At 8.15am Felix had his sixth visit to the vet – the final check on progress. The limp has gone and the swelling is down. He was also in fine form last night, ‘partying’ from 4am, probably because there was no food in his plate from 10pm last night to prepare him for sedation.

I expected he would be released from both confinement and medication, but he has been given four more days of antibiotics and indoor life just to be sure. He has had a subdued day at home, seeking comfort with his big eyes – pupils dilated from the sedative, I suppose. His nails were trimmed as well. I noticed he wasn’t getting much of a grip on the carpet as he stretched his claws this afternoon. I hope the blinds will be less inclined to rip as well. He made two splits in another blind on Saturday. A most expensive few weeks.

Felix was taking ridiculous risks as he tried to find ways out of the house this afternoon, so I let him out. He stayed close, nibbling on his cat mint and sitting on the compost bin where the mice hang out, while I was gardening, and then he went to visit my neighbours across the street. I let them know that he was about – they had seen him – and to explain his limp. Since he jumped out of the window yesterday, his limp has worsened and he sits holding his paw off the ground. The wound to his paw has healed over, so I wonder if he strained (dare I say damaged?) his paw when he defenestrated himself. There’s a lot of responsibility involved in having a cat. As I write, I can see him curled up in a favourite spot in the garden.

I am very relieved that Felix has just come home after being AWOL for about two hours. He must have squeezed out of this gap (8cm) and jumped down. His limp is now a little more pronounced after the drop onto the concrete drive – and whatever else he’s been doing since then.

The good news from the vet is that Felix doesn’t need a stitch in his metacarpal pad – so no anaesthetic. His wound is healing well from the inside. However, he can’t risk damaging it any more, so has to remain inside for another week, probably. This is frustrating for him as he watches goings-on from the windows and sometimes cries to be let out. Here he is, taking it out on his ‘knitten’ this morning.

And now I have to write this post standing up.

It’s nice to have a day of steady rain to read and do a jigsaw and write a blog post while the rain waters the garden. I dried Felix when he came inside all soggy, and gave him some of his favourite cat patē which comes in a tiny can. I sat down again at my desk to read a book, got up to reach for something and turned around to find my chair was occupied.

Winter isn’t finished with us yet and the firewood was running out. A fresh load arrived after lunch – we’re using the new wood on this evening’s fire. It took me three hours to stack it, about the same as usual: one hour per cubic metre, which included stopping to talk to neighbours passing by, and to rescue a little waxeye from Felix.

As I walked by with the wheelbarrow, I saw Felix grab the wee bird which was sitting on the fence. I, in turn, grabbed Felix by the scruff and the bird, to my surprise, flew straight out of his mouth and off into the distance. After that, Felix was showing off, playing with twine on the fence, chewing twigs, rolling in the sawdust in the wheelbarrow and climbing a couple of trees.

A happy ending for all: the bird, Felix and us, cosy by the fire.