Our Millie

 

I'm so very sad to say that we had to say goodbye to Millie on Friday.   

She had been getting steadily worse over the last month or so and last Tuesday I noticed she was having trouble with one of her back legs and that It was swollen.  A trip to the vets that night revealed it was fluid, she had it in both back legs but one was very bad.  We were told that there was nothing that could be done for that and it was probably time to think about letting her go. 

From then she didn't want to leave her bed much, only to eat, which was very little, and to lie in the sunshine on the step occasionally.  The swelling seemed to go down a bit but by Friday morning she was clearly struggling to walk very far at all and we could tell that It was time.

You can imagine how I felt, I was in bits. I wanted her to have her last hours in the comfort of her own home, and we were able to arrange that, but waiting for the vet to arrive was just awful.  In the end she was comfortable in her bed and had all her favorite treats, cake, some milk and a cheese triangle.  She didn't even notice the vet was there and I was right there beside her all the time.  

Millie chose us 19 years ago, running to us and climbing onto Stevies lap as we knelt down to look at a pile of kittens asleep on the floor, I remember saying to Stevie that we have to have this one because she has chosen us.  We have always been glad that she was the one that came home with us that day.  She had such a quiet gentle soul but could be oh so funny and very playful.  

We were blessed to have her with us for so long and will always miss her sweet little face.

Sleep tight my beautiful girl

-X-

A mostly expensive start to the year so far

On Friday Millie was booked in at the vets to have dental work done.

We knew she had a build up of plaque and, for a while she has had very smelly breath.

but lately she has not been eating much, and although she has never been a fat cat she was starting to look a bit too thin.  

At almost 12 years old, she is getting to be an old lady, but apart from her teeth her pre-op check showed that she is in good health otherwise, thank goodness.

So I dropped her off at 8.30 am on Friday and at around 1 pm they phoned to say that she was all done.  Unfortunately they had to take the majority of her teeth out, 13 in total, she is just left with a couple at the front now.  Plus to get one of her teeth out they had to cut her gum, so she has a few stitches too.  She was not very happy with me on Friday I can tell you!  I expected her to be off her food for a few days, or at least not to eat much, but no, I opened a tin of pilchards for her, mashed them up and she was right in there, finishing off most of the tin!  

Happily she is now more or less back to her normal self, her face was a little bit swollen but that is mostly gone down now and she is eating more than she has done in months!  She has pain killers once a day and has to go back in 10 days for another check-up, but hopefully we should see a big improvement in her eating and weight gain now.

Of course those of you with pets will know that vet visits don't come cheap and this little visit lightened our bank balance by £318. 

What with Molly's abscess just after Christmas we have forked out almost £1000 so far this year in vet bills, and we are only in month 2!  We have no pet insurance, (I know, I know, not very insightful of me), but as they are getting to be quite 'old ladies' now  the insurance would probably be quite high and of course wouldn't cover what they have already been treated for, so, I have decided that every month I will put a little money away to cover any future vet bills.  

Touch wood, my two cats have always been quite healthy and well, they don't wander out of our garden and they are not hunters, and I think that helps, but there is no getting away from the fact that they are getting older and may need other treatment in the future, at least if I start a fund now at least I will know that some, if not all of the money will be covered.

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I'm still plugging away with the February instalment of the Joyful World SAL.

I have to say that although I love this, I'm not enjoying stitching it, does that make sense?  Plus, I've miscounted somewhere, so there will be a bit of fudging going on.

I will keep on with it because I've got so far, but I think it's fair to say that I will be glad to see the back of it.

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This weekend we went to pick up a little cupboard for the hall.  

Our hallway is not very big and I hate to see shoes cluttering up the space, this has solved the shoe problem perfectly.

(excuse the fuzzy photo, it was taken with my phone at night)

The mirror was a little make-over project last week, It was originally black, (another one of my Home Sense finds a couple of weeks ago), I liked the shape but the black was too stark so out came my trusty Annie Sloan paint and a couple of hours later it was transformed :-)
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I'm just getting over another cold, second one this year, I don't usually have many colds but these two really slowed me down, must be my age, lol.   I'm still a little bunged up but feel tons better than I did last week.  I bought a pack of multivitamins for 50+ when I went shopping this weekend, apparently you need a different set of vitamins when you are 50+, who knew!

Hopefully they will help to put a spring back in my step, ha ha ha, I think in order to do that they will have to transport me back a decade or two as well :-)

I hope you are managing to avoid the Winter cold germs and keeping warm and well :-)

See you soon

Have a great week

-X-

Catch up Friday

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my Christmas Tree ornament, i really appriciate your visits. I'm really getting into these cute little finishes :-) My LNS had The Merry Skater and The Red House LHN charts in last week so i made a start on MS, i should finish it off tonight and will share photos next time. Rubie Owl is still banished to the cupboard waiting for me to rip out my mistake, still can't face it yet!

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The weather here has been lovely again this week, hot enough for Molly to do her thing in the garden~~~~~~~~~~

Seriously, she can only manage a few steps out there sometimes and then she flops, legs akimbo, lol. While Molly lounges in the sunshine outside, Millie, (who is much 'posher' and more refined!!) prefers my bed, she will venture out when it's cooled down, though not at night, I'd never let them out at night.

That's it for this week then, we are going on holiday on Monday, to Halkidiki, just for a weeks R&R, can't wait for a dip in that pool and time lounging on a sunbed with my book and a glass of something cold:-)

Until next time x

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas, ours has been quiet apart from seeing family i haven't ventured out of the house much; i have given the dreaded sales a miss, i hate the crowds and rummaging through things, most of which is bought in especially for the sale season anyway.

I was hoping to get more stitching done over the holidays but i have managed to finished off 2 ornies today for my December SAL, both are freebie charts, and I'm quite pleased how they have turned out.It's a pity i didn't finish them a little earlier, as they will be packed away until next Christmas in a few days. Usually i take my decorations down on new years day, this time I'm going to leave them up a little longer, somehow i have really enjoyed having the tree and my bits and pieces around this Christmas, it will look a little bare without the tree in my dining room. Guess who was hiding in there today......
...Millie :-) she does get in the strangest of places, she is such a comical cat, much more so than Molly who is really laid back. She loves to be warm and if i don't make the beds real quick in the morning she soon snuggles down in there for the day.
This morning we woke to find that Jack Frost had been to visit us in the night

I noticed this on the washing line this morning, but no sign of it's occupant.


I even thought i saw the start of a little snow flurry, but that may have been wishful thinking, lol.
I'll leave you with one more photo of Millie, this is where she's took to lying if she's cold
Wishing you all a healthy & happy 2009....till then, Tara-a-bit xxx