The Princess

"I hope you realise that I too am related to Gods...."

Saturday Morning

 

I awake early intending to clean. Anna has said she'll she’ll come by Sunday instead of Saturday this week. I worked at essays, contacts and connections on Friday & it was one of those days when I got all caught up in research and totally didn't get to the housework.

I think on a housework plan (after a swoop on the net) as the cats get their biscuits and I fill and turn on the kettle for my first cup of tea. Since a couple of teeth got a bit better, I'm getting better with housework and that makes it all easy to be social. 

Then I  pour the milk into the hot tea before I realise that the milk has soured and clumped.  It’s a freezing morning. I haven't figured out what to wear yet. I get back into bed to contemplate the dynamics of a run to the shop and luckily I am at the front of the place, because there's a knock at the front door.

 

It’s Jos with The Princess, AKA Ariel the elderly cat who is co-shared by Jos, Anna and self. Princess, snuggled weakly in Jos's arms, isn't the girl I've tried to bring back here before. 

She is sick, very sick and Jos is weeping as she explains that Princess can't even stand up or get around. 

She's like a baby wrapped in Jos's warm woolly jacket. 

Since we have changed vets recently for a place farther afield it’s going to be a matter of cabs.

 

Ariel is eighteen years old and up until now, she's remained bright eyed and talkative and maintains a busy social life with her friends over the road.

 

Jos says that Ariel threw up the night before and then went straight to her nest to rest.

 Ariel, noted for throwing up (when upset) as a youngster, has grown out of the tendency in more recent years. (Acupressure helped her to get over said tendency.)

 

Jos said that last night she realised Ariel's illness then,hoping it not too serious, simply cleaned up without reprimand.

 

Then this particular morning, the little thing isn't even able to raise herself on her front paws.

 

I take Jos and Ariel into my bedroom. I get a clean towel for the limp little cat to lie on on my bed with Jos's coat blanketted around her. 

She is gasping but she still purrs. I give her some points, tummy points (leg joints) and also heart points. She crrr’s with recognition and tucked up, she goes to sleep. Her fur is fine, her eyes are bright, she just doesn’t seem to want to move.

 

 I think of starting homecare emergency treatment, and there’s then there's no time to plan it or even consider it seriously.

Anna, who'd so hoped for a sleep-in is roused, the vet is  called, and I quickly blog   before the milk is bought.

Enroute to our local servo, I encounter a young couple talking to Stanley, Grace and Sylvio.

'Have you seen Bill?' they ask.

I ask who is this 'Bill' who should be known to the cats?

Turns out 'Bill' is he who we call Black Tom, playmate with my mob.

Black Tom is due at the Vet's for an appointment. He knows the word Vet, they reckon, because he's out of there and not to be found in any of the usual hangouts around my place.

Then tea is drunk, the post quickly checked, the cab arrives with Anna and thus we set off to the vet (me in pyjamas and overcoat) where it turns out that Ariel is  dehydrated and needs a drip.

 

(One of her friends over the road said later that Ariel had been sneezing last week. Cats have trouble with sinus and when symptoms are bad it becomes difficult for them to drink. You can deal with it by adding fluids, the cat’s head held up in the crook of the arm and you pour from a small cup a few drops at a time while stroking and reassuring. Weak Comfrey Tea if enteritus is suspected.)

 Ariel doesn’t live here in the menagerie and I haven't seen her too often in recent weeks with my Dental dramas.

 

Considering symptoms of her collapse along with her her age, stroke & heart attack are to be considered and I can't consider home care realistically yet.

 

It’s found that she has very healthy kidneys. There's a problem with her back. 

(She hurt her back during one of her famous escapes a few lifetimes ago).

At the Vet's she gets painkillers and a thing for bunched up muscles and now she's eating, drinking and resting and also walking round.  

That's the news, anyway.

 

She’s still at the hospital.

 

They Are Keeping Their Eye On Her.