Our Babies Grow Up...

Our little lovelies, seen here exploring the rooftops together, do everything together and love one another to bits, but as you know Chivers tries to love Minnie Mou just a little too much so the time has come to get that sorted - for both of them!

Their pre-op checkup was this morning at 11.00 which was a bit of a nightmare because we had to keep them entertained long enough to get them into the dreaded cat basket.  Their normal routine is to wait for John to get up sometime around 7.00am when they get fed, then they normally venture outside for a constitutional in one or other of the cat-litter trays or, in Chivers case, he digs to Australia in the designated cat-loo scattering compost and ash all over the place before disappearing over the fence to the world beyond.  Obviously we couldn't let them out of our sight because they don't always come back to call no matter how hard we try and induce them - they were confined to barracks so we couldn't be cross with them when they ran all round the lounge playing Chase Me, Chase Me!

We eventually got them into the basket at the second attempt - Minnie Mou managed to escape the first time but once she was in she lay down quietly.  Chivers wailed all the way down to Peyia (and all the way back).  John finds it all very stressful and I was in the shit when I realised I hadn't picked up their record books.

This was compounded when we tried to take a short cut down through Peyia and ended up on the wrong road with everything looking very unfamiliar - a heated debate ensued on which way we should go next - and I didn't have a clue because I didn't know where we were!

We eventually got to the vets and both cats got the once over.  Minnie Mou is now just over 2.5 kilos so she is big enough for the op and, as her teeth have begun to change, she is mature enough too.  

Dr Inna says she is going to have a good look at Minnie's ears when the operation takes place as they are still prone to mites and it will be easier as she will be under anasthaetic.  We try and keep them clean but she squirms like a squirmy thing when we do - when Dr Inna does it she sits perfectly still - Dr Inna obviously has the touch although the minute she let Minnie go Minnie shot under Chivers for safety.

Chivers (seen here cleaning his boxing glove paw) is now over 3.5 kilos and seems fine except he had enlarged lymph glands on his neck.  Apparently this is most likely down to the fact that his teeth are changing too but we will need to keep an eye on it as it could be something worse which we don't want to think about.  Fortunately he had the leukaemia vaccination so that ought to be able to be ruled out.  It does explain why he has a 'chubby chops' appearance periodically. 

Satisfied that they are both up to it we have booked them in for their operations tomorrow and they have to be at the vets early so it means we wont have to try and amuse them - it will be straight in the basket as soon as we get up.  I can see that it is going to be a very stressful day worrying about them both and the 35 minute drive back to Droushia could be interesting - hopefully they will be woosey and wont wail.