This actually works better when I’m also wearing a sweater, to keep my neck and shoulder from getting clawed to smithereens. And in summer it’s pretty much impossible, due to light summer dresses and the aforementioned personal injury. But this is how I spend most mornings, at my desk in front of the computer with a cup of coffee and my darling girl on my shoulder. She has recently taken to nuzzling my ear with her little nose, purring like mad, and I just melt. This little girl owns my heart.

I had just got home from a Christmas lunch with my first ever Sevilla “family” yesterday (more on that later) when Morcilla, who had previously been prancing around the house (she is so light-footed it’s like she’s on strings) suddenly started dragging her back leg around and then one of her front legs went too. That’s when things went into slow-mo for me – my usual reaction when I panic – and I carefully picked her up and held her tight while her legs continued to twitch. Somehow I managed to hold onto her with one arm while I fumbled for my phone to call my vet. They were just closing up for the evening but gave me the name of an emergency service that is open 24 hours.

This all took about a minute and by the time I hung up on the vet Morcilla was back to normal. She started walking around again, tentatively at first, but was soon back to leaping up on chairs and tables. I didn’t know what to do, but I also didn’t want to take her to an unknown vet, so I decided to keep an eye on her and wait until the morning. And so far she seems fine. I woke up at 3 am and she even demanded a snack, after which she started running around with Luna. I’m baffled.

Anyhow, just called my vet and thank goodness they are open this morning (everything closes down here in the afternoon on Christmas Eve and some businesses don’t open at all). So Begoña has made a space for me to bring Morcilla in at noon. Will update this when we get home. Fingers crossed!

UPDATE: So we are back from the vet and she doesn’t think there is anything wrong with Morcilla. A small stroke was ruled out because of her age and also her eyes showed no signs of tension, pupils were normal, plus she fully recovered from the episode last night within minutes. It’s possible she pulled a muscle when jumping down from the bookcase (which is when this happened) so she was given an anti-inflammatory injection and that was that.

Although it’s always stressful taking the cats to the vet, it’s so much easier with Morcilla. First of all, she hardly weighs anything (official weight today 2.4 kilos) and she fits into a small shoulder bag carrier, so I don’t have to lug a big plastic case around. And while she complained quite a bit on the way there, by the time we got out of the taxi on the way back she was more interested in checking out what was going on in the streets as we walked home.

I asked the vet if I should stay home with her tonight instead of going to the (second) family Christmas meal I’ve been invited to, and she said that wouldn’t be necessary. So I will somewhat reluctantly leave her for a few hours… think it’s time for me to install cat cameras around the house! Hope you’re all enjoying your Christmas Eve.