Hooking for Kitties

Having seen Amanda @ crafty in the med appeal for stray and abandoned cats in Spain - we have two here in the coop . Humphrey 

and Sheene

I just had to pick up my hook. Having got my crochet mojo back a few weeks ago – I started to crochet this blanket;

I saw it on Little Tin Birds blog another great blog if you've not come across Heather before – the colours are muted but really beautiful.  I didn't have an owner in mind so perhaps it can be sold to raise some funds.

I will finish these pin cushions and send them to Spain to help the strays cats.

MummyHen X

Pet Insurance – to have or not to have

Do you have pet insurance for your pets?  We don’t - we used to. 11 years ago Mr Hum was hit by a car we had insurance and thank goodness we did as money was very tight and the bill was over £3,500. 

After that the insurance co increased the payments (we had three cats back then) and the monthly cost was £46 for all three back in 2000.  The annual jabs weren’t included and any scrapes they got into always seemed to be just below the £75 excess.  So we decided to cancel and since then haven’t had pet insurance and we have never had a huge bill.

Little cats accident has cost £2,567 so far - there’s still an operation to come in a few weeks.  DaddyHen thinks we should insure – I don’t well not with an insurance company.  We now have two cats who are 12½ and 10½ - 10yrs old seems to be the magic age after which the premiums go very high and lots of things are excluded.  I think we should put the premium in a box specifically for the cats – DaddyHen want to take out a policy.

We were very fortunate to have had the money in cash – no credit cards here!!!.  We still met the monthly goals – except one which was to put money aside for some ground works in the garden and some house maintenance during late spring but that can wait.

Have we been foolish or have we been wise not having insurance? 12 years of paying £46 each month = £6,624 we are still £4,057 better off over the past 12 years.

Would you insure or put the money in a Cat Box?

MummyHen X

Little cat is home

It's been a worrying few days but finally little cat is home. After two operations, three different vets, many pounds later, he's home, he needs to be kept in until his next operation in about three weeks - that will be difficult, but it needs to be done. 

More soon

MummyHen X

Thank you

For all you comments about Little Cat - its going to be a long process. 

However life here continues; two of our hens have started to lay after a winter break that started at beginning of October.  Golden eggs, as DaddyHen calls them, hopefully the other three will start soon  - we usually get a good supply from mid February to end September.  Not having any hybrid hens means that you dont get eggs all year round. 

I have nearly finished my patchwork crochet granny square blanket - choosing the edging colours seems to be harder than the squares, another three or four rows to go; this blanket is massive - I'll give you the stats when I do the ta-dah post.

Loads Hundreds of ends have been sawn in, been doing as I went along; the thought of having to do them ALL at the end - was a horrid thought, anyway the are all done except for the last few rounds of boarder. 

Sold some more stuff on eBay which yielded another £109 for the sealed pot or tin in my case.

MummyHen X

Poorly cat

Just after dinner yesterday evening SonnyHen found Little Cat (he's actually not that little but he is little compared to Big Hum) curled up on the sofa - not that unusual - but on closer inspection it was clear that he'd been hit by a car. With his head taking the full impact - he was not a pretty sight. Our vet was closed so off we set to the emergency vet

They dealt with him very quickly clearing the blood and mucus from his mouth, x-rays, blood tests, antibiotics, adrenalyn there was a lot of blood, pain killers and he was kept in overnight. We picked him up at 7:30am and took him to our vet where he was operated on to fix his broken jaw by wiring it together and to clean up his face. His left eye is a concern but until the swelling subsides we won't know if there is any permanent damage.

Just very happy he's alive albeit a little battered and very sore.  Some photos from last year.

Vets bill

Big Cats visit to the vet cost me £189.05, nothing major but his teeth did need a clean. It's way more than I had budgeted for, we had a small contingency budget for July which is now £89.05 lighter.  

Dental Scaling £25.20

Antirobe caps £10.56

Metacam £9.38

General Anaesthetic £90

Clamoxyl LA Inj £9.19

Metacam Inj £11.72

BloodTest Pre Op £33.00

But he seems much happier - a few small patches where he was shaved; he's such a lovely cat. We don't mention to him that he was a failed stud - just in case it hurts his ego!?!

>>>Edit:  At the checkup yesterday another injection cost £22.12
Total £211.17.  Contingency budget adjusted


MummyHen X