The Cat Thread

Sounds like the kind of cat that will do well outside! Handsome fellas.

Any bets on how much it's going to cost to repair Max's foot? He's still hopping on three legs so it's probably a broken toe. When he sprained the front one a few weeks ago he was walking normally the next day.

Should really get that insurance...

Sounds like the kind of cat that will do well outside! Handsome fellas.

Hendricks will do well. Tonic, not so much; she's really skittish. They go outside when we're at home but the cat flap is broken (one of those microchip ones) and i haven't managed to fix / replace it yet.

One of my cats broke his femur. He was not insured. It cost about £3000 to fix, total.

Get insured. Get insured now....

Only problem is that most insurance takes a couple of weeks to kick in, just so you don't leave it until you actually break something and need to use it.

Jebus. That's nuts. Our friend's cat broke his paw a few years ago and it cost them £500. But that was in Dartmouth Park.

We live in a part of London that's usually on fire so it should be cheaper.

Oh... I hope he is OK and your bank is OK too. I am grateful for insurance as Patch's op was nearly £1k. On the subject of insurance, I think I said it before, but dealing with John Lewis has been a treat considering, haven't had the payment yet but it was due to the vet couldn't be bothered to send on the paperwork... JL even helped to chase up the paperwork from the vet which did the magic as I had the practice manager calling me back right away...

JL takes I think 2 months to kick in though...

Hello Sam 8 (is it?)

Patch gets more clingy each time after the vet, as if she is more and more sure that I will never abandon her... even since after the op, she wants proper cuddles, not just sitting on lap... which is nice!

Thanks. Yes it is Sam 8.
That's what he is like, far more lap cat, wants me to take naps during the day so he can snuggle up to me, follows me everywhere, and when he is sitting looking out of the window keeps meowing as if he is talking to me.

Re the above discussions about insurance. Get pet insurance. It definitely pays for itself.
Sammys cancer treatment 4 years ago - £3998 - I paid £87 of this.
Recent eye operation £1600, because of his age, I paid £275 of this.
In the past 11 years, I've paid a total of around £2650 in monthly premiums. Even the two incidents above more than cover the outlay. There have been plenty more (getting covered in blue paint, getting covered in oil, teeth extractions etc). It is reassuring to know that in an emergency I can turn up at the vet hospital at 4am on a Sunday morning (the oil incident) and know that the bill is always going to be manageable. Up until age ten that was always around £87.

Aside from this, I always know that when the time comes, the decision to say goodbye will be based on what is best for him, and not what I can afford to pay.

Just out of interest, I have been meaning to ask you for a while... have there been Sam 1 to 7?

Yes!
Since I was about two years old I've had a cat called Sam. The first was a stray and my mum named it as we didn't know if it was a boy or girl.
Sam 2 got run over
Sam 3 lasted for around 14 years
Long break
Sam 4 disappeared at 6 months, think he got a brain tumour and went off to die
Sam 5 got hit by a car 2.5 years
Sam 6 (called Oscar for 6 weeks then caught my mum calling him Sam) played with a dead rat, got peritonitis, died 2.5 years
Long break
Sam 7 hand reared, got infection, had very poor immunity due to hand rearing, died at 2.5 years.

Each had their own personalities and particularly as Sam 7 died in the same week as a major distressing family bereavement, you understand that whilst cats have their own personality you can heal your grief very quickly by getting another; not so with people.

Amazing!

I am so sorry about the early passing of Sam 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7... Sam 8 is sure to be around for years to come! :-)

Cats are amazing, maybe I am projecting my human emotions onto Patch too much, maybe she understands, I don't know, but whenever I am feeling low, which has happened a fair bit over the last couple of years, she always has a way to make me feel better. So I might have saved her from the cat home initially, she has most certainly saved me way more over ther last (just under) 3 years.

Back from the vet. Probably not a broken paw after all and apparently it's most probably a bite. More antibiotics.
If he's not better in a few days, x-Ray's but tbh, he's walking much better now (actually using the leg).

£50 felt like dodging a bullet.

Get insurance. We've payed what the annual cost would be in the last month.

I did read a report years ago which said a single cat which only lived with a single person had a far more special communicative relationship than when there were others living in the household. Because you are more likely to talk to the cat all the time, the cat is likely to be far more responsive and sensitive to you, to the point it thinks it is human. This is very much the case if you've had the cat since it was a kitten.

@Well_is_it pleased it's nothing too serious.

How do you know I talk to the cat all the time??? Don't tell anyone they might think I am mad!!

I say morning, night night, bye bye etc etc to Patch and she seems to understand, esp the night night as she doesn't try wake me up anymore. She would sit quietly near me or in the living room until she hears a "special" sound made when I pick up my glasses, then she comes running to me, then my day is brightened!!

Jasper wouldn't leave these rims alone. Mostly because he liked licking the cellophane wrap I think. Strange.

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What a fantastic looking cat.

Cats love circles. Seriously, it's a thing.

Bonus marks for serious amounts of fluff and wildcat ears.

Ah, that explains it. He did sit inside the rims for ages.

That's not even half the fluff. I swear we empty more fur out of the Hoover on a weekly basis than he actually has on him!

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Ha, does he let you tickle that belly fluff?

Yeah, my Monkey was good as new after the recovery period for the broken leg. The cost was a huge shock, but luckily I'd had a good period with work (freelance) so it was ok. Could have done without it, obviously, but there wasn't much of a question as to whether I was going to get him fixed, or.... not.
It did make us question the whole insurance/vet bills thing - are vet bills so expensive because insurance pays for it, and insurers want you to pay your premiums? I don't doubt that's why American healthcare is so expensive.

Local vets vary massively in cost depending on how wealthy the area is, usually. The expensive stuff is things like broken bones/chemo because they have to see a specialist for that stuff and they are just plain expensive.

I don't doubt that. But the thing about vets is that medical science and care has increased dramatically for pets. Before the vet would look at the cat and say 'he has a tumour on his paw, it's likely to turn into full blown cancer, then you'll need to say goodbye'
Now it is 'tumour on the paw, let's get it analysed and send him off to the pet cancer centre for surgery'.

Atti and Scout having a nap yesterday afternoon. I just had to tuck them in.

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That's so cute I want to punch a wall.

SOOOOOOOOO cute I wanna make a wall size poster out of it!!!