Be glad you don’t live in the US. Daughter paid over $9000 for cat to have his bladder tube unblocked as he couldn’t pee - bit like kidney stones but urine crystals. Dogs have cost thousands too so they took out insurance which also covered existing problems.
You obviously know your cat. I’ve been surprised how well ours has adapted - though he is yet to experience a French summer - and, like with yours, I think the key thing has been familiarity with us.
One of my cats, Didi, had infectious feline leukaemia, and being very much an outdoor cat, he adapted so well to living in my bedroom, quarantined for two years in relatively good health. We had great fun. But cats diagnosed with FeLV are only expected to live for up to 3 years.
I adapted my bedroom with climbing frames and a shelf by the window where he could watch birds on the window cill, which he did. He had a good two years.
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Jackson Galaxy talks about “catifying” your home.
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The costs related to a cataract operation for a cat are 135€ consultation fee, 320€ electroretinography exam, and 2,000€ for the operation.
Probable total veterinary cost around 2,500€ in Saintes, Charente Maritime 17.
Last night I blocked up the 2 entries into the workshop, one of which she managed to climb up and over, and I found her this morning outside on top of a roofed over woodpile, asleep in an old wicker cat basket.
How’d she do that! She’s been blind for just 3 days. And she IS blind.
She is vulnerable to getting lost, attack by other cats as she is a small cat, and of course a fox, so for the time being she’ll be kept confined.
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She remained on the table all day and night without trying to jump off. But to make sure she doesn’t fall off accidentally I’ve put up a fence.
Her whiskers, her paws, her ears and everything else she can touch with, have become her eyes. She can sense my presence by smell I think – my breath - she can’t hear me.
She learnt very quickly and has established her territory - where she sleeps, drinks, pees and poos. And where she can sunbath!
Good going so far.
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I hadn’t realised she was deaf and blind. But she looks very content. They live in the moment, don’t they? It’s a great thing to be able to do. While we worry ourselves about them, of course.
She is deaf and blind, but when I touch her, she purrs and does what cats do when stroked, walks around in circles with tail up, wanting more touching, as if being blind & deaf was of no consequence - doesn’t exist.
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In another lifetime I will not be looking after sick, abandoned or disabled cats! I’ve done my bit.
My little cat Noire who’s lived semi-wild in my workshop for 16 years, having gone blind, now has, in addition to her new enclosure, a battery charged fan to help keep her cool. The temperature in my workshop was 30°+C a few days ago and she was spreadeagled for 48 hours to keep as cool as she could. And there’s a lot more heat on its way.
When I woke up this morning, I found a thumbprint sized patch of blood on my pillow. In the mirror there’s a scratch across the end of my nose! One of my abandoned cats had jumped over me from one bedside table to the other during the night. I woke at 2.30am this morning not knowing why but suspect the scratch had something to do with it - didn’t feel a thing.
Little blighters!
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How did she manage the rest of summer? Amazing, I’d missed this post!
I didn’t realise the how the heat affected her until she opened her mouth one very hot day and left it wide open - an attempt to cool down. So I brought her indoors, where it is considerably cooler, on every impossibly hot day! It’s much cooler now and she’s asleep inside her cat bungalow!
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Following the SF topic ‘Getting a dog’ & 3rd party dog insurance, a recent judgement against a cat owner in France whose cat peed & pooed in a neighbour’s garden might be setting an expensive precedent?
Third party insurance for dogs, yes, but for cats? Will that come about following this judgement? Getting that sort of insurance is highly unlikely I’d have thought, and could lead to keeping all pet cats in France indoors…
A weighty issue is looming here!
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On that basis my beighbour would owe me 1000 euros per month for recent visits by their dogs.
- At 30 euros per entry per dog for each trespass, at least (very, very conservatively) 8 visits per week between the 2 dogs.
- So 240 euros per week I’m owed
- x 4.2 weeks per month to get a monthly figure of 1000 euros.
- Not counting the value of my cat’s food they are stealing
- And not counting the mental anguish caused to my cat who always looks stressed when starting his meals now and looks over his shoulder to make sure they are not there.
I am not going to fall out with my neighbours over this. Following @toryroo ‘s advice I have ordered the effaroucheur from Lidl with a.dog deterrent program. It will arrive in 10 days.
I can’t help thinking that there are other aggravating factors between thesee neighbours and not just the cat’s trespassing.
In the UK cats are legally regarded as impossible for the owner to control but dogs’ actiona are the responsibility of tbeir owner.
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Our neighbourhood has several cats who occasionally poop in our walled garden. I tend to be live and let live but I do wish my dogs didn’t eat it. 
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I didn’t know that UK officialdom recognised in part something so patently obvious, and is good to know, thanks.
There are some things you can do little about, including raking leaves and stepping into something, which once back indoors, turns out to be extremely smelly!
Especially if you then unknowingly tramp it through the house 
Which I’ve done, from time to time!
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It’s hell to get out of the coconut doormat. I’m always afraid a visitor will say “What’s that smell?”
Quick, pass the Animology Stink Bomb spray!
My effaroucheur from Lidl has arrived today. It’s currently charging up. It’ll get its first test tomorrow with the dog deterrent program. In summer it will charge itself on the little solar panel on it.
I can’t wait. 3 raids into my property by the neighbour’s dogs in less than 24 hours, on just one of the many days they intruded last week. That was just the successful raids on the day. As 3 full plates of catfood were taken almoat as soon as they were put out then replaced. I am sure there were further unsuccessful raids by those greedy undisciplined ba5t4rds within that same 24 hours.
I will post the results.
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