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.

@ilovesooty beautiful eyes
@Grumpyoldpersonwithcats he was helping - he knew you were due to take it down anyway on 5th so job done

@learieonthewildmoor Best wishes to cat four for a speedy recovery. Neither of mine were sent home with a collar, so it must depend on the vets. I did have to keep them separated after I got Matilda spayed though. She seemed to be feeling no pain at all and they were constantly trying to play fight. It was a very long few days of swapping over who was shut in the spare room and indignant meowing at the closed door.

I reckon it was the new ginger TC who must have broken in and attacked Grumpy's Christmas tree. Poor Basil just came running to find out what had happened.

Gizmo strikes a pose on the coffee table.

He's was actually trying to locate the bowl which had contained cherries and cream, to lick it out.

what a handsome chap

I cooked a chicken this evening and Toad has been shouting at me to share it with him. They have all had some but he wants more. I offered him cuddles instead and received an emphatic no. He is currently camped out in the kitchen gazing longingly at the oven.

Poor Toad.

Kitty has spent the day moving between the top of her tree and under the duvet. This flat is rapidly becoming one big cat bed.

This flat is rapidly becoming one big cat bed.

Our house is also one big cat bed.
I imagine all our houses are........

🤣

Now Lexter has joined in by just..staring. It's quite unnerving being stared at continually and silently.

That look from Lexter does look very unnerving. Boris loves roast chicken and often shout miaows whenever I have anything in the oven, despite the fact that about 90% of the time I'm just crisping up a jacket potato.

Diclofenac gel, which is apparently the same as Volterol, is available on prescription, Allergic. Half of our patients at work seem to be on it.

Slightly different stuff I think - I know the OTC Voltarol is a different diclofenac compound to the prescription one I used to have (one is Potassium, the other Sodium)

Plus what I have is deferred pain a lot of the time - the pain shoots from the damaged area in my spine to anywhere down my legs & feet, and covering the entirety of my back half from the waist down isn't really feasible!

I just wish they would hurry up with getting to see me - the neuro team apparently accepted my case on 11 November, and I'm still waiting to have the consultation for something classed as urgent!

It's getting worse week by week, and it's getting to the stage where if it gets much worse I'll be camping out in A&E which in itself will make it worse due to the seats there.

Ohh, that sounds horrific. I hope you get an appointment with neuro soon.

Hello, hello. This daft bat didn't realise there was a new thread. Oops.

Welcome @HomelyK and your 7 cats! Amazing. I'd love more, but I cannot add any more chaos to this household with 2 ND kids. My two boys are Walter 10, black and white, and Benny 1, orange. Walter is very dim, Benny naughty, both absolutely soft love-bugs.

As for how long these threads have been going, I'm fairly sure they were around when Walter was a kitten!

Happy new year to all. Can't remember all I've just seen, but especially loving Basil's downing of the Christmas tree, Kitty in her tower, cat 4 in general, and of course, my favourite bonnet pics of the idiot sisters. In the uncertain times of my life right now, it's lovely to see familiar furry faces!

Hi @coastergirl and Happy New Year to you and to Walter and Benny.

Happy new year to you too @TheBroonOneAndTheWhiteOne. It was lovely to read how well Gizmo and Linney ate getting along now. I remember how pleased we all were that TC stayed within the thread and I'm so glad it worked out!

Happy New Year @coastergirl!

The tower even has room service. I stood on the sofa arm last night to deliver Kitty’s evening Dreamies.

Although we will not be making a habit of that… (yeah, right).

Oh she has you very well trained 🤣

That’s her grinning face in the photo.

I was originally fostering her & her kitten, who was a very big character. She had exactly the same expression immediately after he left with his new family!

Kitty knows she has landed on her paws with you! I love the cat tree. I have one but it's not as fancy and is looking past its best, but the cats still love it.

When she first arrived, she immediately found the highest point in the flat - the top of a bookcase in the bedroom - & stayed there until she’d seen all she wanted to see. She’s got high vantage points in both rooms now.

Happy New Year Coaster.

The tree is back up - but Basil and Karl are well positioned to keep an eye on it.

I expect Basil & Karl know that if the tree stays up after the 6th all the decorations will turn into goblins, so they’re waiting in case they need to defend the house.

A present for @TheBroonOneAndTheWhiteOne.

Aw. Thank you, Grumpy.