"I'M NO LONGER ENTIRELY CONVINCED THAT THEY LOVE ME..."

Poor Marius is very bored and very confused about the confinement to cage rest... His cast should come off in a little more than a week... then we have to make sure he doesn't get out and get himself run over again because of stiffness in the legs... We cuddle him for a long time twice a day, he is not running off and so it is working out quite well, but while he is sometimes very calm he is also often very enervated and upset. It's hard to know whether we should tell him off when he starts attacking us... My principle is that he shouldn't be allowed to do that under any circumstances. I keep a leaflet at hand which I bash him with a bit, this is a known method of cat education as the cat shouldn't associate the hands with punishment. Poor Marius!!

Post Scriptum: After a bit of a low spot wondering why we keep making this sick joke on him, Marius has now picked up his spirits,and seems to do a lot better! Very soon his cast will come off... We are going to prepare some reflective fabric to be attached to his collar so he doesn't get run over again.

MARIUS WAS HIT BY A CAR IN THE END...

What we have feared came to pass in the end - Marius got into a car crash. He has not had the sense to be afraid of cars so that's probably what happened. He has a tendency to sit in the streets, totally unaware that all the nice people are queuing up in their cars behind him! In the early morning hours he dragged himself up of all three flights of stairs, screaming to high heaven. It was clear that he was in pain and that there was something wrong with his leg. He jumped up in bed after a while nonetheless and slept with me until the vet opened at nine o'clock. He had calmed down after the shock so it didn't seem as though he was seriously injured. X-rays showed that he still had a fractured pelvis, which should heal by itself, and an injury in the leg which preferably should be fixed through surgery. But we don't have 400 pounds. So we might have to try to keep him still and hope the leg heals anyway. So here's what happens when you constantly live on the brink of starvation. Our only hope is that they raise our credit limit which went down when we had to re-mortgage. If anyone wants to donate some help to us, there is a donation button on my website www.vivimaricarpelan.com ... 

Thank God he's alive!! 
But I'm so infinitely tired of being poor ...


POSTSCRIPTUM

Marius had to have an operation in order to have a fully functioning leg, but luckily here in the UK there are many charities for animals and we did in the end get a sum of money towards the vet bills that helps enormously. Since we live in a small community, there's a mailing list, "free cycle" and the jungle telegraph... we thus managed to borrow a dog cage in which Marius needs to say for two months - he may not walk even one meter. Phew! It's hard to listen to his complaints ... but if one hesitates to let him get out to stretch your legs, it is best to stick the vet bill on his cage! Generally speaking he really enjoys his cuddles a few times a day, one just has to be attentive. The whole town knows about Marius's accident and because everyone loves Marius people are interested in how things are going.

"My God, what have you done to be put in a cage?"
Beatrice and Robin are significantly disturbed by the whole affair ...

Marius is usually calm and happy when he gets to lie in one's arms 2-3 times a day

After a bit of frenzy and rattling the cage,
 Marius now, a week later, seems calm and maybe he's getting used to solitary confinement..?