#Milo

Milo is Home… #Recovery #Virus

/ Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 21 Comments

Yesterday must have been the hottest day of the year here in Hampshire, UK.

It was unbearably hot as we walked to the car to fetch Milo from the Vets, but inside the car was like an oven. Within minutes, I could feel the skin on my arms begin to burn. We would need to drive with all the windows open to get rid of some of this heat before we picked Milo up.

The veterinary surgery is beautifully air-conditioned, and I knew I would have to be dragged outside screaming to get back in that car.

They were very busy, with lots of comings and goings with animals of every shape and size. There was also sadness about the place and activity in the special room that is usually reserved for sad occasions. It only seems like yesterday when we were in there, coming to terms with losing Merlin.

Remember him?

When the nurse brought Milo out to us in the carry box, I could tell he was pleased to see us and desperately wanted out of the box. They had not found the cause of the problem and were putting it down to a virus. You would think that medical science would have moved on by now, wouldn’t you?

His temperature had come down at last, and he had been eating, so they thought he would make a better recovery at home as he was fretting too much. I had to continue the pain relief for a few days and add a powder to his food to calm his stomach. And if we were worried about him, we were to bring him back.

I don’t think we are out of the woods yet, though. Yes, he is eating, but not quite like before. He is also talking to me, constantly demanding something. He knows something is wrong, but hopefully, it will resolve itself.

I just wish I could understand his language…

Thankful Thursday… #Patience

/ Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 18 Comments

Thankful Thursday…

First thing this morning, I thought I would post a Thankful Thursday post today, for despite appearances (lol), I do have quite a lot to be thankful for.

Sometimes I wish there were a few more, but I am grateful, nonetheless.

The Veterinary nurse telephoned just after breakfast to report that Milo had a reasonably peaceful night and had managed to eat a little food. His temperature had come down a bit but was still considered too high. Because he was badly dehydrated, the blood test was inconclusive, and he hadn’t spent a penny yet, so they couldn’t test his urine. She reported that he seemed fretful and that they were hoped to send him home sooner rather than later.

No surprise there then, for as well as being a crazy cat, he could be stroppy too, so I imagine he hated everyone right now. Poor Milo, locked in a cage with a drip feed in his leg.

They still have no idea what is causing all of this, so I hope they make some headway before sending him home.

I began the usual morning sweep, website, emails, Twitter etc. Everything was fine until I reached Twitter. I refuse to call it X. It was as if I was in someone else’s account. Everything had changed, and I couldn’t find anything I recognised. I probably should delete it and find somewhere else, but nothing takes my fancy. Mastodon doesn’t appeal, and some of the others are linked to sites I don’t use. I quite like the sound of Threads, which links to Instagram, but when I tried to log in, they said my password was wrong. Not according to Instagram, it isn’t…

I moved on to Facebook, only to be met with the same problem. Wrong email address and password.

Now, I have a fair amount of patience, which, to be honest, is sorely needed when dealing with the internet, but this morning what little I had left, took to the hills and hasn’t been seen since…

So, what exactly am I grateful for?

Not Social Media, that’s for sure. But when I have exhausted my patience, I know I can walk out of my office and join my family in the living room.

Or I can switch off the computer and curl up with my book.

I can also walk out of my back door and stroll around my jungle of a garden; what more could I ask for?

Jaye’s Week… #Milo #WorryBox

/ Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 22 Comments

This week started well, so I suppose I could be forgiven for thinking it would continue…

After the strimmer incident, I thought I must surely be in front of any more worries…

But I was wrong. Lurking in the back of my worry box, I knew something was wrong with Milo, our crazy cat. I always like to give my worries time to sort themselves out, and sometimes they do.

But not this time.

I had hoped it was a passing thing, that he must have eaten something unsavoury in the garden, but when he refused to eat for a second day, my alarm clock started ringing loud and clear. This was the cat who tried to eat me out of house and home, always begging for more food. He sounded wrong too. Normally a noisy and very loud talker, all he could manage was a weird squeak.

I rang the vet early yesterday morning. They were busy, but could manage to see him at 1.15.

They checked him over thoroughly, but nothing presented itself. A slight temperature, which she thought could be due to the weather. Two injections followed, one for nausea and one for inflammation.

We took him home on the understanding that if normal behaviour didn’t reappear within 24 hours, to bring him back for further tests. As I write this, nothing has changed. I managed to tempt him with chicken yesterday, and he did eat a little, but he left the rest.

The 24 hour deadline is 2pm, so if he refuses lunch, we will be taking him back to the vet…

Milo… growing up!

/ Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 20 Comments

You will probably remember Milo. That adorable marmalade and white kitten who arrived unexpectedly just before Christmas?

Turned out to be a bit of a monster. Still adorable, of course. Very affectionate and all that, but still a monster.

There are times when we wonder if there can be such a thing as a cat with schizophrenia, as he does seem to have a split personality. He can leap from docile to demonic in seconds, and his temper has to be seen to be believed. He also has one hell of an appetite and has grown so much with no sign of stopping.

Milo had been desperate to go out for ages but had to wait until he was vaccinated and chipped. When we finally unlocked the cat flap, we thought he would sail through it, more than ready to explore. He had spent enough time looking out of windows, so his reluctance seemed odd.

We tried everything. We put his toys outside where he could see them. This didn’t work. He followed me everywhere, always hoping for food, so I went outside, expecting him to follow. Not a chance. Maybe he knew there was no food out there?

After a while, we gave him a little shove. We were getting a little desperate by then, as he still wanted to go out, but only if we opened the door.

He liked being outside, although he didn’t venture very far. When he had enough, he shot back through the flap like a bullet! To this day, he won’t go out through the flap but always comes back that way.

See what we mean? Milo is a very crazy cat. His temper is worrying us, though.

We first began to notice it in the mornings after our number one son leaves for work. Milo runs around the house like a ninja on speed, wrecking anything that gets in his way. We learned the hard way not to interfere or offer any condolences, to simply wait until he calmed down. I was badly bitten just by offering to console him, which hurt my pride somewhat.

His favourite pastime is trying to rip the roller blinds in the living room down. He can jump to reach the chains but also hangs on the bottom, managing to drag all the material from the roller. All carpets are his scratch pad, despite spraying them with a multitude of deterrents.

So you see, life with Milo is certainly different and not what we are used to. Well, mostly. When he is asleep or affectionate, he is lovely…

Milo learns How to Handle the Catflap…

/ Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 16 Comments

I thought that most cats would jump at the chance of freedom when presented with a means of escape.

Not Milo, bless him. He simply didn’t cotton on, and I was beginning to think he never would.

I have done all the right things, shown him how it works, and stood there for ten minutes holding it open.

But the penny wasn’t dropping.

He is desperate to go out, but leaving the door open wasn’t really an option, what with the weather we have been getting lately.

If he was a good boy and always used the litter tray, it wouldn’t be a problem. He could take all the time in the world to figure it out. But he has adopted other places to use. Too many other places, so it is getting a bit crucial.

I have been diligent about keeping the litter tray clean, even changing the brand of pellets, but nothing has helped.

He has been outside, which should have encouraged him, but he seems so nervous out there, almost a scaredy cat.

Whereas indoors, he is anything but nervous. If you could see the way he flies around the room at top speed like a ginger ninja, you wouldn’t think he would be scared of anything.

Yesterday, we were in the yard, and the wind blew the door closed. Something must have spooked him, for he made for the door and vanished through the catflap like he had been doing it for years. Yay, progress, I thought.

Not from inside, though. I have even used strong tape to hold the flap open, but he didn’t oblige…

This was one problem I didn’t expect, hopefully not for much longer…

Milo, the Bonsai Cat…

/ Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 21 Comments

I have no idea what he thinks he is doing, but this wasn’t what I had in mind.

He refuses to use the cat flap but loves to be outside. I didn’t expect him to be as naughty outside as indoors, but maybe that was wishful thinking! Already he has explored everything he can reach, although I caught him looking up at the wall, so maybe his world will get bigger with time.

Please ignore that rotten wall, I did paint it last year, honest!

A Turn for the Better and Flower of the Week…

/ Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 23 Comments

After a very confusing week, ending with a coming together of my senses and work skills, I spent Friday afternoon working on the WIP! Yay!!!

This morning, feeling so much more like my old self, I decided to change the battery on my iPhone…

I successfully changed the battery in my laptop last year. A complicated procedure that had my heart in my mouth and my hands shaking. So although the phone is a much smaller proposition, I thought I could do it again.

Nothing ventured, I tried to do this several times, but none of it was easy. I had the new battery and full instructions, but couldn’t even open the case.

Several Youtube videos later, I managed to get it open. Then I was faced with some of the smallest screws I had ever seen in my life. Of course, none of the tools fit the screws. I checked with the sender, who assured me the tools were correct.

I ended up buying two special screwdrivers before finding one that worked.

They said you could do it in three minutes, but took me more like half an hour. As I write this, the phone is good as new, fully charged in ten minutes and holding. Nothing quite like a little success to make your day!

Today, we are teaching Milo to use the cat flap to access the backyard. We didn’t realise before just how nervous he is. For all his tricks and bad habits, he is really just a big baby. We thought he was desperate to go out, but it might take a while…

While doing this, I noticed what I thought was a weed growing in the crack near the wall. On closer inspection, it was a Forget-me-not. These are springing up all over the place this year…

Now, what can I get up to this afternoon…

Butter Wouldn’t Melt…

/ Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 20 Comments

Do you remember that adorable ball of fluff that arrived at our house just before Christmas? The marmalade and white kitten that we called Milo?

How vulnerable and affectionate he was, and I remember thinking he could possibly step into the late Merlin’s much-loved shoes.

Fast forward three months and Milo has grown so much. Already large at five months, he will probably be enormous before he’s done growing. Thankfully, he is still affectionate, which is just as well, for he has developed several annoying habits.

Very playful, he has moments of crazy energy when he flies around the house at speed. Every room, cupboard and corner has been investigated and rearranged to his liking. He repeatedly wrecks my office, steals tissues and any paper he can find. Once he learned how to jump, nowhere was safe.

He rips towels and tea cloths from their racks and tries to operate the window blinds in the living room. After I make all the beds in the morning, he waits for me to leave the room, then unmakes them all.

All typical kitten stuff.

Milo isn’t allowed out yet, as he is scheduled for the snip and a microchip fitted at the end of the month. He is not happy about the delay, which brings me to the worst of his habits. He sits at either the front or back door and screams.

Not a gentle meow, you understand. He screams like a banshee. He does this every time he disapproves of something, like one of us wanting a lie in or leaving the house. Not sure if this is normal or if he has a problem, but we hope it stops once he can go out.

Last night I found a new and undesirable problem. I pulled back my duvet to get into bed and found it soaking wet. With a collection of towels and spare covers, I spent a most uncomfortable night in what still felt damp and didn’t feel like my bed anymore.

My sister calls Milo a ginger ninja, but I have a few names that are unprintable…

Appearances can be Deceiving….

/ Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 29 Comments

When Milo was first carried into our world late one night just before Christmas, a tiny helpless kitten with the cutest smile and affectionate ways, we honestly thought he might bring a certain calmness to our lives. Something that has been missing since Merlin the magnificent passed away last summer.

I have to report that this has not been the case, not yet, anyway.

Milo is the naughtiest and fastest cat on the planet. He whizzes around the house, looking for trouble like a ninja turtle on speed. He constantly finds new ways to drive us mad, like shredding any paper or tissue he finds. He doesn’t like where we keep anything and rearranges everything. He pushes things off tables and worktops and hates the window blinds in the living room with a passion. One of these days, I expect to find them on the floor, along with all the other debris!

He is desperate to go outside and explore, but it will be a few weeks before that can happen. Besides, is our neighbourhood ready for him?

He intends to eat us out of hearth and home and finds any fingers fascinating and worth trying to catch with his claws, usually when you least expect it. But… like all young things, Milo is an angel when asleep. It’s a shame he is hell on wheels the rest of the time…