Ring Out, Wild Bells! As 2025 approaches, the Excellent Cats raise their game with a discussion on Tennyson's poetry

[TheBroonOneAndTheWhiteOne]

And while the cats are thus engaged, their human slaves are still finishing the turkey and Christmas pud, and idly placing bets on whether or not Kitty will use her new cat tree.

Finlay has only got DS for company this week as I’m escaping the snow in warmer climes

Geography never was my strong point!

My sister sent me an article about wild cats in Central and South America. There's a cat called a Pampas Cat. I wonder if it's the feline equivalent of having pampas grass outside your house?

Oh boy @JaceLancs where is that?

That is the cutest thing I've seen EVER 😻

I'm currently keeping warm in Cyprus, not very hot (only 20c today) but the sun has been shining 💥 Came back from the UK with a horrible respiratory virus 🙄😕😷

@TheBroonOneAndTheWhiteOne
We are in Malaga - 22 degrees and unbroken sunshine today

Lenny is taking an active interest in a Harry Potter film...

Lenny looks really small in that photo.

Just a big telly.
I've got no class 🤣

Or you're very boastful.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Are you impugning me?
Outrageous!!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Moi?

<adopts innocent face>

I'm watching Dexter with Frankie snoring next to me, Raven asleep on my lap, and Vixen loafing up my arm. Personal space? No such thing in this house.

Piggies? Are they hedgehogs? Guessing wildly as hog is a term for pig… 🐖 🦔

@Papergirl1968 - yes, hedgehogs. Despite having the same number of syllables it seems quicker to say piggies instead of hedgehogs for some weird reason, so that's what I call them.

I shall miss the wildlife when I move house.

@stormsandsunshine - that is an amazing photo! How long did they stay watching?

Thanks, @Pixiedust1234 glad I was right about the piggies!
And thank you to those who are feeding and treating the foxes and other wildlife ❤️

I always refer to them as hedgepigs (think I may have picked up that from Pogle's Wood as a child 😁).

In other news GT is doing his normal rounds this morning. Lenny is becoming more unimpressed by the minute.

@Pixiedust1234 they watched for a fair time before they got bored. Also tried to see if they could bat the birds with their paws. Then Whitecat decided she wanted a cuddle on the sofa instead and uncharacteristically her sister joined her - Stripey is normally a jittery bundle of energy and can’t sit still to be stroked

Has Whitecat got used to her jacket, @stormsandsunshine?

Have you deliberately put a cat bed in front of the TV? Is it some kind of reverse cat psychology move, where you were hoping that would deter them from ever sitting there? I would say it was a genius move, except it's obviously failed.😂

@EmpressaurusKitty she is definitely happier but she keeps trying to groom herself and then looking sad. This morning she spent a while biting at the jacket where the wound is. Both cats are doing exaggerated inability to walk in the jackets if they know I’m looking - Stripey is lifting her front legs up high as though she can’t bear to touch the ground and Whitecat is dragging her haunches.

How long do they have to wear them? Mine weren't given a cone or anything to wear when they came home. Not sure if it's my vets or whether they are more risk adverse these days (mine were done 10 years ago). Neither of mine showed any interest in licking their stitches and both seemed completely unaware that they'd had an operation. The downside was having to separate them because they wouldn't stop play fighting.

10 days. The vet said they would be unhappy at first but get used to it after a couple of days. Whitecat was definitely trying to get at where the wound is today so I’m glad she is in the jacket. I had a choice between the jacket and a cone and I thought the jacket would be less uncomfortable for them and also mean they couldn’t lick each other’s stitches.

It’s an utter pain. But because I took M’s cone off too early & she got at the stitches, she had to wear it for longer than she would have done otherwise, so it is worth it.

I remember that when they weren’t watching cat tv I spent ages with them both playing with their ball track. Anything to keep them entertained while not leaping around, really.

The good thing about the jackets is that it is keeping them quite subdued and they are not leaping around. The first evening they were a bit crazy after they first came home and I was alarmed how they kept running around. But they are now spending most of the time curled up in a hiding spot together.

I’m meant to be taking a photo of the stitches today to send to the vet but they have spent all day under DD2s bed between the frame and the trundle mattress underneath and I don’t want to force them out while they are quietly resting so I’m going to wait till they emerge for dinner. The wounds looked pretty good yesterday when I checked them both.