(picture: IVN Vecht & Plassengebied, Utrecht )
A month ago, standing on my balcony, I noticed a big Parakeet in my back garden. I thought it had escaped from some home, so I called the Animal Protection Service who couldn't or wouldn't help me. I felt so sorry for the bird, with the cold coming it wouldn't survive I thought. One of my emailfriends suggested it was a Ring-necked Parakeet, an exotic looking bird that can be found all over the parks of Amsterdam. It looked very much like the picture. Couple of days ago I heard a lot of noise in the back garden. I saw the parakeet again, but this time there were 3 of them!! So I suppose that it's indeed a bird that can live outside in parks here.

One more day and I will be off till the beginning of january. Great! Things are looking good: we still have no flue here in the house. Joris and Coco are behaving perfectly. Benneke will have to donate some urine coming wednesday. I need to be at the vet's at 3.30 pm at the latest, because at 4 the practice will close until after the weekend. Let's hope I'll be on time. I still don't notice Ben drinking more. He's eating well, and I think the potassium-citrate helps.
This morning I skipped the Pepcid (for stoamch acid) because I thought he could do without. This afternoon he ate a little and then he stopped. Is that coincidence, or does he really need the Pepcid?? Tomorrow I'll give it to him again.

The painting and restauration of my apartment is finished. It's beautiful. Everything put back in its place, everything cleaned, and everything decorated for Christmas. I'm proud of my cats who behaved so well. Joris would have loved to help, friendly as he is. Ben couldn't have cared less and just went to sleep. Coco kept an eye on everything but went her own way.



Yesterday - after 10 days of potassium-citrate - Ben's urine needed to be checked. I got up at 3.15 am. Sometimes there are 7 hours between 2 puddles, and sometimes there's 17 hours between them. I couldn't afford to miss that one pudlle, but I had to wait very long: Ben finally urinated at 2 pm.... My patience is great, but I was exhausted and threatened to put him up for adoption.
The result was the same as when we started with the K-citrate. The pH was still 6.5 which is too low for Ben, and the USG was again 1.050. So my vet advised to give Ben a capsule of 175 mg. not 2x but 3x per day. And then to come back for another check on december 24 ( of all days....gggrrr).
Today I ordered for new capsules. Everybody at the pharmacy knows about Ben now: their only cat-patient. To be found in the computersystem under Ben DOB 2-2-98

Gold'N Brown, AKA Jeep, passed away on saturday december 6.

This is the 3rd week the painters are here: we stuck to our routine as much as possible, and the cats are obviously used to them now. But when I get home it's one big party: the painters leave shortly after my arrival, and then the cats can go outside and have more room.

I keep everything very tidy and clean. The cat's foods are in the upside-down cupboard, neatly stacked.
I also finally found a solution for Coco who had to jump out of her climbing tree from way too high. She used to jump out of the tree via the big cupboard and a small table on to the floor. Because she has weak knees I was happy she was so smart. Apparently she felt it was much better for her that way. Now that the climbing tree has been moved, and there is no longer a cupboard, she had a problem. She refused to use the television, but finally after some trials this is what we decided on: 2 smaller scratching posts that are positioned like steps. And it works!
Tomorrow I finally get Ben's capsules. I'm very curious how he will react. The vet is hoping for more drinking and a higher pH. Me, I'm hoping also for more appetite because possibly his potassium will go up a bit. We'll see.