tom cats would stay and cry all night long. Since they were obviously stray, feral tom cats, Pete wanted to trap them and have them neutered. He was worried about our neighbours as well with all the crying going on. So we managed to trap Stripey in the garage and he was absolutely wild. We got him through into the utility where he climbed up the breeze block walls. He got into the kitchen from there and soon caused havoc. In the end we trapped him in a crate and off to the vets. They neutered him, gave him some eye drops and an antibiotic injection because he had an eye injury/ ulcer and then we fetched him and released him later on. We thought that would be the end of it and that he would never come close to the house again. ;-) But we were wrong and he just stayed around. At that time we also had another cat "drop in" that we had called Snowy

so we always left food and water (and a bed) in the garage and the garage door slightly open so Snowy used to come in and sleep in the garage (and inside the house in winter)- and Stripey joined her. He saw how tame Snowy was and slowly started to tust us. At first he would only eat in the garage when nobody was around. By summer he stayed close even when we were in the garage. Soon I could sit by him when he ate and then the day came when I could touch him. That was around September 2006 and it coincided with Snowy being hit by a car (I suppose, I found her dead on the road but no mark on her) and dying. I didn't know who Snowy's owners were so we buried her. By that time Stripey was pretty tame and moved indoors to be with Squeaky. He loves her. :-) And he loves the dogs- especially Millie- and sleeps with them and did so right from the start. And Stripey is very photogenic. :-) And now a very sweet and cuddly tom cat, you wouldn't know that he was wild and feral in the beginning. :-)