Typical of the Mother City, the weather has been erratic all week. We had several days of really severe winds. Then we had several days of intense heat, it was 31℃ on Tuesday. That evening I sat outside at the back and took advantage of the weather finally cooling off a bit. The cats and Poppy joined me. It was so lovely.
After everything going so well at her check up a week ago on Friday, last Saturday Miss Poppy started hopping on 3 legs, refusing to put any weight on the one with the pin. This is how we expected her to act in the first week, not the third! She was running around like a lunatic until Saturday night when she started to yip every time she moved or lay on her leg. We gave her some Panadol and listened to her little cries every time she moved in her sleep.
First thing on Sunday we phoned to see which vet was on duty and it was the same one who did the surgery, so Norm took her in when they opened. They took the bandage off, cleaned her wound up as it was weeping a bit, gave her an antibiotic and noted that her little wrist now seems sore, where it did not before. They took an x-ray and saw that it is healing nicely so they will take the pin out on Monday. The visit seemed to perk her up, probably the meds or all of the attention and sausages from the vets! I also think that the wound weeping had resulted in it pulling on her fur or the wound but it could have been infection setting in and the antibiotics were needed.
As a result we had a quiet day last Sunday based around Poppy and her needs. I basically sat at my desk most of the day with her asleep on my feet.
On Sunday I also made the mistake of drinking the first coffee I had in ages. It went straight out the other end. Assuming this was due to having caffeine too soon, I went back onto jelly and cup-a-soup. I am so over bland food! I need some flavour in my life.
On Tuesday Norm took in samples for them to test to see if we both have a bacterial infection as neither of us seem to be able to recover completely. I got a phone call from the doc to say that I have blood in my stool and now I have to have a colonoscopy. Things just get better and better!
I asked the doc about the infection and he said that they did not do that test and that if they did it would be R2000! So….. we have gone onto an antibiotic for Giardia. We have had it before, from me kissing the dogs then kissing Norm. Oops. Let’s hope it clears everyone up. Finn is also on it. Poppy seems fine.
Poppy is feeling much perkier but is still oozing ickiness from her wound. We clean it twice a day and apply an antibiotic ointment. She seemed to perk up after a week of antibiotics.
I am trying to train her to stop biting. She jumps up on us happy to see us then bites our hands. She has teeny teeth but they are like needles. My hands are covered in cuts. My shins have bloody little cuts.
Now when she bites I stop interacting and say ‘no biting’. If she barks I ignore her completely. I now catch her when she is relaxed and I give her loads of loving, then if she bites I stop. She is starting to learn that if she wants love, she has to be loving back.
She is also very loving and has to be in contact with me or at least have me in her sight. She is literally my shadow. She loves to sleep between my feet or directly on them.
She gets fed very well as we are still trying to settle on what she likes. She is not mad on any of the puppy kibble we have tried, just Finn’s giant kibble. In the morning she gets Greek yogurt and butternut which are both great for her stomach and digestion. I give her a bit of Hill’s puppy food and a bit of poached chicken breast for nutrition, protein and taste.
She is such a little princess. I give her a tablespoon of something or other every couple of hours. As her tummy is so tiny she can only consume so much at once. I switch up what she has, I only give the yogurt once a day but the other items get mixed with a bit of kibble. I think she is autistic because I feed her different items in little sections and she eats one section at a time.
That is autism humour. Calm down, it is a joke.
She finds little things to have as goals. This week she went up two levels in the game of life. I was working away and saw movement out of the corner of my eye, looked out the back door and she was dashing across the green lawn. She has now learned to use the ‘ramp’ to get up onto the back lawn. By ramp, I mean the drainage ditch from the top AstroTurf. It is steep and slippery but she has no fear.
From there, her next trick was mastering entry into my Fairy Garden! The retaining wall is as tall as she is but she kept sizing it up and attempting and failing, then she ran at it and cleared it like a wee pole vaulter. Now she has done it several times successfully and effortlessly leaps up.
She provides endless amusement and equal amounts of cozy lovebug time. Her little snuggles when she climbs into my arms or her little wiggles of excitement when I come into a room make all of the drama worth it.
I just finished the series ‘Smoggie Queens‘ which I give 5 Kitten Stars. Everyone who knows me knows about my Drag Queen obsession, so it will come as no surprise that I loved it. It even has Michelle Visage in it! If you enjoy ‘British’ humour, ‘gay’ humour, drag humour and a bit of a kiki then this is one for you!
The series is a Hat Trick production (Derry Girls, Outnumbered, Have I Got News For You and Episodes) and the director is Andrew Chaplin (Alma’s Not Normal, The Full Monty). This lot would pretty much guarantee a good series.
Watching it took me back to the time when I lived in the UK. Recently I was talking to someone about weight and trauma and how stress or anxiety etc. can impact our weight and health. They shared a clip with me from YouTube which talked about the links between Neurodiversity and being overweight, having acne and hormonal issues when young. I did not relate to it as I had perfect skin, was skinny as a whippet and I was as fertile as a freshly tilled field when young. Even after my 3 children were born, I lost the weight pretty quickly. I was always relatively healthy but not a gym fan. I have never enjoyed sweating.
My health and weight only suffered once I moved to the UK and I was away from my children who were in South Africa. When Norm and I first married we were living in the UK, initially in a small apartment in Belfast. It was really difficult only seeing the kids for school holidays.
In Belfast it had a different social vibe and I was drinking beer instead of the wine I usually drank in South Africa. I was not working a physically active job like I did in Johannesburg. In Joburg I was a radiographer specialising in theatre (the operating room to you Yanks). I ran up and down flights of stairs carrying heavy cassettes to develop in the darkroom on the x-ray floor and pushed around a large machine, so I was very fit*.
*To those who do not know, today everything is digital in the radiography world.
In Joburg I also danced several nights a week for hours as I was a real club bunny. I was not going there to pick up fellas, I literally just went with a girlfriend to dance.
In the UK you also often stop to scarf down fish and chips at the chippy on the way home from the pub at midnight. As we had such an active social life we also had a few late night chippy meals.
And I missed my babies.
All of these things combined to make my body go a bit off balance. I tried to run and my hip hurt so badly it was unbearable. That was the first time I was aware of the hip that ended up needing to be replaced. I gained weight. It is also when my Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) started. When I moved back to South Africa, it stopped and my digestive system became better.
However the immune issues and the weight issues stayed the same and my mental health issues rose to the surface, or maybe they were just identified, categorised and therefore understood once I started working on it? My mental health issues were always there, I have always had a temper that can trigger in a flash. Once I hit the flash point, it is difficult to redirect that energy.
I read that arguing on social media can release dopamine and that people with ADHD enjoy it for that reason, so maybe that is an inversely proportional balance to my temper. Or something.
Oh and just for giggles, this week someone shared this cute shop with me as a suggestion of a place to go, but it is where Trevor, Caitlin and I all got a tattoo in 2006!
This is inside, getting my tat! I still love it which is good seeing as it is quite large and is very visible in some clothing. It is a large white feather with a leather thong and a bear claw.
How did I get down this rabbit hole??
Anyway.
Today it is a bit cooler thank goodness. The women’s group are all meeting today but I do not want to risk contaminating anyone so I will miss it. I am beginning to feel a bit like Leprosy Lisa should become my new nickname.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend and week ahead. Until next time, Kisses from the Kitten xoxoxox
Kitten in the City 