Yesterday our precious little Derry turned 15!! And unlike previous birthdays, disaster didnt strike and the day (which mostly consisted of building furniture, installing software, ooooing, aaaaahing and eating) went perfectly. Here he is, too cool to smile or even look at the camera, with his new toys ...

And here is "Bannockburn", Prince of the frozen wastes, destroyer of all that is good, slayer of fluffy kittens and master sock thief, or something like that. Believe it or not, this top level character which he has built over the last couple of years could be sold for around a thousand dollars, in part due to a rare 'picnic basket' add-on won on a gaming card. LOL. Oh yeah baby, and who says gaming doesnt pay?

On to our Jingle cat. Jingle has been at the vet every few days now for the last month and at his last visit (Tuesday) we were told that there was nothing more the vet could do. His ulcer had improved but was still very bad but more worryingly his eye was filling up with blood. The retina had become damaged and scarred and his vision was almost certainly gone in that eye. The vet seemed to think there was a very good chance he had a tumour behind the ulcer (in most cases tumours in cats are cancerous) and recommended we see an animal eye specialist in Tampa. I must admit I was ready to have Jingle put to sleep, and suggested it twice, hell he's 20 years old and there is no way Im putting him through any undue stress, pain, surgery or whatever, at his age. But anyway, David and the vet said that we should at least get to the bottom of it and see the specialist, so today we did, and would you believe it, there is no cancer, just a very bad ulcer and high blood pressure!! The high bp has caused capilliaries in his eye to burst and that is why we're now seeing a blood filled eye. So he is now on the full-spectrum ulcer meds, canine serum (thank you doggie blood donor!) and a blood pressure medicine the same as Scott had to take. The vet said that because the ulcer was so deep Jingle definately wasnt in any pain but its highly likely he is having mild headaches due to the bp. Anyway, hopefully now my raggedy old kitty will start to get better and live for many, many more years ... or a few months at least. Here he is looking a bit pathetic...but alive, oh, he's still a-live, ohhhhhhhh, he, ohhh, he's still alive ...