Living the Good Life - mortgage free and living in line with our values

themadvix

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81999543#Comment_81999543

I'm glad it's not just me. And more loose ends than normal here after a very disrupted week. I hope you make progress.

EssexHebridean

ahh Vix that is good to hear that the issues with the procedure weren’t to do with women being failed by the system again - you hear so much of that it’s almost a natural conclusion to jump to now but I’m glad all round that I was wrong to do so in this case.

As for B&W then the uncertainty will be tough but so would the op, and you’re right I think about putting him through that to “maybe” get clarity rather than as a cure would be a decision to benefit you two rather than him. That’s being a great pet parent right there. Treat the symptoms is sometimes absolutely the right thing to do I think - for humans and animals! You will obviously be keeping a close eye on his quality of life too and that is after all the most important thing isn’t it. It is always rather wonderful hearing such a clearly set out case of responsibility decision making around pets though - not everyone is able to be as clear minded about it I don’t think. Your cats are lucky felines!

Suffolk_lass

We have also taken the low impact option for our 16 year-old stealth cat. She dipped dramatically before Christmas, losing around a third of her body weight, and stopped grooming - I diagnosed gradual kidney failure and started buying the (much more expensive) renal diet options. They are somewhat disgusting - the tinned mousse is particularly difficult but two crumbled shredded wheat bite-size mixed in has made it better for both err, ends of the process. A lot of the time she has a mix of queen in jelly, a sachet of specialist yuk in gravy and said mousse with shredded wheat. Mixed together she eats about half then grazes for a bit, before deciding she is hungry and beginning to pester. Her weight has stabilised and she is much braver around dog, so still good to continue, with her purry personality being our determinant of her longevity.

She was the litter runt so all in all, she is doing well

EssexHebridean

I read that as tinned mouse at first SL…well I imagine it would go down well with cats, even if humans did perhaps find it rather more revolting than even the average cat food! 🤣

themadvix

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82002985#Comment_82002985

Thanks EH. It feels like a very difficult decision - not least because I don't really understand how we work out what it is without removing what is the best treatment option for the lymphoma, but I am 'happy' that we've made a decision and are moving forward. We are now trying to work out the best way to get the steroids into our highly suspicious kitty - long-term readers may know that every month it is a feat to get him to eat some of the flea treatment tablet (having given up on spot-on as far too traumatic for all several years ago).

Totally get where you were coming from re the endoscopy/sedative situation - it is so common these days.

Tinned mouse definitely sounds disgusting to me, but probably quite palatable to SL's cat! 😂

themadvix

Morning all,

B&W cat's steroids have kicked in and we have a perpetually hungry cat on our hands (alongside his brother who was born that way). He's absolutely fine in himself though (hasn't been sick again - even before we started the tablets) and spent much of yesterday escaping over the garden fence, only to be recalled shortly afterwards (he likes to sit under the car and watch what's going on - but will wander off eventually, which we're not happy about).

We had a lovely day in France on Saturday with Mum, Sis and Niece. Cost of fuel/tunnel (we had a voucher towards it as apology for delays in October) was £7 each! Had a nice lunch on the seafront and spent some money on ice cream and at the hypermarket (but that's from the grocery budget). We were blessed with gorgeous weather and it was supremely quiet at the Eurotunnel terminal on the way back - in fact, the roads were very quiet in the UK too on Saturday night - was everyone watching Eurovision? 😬 (For peace of mind, we had the cat camera set up so we could keep an eye on the boys - normally we only do this if we're away overnight.)

I'm currently working, but off to meet ex-Brownies friends a bit later for a games afternoon. Will get the bike/train there and Mr MV will pick me up on way home from work.

Finances-wise, we've popped all the heatpump/cat funds into one place so we can track them against the cc bill. Hopefully we won't be too far off, given the insurance co. still owe us - I think current balance is £73XXish and the current savings are £5XXX (insurance should pay out £16XX. And because B&W cat is on cheapsteroids (prednisalone), his ongoing meds aren't going to break the bank, even without a prescription from the vet (which would be pointless at the moment as a month's worth is less than their prescription charge and meds will be reviewed in a few weeks).

MS things:
* £20 TCB referral for Mr MV has paid out (he was with £co before)
* RM survey stuff done
* S&S FOTG submitted - need to send barcodes though
* Bread baked

Gratitudes:
* B&W cat doesn't know there's anything wrong with him - he's certainly not showing any behaviour that differs from normal
* Lovely day out with Mum, Sis and Niece
* French pastries for breakfast
* Cat friend has provided some suggestions for medicating B&W cat (and is available should we decide to go on holiday)

Have a good afternoon all!

beanielou

Glad B & W cat is eating.

themadvix

Thanks Beanie ❤️ He's going off food at the moment though because it all tastes dodgy (pills). Need to suss our pill technique as I don't want him not eating and I get that if it all tastes horrible, you're not going to want to eat it. Tried the pill popper last night, but failed abysmally. Ended up crushing tablet and mixing it in with some yoghurt and Mr MV kept wiping it on his mouth 🙄 This was repeated by me at breakfast… have some RC pill pouch/kibble things coming today and really hope they're acceptable (he has RC kibble, so hoping the flavour similarity might help - we've tried others before and he just didn't like them, even without the pills in them, whereas he loves his kibble).

Off to Cambridge for an afternoon of meetings shortly. Really don't want to go, but I have said I will. Will be having lunch with two of the remaining colleagues I do like (one of which has travelled in from further than me), so that will be nice. And I'm not going to stay longer than I need to - no point me finding stuff to do there if I can come home and work. Part of me would really like to be 'made redundant' during the never-ending and never-announced restructure. Could do with the money at the moment, so I won't walk unless it becomes really awful, but if I'm let go, the decision is taken away from me. Supposedly we're hearing what's happening next week, but then we've been told that so many times that literally no one believes it now.

rtandon27

So sorry to hear about your work uncertainty! Definitely not what you need right now. You do have the right approach though - let the decision come from them rather than you! Sending cuddles for B&W kitty xx

greenbee

I've just seen a video on FB about training cats to take meds with rewards and giving them a level of control over it. Like anything to do with training animals, it takes time. But it seems to start off with rewarding them for being in a specific place. I think it would be easier with syringe-based meds than pills, certainly as a starting point. I've considered it with mine but they're pretty good with syringes and pills were only quarterly (they're now on a combined spot-on) so it didn't seem worth it. Mind you, they did insist on having their promised treat afterwards, so I think they'd get the hang of it quite quickly!

Sorry work is so stressful. We're having endless reorgs here too, so I keep hanging on and reminding myself that I just want to keep doing something that they'll pay me for until I decide I don't want to do it anymore.