Fatso, Stupid and Miss

My three cats are being rather odd this evening, and possibly with good reason. Each of them has been subjected to the humiliation of the flea comb, although they were Frontlined recently, so no fleas. The flea comb was because they were starting to look scruffy, so grooming was essential. Fatso (aka Mouse, but he answers to either name) initially resisted being groomed, but gave in after a minute or so when he realised he was being petted and made to look smart at the same time. He purred and settled in for the long-haul groom and got annoyed when I stopped. After sitting looking smug for a minute or two on the cushion, he slunk off out the cat flap with a look that said "Oh, you stopped. How dare you. I'm going out then" and was later found in the kitchen on one of the cupboard shelves. Don't ask. He seems to like it in there, and there's no door to stop him. That will all change with the new kitchen...

Stupid (aka Patch. She answers to it, and it's more appropriate as a name since she's mental) has taken to hiding in corners ever since we had a strange cat in the house, which was about four months ago. Nothing seems to stop her from finding awkward spaces to hide in and she was unceremoniously dragged from under stuff in the junk room for the grooming. And a worming tablet. Sulk? Well, she hid behind the dishwasher. We closed the junk room door to prevent further instances of hiding in the junk. It's getting too hard to get her out of there.

Miss (aka Rosie, the Prim and proper one of the three with an unhealthy obsession with washing herself and anything she comes into contact with) was the worst-faring cat of the evening. After a swift groom, I discovered a large welt under her chin which smelled... well, nasty. At first I thought she had just passed wind when she got dragged onto the grooming cushion, but the smell was the welt and her collar which was rubbing against it (a close sniff nearly made me gag). The collar got binned and Miss went for a shower. She fought (as cats do) when she was getting wet, but gave in when she realised that himself and I are bigger than her and she wasn't getting out of it. A wash of the welt later and she was purring and submitting to the ignominity of being a very soggy moggy. Two towels were needed to dry her (I think cats are made of sponge) and she was happy enough to be swaddled in a towel being rubbed dry, purring like anything. She got a treat of a tin of food put down (normally it's dry biscuits at night) and scoffed the lot. She'd been off her food and hiding in the junk room for the past week with only a swift glance of her as she headed out the cat flap at the run, or back upstairs at the same pace. Now we know why. When I checked on her half an hour ago, she was sat by the cat bowl looking for more, so I put down some biscuits for her.

We have fish as well, and some are getting to be a ripe old age, and unfortunately that has meant a couple of fatalities. The tinfoil barb (about 6 inches long and of uncertain age as it was given to us) was found floating yesterday morning. Tonight there was one of the two-year old corydoras went for burial at bin (it would have been burial at sea, but we are inland). The tank was checked just in case, but everything is fine. The rest of the fish are doing well, although we expect a few more fatalities on the way. We have some elderly fish now, since some are two or even three years old in the case of one neon tetra. The joy of having pets...