It’s been a maniacal few months! I had the shingles, which was absolutely horrible.. and then I started working, so I’ve not had much time for writing or for much else! Well, I have had a tiny little bit of time…

I’ve been taking a bunch of pictures for you all of my various things! I’m sorry if this post sounds like the rantings of a crazy person, but it’s pretty late and I’ve been writing non-stop for like the last 6 hours.. and there are a whole bunch of things in my head that I want to share with you all, and to be honest, I’m not sure where to start!!!!

Ok, I’m going to take a few minutes to plan out what to write about and do a few posts.. just so it’s not too overwhelming with like 10,000 words and a ton of pictures!

But for now, I will leave you with this picture that we took of my kitty cat, Monkey, when I was just getting over the yucky shingles..

Yes, that is a cat. No it’s not a photoshop lying picture – if it was, I’d make myself look less pale and sickly.. I’ve been looking online and think he might be a part Maine Coon cat.. they’re big and huge and have giant feet and hairy toes and love playing in the water and LOVE to talk.. which is *exactly* what my kitty likes to do!! and this is the only way I can pick him up without him trying to take my hand off.. he seems to like it – for a little while..

They said that his kitty moob is fat, which is common with cats that have been fixed. Vets sometimes call this an “apron”. My cat actaully got lost for a few days, and when we finally found him, his moob had nearly gone. We took him to the vet straight away, and she said that he’d converted his fat to energy and that it would grow back. And grow back it did! He likes to sit up on his back legs like a prarie dog, and now he looks like a penguin warming it’s egg!

Just remember not to call your cat fat, it might hurt it’s feelings!

Kitten after his first hair cut

As all you cat owners will no doubt have noticed, your cats have this dangly bit of skin on their bellies. I call this my cat’s “moob” – because he is a male cat, and his fat is in his boob area… male boob….. Anyway….!

I got Kitten (yes, very imaginative name I know, but it stuck) when he was very young, and as he has always been extremely fluffy. Because of this, I never noticed his moob – that is, until I got him shaved. I remember when I went to pick him up from the vet after his haircut, I was in shock.. “Oh my god, my cat is fat!” I said to the vet tech, laughing. And he wasn’t even 1 year old yet! I had always figured that he was big because of his poufy fur.

Kitten, to put it nicely, is a beast. His feet are huge, he weighs around 13 lbs. Each time I take him to the vet, I ask if they think he’s overweight. And every time, the reassure me that he is not.

They said that his kitty moob is fat, which is common with cats that have been fixed. Vets sometimes call this an “apron”. My cat actually got lost for a few days, and when we finally found him, his moob had nearly gone. We took him to the vet straight away, and she said that he’d converted his fat to energy and that it would grow back. And grow back it did! He likes to sit up on his back legs like a prairie dog, and now he looks like a penguin warming it’s egg!

Kitten in the Flowers

According to all of the vets that Kitten has been to see, these fat pads are perfectly normal. Also, the fact that they may sway when he walks is also not uncommon. Please note that this extra fat is not necessarily because your cat is over weight. Even a skinny cat can have this extra pouch on its belly. So don’t put your cat on a crash diet – as this will probably encourage them to eat even more!

If your cat’s tummy fat starts to feel different, or if you feel a lump or something else abnormal, take your kitty to the vet – just to get them checked out to make sure everything is ok.

Also, for girl cats, if they have had babies, they will have looser skin – which again, is normal. It seems that for both sexes of cat, being fixed is the main reason for this dangly skin in the abdominal area.

Just remember not to call your cat fat, it might hurt its feelings!

Today, the Daily Mail reported that an illegal Bolivian immigrant won the right to remain in Britain because he has a girlfriend and a cat. The court decided that sending him back to his country would be a breech of his human rights – because clearly, having a cat and a girlfriend means that the guy has a life set up in Britain – despite being an illegal immigrant… Yeah, OK British Government!!!

Anyone who has been following European news in the last few months will know about the “Jungle” in Calais, and how Britain, with it’s absurd immigration and welfare policies is just chucking money and housing at people – hence the ever increasing numbers of migrants and people on welfare. I believe that any government that has the resources to help people from war-torn/third world countries is obliged to do so –  but in a way that is going to be advantageous to both countries, the helper and the helpee. But for a country like Britain – that has enough issues of its own – to just open up its boarders and allow anyone and everyone entry is making a mockery of immigration law and the British Government as a whole.

So this Bolivian guy managed to successfully prove – in front of a panel of judges and with the help of his solicitor – that the fact that he and his girlfriend had brought a cat together was enough to not have him deported. The Home Office responded by saying that this decision was a “disappointment” and failed to understand how the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal could take into account the ownership of a cat when dealing with an illegal immigrant’s deportation case.

So, you might ask, what will the follow up be to this completely harebrained decision? Well, I think that the next step would be for all illegal immigrants to get cats. Maybe the Government could waste some more money by printing directions to animal shelters on asylum seeker leaflets. Or alternatively immigrants can pick up a stray cat. Since there is a big problem with stray cats in Britain, this could potentially help to alleviate the issue. They’d be killing two birds with one cat! In turn, illegal immigrants could probably argue that by picking up a stray cat, they are actually helping the government, as well as making a life for themselves – and the rescued cat! Look out for the next RSPCA press release: ‘Record Number of Cats Re-Homed”

Going back to the actual story though, during the official ruling, one of the immigration judges remarked that “the cat need no longer fear having to adapt to Bolivian mice”. Cute, but you’re in a courtroom dealing with a DEPORTATION case… not really the time to be cute… Seriously British Government, what on earth is going on? Maybe the next news story this will read ‘Migrant Spared Deportation Because he Loves EastEnders’.. Ridiculous!

The immigrant’s name – along with the name of his cat – were kept secret on the court documents to maintain the privacy of the defendant. But kudos Bolivian guy, I wish Canadian immigration laws were like this, as I had a cat, boyfriend, job, apartment and still couldn’t get my papers extended!

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