Thirteen Things

Apologies for my lack of blogging lately, Meowmie has been so busy, she is managing a major office move and has no spare time to help me. She does spin by and read your bloggies via Bloglines but apologies for not leaving comments as much as we would like! You know, she hasn't even taken any new photos or videos of me either to put on my blog, but I think she will do so this weekend in the day time...you see she leaves for work when it is still darkish and doesn't get home til after dark so there is no nice light for me to pose. I am very eager to show off my latest whisker growth to you all!

My Thursday Thirteen is inspired by my surroundings, here are thirteen famous buildings we can see from our home!

1. Canary Wharf



2. Tower 42

3. St. Paul's Cathedral



4. The Old Bailey

5. The London Eye



6. Big Ben

7. The Barbican



8. St. Pancras Station



9. BT Tower

10. Centre Point

11. The Trellick Tower

12. The Stock Exchange Tower

13. The Gherkin

Healthwise I am OK, just one sick-up since my last blog post on Monday, and that was today - I binged my food whilst Meowmie was at work and was sick on the sofa! Well...what does she expect if she leaves us alone all day!

Happy thursday!

Mesmerised!

Meowmie found this old photo of me taken in August - what do you fink I am so mesmerised by? If you recoginse the room from previous photos and movies then that is a big clue!



Healthwise I have been good and steady since my cystitis scare, just a couple of sick-ups for Mum to clear up (just in case she was missing that particular task). Still on my catfish and tapioca Sensitivity dry food, I really really really really miss chicken...

Happy Meezer & Mancat Monday!

A MeMe about..Me!

I've been tagged by Yao-Lin! Here are the rules:


* Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog;

* Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself;

* Tag 7 random people at the end of your post & include links to their blogs;

* Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 Random and/or Weird Facts About Me!

1. I won't take food from my Meowmie's hand - even if it is chicken! She must place it on the floor or in my dish.

2. When I was a small 14 week old kitten and had only just moved in with Meowmie J, I attacked her by jumping on her back and digging my claws in cos I thought she was attacking Castle - she wasn't she was just training him to use the litter-tray!

3. My Meowmies have never heard me growl.

4. I have only hissed a handful of times in my whole life - and these are when Castle pounces on me and I am not in the mood to play with him.

5. I love doing headbutts - so much so that I get bit delirious and crash into things headfirst and then do rolly-pollys and end up lying upside down with my belly up!

6. I always purr - the only time I do not purr is when Meowmie gives me my medicines - but as soon as I have had them I start purring again. I even quietly rumble to myself when I am laying curled up with Castle.

7. When I was a kitten I spent the first few days at Meowmie J's hiding in a box and wouldn't come out, Meowmie J thought I was shy, but it turned out I was ill and had quite a bad cat-flu like illness in my upper-respiratory tract. The Vet at the time said that the illness would come back in times of stress, but it has never come back yet and I hope it never does!

I think this MeMe might be quite old now so I nominate any of the lovely cats who invited me round for Turkey at Thanksgiving who haven't done it yet! Don't tell Meowmie but I teleported over to all these wonderful places and stuffed myself silly with Turkey! What lovely furrends I have!

HOT(M)BC aka Sanjee, Boni Maroni, Mini, Gree and Pepi
DaisyMae Maus & The Feline Americans
Tiger Lily
Sweet Ariel

Thanksgiving...

I know in America you chaps are celebrating Thanksgiving so Ise send you all my best wishes and hope you all have a lovely holiday weekend. I hope you are all enjoying your yummy turkey dinners! I am very jealous indeed.

I am thankful that I now appear to be better and recovered from the bout of cystitis...after I went to see Ben Vet the other day it took me a couple of hours to get back to normal and I have not displayed any further symptoms of cystitis and I have not urinated any blood either. I did not like the Cystaid tablets so Meowmie has not carried on giving them to me - but it seems I did not really ned them either! Meowmie is relieved and hopes that I am now fixed in that respect. So do I!!! Very uncomfortable condition.

...and I thank you all for you kind thoughts and lovely messages whilst I was suffering - your words of encouragement are very welcome and very much appreciated! Ise think the Cat Blogosphere and its members are wonderful! :)

Some festive images for you :)

PS - Yao-Lin, Ise haven't forgotten to do my MeMe! Meowmie needs more time to help me with that one - tonight's post was a hurried affair!

PPS - I'se be round to your blogs soon for a read and to say hello - when Meowmie finally sits down and helps me!

Not A Good Day...

Meowmie did not go to work today cos she was still feeling ill from Snowy Vienna, she explained that she needed a day of TOTAL rest in order to have the strength to go to work tomorow - she HAS to go tomorrow cos she has an important meeting in the morning.

After Meowmie had her breakfast she then proceeded to do a load of moving things around!!! She removed her old pooter from her bedroom and put it in the recycling bay downstairs, then she moved the mini-stereo from the sitting room and set it up in the bedroom and then she unpacked her new Harmon Kardon Soundstick speakers and set them up in the sitting room. Her main music system now is basically her MacBook hooked up to the new HK speakers - which sound awesome!!! They really do give a clear sound with a superb mid-range and bass..they also light up blue when powered up...hey, I happen to know my stuff when it comes to music....don't be so surpirsed at this little kitty! They do look weird though....



After Meowmie had exchuasted herself and collapsed onto the sofa she noticed me acting weird again...I was straining to go to the loo, not just in my tray but on my various beds, the rug and the sofa, but nothing was coming out...So off we went to see Ben Vet who luckily had a slot free at short notice. By the time I got there I was straining bloody urine drops - Ben had a feel around and more blood came out of me along with my urine. Ben said he suspects it is just a common but severe Cystitis again, possibly bought on by stress (this what happens when cat-sitters come into my home!!!) or my weakened immune system (hmm, can't blame the cat-sitter ofr that one). However he said that we need to keep it in mind that one of the medicines I was on during my chemo - cyclophosphamide - can cause Haemorrhagic Cystitis, which is cystitis but with an added risk of haemorraging.

Ben Vet reassured Meowmie that I was OK for now and he gave me shot of morphine-like drugs to relieve any pain cos I can't have anti-inflammatories cos I take a steroid drug. He then gave me a shot of anti-biotics which will last for two weeks, this should fight any infection I have. I've also got some Cystaid capsules to take twice a day. Meowmie just gave me one but I hated it and threw it up again. YUK!

I am chilling with Castle now and the morphine drugs have definitely eased the pain down there. Ben Vet said if the treatments administered today don't work then he needs to investigate further. Today marks 11 months post-diagnosis of my lymphoma, and I know everyday is a bonus especially as I have now exceeded the 6-9 month 'average' survival time. I am the Furry Fighter and will fight this as best as I can!



PS - check out my whiskers by bigifying the picture! They are growing nicely now :)

A Special MeMe...

I'se been tagged for a lovely MeMe by my good friend Mickey The Black Cat. This MeMe originates from Miss Peach's blog , this is in her very own words from her very own blog...

A SIMPLE BUT VERY IMPORTANT MEME: List your treasures and tag other kitties and their humans also, as many as you like. Let this reflection spread through out the world. We need to count our contentments as Blessings!
What do you look back over and treasure enough to place inside your
BOX OF LIFE?

Well...after much thought this is what I would place in my very own Box Of Life:

1) Castle - he is my brother, my love, my buddy, my companion and my protector. We are from the same litter and the only times we have been apart was when I was in the hospital last Christmas for 8 days having my life saved. He missed me terribly and pined for me, mewling and crying around the house. I missed him too but was more concerned at being in a cage at the Vet Place!



2) Meowmie L - she feeds me, loves me, adores me, protects me and makes sure my life is the best it can possibly be.

3) Meowmie J - she was our first meowmie and my original forever-home giver, but then she got allergic to me and Castle and we came to live with Meowmie L. We were very sad we had to leave but Meowmie J comes to see us regularly, we have not forgotten her, we still welcome her when she comes to visit, love her very much and act like we have never been parted. If anyone else comes to the house we hide.

4) Ben Vet and Caroline Vet and their wonderful team of nurses and helpers. They have cared wonderfully for me and helped my Meowmie with the bills by reducing costs where possible and letting her pay for my treatment in installments - Meowmie has insurance but cos I am over 10 years old she has to pay 20% of the costs...this past year that was almost £2000!!!

5) Chicken

6) My 12" square piece of fleece that I have had since I was a kitten. This gets placed on my main bed (which is currently my new pad I got from Simply Siamese).

7) My brown cushion which I bought with me from Meowmie J's house to Meowmie L's house.

8) My brown paper Muji bag. Ihave had this for a couple of years, I liked to sit in it and watch Meowmie and Castle.



9) My wildlife documentaries - I love to watch these for hours on end.

10) My medicines - steroid and lactulose, cos these keep me going!

11) Anything else I may have forgotten! :)

I will tag Yao-Lin, Boy and Tamra Maew!

I have now forgiven my Meowmie for leaving me for two days and have shown her my love once again. However, she has a very runny nose and a croaky voice and a bad headache...she said she got this whilst she was away in the snow in Vienna, hopefully this will teach her a lesson and she will realise that it is not safe to leave home ever again.

Trauma & Neglect

I won't beat about the bush...Meowmie abondoned me and Castle.

The day after her birthday she just upped and left us. Packed a bag and went out the front door without a by-your-leave! (Meowmie - actually, I cuddled and kissed you to the point of almost missing the train!). How selfish is our meowmie eh? Especially after we....er.....made the cake mentioned below for her!

So we have had a cat-sitter come by, invade our home and then torture us for weeks on end (Meowmie - it's only been TWO days!!!). She grabbed me each time she came in and forced my medicines down me - she also DIDN'T give us anything else apart from our dry catfish cat-food, not even chicken or lobster!!! (Meowmie - er, Storm, you are on an exclusion diet, and have been for weeks! Even I haven't given you chicken, and certainly not lobster)

I have punished Meowmie suitable; I have played hard-to-get all evening, I have not made a fuss of her, I have not ran up to her, I have been hiding my purrs as best as I can, I have certainly not sat down or laid down next to her on the sofa and I will remain wide-eyed and distant for a couple more hours yet.

Despite the above, I made the effort to find out where Meowmie had been. Meowmie went to see her family in Vienna, her brother moved there 12 years ago and now has a family of his own so Meowmie went to hang out with them and visit her nephew who has just turned two years of age. It snowed on the second day of the trip, here are some pictures:

The view from the bedroom window of the guest house:


The trams outside Sudbahnhof (train station):


The Rathaus!!! Meowmie says this means 'town hall'. This is not one of Meowmie's pictures, but it is a picture she stole from the internets to show you one of the lovely Christmas markets (the majority of them start this weekend):


This is a Gluhwein stall which Meowmie found at a small Christmas Market in the main shopping street Mariahilfer Strasse. Gluhwein is a delicious hot, spicey wine which makes humans very warm when it is cold:


This is a tiny snowman that Meowmie found on the train station near Vienna this morning on the way back to the YooKay:

PS - Ise glad to have her home really, just don't let her know yet...she needs to learn to never abandon us again!

A Confession...

Some of you may be aware of this, and some may not, but there was a HUGE fire in East London yesterday - it caused all sorts of chaos...if you bigify the picture below you can read about the fire on the BBC News website!!!

...ummmm....errrr.....

Well, you see, it is Meowmie's birthday today and me and Castle went out to the cake factory yesterday to get a special cake for her. Cos Meowmie is very old we thought it might be wise to do a 'test run' on the cake and candles whilst we were there...just to make sure they all fitted on the cake and didn't overpower it when they were lit....ummmm......I guess 40 candles is alot...



...smoke from the cake fire could be seen for miles around, from one side of London to the other!!!





Ooopsie! Happy Birthday Meowmie!

Sunday Lazing...

This is me and Castle cuddled up together when I was at my skinniest a few months ago, which was 2.9kgs (6.3lbs)...



This is me and my brother today, see how much healthier an extra 600grams (1.4lbs) makes me look? I mustn't turn into a Fatty Boom Boom Bum like Castle though...mind you, he is slowly losing weight, maybe another reason why I don't look quite so small in the picture.



Meowmie noticed that Castle and I keep squashing ourselves up together on our lovely new fleecey pad which we won from Simply Siamese, there are plenty of other comfy bed places in our home...so Meowmie did an experiment, she placed our two fleece pads side by side to see which one we would choose...and we both curled up on the new one, ignoring our white flecta-bed! This is how much we love our new pad!!!



PS - I christened it the other day with a sick-up...so Meowmie had to clean it and it washed up perfectly!!! It really is a lovely, cat-friendly pad!

Fab Friday!!!

I received my presents for winning the Simply Siamese Halloween Category!!! I got a lovely new pad and a Nip Nana. Although I am not fussed with Nip I still LOVE my prizes, especially my new pad! Thank you all at Simply Siamese for the lovely prizes, I really am utterly chuffed :)

I immediately made a beeline for my lovely new pad and I sniffed at it a bit (cos it had been wrapped up with a Nip Nana) and then I did a divebomb on it and rolled around like a kitten on it! Here is a picture of me checking out my new pad and then my Meowmie caught me acting like a kitten and filmed it, sorry the film is dark, it was night time and the lights aren't so great:

Castle immediately stole the Nip Nana and went bonkers for it. He is such a junkie, I am very surprised at how easily he has allowed himself to get attached to the Nip! I guess he can have that as his prize, he did make up one half of the winning entry I suppose...he did try to steal my pad off me but we have decided to share it, somehow we both manage to squeeze on to it together! I'll get Mum to post a picture of that soon!

My visit with Ben Vet went extremely well - I haven't seen him for ages and he made SUCH a BIG fuss of me when we saw me!!! He is very happy with my appearance, and now that my patchy hair on my lower back is almost grown back properly he said I look less 'moth-eaten' apparently!!! If anyone else had called me moth-eaten I would have clawed their eyes out, however Ise love Ben and he has been my hero from Day One of my Lymphoma problem so I found it quite sweet coming from him and just purred at him while he rubbed my cheeks.

Ben Vet said everything feels normal, heart rate is good, no sign of any cystitis and I have gained weight - going from 3.2kgs (7lbs) to 3.5kgs (7.7lbs). He didn't bother taking my temperature cos I was a bit full of poo and he said that the temperature reading would be of my poo and not of me!!! He has given Meowmie an enema (HAHAHAHA!) dose to give to me (SCREEEAMMM!). I still have to stick to my exclusion diet too.

Also, whilst we were there Meowmie pointed to a lady who works there and said "Stormie, that's your catsitter". NOOOOOOOO...this can only mean one thing, Meowmie is definitely going away somewhere sometime somehow and abondoning me for weeks on end! (Meowmie - I am going away for two days).

13 UK Laws

1. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament

2. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British king or queen's image upside-down



3. It is illegal for a woman to be topless in Liverpool except as a clerk in a tropical fish store

4. Eating mince pies on Christmas Day is banned

5. If someone knocks on your door in Scotland and requires the use of your toilet, you are required to let them enter

6. In the UK a pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a policeman's helmet



7. The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the King, and the tail of the Queen (in order for her to have the finest whale bone corsets made)

8. It is illegal not to tell the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing

9. It is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament wearing a suit of armour

10. It is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls of York, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow

11. It is illegal for a cab in the City of London to carry rabid dogs or corpses.

12. It is illegal to be drunk and in charge of a cow.

13. It is illegal to hail a taxi if you have the plague or Black Death.

Plague/black death rats look like these:



A brief update on me...after boasting about my five-day run of no sick-ups I only went and threw up yesterday!!! Otherwise I am well...and getting ready for my vet appointment this afternoon with Ben Vet!

I Dare You All!

I have managed to get my Meowmie to play in the last dare Anastasia made before she went away....posted over at The Cat Realm

“I Dare You All to Dress Up Your Staff. Dress up your humans in the most ridiculous, silly, weird, comical, insane, funny, humiliating, splendid, outrageous outfit you can imagine, post their picture on your blog and put your name and the link to the post in the Mr. Linky box below.”

Here's she is....



Meowmie, I thought you said you were gonna play??? Can you please put your mask on now?!

Still missing you Dubs...

It's three years today since the cancer took you away to play at The Bridge...weez often look at the space on the balcony where your hutch used to be, and we miss you pressing your little face against the glass door and scratching to be let in and Meowmie misses your headbutts and Bunny Flops too.

Rest In Peace Little Man xxx

Fireworks and me!

I am sorry Ise not blogging for a while but Meowmie has been so busy and just not had the time to help me...what a selfish woman she can be sometimes! I'll be round in the next day to catch up with you all! :)

Well, as you can see from my title today, I think my cystitis - or whatever it was - might be gone! In fact when we got back from seeing Charlie Vet and having the anti-biotic injections on Friday, I didnt show any more of the symptons I had been showing that morning, and I haven't done so since either! I had my last anti-biotic pill last night and am going to see Ben Vet tomorow for a check-up. I have also had a record-breaking run of no sick-ups! I have not been sick since Friday morning!!! That is FIVE days - the longest I have been without any sicks for quite some time! I guess my lactulose is working along with the exclusion diet.

We just had Guy Fawkes night here in the YooKay, it was on November 5th. Sometimes it is called Bonfire Night too. It is an annual event and celebrates the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot of the 5th of November 1605 in which a number of Roman Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament.

Bonfire night involves fireworks displays and the building of bonfires on which "guys" are burnt (although this is more rare nowadays). These "guys" are traditionally effigies of Guy Fawkes, the most famous of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators. As you imagine November 5th and the days leading up to it are not exactly relaxing for us poor little pets! Outdoor pets should be kept in on the 5th and indoor kitties should be provided access to their favourite hiding places cos the sounds of all the fireworks is very scary and very loud! Cos we live in Central London we have to suffer the sounds of the giant firework displays as well as the little local and private displays too! Meowmie loves them though and finks they are very pretty.






Oh...Meowmie J's neighbour is taking her siamese cat (Manson) to the vet today - he is having his doo-dahs removed cos he keeps trying to make babies with his own SON!!!! Please send him some purrs!

Unexpected Vet Visit

Oh dear, what a morning! Meowmie was just about to leave for work and she noticed me hopping back and forth between my litter-tray and my bed under the radiator. I was trying to do a wee-wee but nothing was coming out, I was also trying to do a poo and that eventually came out after which I immediately tummy-sick-upped my recently devoured breakfast!

It was just my usual constipation/lack of motility problem on the poo/breakfast expulsion - however, i continued to visit and revisit my tray trying to urinate but nothing was coming out. So meowmie called the vet and he said to bring me in...Ben Vet wasn't in today so I saw a new vat called Charlie Vet, he was nice but I missed Ben Vet cos he knows me well. I did headbutt Charlie Vet though, to welcome him to the practise cos he is new.

Anyways, everything was normal, ise gained a bit of weight, temperature OK, no suspicious lumps or anything, so they think I may have...Cystitis!!! How I got that I don't know! It can be stress-related but nothing is stressing me out apart from getting lactulose syringed down my throat twice a day! The vet said that because I am on a steroid my immune system is suppressed so I am more prone to getting things like this now. Anyhow, I had a shot of anti-biotics and some pain-relief and now I'm on anti-bitoics for the next 5 days. I really hope they work cos if they don't then it means there is something else wrong with me, possibly in my urinary tract and then I will have to go in for a day, or long enough to allow Ben vet to get a sterile sample of my urine...i fink this may involve a tube inserted into me :(

Ise swear Ise not doing this on purpose- or putting it on - cos I heard her say 'cat-sitter' the other day too!

I'm A Winner!

(and a Runner Up too!!!)

Oh my goodness I can not believe that I did so well in the Halloween Contest! Me and Castle won the Simply Siamese sponsored award "Best Meezer in Costume" for our Bride of Meezerstein outfits!!!



And I also came runner-up in "The Make-Me-Ware-Anything-but-a-Smile and I'll-Skratch-Yer-Frikkin-Eyes-Owt Award" for the best Photoshopped entry!!! I am not sure which of my pictures won that award so Ise gonne link to me and my brother's individual entries.



Thanks to Skeezix for this wonderful competition, it was so much fun! I loved all the entries and, in my eyes, every single contestant deserves a prize :)

...and here are 13 Thursday Thoughts to mull over....

1. When weeding the garden, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.

2. Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

3. Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?

4. In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

5. The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.

6. Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

7. Have you noticed since everyone has a camcorder these days no one talks about seeing UFOs like they used to?

8. Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.

9. How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

10. Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

11. If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.

12. Generally speaking, you aren't learning much when your lips are moving.

13. Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.