And now we are three!!!

Yep....we have another PARRT foster cat!

We've actually had her two weeks this coming Tuesday *13th* but my pc has been playing up ever since Neil faffed around with changing network suppliers Only just got it back reliably on Friday He's under Threat Of Death if he messes it around again!!!!

ANYWAY........the saga of our new cat started on Friday 26th August. We'd called around to see Linda on our way home and she just happened to have a cat needing a foster home!!! She said the cat was currently at the vets as he/she had been hit by a car and had a broken leg and needed 6 weeks' cage rest. We immediately said yes so Linda rang the vet and they arranged for us to come to the surgery on the Tuesday 30th to meet the cat and speak to the vet, Simon.
That was one looong weekend I can tell you!!! I just wanted to go and meet our new cat Anyway, Tuesday eventually came around and we went along to the vet and met the poorly pusscat. She was a girl about 2yo, tabby & white and her left foreleg had been broken in EIGHT places!!! Simon had put a pin through it to knit the main bones together and the other bones, smaller ones, had been wired together. She was such a fdriendly wee soul that it was obvious she had been somebody's cat but she wasn't chipped and, so far, nobody has come forward to report a lost cat. She's pretty distinctive - either full Maine Coon or part Maine Coon as she's longhaired and HUGE!!!!! We'd borrowed a 3ft crate from Linda to put her in but when we got her home she was too big So I popped along to the Cat Rooms and borrowed a 4ft one which was in the top office and never got used and it fitted pusscat perfectly
It's now in the corner of the living room where we can keep an eye on her and, more importantly, Misty & Thomas can get to know her. Misty has done her usual hissing thing but Thomas seems intrigued by her....tho' Neil still insists he is only trying to work out how to get into the crate to pinch her food! She is very friendly and accepting of the other two and has only hissed when Misty has started it by hissing at her!
At the vets they called her Ariel but that just reminds me of washing powder and housework so we have changed it!!! Neil has named her Lily....Tiger Lily Lilies are his favourite flower and she is as big as a tiger
She's slowly getting better though still quite reluctant to trust putting her weight on the leg. She's got a very good appetite and using her litter tray ok and is incredibly relaxed about being confined to a crate....I think we are more bothered about it than she is!!! We keep telling her (or ourselves!) that it's just for a few weeks which is a microscopic amount of time compared to the rest of her life which she will have with us Simon is happy with her progress and seems quite surprised that somebody has been prepared to take on a cat which needs veterinary care. But like I said to him, we always go for the oldies and ones who get overlooked as it's so satisfying to feel that we are helping the cats. The bill for the op is somewhere in the region of between £600-800 which is being being paid jointly by PARRT and the local RSPCA but I think Neil & I will be giving Linda a big dsonation towards that as Neil is adamant we are keeping Lily We really ARE terrible foster parents...we never get around to finding homes for our foster cats - we just end up keeping them ourselves!!!

Anyway, enough of my waffle......sure you all want to meet the divine Miss Tiger Lily

When we first brought her home....too big for the 3ft crate!


Bigger crate but STILL too big for Domino's old bed!


That's better....big crate, room to stretch out and two soft blankets to cushion her



She's big, isn't she!!! *don't laugh too much at my TERRIBLE haircut...I took the scissors to my fringe to trim it and something went wrong!*

And one from just a few minutes ago.

Biiiiiig Stretch!!!

Congrats on the new arrival Gilly, she's a stunner

I love MC's and would have on in a heartbeat if it was to be a only/indoor cat but while my lot have 24/7 access to the flap, it wouldn't be fair to get a MC and deny it the same freedom.

On a side note, I prefer Ariel myself and as you've mentioned lilies, you don't have any do you as they're toxic to cats?

Ian

No way Ian - much as we both like lilies I won't have them anywhere in the house OR outside in the garden. It's just not worth the risk

aaaawwww she's beautiful, is she on Metacam for pain relief, a break in 8 places is scary, really hope all goes well with her. Her name reminds me of an old lady I used to visit. Love these old fashioned names, on a par with my Sybil and Mabel.
On a side note Gilly, next time you feel like cutting your fringe, go slowly, LOL Sorry but I've been there done that, I ended up wearing a hair band to keep the whole thing off my face until it grow a bit.

Hahaha I just KNEW you'd pick up on my fringe Kath It's not looking too bad now TBH Though when I first cut it (I wet it just like the hairdressers do as well!) and what had seemed like the correct length suddenly sprang up, way up, above my eyebrows I was just standing looking in the bathroom mirror and thinking of how I could stick it back on!!!!! Luckily I do have fast growing hair and it doesn't look quite as bad now......and in this hurricane weather NOBODY has good looking hair

And yes, she's on something like Metacam. It's called Loxicam and she has a 4.5kg dose every morning on her breakfast I always make sure her breakfast is something extra tasty and I tend to lie down next to the cage door and hold the bowl for her to eat out of. Probably making a rod for my own back as no doubt she'll expect this Queen Pusscat treatment even when she's better But anything to get her eating.....just as I did with Domino
It's amazing just how often she lies ON her broken leg but it obviously isn't hurting her....apart from the occasional time she'll move her position and probably catches it awkwardly and she'll then hiss to herself....feline version of swearing under her breath Most evenings now I'll lift her out and have her on the settee next to me whilst I'm reading or writing a letter or, as now, tapping away on the laptop. She has a folded blanket covered with her soft red fleece throw and it seems to suit her as she'll quite happily spend the evening next to me fast asleep and purring away. I put her back into her crate when I go to bed....last night she gave me SUCH a look of disgust as she was obviously happily settled on the sofa I've asked Simon if it's ok to have her out next to me in the evenings and he said it's perfectly ok as long as she doesn't jump on or off anything!!! He said he thought she would have been putting a bit more weight on her leg and that, when he saw her last Friday, it seemed that she still didn't trust her leg yet. But *touch wood* I'm sure she'll soon be a lot better as her bones start to heal She's the first animal I've looked after with broken bones and as I've never broken a bone in my body in my life (so don't know what it feels like or how you start to begin to trust yourself on the broken limb again) I'm kind-of a nervous wreck at times in case she does too much or damages herself I try not to fuss when I'm next to her though as I don't want her to pick up on it and feel anxious because of me being a Silly Fusspot!

Well I used to wet my fringe before I cut it and that apparently is the WORST thing to do as, when wet the weight of hair pulls it down, it dries and wham far too short, so now I dry my hair and then cut my fringe, haven't had a disaster since.

I wonder if she gets some relief from the pain when she does lie on her leg? have you ever cut yourself and it stings like mad, then you press it and the pain disappears, could be the same sort of thing, am sure she's comfortable though as you would know if she wasn't. The fact she sleeps soundly is a good indication.

She'll be fine come time, she's getting well looked after.

Thanks for the fringe-cutting tip....I'll bear it in mind It just seemed pointless forking out for a hair cut when it was only the fringe that was bugging me - the rest was fine

Lily is flat out on the settee beside me SUCH a hard life cats have She's back at the vets tomorrow at 5pm for her next check-up so I'll see what Simon suggests.

She is huge isn't she Gilly. Gorgeous too..