A strange title, but it was not really the title I wished for. It all began forty years ago when I got married. A short interlude at a registry office with two witnesses, but as well as getting Swiss citizenship I got the man of my life. Some time over the last years, I cannot remember exactly when, I was visiting my father in London on my own. I had a fall and broke my arm. I was delivered to the local hospital and had an emergency operation on my arm. Before the operation they told me to remove my wedding ring. I had to tell the hospital staff that I had never removed the ring since I had been married and could not take it off any more as it was fixed. The size of my ring finger had sort of adapted to the size of my wedding ring. The nurse tried to get it off, there was a lot of pulling and pushing going on, but to no avail. The ring was stuck. It seems that it could be dangerous when have a full anaesthetic in an operation if you have rings on your fingers. Anyhow I remember waking up after the doctors had fitted my elbow together again with various screws and metal plates and suspended around my neck on a silken band was my wedding ring. I noticed a few bruised marks on my finger. I do not know how they managed to remove it, but I could proudly say they had to put me to sleep to take it off.
I have been walking around for the past 10-12 years without a ring on my finger. So what did my husband give me on my ruby anniversary, a wonderful new wedding ring. It is custom in Switzerland to have the ring engraved inside with the date of the marriage and the husband's name and this was all done by the jeweller. It's a wonderful ring and I am so happy.
The day did not exactly go as we planned it. From Wednesday until the end of next week I have a holiday from work, so we had decided to take it easy on our anniversary - no stress, just make a nice day of it. Unfortunately Tabby, one of my cats, had other plans. When I arrived home from work on Tuesday my husband said Tabby seems to have problems. We noticed she kept stretching out her head as if she had swallowed something. This reminded me of my big fat cat Nera who had been at the vets twice for this problem. Once she swallowed 25 cm of string and the other time we never really found out what she swallowed, but it was not fun until it passed through her.
We decided to leave Tabby as it was evening and have a look in the morning. The result was that at seven o'clock the next morning (my 40th wedding anniversary) I was on my way with Tabby in the car to the vet. After an examination, thank goodness she had not swallowed anything, but her throat and tonsils (I did not know that cats had tonsils) were extremely swollen. I assume she had a sort of a cat cold. As they had to put her under sedation for the examination I could only pick her up in the afternoon, so that was our quiet day gone. We celebrated the wedding anniversary with a nice lunch and in the afternoon I fetched Tabby. She had been given antibiotics and I had tablets for her which I should give twice a day.
The next instalment was this morning when we wanted to give her a tablet. Now cats are not known for their co-operation when taking medicine, and this morning Tabby was no exception. The poor thing still had a sore throat and we just could not give her the tablet. After another call to the vet I could bring her again and the vet gave her the medicine in a jab. (I dread to think what this is going to cost). I have to go again tomorrow morning for the third jab. It seems that her throat should be clearing up by tomorrow, although she will have to take the rest of the tablets.
She hasn't really eaten anything for the last two days, although that is not so bad. She will when she is hungry and her throat is better. The problem with cats (or any animal for that matter) is that they can dehydrate, so the vet has to give her an infusion as well.
My husband and I have both been suffering with a cough and cold over the past couple of weeks, so perhaps she might have caught it from us. I asked if the other cats could be affected. The vet said it was possible. I told her that if my big fat cat Nera gets it then I will leave her at the vets until she is healthy again. Nera does not like people touching her, and if you try to give her a tablet she will probably have your finger. We even managed to weigh Nera at the vets a couple of weeks ago when she had her annual jabs. She is the heaviest cat I have and tips the scales at six kilo. That is actually slightly overweight for a normal cat.
So that was the story of my wedding anniversary and a cat. The things that can happen.
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