Omar's Diary 18th July 2026

Well, this has been some summer this year and still the heat goes on.

Back in the spring I was taken to the vets as the Servants were concerned about the state of my mental health. My symptom was that I would start, what they refer to as "yeowling" at odd hours of the night. I was checked over at the surgery, diagnosed with an early stage dementia and sent home with some pills.

This has been very insulting on two levels.

To think that I am going a bit funny in my dotage is just a tad rude if I may say so. I can assure you I am not. Living on the estate next to mine is a Bengal feline called "Bruce". We share a common language and sometimes we have a conversation. Not a chat but a conversation late at night. We talk about the different feeds we get, how easy it is to stress out our respective servants and about life in general. That is all we are doing, being neighbourly.

Until my Servants found out that Bruce's Servants were being disturbed by him yeowling and not by my mental state I was being forced to take medications orally. This was a most undignified procedure. To get the pills into me I had to undergo some deprivations of liberty. I am sure this is against my feline rights and for them to do this I have to sign some sort of consent form. My revenge for this was to occasionally draw some of Man Servant's blood. Or to accept the pills and tuck them into my cheek pouches until I was released, go to another part of the manor and shake them out as vigorously as possible.

Man Servant tells others of his species that he thinks I have come from Birmingham because when I yeowl he thinks I do it with a Birmingham accent. He still doesn't realise that I have come from the Tonk Archipelago in the Far East and our accent is nothing like that of Brummies'.

Beau developed a series of scabs around her neck line. She did have a steroid vaccination and mild saline rinses. This initial treatment did work for a while. But when the heat bubble and the heatwave engulfed the country the scabs returned with a vengeance. At the vets she had a biopsy taken and was diagnosed with Maas cancer cells.

Her course of treatment will consist of regular steroid injections every five weeks and review of how she is doing. She has had one already. The scabbing has reduced considerably and she is feeling very well.

Thank goodness she will not have to undergo anything like radiotherapy or strong medications.

The Servants did put a lot of effort into managing the formal gardens of Omar Towers but have given up at the moment. It has just been so hot and dry that everything Man Servant planted in the spring has died from lack of moisture. He did do regular watering but as the ground we are on is very sandy whatever water he put on drained away very quickly. They have maintained a small flower bed and rockery close to the main house and hope to have some fresh tomatoes to harvest by September.

We now have a new resident. Not in the actual house but in the rockery. Lady Servant was working by the window looking on to the rockery. She saw some movement and watched to eventually see a mouse emerge from one of the crevasses by the statue of a naked lady.

It is quite safe with Beau and me around as to be honest, we really cannot be bothered to allow our primal hunting instincts to get the better of us, especially in this hot weather.

"Et vivere, reservate" is what I say "Et vivere, reservate".