That's the French for spending a sleepless night.
My beautiful blue-point Birman, Shelley, will be 18 next month - if he makes it. This picture was taken a year or two ago, when he was still doing well.
Shelley has been taking tablets for his kidneys for six years or more. For a while now he has spent his days in my bedroom with Jaspa (just visible at the back of the cat bed) for company, as befits his senior status.
Shelley's health has been deteriorating for some weeks. I've still been taking him down to the kitchen at night, but it's been cold there in during the bad weather, so he has a nice fleecy blanket, and a warming pad. He is so thin, he needs the extra warmth.
For a few days he has scarcely eaten anything, and he was snuffly, so I took him to the vet's to see if anything could buck him up. He had an antibiotic injection and a steroid one. His back legs have hardly any muscle tone and his organs are failing. But he's not yet ready to go. I'm hoping he just falls asleep one day and doesn't wake up, so that I don't have to take the final decision.
I've been desperate to make sure he finishes off the food or cat milk that contains his medication, and last night I decided he could stay in my bedroom all night. He got up for food, drink, the litter tray - and with my slippery bedclothes and without his open-weave throws, he couldn't get back up. Mum to the rescue.
Then he decided he wanted to sleep on my pillow. You have to understand that Shelley cannot wash himself at present, and even if he could, his teeth are so coated and his breath so rank, it wouldn't help matters. All I can do is clean him up with pet wipes. So being close to him is not the most pleasant experience on earth. Of course, having his whiskers tickle my face wasn't conducive to sleep either.
I dropped off at about 7.30 am. I got up at about 8.45.
Tonight Shelley will sleep in the kitchen again. I think he probably rests better without me to disturb him...
(Thanks to Eliza for the picture)
