Sunday 8 December 2013

Charlie cat: Fat boy slim

Charlie at his new door.


Several weeks passed with Charlie wearing his wrist watch around his neck and little or no fits occurred. His lower back was still very sore and dry, impossible to touch as it would send him on a fit again. His chicken diet was rather costly but we think he is worth it. His weight however seemed to be gaining rather than dwindling, if only we could place a small camera around his neck to see how many houses he was taking food from. 

I spoke to a few of our neighbours to ask if they would not leave food out for him and I even placed a big note on his collar stating: ‘NO FOOD PLEASE, I’M ILL!’ which he managed to remove regularly. All this seemed to have no effect at all: his chicken portions were getting smaller yet his waist was getting bigger! There were times Charlie would have an episode that was hard to contain soon after returning home. He had probably eaten something outside that upset him. I tried giving him more chicken, hoping he would have his fill and not go scrounging….. alas, I found him struggling to waddle home full to bursting, he even stopped jumping over the fence; too much effort for the fat boy. Toffee cat next door stopped running away from him, he just meandered as Charlie was soooo slow at chasing him.

He had taken to sitting outside the cat flap waiting for us to open the door for him; surely he was not so fat he struggled to fit through? I felt mean reducing Charlie’s chicken portions to barley nothing but each time I consoled myself by saying, ‘it was only a prelude to his other meals outside.’

The final straw came when I observed Charlie push his head through the cat flap to come in then watched in horror and amusement as his front legs then turned backwards to push against the sides of the flap in order to force his bulging stomach to follow with a thud: Our cat was so obese he no longer fitted through the cat flap!

There was nothing else for it………… A gastric band was a bit drastic so Charlie cat would have to have a small DOG flap fitted if he was to come and go freely!

Tuesday 3 December 2013

Spirit the Hungarian circus pony stops for tea.



Although Spirit was getting around well on the soft grass of the field, his poorly feet were giving him trouble on the yard so Jessica made the decision to have the farrier make a pair of new shoes with cushion soles for him. She gave Spirit some rescue remedy and other sedatives to keep him calm, as the process was likely to take a couple of hours. So when I turned up to add my healing to the mix he was already looking quite chilled.


The farrier was so kind to him and understood his ways so well, they had known each other for some years now and had a mutual respect. Shoes were forged and then adjusted on site, screws were fixed, legs were lifted and placed back down, the process was continuous for some time and little Spirit was being very good. 

Tea was offered all round and mugs were brought out to the yard as the farrier worked his magic. Jessica, with mug of tea in hand, stayed close to Spirit all of the time, holding his rope and soothing his head (something she rarely had the chance to do without sedation. Spirit that is not Jessica!) Her attention was drawn to the farrier when she felt a nudge at her hand holding the tea; there was Spirit lapping the cooled tea from Jessica’s mug! We all watched him finish it off. Even in a half dazed state he managed to turn a tense situation into laughter with his comedy act.

Do you have a pony that drinks tea?


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