Mission Man Ray! And other photos of February…

Is this little guy adorable or what?

It feels like we spent February of this year as soldiers on Mission Man Ray. Our little broken cat, who had needed fixing for a long while. No, not “fixing,” like castration — the shelter we got him from in 2022 took care of that — but removing some rather noxious stones from the poor guy’s bladder. Which involved surgery and a rather fraught couple of weeks while he made a sure, but shaky recovery.

Here’s the guy with a shaved tummy and belly bandage when he first got home:

Initially, they sewed up the incision with dissolvable stitches. With a strict rule of NO LICKING. Hence the E-collar. That’s the soft blue “Elizabethan collar” shown here that he could not remove or work around, protecting the site of the incision from the effects of his sandpaper kitty tongue. We came to call it the E-vil collar because he initially had some trouble adapting to eating and drinking and just walking around with the E-collar on.

Then things got worse. In the days after the procedure he was passing blood while peeing. After two post-op visits to the animal hospital at the University of Córdoba, Man Ray was readmitted for additional treatment and monitoring. And to get metal staples put on the incision for the longer haul. A month-long haul.

Starting in 2025, Man Ray showed some symptoms of bladder stones for nearly a year — frequent visits to the litter box, smaller clumps of pee, and occasional whiny days. The behaviors were neither pronounced nor altogether consistent and, overall, he acted like a normal spunky little cat guy. But then we spotted some pinkish clumps in the litter box. Thus began a months-long effort to identify and correct the issue.

We brought him to two vets here in Spain for a number of tests and scans, some courses of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories, and we made changes to his diet. Which can help with one common kind of bladder stones, but not another type. Ultimately, it turned out he had that other kind of stone, which can’t be treated with diet or meds and simply had to be removed.

After going through a couple of months of protocols in prep for a surgery we finally got him in for his “cystostomy” on February 10.

Our neighborhood vet, Virginia, is super, super awesome. But she doesn’t perform surgeries that require anasthetic, so she made the referral to UCO. Where everyone. Was. AWESOME! We are really grateful for the large team there and so many helpful, kind, competent vets, techs, and students. Muchas muchas gracias UCO!!

After surgery, Man Ray wore that damned E-Collar for a month. What a trooper! As a result, when it came time to remove the staples, his little belly looked great! So, no more collar! W00t! . . . You can see a few more photos of Man Ray and the other pets in the gallery below.

As for other sights in February… we didn’t get out of town for any excursions, but we captured shots that we took while wandering about Córdoba. And from the UCO campus, which has some really cool murals on its chapel and admin buildings.

We also got some cool shots just ambling around the side streets near our house. Here’s one of the bell tower of Iglesia San Agustin during the golden hour.

Here’s the Galería of Los Dos February photos, with the usual ironic observation or two.

¿Qué sigue? . . . What’s next?

We’re coming into the busiest season in the Córdoba event calender, where one big public festival follows the next. (See schedule below.) For our part…

• We’ll be skipping out of town during Holy Week and heading north, to Bilbao and Barcelona, a road trip by car with our perrita Ella.
• We’ve also got some photos to share of the annual Caracoles (aka snails) event currently taking place around town, which is essentially the appearance of temporary bar/cafes where you can eat snails, through May. It’s quite popular here!
• We have two American visitors heading here in April and May, which will surely result in some bloggage.
• Plus, we’ll share the last two churches in our ten-part tour of the Córdoba Ruta: Basílica de San Pedro & Iglesia de San Francisco y San Eulogio.

Spring in Córdoba

March 29 – April 5: Semana Santa or Holy Week

April 29 – May 3: Cruces of Mayo (flower crosses and battle of the flowers)

May 4 – May 17: Córdoba Patios Festival (a UNESCO world heritage event)

May 23 – May 30: Córdoba Feria

June: Andalusía Infierno – No, not an event, but the annual excruciating heat of summer begins and the streets empty for 3 months

Saludos de Los Dos!