Those of you who read my stuff will know that a lovely ginger tom cat set up home in our garage.
He had been living in there for...Oh...maybe a year.
Initially he was very timid. He had a strong distrust of humans.
I would put food out for him....he would scurry in lying close to the ground......he would gobble down whatever was left for him and then beat it into the bushes.
Towards the end of last year I had got him to trust me...and he would come to me...but soon would run off again.
I fed him, treated his battle scars, flea treated him...looked after him like I do my own cats.
Himself was caught enticing him into the house....and pretty soon he was stretching out in front of the log fire(the cat that is, nit himself).....belly turned to the warmth.
There was one large drawback...he was a whole male.
He still had his fuzzy nudgers.
This meant that he was likely to spray....to mark his territory.
Now, I did not relish keeping my eagle eyes on him so that any squirts were dealt with promptly.....so I broached the possibility of getting him 'done'.
Himself said 'No way are you spending money on a stray cat'
But eventually I worked my way around to getting agreement.
So a couple of weeks ago he went for a pre-op check.
His surgery was planned for this Wednesday.
I took him into the vets and she had a look at his teeth too.
There was one broken tooth and lots of tartar on his teeth so she asked about getting his teeth sorted while he was under the anaesthetic.
So I gave the go ahead for that to be done too.
I knew that this was not going to be a cheap 'do'.
They told me that he would not have surgery until the early afternoon.
At about 3 pm the vet rang me to say that she had done the castration, but had to stop doing the dental work while they cooled him down....he had suffered a reaction to the anaesthetic.....his heart rate had gone haywire and his body temp shot up.
They did manage to stabilise him and then he had five teeth removed.
I could pick him up at 6pm.
My son in law took me to pick the lad up.....and I went in and was told what to look out for and to bring him back if there were problems.....and then the bill....£300.
I had to take him back yesterday for a post op check....and he has an infection in his tooth socket...so that was another £42.
Am I complaining? No. Having an animal comes with responsibiity....and that responsibility is to ensure your pet has the best life you can give it.
Himself does not know the cost of this treatment...he thinks it cost about £50...he would go nuts if he knew.....so this is between you and me.
I took the staff at the vets soome tea bags, biscuits and chocolates.
Clawde said I should not take them ginger nut....and I had to ask them if they had found two ball he had lost.
He had been living in there for...Oh...maybe a year.
Initially he was very timid. He had a strong distrust of humans.
I would put food out for him....he would scurry in lying close to the ground......he would gobble down whatever was left for him and then beat it into the bushes.
Towards the end of last year I had got him to trust me...and he would come to me...but soon would run off again.
I fed him, treated his battle scars, flea treated him...looked after him like I do my own cats.
Himself was caught enticing him into the house....and pretty soon he was stretching out in front of the log fire(the cat that is, nit himself).....belly turned to the warmth.
There was one large drawback...he was a whole male.
He still had his fuzzy nudgers.
This meant that he was likely to spray....to mark his territory.
Now, I did not relish keeping my eagle eyes on him so that any squirts were dealt with promptly.....so I broached the possibility of getting him 'done'.
Himself said 'No way are you spending money on a stray cat'
But eventually I worked my way around to getting agreement.
So a couple of weeks ago he went for a pre-op check.
His surgery was planned for this Wednesday.
I took him into the vets and she had a look at his teeth too.
There was one broken tooth and lots of tartar on his teeth so she asked about getting his teeth sorted while he was under the anaesthetic.
So I gave the go ahead for that to be done too.
I knew that this was not going to be a cheap 'do'.
They told me that he would not have surgery until the early afternoon.
At about 3 pm the vet rang me to say that she had done the castration, but had to stop doing the dental work while they cooled him down....he had suffered a reaction to the anaesthetic.....his heart rate had gone haywire and his body temp shot up.
They did manage to stabilise him and then he had five teeth removed.
I could pick him up at 6pm.
My son in law took me to pick the lad up.....and I went in and was told what to look out for and to bring him back if there were problems.....and then the bill....£300.
I had to take him back yesterday for a post op check....and he has an infection in his tooth socket...so that was another £42.
Am I complaining? No. Having an animal comes with responsibiity....and that responsibility is to ensure your pet has the best life you can give it.
Himself does not know the cost of this treatment...he thinks it cost about £50...he would go nuts if he knew.....so this is between you and me.
I took the staff at the vets soome tea bags, biscuits and chocolates.
Clawde said I should not take them ginger nut....and I had to ask them if they had found two ball he had lost.
