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.

Inspector McGadget says it'll come down to Forensics.
Shouldn't that be Furensics? (Sorry 🤣)

Argh.

Boom, Boom! (🦊)
😂

@TheBroonOneAndTheWhiteOne your cats are ridiculously cute

Don't call Gizmo 'ridiculously cute' - he'd rip your leg off for less.

I often wonder what Herbie would be put in prison for....
Prolific pigeon pilfering is top of the list.
Theft of human food
Crimes against neighbours eardrums when he and Timmy (enemy ginger tom) do their caterwauling.
Fighting in the street with Timmy.
Injury to ankles from swiping at us with his claws!
Damage to property (scratched chairs and rugs)

Otherwise he is a perfectly behaved cat of course!

OMG Gizmo is outraged at being called "cute".

He wants your name and address @stormsandsunshine

He's muttering about seeking vengeance.

@stormsandsunshine under no circumstances reveal your name and address.
How do you think I got Gizmo deported?

@Allergictoironing Would you mind if I asked you a question? I seem to remember you were given Gabapentin for Tobias before his vets appointments, can you remember what the dose was? I've been given the same for Matilda to stop her trying to maul the vet and me at her appointment tomorrow, but the instructions say to give her 3 capsules which seems an enormous amount for one cat. No problem if you can't remember, I'm not going to give her that dose anyway I just wondered if it was common.

I keep finding cat toys on the sofa and on my bed. I assume they are left as gifts and not just tossed there by accident as they’re left on the sofa on which I usually sit, not on any of the other sofas.
I’m not sure if it’s Socks or Matt leaving them as they both play with them. Today’s gift was a grubby owl which is coming apart at the seams. I ungratefully tossed it back on to the floor. Could be worse. At least they’re not alive! Or were alive…

2 x 50mg tablets the night before, then 2 x 50g on the morning of the appointment. They are supposed to take about an hour to kick in, but in Tobias's case it was nearer 2 hours. He's around 5kg

Forgot to say - they last around 12 hours typically

I have similar pictures of Gizmo showing the same dogged determination, trying to break into our bathroom.

Sergeant Linney is about to arrest him for breaking and entering. Caught him in the act.

Thank you so much for letting me know. Each of the capsules are 100mg which seems a massive amount. After a bit of googling I have found some information that suggests that 300mg is ok as a one off dose, but I think I will just give her one tomorrow morning (if I can get her to take any of it of course).Thankfully I don't have as much of a problem with vet visits as you have with Tobias. she's actually very affectionate with me and it's not usually too much of a problem to get her in the carrier, but gets very anxious at the vets and managed to make the lovely vet bleed last time she went and she couldn't examine her properly.

Try opening the capsule & mixing the contents with something like Lik E Lix. That doesn't work with Gabapentin for Tobias, I have to crush the pills to powder & feed it almost grain by grain on cooked chicken, but he does happily eat his normal wet food when I add the contents of his B12 capsules & mix it in.

Each of the capsules are 100mg which seems a massive amount

I'm prescribed a total of 3,600mg gabapentin daily, so 100mg sounds about right for a cat.

The maximum advised for a human adult is 4,800mg/day (in divided doses).

For anxiety in cats 20mg/kg is recommended. So 100mg for a 5kg cat.

Adding to @TheBroonOneAndTheWhiteOne , those are doses for anxiety. You could well need more if you're talking about a cat who gets THAT stressed.

Bear in mind that with Tobias, when they needed to take bloods he needed to be further sedated to prevent hospitalisation of the vet/vet nurses! He just about coped for most of the time they were shaving his neck to get at the vein, then the claws really came out to play when they tried to get a needle in him.

I'm wondering what Matilda has on her record at the vet. We saw one vet for her yearly check up where she seemed horrified that Matilda was a hissing and unhappy and seemed horrified that I had put her in one of the mesh carriers with a zip, because I thought it might be easier to get her in. I got the impression she thought she was some kind of wild animal that should have arrived in a cage and she wouldn't finish most of her check up. The next vet we saw was the lovely vet who couldn't examine her closely because she scratched the vet and bit me, but the vet said she should be fine for her next check up without any sedation and luckily we got the same vet who did manage to finish her check up. I'm wondering if the vets think I have some kind of feral cat that needs heavy sedation. I will ask some questions at her appointment tomorrow.

I remember sitting waiting with a cat at the vet & there being one Houdini who almost made it out of her mesh carrier before anyone noticed. I think they’re meant to be a lot easier to escape from.

One of the reasons I switched, apart from hoping it would be easier to get them in the carrier, is that Matilda managed to houdini herself out of one of the standard plastic carriers. Luckily we were in one of the consulting rooms with a vet, but we sometimes have to cross a busy road if there is no parking outside which worries me. I thought that a zip would be harder to undo, but maybe I need to research the safest pet carriers.

Gizmo on the end of our bed, trying to catch his tail

No, I think Picard came in to take advantage of Gizmo's Grooming Services plc.

@HumanToCatBeasties
I was warned about the mesh carriers when I first got cats as some clever ones can hook their claws into the zip tag & open them. I mentally poo poo'ed that until I was taking mine home. The bigger cat in a proper crate, the slightly smaller one in a mesh carrier. We had to keep a close eye on her and stop twice on the way home to redo the zipper!

The plastic crate I use is the type with both a front door and a door in the top. Much easier to load a reluctant cat in through the top and it's a bit bigger than the front door. Both can be removed completely. The only potential issue is that the top door has rather simple mechanism for closing so you have to be very careful about ensuring that the "hinge" side is properly in its lugs and the sliders are holding the other side firmly in place.

The other advantage is the the entire top half of the crate can be removed so the vet can do the majority of their examination with the cat cowering in the bottom of it's "safe place".

I'm quite tempted by the rucksack style ones with a little viewing panel for the cat. If I ever have to take any of the tribe to the vet and my friend isn't available, I would have to walk or catch the bus so the rucksack may be a better way of carrying them. Not sure what the cats would think though.

Kettle did not really respond at all to DH's return . But who knows what's going on in his furry little head. He did leave us a little hairball on the rug this morning, perhaps a 'welcome home' present?

There is unfortunately an outbreak of bird flu in our area and the authorities recommend keeping cats indoors (two have already been euthanised ) so Kettle's on house arrest for a while. He usually pops out just for 15-30 minutes a few times a day and he still uses his litter tray occasionally so hope he won't be too put out.