Snarks and Ladders

So, after what feels like a lifetime of no blogging, and very little access to technology, I am kinda back.  That is, until I go again.  However, I am determined to stick to it (does this sound familiar to you?)

The camera was out of commission for quite a while – I had lost my battery charger, and was putting off buying a new one (because we all know the minute you buy something whatever you lost magically appears), but eventually I caved.

And so, you have pictures.  I guess I have a lot of exciting news as well, but I’ll stick with pictures for the time being!

Sonny managed to get an infection in his foot, and so was doomed to wear the cone of shame.  Needless to say, he was very unhappy about this turn of affairs.

Suki, the Barbie of cats, spends most of her time posing and trying to meow in a cute manner.  Usually, she achieves this.  When my parents visited for Easter, my mother spent more time pampering the cat than she did talking to me.  If she was a human she’d be dangerous.

Willis is getting fatter and fatter.  I keep trying to put him on a diet (before, you know, he has a heart attack, or gets arthritis, or something), and then the boy turns around and gives him more food.  I’m beginning to think he is actually trying to kill him.  Hmmmmph.

On the other hand… Gracie is never going to get fat.  Although she is getting furrier.  All she does is run.  And run.  And run.  And run.

In inadvertent pets… A grasshopper decided to come in and eat my roses.  Which was actually preferable to eating the rose bushes outside, I think.  And then the cats got to chase him around the house when the roses were dead.  I think that’s a win.  Also, trying to get a photo of him made me wish for a macro lens SOOOOOO much.  Seriously… if anyone out there loves me an insane amount, and has a macro lens from, oh, a dead relative or a hated ex or something that they wish to offload?  I’ll be your best friend forever if you give it to me.  Totally not scared of dead people cooties, or nasty ex karma.

And we got an owl in the backyard, which was kinda cool.  Would have been better if I had the longer lens on the camera, but I was too scared to spend the time finding the lens, changing the lens, and then racing back out, because I was pretty sure he’d fly away before then.  And, sure enough, he did not too much longer after I took this.  I do love owls.

The general consensus is that I am somewhat of a heartless bitch.  I can watch stories about death and destruction without even twitching, and I generally feel very little pity for people, because, let’s face it, 99% of people create their own mess for themselves.  That’s just the way humans work.  Even if it’s something that isn’t their fault, well… I just find it hard to feel sorry for people.  Hell, even my mother refers to me as a cold hearted bitch!

But animals?

You show me a puppy that’s sick, or a kitten that’s been mistreated, and I will be an almighty wreck.  When there was a rash of stories on the news about teenage boys torturing cats, I was crying buckets of tears.  I want to adopt every cat I see, give it a good home, and spoil it rotten.

So, the other day I thought I might stop in at the RSPCA to have a look at the cats that they have there.  Surprisingly, there weren’t too many there at all.  There was an absolutely GLORIOUS looking 5 year old Ragdoll that I would have loved to take home, but she was a ‘single cat home’ type of animal.  There were also these 2 adorable boy kittens, but kittens get adopted out pretty easily, so I decided against them.  Instead, I decided on a one year old white cat that was super snuggly.  She had one blue eye and one green eye, which, while cute, made me think that she might be partially blind… but I decided that she would be perfect for my house anyway.

Well, I paid my $130 (absolute BARGAIN by the way – that includes microchipping, desexing, immunisations and a vet check), arranged to pick her up from the vets on my way back through town a few days later, and went home.

The following day, I got a phone call from the RSPCA “Hi Angela, we are just calling to let you know that we think the cat you got the other day is blind in one eye.  Is that OK, or would you like another?” I said it was fine (hell, I suspected as much anyway), all was well, and I hung up.  At the end of the day, an animal isn’t any more or less lovable just because it has a vision defect!

Then, today, I got a phone call again! “Hi Angela, it’s the RSPCA here.  We took your cat to the vet today, and they think that she is also deaf, as well as being blind in one eye.  Were you planning on having her as an inside cat?  Because it’s really unsafe for her to go outside since she can’t hear anything or see properly.  She also has really bad depth perception because she can only see in one eye.”  I said that I would take her anyway – if I didn’t adopt her, the poor animal would be doomed to be put down, I’m sure.  However, I am a little worried about how this will affect her relationship with the cat I have now.  If she can’t see or hear Kamiko coming to pounce on her, things could be interesting.

Hell, I don’t even know what I’ll do when I take her home to Mum and Dad’s… they have a cat door for Kostya, but since the new cat (tentatively named Suki, but I did want a ‘K’ name for her) can’t go outside, I’ll have to try and keep her in somehow.

Anyway, I am determined to love her, regardless of what happens.  It will also give me more motivation to try and keep Kamiko in the house I guess!

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