You Can Lead a Dog to Water...........................!

Yes, I know that it's really a horse that you can lead to water, but we don't have a horse. We do have a dog though and that is the whole point!

On Saturday we had to take Alfie to the vet. In the years since we found him, he has been to the vet for his yearly 'jauvas' (inoculations and injections) but apart from that, he has been a very healthy and hassle-free lad. We can count on one hand the number of times that we have had to take him for other things, and that is usually to have his nails clipped. And once for a 'hot spot' on his side. But on Friday evening we noticed that he had licked his one dewclaw so much that it was looking very red and inflamed, so Saturday morning we decided to take him To The Vet! (Have you noticed that visits to the vet usually coincide with weekends and Public Holidays? Or after hour emergencies?)

Alfie feeling very sorry for himself!

Luckily Alfie loves going for a ride in the car, so he was very happy to climb in, and was equally happy to go into the vet as he is always made to feel very welcome. We were fifth in line after a cat, a Labrador puppy, an elderly Jack Russell and a very bouncy staffy who eyed the fluffy toys with great interest. We kept our distance and stood some way off, as he was eyeing Alfie with the same interest!


Anyway, our turn came and in we went. Alfie was reluctant to allow the nice lady to look at his paw, so it was obviously sore. She cut the nail back a little bit and clipped the fur around it but he was really not co-operating and she decided to prescribe painkillers and antibiotics.

In tablet form.

Remember that stupid e-mail that 'did the rounds' a while ago? The one that describes how to give a cat a tablet and you end up with a shredded towel, bloodied fingers and the cat up the curtains, then you simply wrap the tablet in a bit of bacon/cheese/fish/cold meat/steak/peanut butter and toss it to the dog who gulps it down and begs for more? Ha! Alfie can detect a pill from one hundred paces. He knows when I have wrapped a worm pill inside a piece of chicken, wound bacon round the outside and put it on Rob's plate to fool him into thinking it's actually what we were eating and just wanted to share with him. He hears me pop the Capstar flea pill bubble if he is upstairs and I cough loudly to disguise the sound. I have tried cutting a sausage in half, scooping out the middle, shoving the pill inside and replacing the scooped out bit. Forget it. We now crush the tablet between two spoons, dissolve it in water, slurp it into a syringe and squish it into his mouth.

'No, not that bit, there's a nasty thing inside!'

So, when the vet took the pills out, my heart sank! Luckily she saw our faces and put them away again. We came home with two syringes with liquid muti (medicine), one painkiller and one antibiotic!

He is still licking his foot though, so I am seriously thinking of putting Germoline (fixes everything from a broken leg to a mozzie bite) on it and wrapping a bandage round!

Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth!

And now a feel-good Christmas story!
In the true spirit of Christmas, when it is better to give than to receive, Phez has given his Christmas present away! Remember he wrote a wishlist to Santa Claws and received a Hills food voucher? Addressed to him?
He has given it to a worthy cause. To a lady who feeds a plethora of stray cats around Pietermaritzburg. In fact, two of my sister's cat's came from her.

He reckoned that she needed it more than he did! He'll still receive the tickles and the play time! But that goes without saying!

Merry Christmas everybody!