the chicken

Coping with life

Something I am not doing so good at lately.

My Chicken means the world to me. He came into my life at a time when I needed him and he has been there for me through so much shit. He was there when I got married, he was there when I separated. He has been through all the houses I have lived in. He has paw prints all over my heart.

I will be lost without him.

He is on borrowed time. Like so many of the animals that share my life he is somewhat faulty. He has a dodgy heart. I have known this for a long time, and in itself that was not a problem. Ok, now it is. He had a Grand Mal seizure on Sunday and spent the night at the emergency vets. We are waiting on test results to see if it will be Cryptococcus or a brain tumour that take him away from us.

I know the hard way that you should love your pets everyday, they may not be there tomorrow. This doesn't make things any easier. This is The Chicken we are talking about. My crazy gremlin greyhound stalking cat....

When I grow up....

I want to be a real boy cat!

Benny has been living with us for a while now. When he arrived he wasn't a very happy cat. Fair call, he was uprooted from his home and introduced to 2 greyhounds, then a few weeks later we moved house. Unsettling to say the least. He doesn't mind the dogs, some days he looks as if he wants to be friends with them, others he just ignores them. Much the same the other way round. Rock Star is no longer petrified of him and they even touch noses then go their seperate ways now and then. Maybe one day they actually will be friends....

Ok, so Benny had some issues when he came to us. His eyes used to weep and he would scratch himself raw when upset. A cortisone shot saw him settle for a bit and become really friendly. His idea of friendly is to sit next to you on the couch. He is not a lap cat. He loves his cuddles, also his space. For the most part he would hang out in his room and do his own thing. We have been feeding him very expensive prescription diet food to help with his "allergies" and to try and prevent any flare ups. Not working so well of late. I carted him off to the vet to get another shot to settle him down and discovered that wasn't going to help one iota.

Benny had an infection in his ears that was causing him discomfort. Poor little mite. So a few hundred dollars and a bottle of ears drops later we now have a real cat!!

He spends almost all the time we are home with us and sleeps on the bed every night. He has stopped scratching himself, his eyes have dried up and he is a little bit quieter than he used to be. This is not to say that he is quiet as such, just quieter!

It's nice to see him so happy. I just feel bad that we didn't work it out sooner and he had to be in discomfort for so long.

Those days seem to be behind him though....

His favourite spot, sprawled on the arm of the couch.

The Chicken is also doing well, he is loving the weather and the associated polar fleece!

The dogs have a special present that is due to arrive in the mail in the next few days. Stay tuned to see what it is.....