Laura_E

What a great picture. If I ever try and get a photo of Tess and the cats together, you can guarantee that one of them will move just before I get the shot. I don't think they want the rest of the world to know that they secretly like each other.

Haven't updated this in a while, so just thought I'd say little Sophie is still in hospital but improving slightly everyday. She is now off the ventilator, but still has numerous tubes assisting her breathing and feeding. She is still very small for her age, but has huge feet- which look quite funny on her skinny body! We are hoping that she will be out in time for christmas, but there are no certainties at the moment. Just keeping our fingers crossed.

Just took these pictures off Kizzi, Tess and the cats....... Shame they are all facing away from the camera. Anyone would think they'd had enough of me taking pictures or something?!

Bless him. Love his new pictures too. Has he had any enquiries yet?

It is exactly one week today until my friends wedding. So, I decided to bite the bullet instead of burying my head in the sand and tried on the bridesmaids dress, and.......I manged to zip it up! The only thing is, it don't look pretty! Operation bridesmaid dress is now complete, the next mission is operation armpit fat! Does anyone have any advice on losing back fat in a week?!! I might have to resort to lunch time lipo!

Well done Lynee, the weather was horrific yesterday and I don't think many people would have stuck it out The new banner looks great

Wow, what a fantastic amount!

Well, I still consider myself to still be relatively young (maybe I'm in denial!), and personally I can't see the attraction. I'm not saying I set the bench mark for good taste, but I just don't get it- and don't get me started on those eyebrows! There's nought wrong with a man plucking a monobrow, but I draw the line at shaping!

Jo will go. There are actually quite a lot of people that like Sam, and I'm one of them! As for JJ being popular, I don't get it. He's inoffensive enough and hasn't done anything to upset anyone, but he's not exactly setting the place on fire is he?

Ok, I unwittingly ended up watching some of this film today! I have been off work with a migraine so thought I'd lie on the sofa and watch some episodes of the new series of True Blood that my friend downloaded for me a couple of weeks ago. What he failed to tell me is that he had also downloaded two films to the same disc, one of them being the Human Centipede. To start with I thought it was just a really, really bad student film that he had downloaded for a laugh- it looked like it had been made with the budget of a giro cheque! Then about 20 minutes in I realised what it was. I rang him and asked him why he had downloaded it and he said simply because everyone had been talking about it and he wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I think that sums it up really. How many truly awful films have received tons and tons of press and free advertising just because they have a depraved storyline? It doesn't really matter if the film is critically slammed, in some cases it even helps, because as long as it has an air of controversy about it, people want to know more. If this particular film didn't have the concept of sewing somebodies face to another persons bum () it would have just been another budget European horror film that went straight to dvd (distribution of which would have been financed by the director) and sold 100 copies (mainly to friends and relatives of the crew). But people are fascinated by anything with a bit of 'shock' value. A few example of this would be; I spit On Your Grave, The Last House On The Left, Driller Killer etc. etc. They were all poor quality films, but because they were banned they became instant 'cult classics', whereas without the ban they would have ended up in the bargain bin! I think a Clockwork Orange is one of the most over rated films of all times. I know a lot of people would disagree with me, but I don't think it deserved half of the attention that it got, and I personally think that most of that was due to it being banned. I appreciated the book more because of it's originality with it's use of language, but I was quite indifferent with the film. Maybe it's because I'm not a Malcolm McDowell fan! From what I saw of the Human Centipede, it wasn't actually that graphic in it's violence, they probably didn't have the technical skills or budget to make it that way, but it's the vile concept that has earned it all it's publicity. The director will be able to sell the rights to it and retire now, all because he had a warped idea that caught the attention of a few critics. I don't think I would class any of these films as porn though. I am sure there are some people that get off on the violence, but they're not made for that reason. They're just sensationalist.

Yes, that is a bit of a tricky one! Do you think the vets could prescribe some food some might make her motions more solid and therefore less prone to 'leakage'?

Thanks To be honest (without meaning to be too graphic!) she is very regular and her motions are always solid, so I was quite surprised that she was scooting. She has pancreatitis so can only be fed on chappie (which stinks ). Not sure if that has anything to do with it. I would actually be happy to pay for more expensive food just to stop my house from stinking to high heaven! Of course, it doesn't help when she eats that and then rubs her chops all over the sofas, carpets etc! Not that she can help it, bless her. Hopefully the anti-biotics will sort that out.

Kizzi was not a happy girl at the vets today, I'm sure she now thinks I am the devil incarnate! She had to endure having her ears prodded and cleaned, her teeth and gums inspected and drops in her eyes (all of which I now have the pleasure of continuing twice daily). But the worst part by far was when she had to have her anal glands emptied. She has been scooting around on the carpets quite a bit in the last few days, so I thought it was best to get them seen to and she definitely needed them done- but she was so upset by the whole thing she was shaking She has also been given some anti-biotics for her gums as she does have an infection. But they are being administered in treat form (wrapped in a bit of chicken) so she doesn't mind that too much! Even though she clearly found the whole thing very distressing, she behaved so well and didn't once act aggressively. Bless her. ...and as if I wasn't already the evil foster mum from hell, I've ordered her one of these.... It's to stop her ears getting in her food and covered in grass seeds, but I don't think she'll appreciate it very much!

Of course the punishment was engineered to keep Sam in, because he is the only one brining any excitement to the house at the moment. Even if he does get put up, which is highly likely, I don't think he'll go. I actually find him quite amusing, but I do have a strange sense of humor!

Do you think it could be a muscle problem? Maybe that's why it took her ages to go when she was in the crate, because she was tensed up and anxious? I know my cats are at their most relaxed when they are asleep (like all of us)- in fact, Molly's favourite time to pass wind is when she is fast asleep and completely oblivious to the stench that she is inflicting on the rest of us! Or maybe it could be her anal glands? I know it isn't really something we hear much of in felines, but some cats do suffer from blocked anal glands. If her poo is normally quite soft then they may not be expressing properly. Poor Perl and poor you! I hope you find an explanation soon.

Lots of positive thoughts for Cliffy.

Thank you Is it ok to use hibiscrub on the inside of her mouth? I've never used it before so am a bit clueless! She also has a very dry, crusty nose. The last cocker that I fostered did as well, so I'm not sure if it's a typical trait or something I should be concerned about, she seems pretty healthy otherwise. And yes I shall be sure to give her a kiss, she loves to be lavished with attention so it will be gratefully received! Here are some pictures from todays walk- any excuse to show her off!

I've noticed that Kizzi has been rubbing her chops on the carpet quite a bit since she arrived. I tried giving her teeth a brush earlier to see if that might help, but it hasn't. She whimpers a little when she does this, so I am wondering if it something that I should be concerned about. I'll be taking her to the vets this week to get checked over, but I was just wondering if anyone with cocker experience knew what it might be?

What great pictures. They are both lovely.

She is rather lovely I've noticed that like many females, she has a shoe obsession. She has accumulated quite a collection in the last few days, but her taste leaves something to be desired! So far she has managed to hoard two of my old smelly plimsolls, one of my house mates ancient slippers, one of his trainers and a pair of my socks! She likes to sleep with them in her basket for some reason She has been a little star with the cats and hasn't even tried to sniff them. She is quite happy to just watch them from the comfort of her bed. Even Molly was sitting in the living room with us last night, and she has even started to walk past Kizzi- albeit as low and as slow as she can possibly go- but it is progress. Her previous owner gave me her KC pedigree papers, but I think there must have been some labrador in her lineage many moons ago as she is the greediest dog I have ever known! She will literally eat anything that you put in front of her and can hardly contain her excitement when you are dishing up her dinner. She also knows that 5 O'clock is dinner time and stands in the kitchen waiting to be fed on the dot! It is quite funny really, as she is such a pretty, dainty little thing- but she scoffs her food down like pig. Even Tess looks at her in amazement. They are both getting on really well, but Kizzi did make a play for Jake the GSD this morning- so Tess wasn't too impressed that she was muscling in on her man!

In the first picture she looks like a medium sized dog, or maybe I'm just not a very good judge!

I am a bit of a film geek and enjoy watching all genres of film, but I do think that some of the stuff that has been released in recent years is like snuff. I am pretty broad minded and it takes quite a lot to shock me, but I found Hostel incredibly uncomfortable to watch and it actually left me feeling numb afterwards. I appreciated the idea (and thought in some ways it was quite viable!) but the scenes were unnecessarily graphic and I felt like it was just violence for violence sakes. Saw was fundamentally a good idea, but the subsequent films were just poorly constructed gore fests. One of my friends recently lent me a film called 'Mum and Dad' and I had to turn it off after 30 minutes. One because it was genuinely awful (poor acting, poor directing, poor script etc) and two because I don't find it entertaining to watch people being tortured. Personally, some of the scariest films I've seen involve very little gore at all. The Shining had hardly any violence in it, but I found it genuinely scary, along with The Omen and Rosemary's Baby. I think a lot of the violence we see today is down to a lack of imagination from the directors and the intended audience.

Me either I remember when I was very young (in the 80's) some thugs on our estate got hold of a dog whose owners used to let him roam the streets all day. They took him to the multi story car park in town and dropped him from the top of it This dog was sweet, affectionate and completely trusting of everyone Amazingly he survived, but people were so disgusted by the whole thing that they decided to do something about it. I remember a number of men from the estate took the five scum bags responsible back to the same car park and dangled them over the top by their ankles. They all s**t themselves and had to walk back home through town with soiled clothes. Their lives were made hell after that and nobody wanted to be associated with them, even their own families. But these days people are too scared to say anything, let alone do anything.

Kizzi arrived in foster with me this afternoon and is an absolute sweetheart After her previous owner left she was having a bit of a cry, so I decided to take her and Tess out for a walk to distract her. We ended up going to Virgina Waters for three hours, but I think Kizzi could have quite easily managed another six! I have been SO proud of my cat Bobby, who is normally a bit of a wuss, but after observing Kizzi from the dinning table for a few minutes he decided to bite the bullet and went straight over to her and had a good sniff. After deciding she was ok, he plonked himself down right in front of her (legs akimbo) and started cleaning himself! I don't think Kizzi knew what to make of him! Molly hasn't been quite so brave and has decided to live upstairs for the time being, at least until she has sussed her out a bit more. I think they will all be fine within a few days. I don't think Kizzi will be waiting for long as she is a lovely girl, and also very pretty- as you can see.

Bless her, she's lovely. What is she crossed with?