She hadn't been to see the vet since September - so long, in fact, that our lovely Judith has left the practice. Very sad.

However, we were running out of pills, so I trundled her along last week. The new chap took a good look at her, and she is fine. Which is excellent. We continue with the pills - well, we'll be doing that a long time - but the dosage is fine.

Excellent news, we thought.

Cost to date: £322.

We once took a photo of the whole Tribe together on the bed - it was in the days when They Were Nine, and gone are Mollie, Zool, Shrimp and Drumknott, and Esk and Ptep have moved to Norwich.

I doubt we'll ever get the current Tribe to sit together, but they were all in the study together yesterday, waiting for us to turn off the rain, so here's a photo montage of them all.

Judith, however, was not - so we just upped the dosage to 1 pill a day for five days, 1 pill every other day for 5 days, and then 1/2 a pill every other day. And no need to visit again except for repeat prescriptions. Hurrah!

Cost to date: £296

We were watching television, and the lights were fairly low, but it slowly dawned on me that this moth was rather more robust than one might expect. Because it was a baby frog [sigh].

Pete rescued it and returned it to the garden pnod from whence (presumably) it came, and Bada sulked for a bit.

We've decided to leave her on a 1/2 until we return from four days at Summer Camp next week, and then drop it down. Judith is happy that this dose is sustainable long term without damage, which is terrific news.

Cost to date: £289.50

Anyway, I digress. Bada is very much better, and so we have dropped her dose to half a pill ever other day. She had another shot of Convenia (oh how I love this stuff) so that we weren't changing too many things at once. Oh, and the little pigling has gained another 300g! - London Olympic shot putting, here we come.

However ... now we have to think about what to do for the long terms. Our options are:

1. Have all her teeth removed, which would almost certainly make this infection go away for good, as it is caused by some sort of allergic reaction to plaque. But removing healthy teeth from a cat is a nasty business - a difficult (and expensive) operation. And Liessa, daft as it sounds, is partly defined by her little sharp white pointy teeth. So - on to the alternative, which is ...
2. Staying on steroids until her teeth fall out. Downside of this is constant vet visits and, more worryingly, the side effects of immuno suppression, possible kidney / liver damage, etc.

Cost to date: £277

another appointment in a fortnight.

cost to date: £245.

we were away for the weekend, visting Harry, and so we gave her a whole pill on Friday morning, followed by Ham, and then half when we got home on Sunday evening. "She doesn't seem bothered about a treat" quote Pete and so, possibly foolishly, I didn't bother.

and yesterday's half-pill was a nightmare to get down - she simply wouldn't have it first time, and although we managed it in the afternoon, she was Not Pleased. So we instantly reinstated Ham, and we'll see how she goes. Else it's kevlar for us, I guess ...

and she is - *heaps* better; Judith was very pleased (and introduced her to her (presumably) work experience girl as "the prettiest cat she'd ever meet" - perhaps we should take Moo in to be introduced :).

so now the dosage is halved, and we see how that goes - she'll have to take these pills while she has teeth, so it's now a question of getting the dosage sorted.

and the little monster has put on a whole pound in a fortnight - hopefully she'll be ready for javelin throwing or something by 2012 ...

a friend, Moyra, pointed out that this is merely a ploy, and she will turn back into a scratching, biting, frenzied monthter when we have forgotten the early days of this pill saga. And she is absolutely right, of course, but we'll just enjoy it while we can.