It’s Wednesday already – and another week of The Gallery at Tara’s blog: Sticky Fingers. If you’ve never come   Gallery before, every week we are given a different prompt and we have to post some pictures related to it. This week’s prompt is: Here Come The Girls! Pop over and see the other entries HERE!

So, here are My Girls. They are the best little girls in the world (except when they are tearing after each other leaving mouthfuls of fluff behind). The black and white cat is Jess (4yrs 1 month) and the ginger one is Meg (4 yrs). I love them to bits, and wouldn’t be without them!

Jess & Meg waiting for a treat!

Meg & Jess in the kitchen (they like to enter & exit via the window!)

Meg posing with sunglasses on lol..

Little Jess asleep wrapped in my dressing gown!

This is another new(ish) little girl that we have semi-adopted! I think she does have a home somewhere nearby but she always wanders in to our house looking for food. She is just a kitten and is so cute! She is the only one who actually stands up to Chester the puppy – the others run from him lol..! Meet Amber:

….Over the last few weeks I have been increasingly broody. Not for a baby (hell, no) but for another new addition to the family. A kitten. Yes – another cat. That would bring our total to 4 permanent live-in cats plus 2 pop-in for food cats. I know, I know – I’m sad. I just love little furry cute bundles of fluff.

We had 4 boxes of cat food that our cats turned their snooty noses up at – so we decided to give them to a cat charity. I knew that if I went to look at any baby kittens in need of rescuing I wouldn’t be able to say no. I would have to have 1 (or 2…).

So, I had been putting off delivering the cat food for a while – but yesterday we decided to go to our local RSPCA. The place had just opened and it was already hectic, the harassed-looking receptionist never even glanced up at us when we came in. Finally, another worker arrived and took our 4 boxes of food (I would like to say gratefully, but to be honest she didn’t seem to really care)… Oh, come on, what did I want – a medal? We then sidled out with me hissing at Gary “I thought you were going to ask if we could see the kittens…” (poor guy!).

He went back in (under duress) to ask. But unfortunately the cattery was closed to the public as they had an infection. Bah! I mustn’t have been meant to get a kitten after all. Not yet anyway!

I have been worried that the cats have been feeling neglected since Chester the uber-puppy arrived. I have been searching for a cat tree/activity centre for them to play on. With the added bonus that they can get high up enough to escape Chester but be in the same room as him! There are loads of gorgeous ones available (see below) but finding one that is sturdy enough for 3 fully grown cats (1 of which resembles a panther) and is still within my budget is a tough job.

I had ordered another little present for the cats and it arrived this moring. A CatIt Senses Play Circuit! Reading from the blurb “…incorpaorates sight, sound and touch and is specially designed to entice, engage and entertain your cat while appealing to his natural hunting instincts”. Sounds good in theory!

Here are some pics of one of our cats Meg enjoying the toy. Jess had more fun playing with the box. And as for Jinx, he’s upstairs on the bed sleeping. Hopefully they’ll all have a go later on! Have to remember to lift it up off the floor before puppy comes barging in though!

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Chester the Cat eating a wee treat of Tuna fish!

Not the most upbeat subject for my first post, I know but I wanted to pay my respects to our lovely stray cat who we named Chester.

Chester first appeared at our house about 6 months ago and we were struck by his similarity to out cat Meg.  I think I may have fed him (ahem) – naughty I know, but I’m such a sucker for a cute cat.  We didn’t see him again for a few weeks and when he re-appeared he had put on so much weight – it was like he had ballooned.   I thought “Well he must have an owner Ok then and be getting well fed!”

Over the next few months he kept putting in an appearance and once again I was shocked by his dramatic change in weight.  This time he had lost so much weight I really started to worry about him.  He started visiting a lot more frequently then, usually every night at around midnight we would hear him come in the cat flap.  He was always absolutely starving and gobbled down about 3 portions of food before saying goodbye and going on his lonely way again.

He started to put a bit of weight back on but he frequently had scratches all over his face from fighting (not with any of our cats thankfully).  As time went on I noticed his eyes were always very watery and inflamed, leaving big crusts on his face.  We were convinced by this stage that he didn’t have an owner.  Surely no-one could let their cat get in such a state?  His fur was in an awful condition, dirty and matted – he was a shadow of the cat we had first seen months ago.

We had talked for a while about trying to capture him when he came in for his midnight feast and then we could take him to our vets the next day to get checked out.  When I saw him dander inside the other morning I gave him his favourite Whiskas pouch and we quickly organised one of the cat carriers to put him in.  I rang the vets to tell them we would be calling down – the RSPCA were going to pay for whatever treatment he needed as he was a stray.

Well, poor Chester was not at all happy to go in the carrier.  He was so scared and anxious.  We finally got him in securely and left him at the vets.  The receptionist said she thought he might have cat flu, and if so they would probably have to put him to sleep.  I had never even considered that he wouldn’t be coming back.  We were going to “adopt” him and bring him back to our house, feed him and try and give him a home.  I got all upset and started crying.  I reached down and gave Chester a pet through the cage, hoping that it wouldn’t be the last time I would see him.  And away he went.

We got a phone call from the vet a few hours later to say that his initial health check had come back OK, apart from an infection in his eyes.  However, they had done a blood test and discovered that he had leukaemia and AIDS.  I was devestated.  The vet said that as we have 3 other cats, she couldn’t let him come back to us as the risk of infection was too high and she wouldn’t be able to get him re-homed either at this stage.  So the only option they had was to put him to sleep.  I cried a lot – for Chester, and thinking of how scared he was when we were bringing him in.  I told him I was going to make sure he got better… I felt that he trusted me, but in the end he had to be put to sleep.

The thought that he may have already spread the infection to our cats completely terrified me as well.  The vet said that transfer is mainly through bites etc but can also happen via saliva, ie sharing feeding bowls.  As Chester was in nearly every night eating and we didn’t think to wash the bowl before ours ate from it next there was a risk they could be infected.

I was distraught.  I felt that it was my fault for encouraging Chester to come in the first place and now I had put our 3 cats at risk.  I felt so guilty for not being able to help Chester.  But then, I know that it was kinder for him to go rather than for him to deteriorate even more and possibly end up in real pain and distress.

We made an appointment for the next day to get our cats checked out.   I went up to each of them and gave them lots of cuddles and kisses, hoping that they would be OK.  So, they had their blood tests and after an anxious couple of hours wait we found out that they were all free from AIDS.  We have to get them tested again in 3 months as it can sometimes take a while to develop, but fingers crossed!  The tests were expensive, but worth it for the peace of mind that they are all OK.

We both still miss Chester.  The vet even said that it was such a shame as he was a lovely, gentle cat.  I’m just glad that he isn’t suffering anymore.  Here is a picture of him and our cat Meg playing in the garden.

Chester & Meg sussing each other out!

As you can see, I’m such a softie when it comes to animals, but I would be lost without them!