Yay! In spite of all the odds we’ve had a holiday! Those of you who have known us for a while will know that we are blessed to have friends in Singapore whom we visit every year or two.
Ms F & Mr T our friends in Singapore
We booked a flight back in June this year for October and then every twist and turn has threatened to scupper it. It’s painful now to think back on some of the causes of our anxiety. The first concern was little Sparkle who arrived days after we booked. So vulnerable and needy. Deep down I think I knew she wouldn’t still be with us in October but at the same time we still stressed about who would care for her and how we could manage things when she was needing round the clock care.
What we missed in the turmoil of caring for Spark was an outbreak of tummy upsets. I think it probably came in through her and her siblings as it affected both the upstairs cats (where her siblings were) and the downstairs ones (where we were caring for Sparkle). At the height of it we were barrier nursing 4 different groups of cats, hand washing, clothes changing, disinfecting +++++ between every contact with every cat. My eczema still hasn’t quite got over it 😦 It persisted for weeks and weeks despite worming, probiotics, special diets, poo samples, antibiotics, blood samples – the works! No way could we ask any cat sitter to deal with it and I could see the holiday being cancelled. Finally it started to resolve though Karis, Charlie and Henderson were still affected. Thankfully Karis and Charlie found lovely adoptive parents who are helping them through this.
Henderson is still here of course as he’s a purrmanent resident. His thyroid issues have been up and down making me anxious about leaving him … right up to a blood test result arriving the day before I left.
Then our regular cat sitter said she’d not been well and was reducing her work and we had to find someone else. We were so lucky with this. Just as we heard she wouldn’t be able to do it, a friend announced her new business . We know Jess through local community stuff and through her incredible work with Cinnamon Trust. She took on walking a dog for an elderly person locally a few years ago. We got involved in a small way when the dog developed health issues and needed twice a day injections and then other medications. Jess recruited volunteers and organised a rota of people to help him and kept everyone up to date with exactly what he needed. It was an administrative feat and a labour of love. She was clearly the person to manage the rabble of cats we had here!!
We’d absolutely and wholeheartedly recommend this woman. She arrived with her forms and had made plenty of time to make sure she had all the relevant info about them. She spent time getting to know them. She accepted our weakness when we said we wouldn’t take in any more cats before going away, and then caved in and took Relish … and then Raffles.
She came over again and took up to date info just prior to our leaving. In the end we left her with 6 purrmanent residents: 0ne of whom had a tummy upset and was on twice a day meds, another is semi feral, another is elderly but fancies himself as a guard cat and in his time has pinned workmen against the wall. Two very timid kittens who needed ongoing support with being socialised, and two older kittens who are adorable but just little bit crazy.
If she was anxious about all that she didn’t show it and just reassured us that all would be well …
to see if it was …. check out episode 2 🙂
8 Lives: Sheffield 8 Cat Rescue 