Pebble poses for the camera.

I didn't do any blogging yesterday, so consider this a belated Friday Cat Blogging.



Putney, London
December 2008 

We lost one of the Putney mogs at the weekend. Not the Jeffster, who's recovered remarkably well from his amputation. Instead it was a sudden and surprising loss, as Calli the little yellow cat was found dead by our downstairs neighbour who was cat sitting.

I'd only been away less than 24 hours. We're completely shocked, and terribly sad.

Calli had been rescued as a semi-feral kitten back in 1998. She was very affectionate, and followed us around the house, protesting with her high pitched mew if she saw us leaving the safety of the house. She'd done outside, and inside was so much nicer. We're going to miss our little yellow shadow, who followed us from room to room, making sure her humans never got too far away.

Here's the last photograph I took of her.

He's back from the vet, minus one leg (and looking rather bald), but doing surprisingly well.

In fact the first thing he did was climb to the top of the house, where he's now sitting in a wardrobe. I suspect I'd be doing much the same if I was him. He's due a check up in five days, and the stitches should be out in ten.

Thanks to all for their thoughts and good wishes - and thanks to Richard at Roehampton Veterinary Centre for an excellent job.

What we'd thought was an abscess on the Jeffster's rear right foot has turned out to be something a lot worse.

After noticing some swelling last week, we'd taken him along to the vet's, where the summer locum gave him some antibiotics. These hadn't done anything, so he'd had a different batch at the end of last week. While Jeoff was doing OK, the swelling hadn't gone down, and we could feel something hard under the skin. We took him back to the vet's this afternoon, and the vet (now back from holiday) rushed him off for an X-ray.

The resulting image wasn't good news - it turns out that what was causing the swelling was a tumour in one of the bones of his foot. It looks like it hasn't spread beyond there, but these are aggressive cancers (the vet reckoned that it had only been six weeks or so to get to where things are today), and there's really only one thing we can do to prevent it spreading. So tomorrow Jeoffroy will have to have his leg amputated.

We're completely shocked, but this will be the best thing for him - even if he does find it a little harder to get around in the future. I don't suspect he'll be climbing over the rooftops for a long while.



I'll take him to the vet's for the operation early tomorrow morning, and we'll see where it goes from here.

...as the rest of it has been a mix of upgrading the lounge PC ("Media Center needs memory badly"), worrying about the abscess on the Jeffster's leg (he's been to the vet, so it's a just a matter of waiting for the antibiotics to work), finishing a 4.5K word piece for IT Expert, conducting an interview about software development tools via Skype to Santa Cruz (with a brief digression into the subject of ice cream), and working on the outline for a piece of commercial writing...

I was hoping to write a piece on the latest volume of Ian Douglas' fascinating wide screen space opera series that mashes military SF with Arthur C. Clarke-style deep history speculation, early Gregory Benford xeno-archaeology and a touch of Greg Egan mathematics, but ran out of time. That's a project for another day...

Instead here's Calli lazing in a window on a hot, bright sunny day.



Putney, London
July 2008

Calli in the window, on a hot summer's day.

Putney, London
July 2008

There's nothing quite so determined as a small yellow cat that absolutely wants to be somewhere.

This was Calli other night, on her way in through the office window.

Putney, London
July 2008

Lynx at San Diego Zoo.

San Diego, California
March 2008

Looking her most Michaelish, Pebble managed to squeeze herself into an empty space in the shelves by my desk.

Here's a nice close up of Jeoffrey, the house Maine Coon.

Putney, London
December 2007

And thanks to all for the birthday wishes

...photograph the cats!

So here's the yellow cat, Calli:



And for everyone who thinks he's the imaginary cat, here's Ben (with Jeoffrey providing depth of field cues):



Travelling to the US last week, I took advantage of the duty free prices^* at Heathrow to pick up a shiny new Nikon D40X. I'm still learning how to use it, but I'm very pleased with the image quality - even with the packaged lens.

^* for some reason the only pieces of high tech equipment where there's little or no difference pricewise between the US and the UK are digital cameras, so duty free is the best place to get one - as long as you've made you your mind in advance...

Cat on the Colosseum



Cat in the Forum

It's about time to cross the streams, and merge three recurring interests across my friends list: ancient history, travel and cats. So here are a couple of old photos that I recently added to Flickr, of some of Rome's famous feral cats lazing about on some of Rome's most famous ruins...

Rome, Italy
September 2000

The Jeffster surveys his domain.

Putney, London
August 2007

I don't normally link to this sort of thing, but it managed to tickle the old funny bone in some sort of a way...

So: Stereocats. Especially the iCat.

Link from the hunkymouse

Joeffrey has taken to sleeping on top of my iBook. I have pointed out to him that the cat is meant to sit on the mat, not the Mac.

marypcb pointed out to me that cats can't spell.

Domo Origato, Mr Roboto.

Because you are the new cat toy of choice in this household.

The cats are currently trying to hunt the Roomba as its trilobitoid form scurries under the sofa. It's like bed mice, only less likely to get annoyed...

As there are enough cat folk here...

To go outside, and there perchance to stay
Or to remain within: that is the question:
Whether 'tis better for a cat to suffer
The cuffs and buffets of inclement weather
That Nature rains on those who roam abroad,
Or take a nap upon a scrap of carpet,
And so by dozing melt the solid hours
That clog the clock's bright gears with sullen time
And stall the dinner bell. To sit, to stare
Outdoors, and by a stare to seem to state
A wish to venture forth without delay,
Then when the portal's opened up, to stand
As if transfixed by doubt. To prowl; to sleep;
To choose not knowing when we may once more
Our readmittance gain: aye, there's the hairball;
For if a paw were shaped to turn a knob,
Or work a lock or slip a window-catch,
And going out and coming in were made
As simple as the breaking of a bowl,
What cat would bear the household's petty plagues,
The cook's well-practiced kicks, the butler's broom,
The infant's careless pokes, the tickled ears,
The trampled tail, and all the daily shocks
That fur is heir to, when, of his own free will,
He might his exodus or entrance make
With a mere mitten? Who would spaniels fear,
Or strays trespassing from a neighbour's yard,
But that the dread of our unheeded cries
And scratches at a barricaded door
No claw can open up, dispels our nerve
And makes us rather bear our humans' faults
Than run away to unguessed miseries?
Thus caution doth make house cats of us all;
And thus the bristling hair of resolution
Is softened up with the pale brush of thought,
And since our choices hinge on weighty things,
We pause upon the threshold of decision.

Anonymous

Found on Cix:cats, and tracked down as far as here. There's an illustrated version too...

Today's PVP definitely features our mogs...

( Comic behind cut )

Especially the "Breakable Shiny Dangly Things!"

See today's Two Lumps for additional details.

It is to laugh, it is...

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