Happy Birthday Basil & Parsley!

Today is Basil and Parsley's 3rd birthday. Happy Birthday my darlings!

I am delighted to report that Parsley is not only still with us (it's been touch and go), he was even able to come home today! He's got to be back at the vets on Tuesday for another chemo thing, but we're ecstatic to have him here to ourselves, even for a couple of days. He's been at the vets for an entire week, and despite them doing a wonderful job, he wasn't really having a very good time, as you can imagine.

On arrival home, first point of order was a good long go on the scratching post:

Claws in order (and a little stress relieved, no doubt), Parsley then hot-footed it to the cat flap, and spent a good couple of hours chillaxing in the sun with his brother, getting to know his old stomping ground. We were so so lucky with the weather today, it's been beautiful. I think we'd all forgotten the simple pleasure of the sun warming your skin.

We're really pleased with the amount that Parsley has eaten since coming home. He's been pretty much stuffing his face all day, which after a week of refusing most food and being syringe-fed, is fantastic to see. He's mostly been enjoying shrimp and mackerel in jelly, some chicken treats, and he licked the gravy off a bowl of elk. Yes, we have elk cat food, it's from Sweden.

Parsley and I also enjoyed a lovely afternoon nap together. After all, playing in the garden is very hard work.

Given how up and down Parsley's health has been at the vets, I honestly didn't think we'd be getting him home again, so even if he doesn't pull through long term, I feel so lucky to have had this positive time with him today.

My only real concern now is how he will fare tomorrow, as we're not here to keep an eye on him. Our commute to London means we're out of the house a minimum of 11.5 hours for work, which if he's going to take a sudden turn for the worse, is a bloody long time. Thankfully, our lovely neighbour and dear friend Mandy should be about to pop in on him a couple of times. Hurrah for good neighbours is all I can say.

More positive news soon I hope, keen everything crossed please folks.

Still at the vets...

We went for another visit with Parsley last night, sadly the vets still don't feel able to send him home, we're hoping perhaps over the weekend.

He didn't seem particularly well at all when we arrived, but as soon as he realised it was us, he perked up a bit and started shouting and shouting, I think he's kinda fed up.

Here he is telling me all about it:

And sulking:

Modelling his lovely red bandage:

Trying to get into the other room to "make friends" with the rabbit inpatients:

And giving me a nice pat on the head (I think he has confused our roles here):

Not feeling love for the weather

So Basil got drenched.

Any normal cat would just like, come in from the rain. Not our Basil, he's got important stuff to do outside, or so he tells me. Rain or shine, he said. Thank goodness we can't afford new carpets yet.

Good luck little man

Time for the second dose of chemo today. If it goes better this time, we'd hope to have Parsley home for the weekend. If not, well, we'll just wait and see...

No new pics at the moment, so here's an old one of Parsley looking most dashing, and one of the boys hanging out together, not wanting their picture taken.

Excuse the quality, they're from my (non i-)phone.

Mud-meister General

Just in case anyone had forgotten about Basil, here's the mess he managed to make on our cushions this evening:

What a prick.

Here he is the handsome devil:

Who couldn't forgive that face.

Visiting time

We went to visit Parsley this evening, here he is looking gorgeous as always:

He perked right up when we came in, rolling around on the floor like the silly tart that he is. It was really good to see him. It's hard at the moment, as every time we visit, we have to almost assume that it might be the last, but given how ill he is, he seemed very much himself.

The nurses even had a photo of him climbing up the doors there, just trying to get attention I think. What an idiot. Will try and get a copy of that to post next time.

After finally eating last night, he's apparently refused food all day again today, so we're really not out of the woods yet. Key thing will be how his white blood cells are doing by the time he's due for his next chemo on Thursday.

Just in case you're reading this, I want to say a huge thank you to Catherine and all the nurses at our vets, you're doing a sterling job, and I consider myself lucky that if this had to happen, at least my Parsley's getting the best possible care with you guys.

One day at a time

Last night, we thought the game was up.

Parsley was still at the vets, had refused to eat a single thing since Saturday morning, and his white blood cell count had dropped notably. Clearly the side-effects from the chemo were taking their toll. There was talk of putting him on a feeding tube (inserted directly into his throat, requiring an operation), and we thought, maybe it's time, how much suffering can we force him through in the hope that he might get better?

When the vets rang this morning, I was kind of ready to make the call. Falling to pieces, but ready to do what was right for my baby.

As it is, we've been given a reprieve, he's started eating again, only a little bit, but enough that today probably won't be the day that we have to say goodbye.

We still have to seriously consider the wisdom of moving forward with the chemo, if it's not going to be able to offer him a comfortable life, but I believe the vets can play about with the cocktail of drugs they're giving him, and it's possible this can be improved.

I don't want to get too excited at all. We still have to face the fact that he isn't going to get better. Ever. But there's still a chance he'll get along easier on the chemo drugs if we can get the dosage right... and so be able to come home with us for a little while, play in the garden, cover everything in mud, shout all day at the top of his lungs, insist on sleeping on my chest so I can barely breathe, and all the other things he loves to do. Here we are, hoping.

To lighten the mood a little, here's a pic of the P-man before he got sick, cosying down on top of me for the night.

Hang in there Parsley, we love you.