THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS

Hi everyone

Fabulous door-to-door sunshine - it feels so good to sit in the sun (especially when I should be working!).

I hope you read my Friday Guest Blog post - it is a really good one and for all animal-lovers a must-read. Thank you Lesley for joining me in my Friday slot.  In blogging terms, Lesley is a neighbour as she lives in a beautiful village that is about 4 miles from Christmas Pie.

I hope you enjoyed the Shadow update?  He is still continuing to do well and hopefully his splint will be removed tomorrow.   Carol asked for pics of him and I will add some to my blog when he feels up to posing for the camera.

Still on the subject of cats, you may recall that when I first mentioned Shadow I added that Jazz had taken to walking around with a limp.  We took him to the vet who put him on anti-inflammatory medication (the administration of which is a fun story!) and we were advised to bring him back if no improvement was evident after one week.  Unfortunately there wasn't, so back to the vet he went at the beginning of this week.  He was put on anti-biotics and we had to return with him for a check-up on Friday.  Off we went on Friday afternoon and saw the new owner of the practice who gave Jazz a thorough check, squeezing his 'pawly' paw and checking for any problems.  Throughout Jazz was very amenable and our vet commented on this saying most cats would have taken a chunk out of him!  Jazz is a very good-natured cat and very little ruffles his fur.  The diagnosis wasn't good and following an x-ray it was discovered that his toe was in a bad way and it was removed later on Friday afternoon.  Poor Jazz - our vet told us that he may never play the piano again.  This was good news really because Jazz is rubbish on the keys!

We collected Jazz from the vets on Friday evening, one very spaced out cat.  Eyes as black and big as saucers, a heavily bandaged paw and a very quiet cat - soooo unlike him.  He (and we) had a pretty bad night as he had problems with the rather large bandage and the left-over anaesthetic, plus each time he tried to drink, he managed to dump his paw in the bowl and slosh the water all over himself.  Plus he kept nibbling the bandage in an effort to remove it.  After a few hours sleep we got up to find the bandage still in place - thank goodness; our vet had said he might remove it, if he does bring him back on Saturday.  An hour or so later, he managed to divest himself of the bandage!  Back to the vets we went - everyone was so pleased to see him.  Apparently he was as good-natured while 'in custody' as he is at home.  The wound and stitches were still in tact, and it was felt that another dressing wasn't needed - especially as he would no doubt remove it!

We have to take Jazz back the week after next for the stitches to be removed and to get the results of the toe analysis.  We are trying not to think about that at the moment, as our vet said there are two possibilities: a serious infection or possible cancer.  We just hope it is the first one.  The biggest problem at the moment is keeping him inside.  He loves the sun and likes lounging in the warmth outside, hates the rain, so you can imagine it is going to be an interesting week.

I have been busy crafting for most of the week - in between the above and the sunshine, but haven't anything in a finished state to put on for Handmade Monday - back to normal (more or less) next week though.  Don't forget to catch up with the other HM blogs - great reads and fabulous work to see as well.

Enjoy the sun everyone, I will be back on Wednesday with my mid-week post.

Jill