Day to day musings of a cat minder/ sitter in North Tyneside and Newcastle upon Tyne . For details of services go to http://www.catminders.biz

Welcome to CatMinders

Welcome to CatMinders


Friday 14 January 2011

Goodbye Tinkerbell 13 01 2011

Tinkerbell d.13 01 2011 RIP
Kitty offers solace to Hedgehog

Yesterday afternoon we discovered that our beloved Tinkerbell was no more. Such a shock - she had taken her late night grape , which she always squealed for when I did my final exit from the kitchen before bed and though Hedgehog , her companion would take one too , it was always more reluctantly. Tinkerbell always grabbed hers and ran to eat it so that she could capitalise on Hedgehog's reluctance if it included a dropped grape . She was up for breakfast and no signs of illness at ill though we had noticed her slowing down but put this down to her size.

Poor Old Hedgehog was as shocked as we were and was running about her quarters trying to "find" her friend , and attempting to coax her still form back to life . It was not to be .
We all said goodbye and did the necessaries.

Concern about how Hedgehog would cope alone led to my perusing the internet last night and it seems we must watch for signs of depression and if that exists we should consider introducing a new companion but with care . We would know she was depressed if she showed no signs of interest in her human companions , stopped making her usual noises , stopped eating or drinking and basically sat around staring into space . So far so good . She is quiet , and still "searching" but seems reasonably chirpy.
Oven mitts are suggested for our protection  if we do introduce a new friend. Introductions should take place on neutral ground , and a towel should be held ready to throw over warring parties in the even of a squabble . two cages should be kept for a while until the pigs are happy together . We should be prepared that it might not work out and separate living arrangements might be needed .

However if she is ok , we may be better to allow her to grieve alone and see how she goes .

We kept an eye open last night and when I settled down to watch the news at six I sat her on my lap to watch with me . She seemed very relaxed there and in a few minutes , Kitty came to join us . Kitty , who is renowned as the most ferocious of our cats , has taken to cuddling up with me recently as soon as I sit down , for reasons best known to herself . Last night was no exception and as the evening progressed , she snuggled noticeably closer and
closer to the piggy and Hedgehog's breathing suggested she was quite relaxed with this and eventually out came the piggy foot to the side which suggested she was going to lie on her side and have a snooze. The little eyes flickered and eventually the days events were too much for her . Poor old piggy . I knew how she felt .

We found ourselves listening to Nigel Archer's funeral ( very fitting ) and then Trevor Eve Kidnap and Ransom and finally Piggy went to bed quite tired out at ten thirty pm . Although she checked piggy house a couple of times searching for Tinkerbell she soon settled to eating hay and sleep .

As for you dear old  Tinkerbell , you will be sadly missed with your pink eyes and your little caramel swirls of fur . We won't forget you .
Goodbye Tinkerbell . We will take care of your friend .
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Thursday 13 January 2011

How the Sky Changes

Click on image to enlarge if you want to

.... in a matter of minutes ...
This morning's walk with the dog at the sea at nine am . One minute dark and stormy looking , the next a fabulous shimmer across the water. Red sky behind the lighthouses for a few seconds, black skies the next. Maybe the weather is menopausal?
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Sunday 9 January 2011

Collages




I have today discovered a photo editing whatsit and Collages !!

So here we have one of our between Christmas and New Year Family GetTogether Dos .....

I am going to be collaging everything from now on . Thats me up in the top left hand corner in the middle if you want to know .....and the dog of course is between me and my sister.
Kitty is the big cat to the left , and one of the Birmans features centre right ish .

I wont say too much about the other characters lest I am not forgiven .
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Saturday 8 January 2011

Christmas update in pictures :Snow: CatMinding

We spent Christmas Day here . Hair raising /exciting drive to get there

A quick walk before dinner



Chilly Sheep watch the silly greyhound skidding in the snow on Christmas Day

The week before Christmas. Alice checks who has been on her patch

Front of House

Close to Home

Warm View

Is it a Cat or What ?

The week before Christmas we had so much snow I was travelling to the Office on the metro. But CatMinding needs to be done either on foot ( best in this weather ) or if further afield by car .

I wondered whether I would manage to get to my cats with my car well and truly bogged down in snow drifts on occasion but the assistance of the shovel and plenty of de icer and sometimes finding nothing more helpful for scraping ice than my good old credit card ( will it ever be the same again) , all visits were managed though there were some interesting twirls on the ice .

Some of my longstanding families now have cats with special needs due to increasing age and I particularly enjoy these visits , seeing cats whom I've known for years still enjoying life and feeling part of that and glad that they are not having to be uprooted to a cattery at this time of their lives when they love nothing more than curling up in their favourite armchairs and coping in part  because of the familiarity of their surroundings .
I love the fact that I will receive lovely long notes which give me a sense of how the families do things so I can follow suit and keep things as normal as possible for the cats and I try to leave a note of reply which gives a feeling for how things have been in their absense.

As to that final photograph - I'd been Christmas shopping and returned to find the little picture on my car window . How I laughed!
I posted it on Twitter. My sister immediately suggested it was actually a Cat in keeping with my most obvious interest in life .
What do you think ?

Migraine Days

Migraine Days

Flower and Bee on a Sunday

Flower and Bee on a Sunday

art on a sunday

art on a sunday