Update after another long absence!
Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 10:44 am
Hi all!
I am home sick today (a horrible tummy bug) and not even fit to study or finish any assignments, so am taking the time to catch up with you all.
The nursing degree is going great. I am on work placement now, at a busy vet hospital, and am learning so much about all the species, little and large. We see a lot of unwell cats, and lots of unhealthy strays and rescues, which is right up my alley naturally! I have also arranged to do an extra 3 weeks over this coming Summer at a feline only practice in Dublin, one of just two in the whole country. I am so lucky to have managed to wangle my way in there, and am really looking forward to it!
The cats here currently number 26. I'm not sure who exactly has died since I was last on, but we lost Smithy to haemobartonella (probably, it could have been a haemangiosarcoma..... But I don't think so really) and lost poor little Aygo, the 1kg mini cat to cellulitis after she got a scratch (possibly from another cat, possibly a thorn or something, we will never know). mammy Muffin was euthanised due to CRF after a short illness. Poor TS Eliott, the last of the Walking Dead Poet's Society, was found dead in the hallway one morning and I am pretty sure it was his heart. They all had bad heart murmurs and all died the same way. He had been doing great up to that point. Pangy the 13 year old (who has been with me longer than any of the others) now has bad arthritis in her hips and is due to have bloods done to see if we can start her on metacam to help her in her golden years. Minnie who is about 18 has no such troubles and refuses to go outsiðe nowadays, preferring to stay indoors where she rules the roost and smacks all the other cats on the head when the notion takes her!
The 4 dogs are in fine form, Lagatha the weakest of the hens has also died, and Carlos the evil rooster continues to make my life a misery. The 3 snakes are fine also.
After 16 months of battling a mouse infestation with non-lethal methods, we finally had to use snap traps when the population exploded recently and the dogs were catching them in the house. I was terrified of the dogs catching leptospirosis (not to mention ourselves, but at least we had the sense not to run around with mice in our mouths!). The mice are now gone and the share price of Aldi bleach has probably dropped substantially as I no longer have to pour it over the entire kitchen every time I want to make a slice of toast! (We actually threw out the toaster a long time ago as you cannot bleach the inside of a toaster and I didn't fancy mouse droppings as a topping!)
You cannot imagine how awful I felt killing the mice, but to be honest I now wish I had done it when I saw mouse number one the Christmas before last..... Then I would have only had to kill one rather than several.... I have thrown away the live traps (the mice had figured them out and could escape after eating all the food in them!) but am keeping the snap traps for future arrivals. We did block up any holes we could find In the outside walls, but it's an old house so there could be other entry points......
Anyway, I hope everyone and their kitties are doing well, and I am looking forward to catching up now!
Catherine
I am home sick today (a horrible tummy bug) and not even fit to study or finish any assignments, so am taking the time to catch up with you all.
The nursing degree is going great. I am on work placement now, at a busy vet hospital, and am learning so much about all the species, little and large. We see a lot of unwell cats, and lots of unhealthy strays and rescues, which is right up my alley naturally! I have also arranged to do an extra 3 weeks over this coming Summer at a feline only practice in Dublin, one of just two in the whole country. I am so lucky to have managed to wangle my way in there, and am really looking forward to it!
The cats here currently number 26. I'm not sure who exactly has died since I was last on, but we lost Smithy to haemobartonella (probably, it could have been a haemangiosarcoma..... But I don't think so really) and lost poor little Aygo, the 1kg mini cat to cellulitis after she got a scratch (possibly from another cat, possibly a thorn or something, we will never know). mammy Muffin was euthanised due to CRF after a short illness. Poor TS Eliott, the last of the Walking Dead Poet's Society, was found dead in the hallway one morning and I am pretty sure it was his heart. They all had bad heart murmurs and all died the same way. He had been doing great up to that point. Pangy the 13 year old (who has been with me longer than any of the others) now has bad arthritis in her hips and is due to have bloods done to see if we can start her on metacam to help her in her golden years. Minnie who is about 18 has no such troubles and refuses to go outsiðe nowadays, preferring to stay indoors where she rules the roost and smacks all the other cats on the head when the notion takes her!
The 4 dogs are in fine form, Lagatha the weakest of the hens has also died, and Carlos the evil rooster continues to make my life a misery. The 3 snakes are fine also.
After 16 months of battling a mouse infestation with non-lethal methods, we finally had to use snap traps when the population exploded recently and the dogs were catching them in the house. I was terrified of the dogs catching leptospirosis (not to mention ourselves, but at least we had the sense not to run around with mice in our mouths!). The mice are now gone and the share price of Aldi bleach has probably dropped substantially as I no longer have to pour it over the entire kitchen every time I want to make a slice of toast! (We actually threw out the toaster a long time ago as you cannot bleach the inside of a toaster and I didn't fancy mouse droppings as a topping!)
You cannot imagine how awful I felt killing the mice, but to be honest I now wish I had done it when I saw mouse number one the Christmas before last..... Then I would have only had to kill one rather than several.... I have thrown away the live traps (the mice had figured them out and could escape after eating all the food in them!) but am keeping the snap traps for future arrivals. We did block up any holes we could find In the outside walls, but it's an old house so there could be other entry points......
Anyway, I hope everyone and their kitties are doing well, and I am looking forward to catching up now!
Catherine
