Jack has a big face

James arrived home from his holiday in Austria very late on Sunday evening, and has had lots to tell us about his hill-walking. He keeps telling me how much I would enjoy going with him on a similar holiday, but then he mentions that he did 6000 metres of ascent over the week, which does not sound inviting to me! He has really enjoyed his holiday.

Although Jack has been fine in himself since his fight last week, we noticed over the last couple of days that the right hand side of his face has swollen up and under his fur there is a large lump. So I made an appointment at the vet's and I was glad that I had because by the time I got home from work the lump was so big that his right eye was half closed! James had arrived home just before me so he came with me to the vet's while David made the dinner.

Jack was not a happy cat when we got there and even less so when the vet stuck a large needle into the lump to try to draw out any liquid. This was unsuccessful so Jack had to get an anti-inflammatory injection and an antibiotic injection. During the second injection he went berserk and lashed out with claws and teeth at the vet and at James, who was holding him. He scratched the back of James' hand really badly! He also yowled and lashed out when the vet put some ear drops in his ears - I suspect that he is getting a bit deaf so she was seeing if he has earwax. This was all too much for Jack, what a racket he made! James said fondly to him, "You were looking forward to a nice quiet evening weren't you?", however the vet thought that James was talking to her and said, "Yes I was!" which I thought was very funny. Jack gave the vet an absolutely filthy look.


When we got home we skyped Ally and Cat who are in Laos. Today they went tubing down a river; in the dry season it takes about four hours but in the rainy season (now) it only takes one hour. They stopped off at riverside bars on their way down river. Tomorrow they will go to Ventiane which is the capital of Laos. They are having such a wonderful holiday.
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