Comforting Cuddles

Its been a long week full of lots of cuddles.

Amber is very miserable still and hanging her head a lot when she is wearing the collar, partly weight and partly low self esteem, we guess.

Its been amazing watching her fathom out how best to get the collar around the dried food bowl and water bowl to eat with it on. The Housekeepers are so relieved that she can eat with it on that we they have cut her "collar" breaks to one a day at the moment. This gives her long enough for a good wash, give her neck a break from the collar and to feed freely.

Unfortunately when she does scratch off her scabs, it results in her shaking her head and a bloody spray across whatever is closest. Luckily,  its only been the inside of a laundry bag, commandeered cat tunnel that has borne the brunt of the mess when she scratches and then shakes her head. The Housekeeper is still very concerned that it is taking so long this time for the wound to heal and start to repair.

Whilst The Housekeeper does not want an unhappy, subdued Abyssinian on her hands for very long, she has very much enjoyed the cuddles from Amber, both sitting in the chair after her collar breaks and also at night. Last night, The Housekeeper dozed off to sleep with Jasper behind her head on the pillow and Amber in her arms with The Housekeepers dressing gown cuddled round her and small soft Amber purrs to lull The Housekeeper to sleep. It's not all bad!

Loooong Day

Amber has been very out of sorts. Completely understandable of course but she just doesn't seem to have any Abyssinian fight in her since her collar was put on. Poor little girl.

She slept in the middle of the bed between The Housekeepers last night and didn't move, all night.

Today she has been very subdued. The Housekeeper gave her three collar breaks of about an hour to give her time to have a wash and have some food and a drink. She has been contained in the conservatory with food and water and then removing the collar, as The Housekeeper knew full well that if she gave her the run of the house without the collar on, that she would disappear behind a bed and stay there! She has been sticking to the one room pretty much anyway, with the exception of litter tray visits as its obviously more comfortable to stay in one place and not get caught on anything.

She has also been as good as gold about The Housekeeper putting her collar back on each time and hasn't struggled once today. She lays across The Housekeeper's knees whilst it is retied. Giving tablets has also been far easier as she cannot swing her head away and spit out the pill with the collar on. Tonight, The Housekeeper has seen her drink water from her bowl with the collar on, which is good as The Housekeeper was worried about her getting dehydrated with limited collar-free time.

The other Abyssinians Have been looking out for her too. The Housekeeper isn't sure whether it was Dino who climbed onto the chair with Amber, or the other way round, but they seem to be quite companionable together.

The picture above shows what Amber's ear looks like today, the following picture was taken in August 2010 and this is what we are trying to avoid happening with the collar in place as it seems to spread and turn very sore, very quickly once she scratches it...... It's heartbreaking.