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!