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.

Of course! Silly me!😺

I believe (but am ready to be corrected) that the stamens are a problem, when they shed pollen onto cat fur and cats lick it off and ingest it, so perhaps cutting off the stamens might help?
If it turns out the whole flower is dodgy then keep the door shut or donate to a non-cat household?

Also @Esgaroth I hope your hubby is on the mend, and his sleep is restful and restorative 💐(not lilies!)

I think they are okay but the wound is more visible/darker at one end than the other, so I’m hoping that is normal rather than a problem with the stitches. No bleeding or anything and no change since yesterday so the antics with the jacket hasn’t changed anything. I’ve sent photos of both cats’ wounds to the vet so they’ll be able to tell me.

Just had to de-Houdini her again - one paw worked its way through the neck.

She's very cute isn't she? 😘

What you need to look for is any heat, swelling or red/pink around the wound; a simple line where the stitches are with no signs of these should be fine. Depending on the colour of the skin you may see the faintest sign of bruising in the area, but that should be OK. Basically judge it like you would on a human wound.

They’re both very cute! I’m looking forward to seeing them post-jacket.

When my girl Helix was spayed she had a zebra print jacket on. She managed to get her whole front end out of the neck, and the whole thing moved down so it covered her legs and she was moving around like a zebra patterned snake. She was a funny little cat.

Wednesday is very confused tonight. She normally goes in and out via the French doors in the lounge. This evening the curtains are closed and she can't find the gap 🤣🤣 it's obviously not her turn to have custody of the shared brain cell 🤣🤣

What a beautiful photo of her.
❤️

@TheBroonOneAndTheWhiteOne tbh it's a good thing she's pretty 🤣🤣 she worked out how to get behind the curtain then got stuck there because she couldn't find her way out 😂

Beauty without a brain bless her

If the curtains are closed & Kitty wants the back door open, she sits behind them either until I notice or she gets bored.

I thought some of you might appreciate this.

Whitecat came to sit next to me on the sofa as she has been doing for the last few days. Stripey sat at the other end and watched us for a bit, then came over and sat on top of Whitecat in order to insert herself between her and my arm and lever her out so she could be right up against me.

(This is exactly what my younger DD does because she gets jealous if I cuddle her big sister. Clearly the cats have been watching.)

This is the first time Stripey has sought out cuddles so it was a big moment. She wasn’t on top of me but very happily curled up in the crook of my arm with her head on me.

Whitecat took it well and didn’t biff her sister. They are now both asleep next to me in a pile.

That’s lovely, @stormsandsunshine.

Good to hear the kittens are recovering well from their spays, @stormsandsunshine. They are soo cute in their little jackets! (And the late Monty as well, @Grumpyoldpersonwithcats).

My husband is due for release from hospital tomorrow (hallelujah!) and I will be interested to see if Kettle shows any reaction.

DH is definitely not his favourite human, though he discovered new love for him after DH started letting him have little tastes of his dried fish, which I can confirm is like crack for cats. But I think Kettle's been a bit unsettled with him gone. Just little things like not eating all his dinner right away as he usually does.

Anyway, here is a NMR making a racket on the footpath behind the house. Kettle reckons this bird looks more scary than tasty 😄

@esgaroth hope husband can recover while cuddling Kettle and feeding him fish

@Judystilldreamsofhorses I hope the lovely dancing Louie is well? Do you think if @stormsandsunshine kittens watched Louie dancing on their screen they might copy?

My magic fox healing potion has finally arrived today. Sadly I haven't seen the fox since Friday. I'm worried he might not have made it through the cold weather with half his fur missing. I've put out a jam sandwich anyway and I'll see if it gets eaten. They're going to have to slum it with apricot flavour though, I don't have any raspberry.

My husband is due for release from hospital tomorrow Great news @Esgaroth , I am going to be pedantic and say he will be discharged, think 'release' applies to incarceration though I can see why a hospital stay may seem similar!

@stormsandsunshine my littlest boy does this too when me and my 9yo are having a cuddle. The cats haven't caught on yet.

Haha fair point, I do feel like he's being set free though! Although freedom will be limited to start off with, it's going to be a long recovery. I will remind Kettle that they say cats' purring has healing powers.

Fred is working on his camouflage.

Hope your husband enjoys his freedom @Esgaroth even it is somewhat limited at first!

Fred’s doing well!

Kitty has her cold weather routine firmly established now. An hour or two up in her eyrie after breakfast, then under the duvet until mid-to-late afternoon, when she gets up for tea & attention.

I think there are far worse ways to spend January.