She's a tough girl, our Tosca. She's bounced right back from the surgery. Here's what her Frankenstein back looks like, held together by four staples.

Poor Tosca had a rough day. I dropped her off at the vet's at 8:30 am to have a bad tooth removed, her teeth cleaned and a smallsubcutaneous lump on her back removed. The vet had given me a verbal estimate of the cost, but the written estimate I was given to sign today was about $400 higher! Ack! I told them I simply couldn't afford to do that and we'd have to forget about removing the lump. It's been there a long time and never gotten larger. A bit later, the vet called and urged me to have the lump removed. She would revise the prices so that I could manage it. I figured if she thought it was important, I'd have to bite the bullet and do it.

The vet called hours later to let me know that Tosca had come through beautifully. The good news is that the lump turned out to be an encysted hair follicle and not a tumor. That's a relief. The bill was a smidgen below $600, a painful chunk from my savings, but we do what we must for our beloved fur-friends.

I picked Tosca up around 3 and she was an unhappy girl. She has a big square bald patch on her back with an incision sealed with staples. She's happier now that she's home again and has had some canned food and lots of love.

Apparently, the cats are holding a contest to see who can throw up in the most inconvenient place. Jetta was on one of her favorite perching spots -- the top of my computer -- when she decided to throw up with her projected path being the top and front of the CPU. You've never seen me leap out of my chair so fast. That was enough to spook Jetta who jumped down in time to throw up on the floor instead. It was a close call.

Usually the cats like to sleep on top of this old blanket, but Zoe decided to nest inside it.

My sweet man gave me roses. Saffy says they taste fine. Nom nom!

Tosca finally horked up the hairball she was working on for days, and with unerring precision she coughed up that and a large pool of vomit onto the power cables to my computer equipment.

I was combing Jetta, scruffy girl that she is, and she finally got so annoyed about it that she tried to bite the comb. I didn't push my luck and set the comb aside. A minute later, I heard THUNK. Jetta had located the comb and knocked it into the trash bin. Complaint noted.

The pumpkin puree did the job for Pippin. It solved his diarrhea problems very quickly and as an unexpected bonus, he loved having the pumpkin added to his canned food. I've never seen him lick his bowl clean with such enthusiasm. I must check with the vet and see whether it's okay to give him the pumpkin all the time.

I have Tosca scheduled for her tooth-pulling and teeth-cleaning next week. The vet said that bad tooth is probably causing her pain, so I can't let it wait.

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