One of Furry Mama's children has had an amputation!

Yesterday went a little pear-shaped to say the least. First thing yesterday, while The Domestic Goddess was making her morning cup of tea, Clever Bird noticed spots and smears of blood all over the kitchen floor. Furry Mama checked everybody's paws: Calum was okay, Minty Mutt was okay, Hinge was okay, Bracket was okay, Baggy was okay! So she checked mouths - nothing. So she checked bottoms (not Calum's!), they too were okay. It was a mystery. As you know from yesterday's blog, Calum, Baggy and Minty Mutt then went out for the day. As normal when they got home and the four-legged furries were all fed, Hinge and Bracket wanted cuddles. Bracket hopped onto Furry Mama, Hinge hopped onto Calum. Calum stroked Hinge and thought that she had wee'd on him because his hand got so wet, only to realise that it was blood - lots of it! All over his hands and trousers. Amazingly, thankfully, not all over the new chair. Eventually Furry Mama realised that it was Hinge's tail that was pouring blood.

Hinge and Bracket were Baggy's wedding present from Calum nearly six years ago. They are rescue cats and named after a comedy act from many years ago - two old women, who were actually two men in drag - hilarious. They got called Hinge and Bracket because Hinge had a "hinge" at the end of her tail. It was probably broken and left when she was a tiny kitten. It has never hurt her, but frequently gets things stuck in it. Furry Mama has pulled out stinging nettles, brambles and branches in the past. But yesterday morning she must have caught it on something really sharp.

Probably the wire squares of stock fencing that the neighbours' fences are all made from, if she has hopped through a square. So Furry Mama called the emergency vet and she and Calum drove the Hinge to Bury St Edmunds which is a forty-five minute drive. Poor Hinge hates travelling. Only ever does it to go to the local vets (twenty minutes away) and then always with her sister, so being on her own was awful. She meowed all the way there, had an accident half way there and the smell was unbearable - how can anything that awful come out of something so cute?

They took her straight in to bandage her tail and stop the bleeding. Apparently the cut was right through into the bone and had therefore effectively re-broken it, so it would need to be stitched under general anaesthetic. But then the vet suggested that it might be best to amputate the whole "hinged" bit off, as the chances are that she would do it again and she is only five years old. Hormonal Hannah had Furry Mama in floods of tears, so the vet back-tracked, but Clever Bird realised that it was the best thing for Hinge long term. As Furry Mama was pretty sure that Hinge had eaten at about four (although actually Clever Bird couldn't remember for sure what time it had been), they couldn't operate until gone nine. So Calum and Furry Mama were to go home and return for her at midnight. Baggy was starving, so Calum and she went for a meal. Diet blown again. Especially when Furry Mama needed a large Pinot Grigio to settle her unravelling nerves, seriously, Baggy blubbing in a restaurant - just embarrassing!

Once home again they had a phone call at about ten-thirty to say that the operation had gone well, but Hinge (being so fat) was not waking up properly, so by the time she did it would be so late the nurses would be going home, so they wanted to keep her in. Baggy had a bad night, but the vet phoned at eight this morning to say Furry Mama could collect Hinge after nine.

She was so happy to be home but Furry Mama is in for a really long week. The cone to stop her licking (and infecting) her tail is driving her nuts. She constantly walks in to things. Minty Mutt keeps trying to lick her better. She can't reach her food or water. She keeps falling off the sofa. Minty is guarding her with full on barks which scares her - she tries to run off, the cone catches on the carpet, and on and on. But Baggy is so so pleased that she is home, so she will just stay with her until she knows that she is safe. Minty Mutt is going to have to get used to staying in for a while; Furry Mama will play ball with him in the garden when Hinge is asleep. Furry Mama has set her up in the spare bedroom - trouble is she just won't stay there. Getting her antibiotics (penicillin that Baggy is highly allergic to) and painkiller in her tonight is going to be fun!

Meanwhile it has taken nearly ninety minutes for Creative Clara to write this blog as t'internet is not working properly. Yep, Hormonal Hannah is taking full advantage of Baggy's stress. Clever Bird just needs to try to stop Baggy from comfort eating for the rest of the week and Clever Bird supposes that the Hinge will now need to be renamed Hingeless......