Feeling Thankful

This is a weird kind of year for me where it's not soon enough to think about Christmas and everyone around me seems to be super in the mood for it. I'm working Boxing Day this year so that means I'll be travelling back from Devon on Christmas Day and spending Christmas Night and Boxing Day on my own (apart from cleaning the cats) so maybe that's why I feel totally out of the loop.

The Americans have Thanksgiving (and the creepy Black Friday that us UK folk have seem to gone bonkers for in the past 2 years) which is this week, it seems to be like a little pre-holiday which I think would be amazing to get you in the festive mood. I was given an idea by Ocean about sharing some home-based things that I am thankful for, so here they are: 

My Home:

I haven't shared much of my house on here, I'm not sure why, I think it just doesn't photograph how I really feel about certain rooms. My living room and dining room are my fave, the feel is so cozy and I just don't think any pictures could capture how it really looks. Maybe I will do a few pics of close up things I love one day soon. The first picture in this post is in my dining room and shows my bookcase which is a highlight for me as books (or more specifically all of the books I own) are just something I love to pick up and browse through and  I'm forever collecting books on topics I am interested in. 

The second picture is where I am sat right now, I have a spare room which has a cute little day bed in and a desk which I can actually sit at and enjoy using. It is also currently housing Spirit although he is finding his feet around the house. 

I think the next stage for my house is going to be doing up my bedroom and giving my bathroom a teeny makeover to make it feel more cozy for bathtimes.

The Cats:

In my opinion my house would not be a home without the cats. At first it was just me and Prince but I felt like I couldn't give him attention all the time. In the flat it was easy, there were two of us and also it was so small and he went out alot but here he likes to go out for a bit and then come back home and play with all his toys. 

Now Spirit is back with us I'm really hoping they tolerate each other enough to possibly play with each other and knacker each other out while I'm working all day and snoozy when I'm back. Prince will always be my number 1 boy but now Spirit is here I do have to think about him too. Right now I alternate nights of who sleeps in my room and they are both super snuggly cats but currently both want the same spot on the bed!

Obviously things like family, health and working a job I love I am totally thankful for too but my little home is my place where I can do whatever I want and I love it! Bed at 8pm? Sure! Netflix and stuffing my face with Quavers? You betcha! Leaving the dishes overnight? I 100% am!

What are you feeling most thankful for?
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Purrstaid Kit - Feline LUTD Awareness!

Hello!

Another cat post today and this time I want to talk about Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease! EXCITING STUFF! Haha no really working with cats I see it every day, cats who come in with LUTD and their previous owners never knew and bought them in for peeing around the house or they get it when they come into the center due to high stress. 

A cat isn't like you or I (obvs) and can't tell us when something is bothering them. Signs like urinating around the house is an obvious one to watch out for, another is going in and out of the litter box alot but not leaving much in there or anything at all. 

I've had issues with Prince and LUTD and sometimes the only thing needed to stop it is medication from a vet but also a change in diet! Feeding your cat with a special diet. I know it's not as cheap as buying supermarket brand but your cats health is SO important! To find out more about urinary diet and how to keep your cats kidneys and bladder healthy then have a look at Hills Science Plan and check out preventative ways to stop your cat getting urinary problems.

Lucky little Prince was sent a Purrstaid Kit which contained some Urinary food, a toy mouse, a water bowl (fresh water is so important!), a little pet hot water bottle and a box of catnip (which was immediately destroyed by Prince).

Did you know that 60% of cat owners have had trouble with their cat urinating in their home and 45% didn't know that urinary problems were a common thing. Although 63% of cat owners thought that some cat foods could cause urinary problems, only 3% changed their cat’s food in an attempt to solve the issue.

There is a list of local places that stock urinary food and also £5 off Hills when you register with them - awesome! :)

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Fostering with Cats Protection.

Hello! 

It's no secret I work for the Cats Protection as a Cat Carer, a job I truly get pleasure from helping and rehoming unwanted cats and kittens. A great way we have people helping us due to our high waiting list for our 150+ kennels is to foster! We have a mum and her kittens go out to one of our foster carer volunteers who look after them and follow our weaning and socialization program until the babies and mum are ready to come back and find their forever homes.

A few experienced fosters and staff often foster cats and kittens who are having a hard time in their kennels or kittens who were born outside (feral) and are still able to be socialized. This is what I did!

Meet Spirit:

Spirit on his first day in my house. Terrified!

Spirit came into our care at 10 weeks old, he was found trapped in a garden fence and found by a dog. The people who managed to untangle him and get him inside said he was hissing and terrified. Just as they were about to bring him into us he managed to escape his box and run full pelt into a glass door splitting his lip right upto his nose and cutting all the inside of his mouth. We took him to the vets and treated him accordingly for two weeks before he was well enough to be put up for homing. 

In his homing kennel Spirit would hide out of view and hiss whenever you put him in his kennel. I had just signed up to foster cats exactly like this so they could live in my spare bedroom and I could socialise them and keep them in a quiet space before they were ready to return to the center. With kittens it usually takes 2 weeks to get them to come around to human affection. 

My manager asked me to foster Spirit and get him ready to be rehomed and I was so excited! 

I took him home after my shift and left him settle in a small pen for the night, he was so scared but alot better than he had been in his kennel. The first night I managed to get a few stroked in and by the second night he was playing with his toys freely.

After one week looking after Spirit and helping him grow in confidence, he loved snuggled and would sleep on me for hours and hours. It's safe to say he adopted me! 

Unfortunately I became a failed fosterer and put the motions in to adopt Spirit as my own!

In even worse news the day before I signed my paperwork I noticed some patches of skin that looked off with Spirits face and working with sick cats I knew this was bad news. Reluctantly I knew I had to tell my managers and they were going to hold off the adoption and bring him back into our Isolation unit for tests and treatment. I was a wreck! I cried all the time at work and at home and after 2 weeks of him being back at the center I got the bad news he had tested positive for a highly contagious skin disease - Ringworm. 

I had to bleach the room he stayed in and get rid of any soft furnishings he touched. Luckily I didn't catch anything and Prince never met him so he was safe too.

It's been 6 weeks now and I've just got his first negative last week, so he needs one more which hopefully means in 3 more weeks he will be back home with me! He's 5 months old now and SO much bigger (even his fur colour has changed!) but I get to see him every day and even work with him in Isolation. I'm still going ahead with the adoption and taking a HUGE break from fostering as it's too tempting to keep them! :p

Spirit in Isolation. 

Spirit is such a loving cat and I really cannot wait to have him home - so expect more cat picture spam!

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Anxiety's Door

Oh Hey!

Just thought I'd stick a 'life lately' type post up today as I've not been feeling massively myself the past week or so. Really not sure what has changed as I had been blissfully happy. It might be that I had a little head cold thing on my week off this week or maybe just the change in season that's messing with my head.

When I feel like this my fave things to do are getting snuggled up, sticking on something entertaining on TV, having a LUSH bath, playing some records and make myself a cuppa to chill me out. 

I went back home on my week off which was a nice change of scenery. As much as I do love living on my own, feeling a little lonely is obviously going to happen from time to time. I also feel that since my fairly recent break-up and moving that I've lost quite alot of my social life. I really really do not care about not getting wrecked and being hungover every weekend but I do miss the social circle that came with it all. I do make an effort but I know it's hard when everyone works full-time and often do things spare of the moment or in their couples.

Getting out of the house helps alot and I really need to push myself to be a little more independent and actually go and do things on my own that aren't chores. I always want to go out for a walk but bottle going off on my own to the park or wherever which I really need to quit doing. I know it would make my head feel so much better.

On Saturday I got to go check out the new Vice 4 palette from Urban Decay. I love going to get my make-up done by pro's as I'm such a chicken at straying away from new colours. I'm heading back next week to try out something else new too.

As always my main source of joy come in the furry form of Prince. I've had him 3 years now and even though his personality has changed alot since the baby days he is still a mummas boy who loves to snuggle with me. I actually have a post coming up very soon about another little furry being who came into my life too.

What do you do to relax and calm your wandering mind?

I hope you had a brilliant, safe and fun Halloween!
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