Out And About

Theo, off having an adventure- sort of. His first trip he followed me around, not quite understanding he could go his own way now!

Ok, so Theo is now GPSsed and out in the big wide world. I chose a Pawtrax Mini system and signed up to a web platform thing too for a flat rate of £30 (I think) per year. This seemed to combine the best of both worlds, some GPS systems asked for that per month which would have been beyond my means, the devices themselves are expensive enough! On the other hand, I do actually want to be able to track him, not just make something beep when I need to find him, so it seemed the best deal. There are quite a few to choose from.

So far he hasn't done anything particularly outlandish! He's had a wander through the neighbour's flat, had a kip under the car, and even ventured to the pavement, only to rush home again when *gasp* some people got out of their car. He climbed a tree half way and then thought better of it, oh and he's eaten a lot of grass. Silly old puss.

Must try and get a photo of the unit. He's so fluffy you can't see that he has a collar, tag, jingly bell and a lighter sized box under there.

No more walking the cat :(

Theo's Big Adventure

Well. He hasn't had one yet, but I'm sure he'll be having plenty in the future because... the Teenager and I have decided to make Theo an outdoor cat.

Now, you all know I have no objection to cats being indoor only. It is my preference, both for safety and health reasons. My girls couldn't care less. They've shown no inclination to go out and the one time I tried with Ava and Sofia I was very quickly persuaded it wasn't in their interests. Both were terrified and Sofia even tried to climb into my coat sleeve (with me in it)

But Theo, Theo has always been interested in the outside world. As a kitten, before he came to me, he was allowed out (I hadn't realised this until the day he came home) and spent most of his day prowling the garden with the grass under his paws. If he'd never been out, would he have missed it? I don't know

Every summer, Theo asks, several times a day, for a walk, and I can't always take him out. He prowls his boundary restlessly every day, coating it liberally in urine, and meows dismally by the door. I can't bear to have him communicating his needs to me so clearly and for me to respond, metaphorically at least, by sticking my fingers in my ears and saying 'lalalala' for another year. It just feels wrong, even if I've been doing it for the best reasons.

The teenager and I had a serious chat about it the other day and weighed up all the possibilities (Theo being stolen, getting lost, being injured...) and the courses of action we could take. Theo is the Teenager's cat, and the teenager was very against sending Theo to live somewhere with secure outside space, and I wasn't keen either, after all, Theo is our cat and we love him. So we came to the decision to let him out. The car insurance is due at the end of the month, so as soon as I can get the money together after that, I'll be buying collar, tags and possibly a GPS, and off he goes.

Those of you who have outdoor cats, what do I need to know? Has anyone tried/ used a cat GPS? What collars are the best to use? Tags? Spam me with links and information, it's all good!

Sorry for the delay

A lost camera (which is still lost, am trying to get used to my camera phone in the interim) some extra work and a very needy Indigo have all conspired against getting anything on the blog. I have a nice 6 week bump picture, but it's on the lost camera! I'll post it when I find it. Yes, I do mislay things quite often... hehe.

Other than that we are all well and getting used to cooler weather. The cats all have their thicker winter coat and are looking fluffier as a result, this is particularly marked in Theo of course. We also lost Theo's walking harness and had to hastily email over to my US relations to send one- the ones we use you can't buy over here any more. Of course we then found the harness- in the washing machine. Theo still has his daily walks throughout the winter, but they are shorter, in the summer he would happilly stroll about for some time, in the winter ten minutes and he's done... which suits me fine!

I was cuddling Indigo earlier with my hand on her belly and there's very definitely some movement there now. In fact, I thought I could detect three seperate patches of movement- on the one side that is! Of course that's only a bit of fun, last time I was sure she was having four kittens... she ended up having six. I shall still try and guess though. Simple pleasures for simple minds!

Sick

Originally posted on my private blog- posted to http://indikon-tonkinese.blogspot.com/ on 06/01/11

I'm feeling very hopeful today. Indigo threw up last night :) Cats can, apparently, get 'morning' sickness, same as humans. Anyone who has had morning sickness will tell you it doesn't necessarily happen in the morning-  for me personally early evenings were most unpleasant.

Now it might be me adding two and two and making six and a half. Cats puke. A lot. If it had been Theo, I wouldn't have been remotely surprised. Theo has his daily walk (yes, outside, on a harness, yes everyone locally thinks I'm a loon...) chomps a load of grass and then an hour later hurls on my hall carpet; it's almost a tradition. As an aside, I have laminate or lino in all my other rooms, but he always pukes on the carpet- why do cats do this??? Lol.

But Indigo is never sick. I gave her a quick check over and she looks ok apart from that- slightly thin, perhaps, (it might just be me) as she tends not to eat much when she's on heat and if she's feeling a bit queasy now as well that's understandable. Her coat is glorious though, her eyes bright and everything else looks nice and healthy so I'm not concerned.

So perhaps, for Indigo, a little nausea is an early pregnancy sign? I won't know if she is pregnant for a few weeks yet of course, but I'm recording it now just in case she does the same NEXT time she's been to stud, in case it's an early sign, for her, that there's one (several!)in the oven.